FirstCuts: NHL 09 League Feature Looks Slick

Although NHL games don’t tend to get the love that football -- or even basketball -- franchises get in the video game world, they have been solid in recent years. It’s also no coincidence that both the EA and 2K offerings remain at a high level because competition still exists.↵
↵
↵EA is upping the ante in NHL 09 with a League feature this season that will essentially roll Be A Pro mode together with Online Play and create the chance for the ultimate online hockey team.↵

↵↵The prospect of getting a team together and trying to win the first-ever EA Sports Hockey League Cup is pretty exciting. Assuming it’s a bug-free feature at launch, this kind of thing could give EA a major leg up on 2K. One possible issue: Having to depend on other players to play your team’s games could really slow things down. What happens when one of your guys isn’t around? Are you able to drop in bots or replacement players? Does that open it up to bringing in ringers? Plenty of time to answer these questions before the Sept. 11 release date.↵

↵