Wayne Gretzky is returning to the NHL to endorse and star in EA Sports’ long-awaited NHL hockey debut on the Wii. The game hasn’t officially been announced yet, but will hit stores on Sept. 7, alongside NHL 11 for the Xbox 360 and PS3.
The 21-inch/53-cm stick peripheral that ships with each game will revolutionize video game hockey. The stick is the first third-party controller peripheral that Nintendo has approved for inclusion with a game. And because the stick peripheral holds both the Nunchuk (in the butt end of the stick, with the analog stick used for moving your player) and the Wiimote (further down the shaft, with the trigger used as a modifier to execute certain moves), it’s more accurate than the Wiimote alone.
“Because you’re getting two signals sent to the Wii, it triangulates the signal. So it basically gives you more accuracy,” says a Wii spokesman, and adds that WiiMotion Plus won’t be supported by NHL Slapshot because it’s essentially not needed.
The stick peripheral will detect slap shots, wrist shots, body checks (done with a cross-check motion) and poke checks, with the Wiimote’s trigger used as a modifier to perform passes, dekes and other moves. The game can also be played with the Wiimote and Nunchuk alone, or even just the Wiimote.
NHL Slapshot’s “Peewees to Pros” career mode starts you off as a 12-year-old (or you can step into the skates of a very young Gretzky, Sidney Crosby and the like), and lets you work your way from Peewee to Bantam to Junior to Pro, watching your player grow, age and acquire skills along the way.
EA hasn’t announced a final price for NHL Slapshot, but the suggestion is it will cost roughly what EA Sports Active sells for ($60 at launch), and will ship in a box the exact same size as EA Sports Active’s. The stick will come in three snap-together pieces, including the dense foam blade that will hopefully limit the number of injuries during living room Stanley Cup finals. NHL Slapshot could even help kids learn real-world hockey skills.
“EA always makes a great game,” Gretzky says. “I’ve had a chance to play it, and it’s one of the more realistic games I’ve seen a long time. For me, my kids love to play and they enjoy it immensely.”
