The Cow is back from Los Angeles! I was covering the first 2 days of Hockey Fest 09 and it was a big success. I met new people, got to meet players, and even EA Staff. My main purpose of Hockey Fest 09 was to cover NHL 10 but it became more then that. LA won me over as a King fan and I give them nothing but the best wishes in the upcoming season. The Kings and the Panthers are alike, trying to make the play-offs. In that we already have a lot in common.
The Opening Ceromonies on Friday night was something I will never forget as a hockey fan. The only thing missing was Wayne Gretzky but other then that; you had the Past, Present, and the Future of the Los Angeles Kings in one room. You had all the greats, the 09-10 team, and even the new prospects that will become the new Kings in the future. I got some footage of the Kings video that was introduced to everyone that night. It covered so much history. The great goals, saves, hits, and my favorite; the Miracle in Manchester which is still one of the greatest comebacks of all time. At the end of the night the Opening Ceromonies got everyone excited about the upcoming hockey season and I really didn’t want to wait anymore.
On Saturday I finally got a chance to play NHL 10 in the Hockey Fest tent. The doors opened a little after 9am and I went in there with high hopes; those hopes were fullfilled. As soon as I got there I was talking with Andy Agostini the Associate Producer, Luke Botteron who handles Product Marketing, and Mark Schootman the Content Manager. I had a great time talking NHL 10 with these guys and even got a chance to play one of them.
As soon as we stopped talking I sat myself down and started playing NHL 10 and NOT the demo. The very first game I played was the Florida Panthers vs. the Colorado Avalanche. Take a guess who I was. The gameplay feels so smooth, the boardplay makes a huge difference, and I even won the game 3-1. Something I noticed which really surprised me was the goal horn. EA never really got goal horns down the past few years but when I scored with the Panthers I heard…their goal horn. No longer is it the same horn as Atalanta and that alone got me more excited for September 15th to get here.
After playing the computer, I had my first game against a hardcore fan. His gamertag is Robbrick and he was awesome to be around. We played a very close game but a nice play after the faceoff gave him the 1-0 win. I look forward to get a rematch against him in the future but you can see his picture below. He is the one in black throwing up the respect knuckles.
The EA booth was set up nicely. Three PS3’s on the left, three 360’s on the right and in the front was two more Xbox’s. So if you didn’t play the Xbox version, you at least got to play the PS3. We had fans, first timers, casual, and even a few Los Angeles Kings players playing NHL 10. I met David and Phil when they were playing their first NHL 10 game. David knew more about the game while this was Phil’s first time playing any NHL game. I took a quick video interview with them to see what they thought about the game so check out the video below. You can follow David on twitter.com/H20cena. Him and Phil were very cool, I was happy to meet them.
After all the picture taking and talking to fans, I sat down and started playing some more NHL 10. While I was playing I had a gentleman looking at me and I was not sure why. Then I took a quick look and realized that it was EA Community Manager Alain Quinto! I talked with Quinto about NHL 10 and EA. It was nice to see how he felt about NHL 10 but what was more exciting is I got a chance to play Alain in NHL 10. He picked the Vancouver Canucks and I of course picked the Florida Panthers. I will not reveal who won due to secrecy but I will tell you there is a rematch down the road.
It was finally time for the raffle to see what four lucky fans will get to play the Los Angeles Kings. The players they were going to play were Goalie Jonathan Quick and defensive players Davis Drewiske, Jack Johnson, and Drew Doughty. Check out the video below to find out who the four lucky winners were.
The first two games were Justin Price vs. Jonathan Quick and Ethan vs. Jack Johnson. Jonathan Quick was probably the funniest player of the group because he enjoyed every right thing he did in the game. When he got into his first fight and won, he celebrated and in the middle of an interview with Alain when he managed to score a goal.
J. Quick lost his game 6-2 while Jack Johnson gave no mercy to Ethan winning 6-0. Johnson was the first player to surprise everyone with his gaming skills. They both happily signed autographs after the games.
The 2nd round of games pinned Richard against Davis Drewiske and Alex vs. Drew Doughty. In the pictures you can see the concentration in Doughty’s eyes. Surprisingly both Kings players also won their respective games with Drewiske winning in a long shoot-out and Doughty flat out beating Alex. Doughty was the other biggest surprise because he knew how to play the game. Seems he was a big fan of the NHL franchise and plays the game on his time off. At least it looked like it. After Doughty played Alex he went up against the Associate Producer of NHL 10 Andy Agostini. I will not say who won, let’s just say everyone had fun .
NHL 10 is looking to be even better then NHL 09. It’s scary good how EA seems to out do themselves each year. NHL 10 feels great to play and I can’t wait to get my hands on the other game modes on September 15th. LA King Hockey Fest was a huge success and the fans really enjoyed the event. Thanks to the Los Angeles Kings for inviting me to Hockey Fest. This weekend is one I will never forget. I also want to thank Alain, Andy, Luke, and Mark for being such awesome people. It was awesome to talk with them and even play them in NHL 10. I hope to get an interview with Andy within the next week and give him some good questions about the game.
Check out the gallery for the rest of the pictures from Hockey Fest 09. I will have a blog talking in more detail about my experience in L.A so follow me on twitter or facebook to find out when it’s up.
User:
Pass: