Joel chats up with SCEA's Clayton Read on the importance of team chemistry and the crazy chance of having 5 Wayne Grezkys on your side in Gretzky NHL 2006 for the PS2 and PSP.
Hi, can we start by you telling us your name and your involvement in the development of Gretzky NHL '06 for the PS2?
Clayton Read, Assistant Producer, Sony Computer Entertainment America.
What sort of key new features should we be expecting to see in the game?
Where to begin...? Well, first off let's reinforce some key features and exclusives to the Gretzky™ franchise -- Gretzky™ NHL '06 is the only franchise to exclusively feature the greatest player of all time. Additionally, Gretzky™ NHL '06 offers true hockey fans what no other hockey videogame can – it's the only game designed with insight from "The Great One."
All-new for Gretzky™ NHL '06 is Wayne vs. Wayne mode, the all-new Team Chemistry, a deeper Franchise Mode, an expanded Rivalry Mode, enhanced graphics including new player models, faces, and equipment, and a smarter Artificial Intelligence (AI). Officially licensed by the NHL, NHLPA, NHLCA, AHL, Gretzky and others, the title also allows gamers a chance to suit up and skate with their favorite team in either league. With returning features such as EyeToy™ functionality, online gameplay, and ability to unlock and play as the Great One himself with the Gretzky Challenge, Gretzky™ NHL '06 is prepared to deliver the ultimate hockey experience.
Let me break some things down for you...
There are lots of great new features in Gretzky™ NHL '06. The most talked about is a more arcade style, faster paced mode called "Wayne vs. Wayne". Essentially it's a mode that's easy to pick-up-and-play, yet fast paced and fun for traditional hockey fans. This mode is completely separate from the simulation core of the game, but it's had a lot of effort put into it and provides the user with the instant ability to play as Wayne Gretzky. And who doesn't want to know what it's like to skate like Wayne?
Another key new feature in Gretzky™ NHL '06 is Team Chemistry. Because hockey is such a team sport, we wanted to give added value to the true leaders, be it an ultra-skilled center or a grinding winger who digs all the pucks out of the corner. We wanted to find a way to add value to players who do all the little things that don't show up on the score sheet. Team Chemistry will have great appeal to the user who likes to delve deep into Franchise mode because it will factor in to everything from trades to line combinations.
Also new this year, Gretzky™ NHL '06 is proud to have a full partnership with the American Hockey League (AHL). This provides the user with the ability to play with all the AHL teams, including the Philadelphia Phantoms, the Chicago Wolves, the Toronto Marlies, the Manitoba Moose, and more. Not to mention over 500 real AHL players and the ability to play all your AHL affiliate's games in Franchise Mode. Exciting stuff!
In addition to "Wayne vs. Wayne", Team Chemistry, and the new AHL partnership, Gretzky™ NHL '06 offers an expanded Rivalry mode, a deeper Franchise mode, new player models, and an AI system that has been completely overhauled. The user will find an impressive 31 strategies to choose from and a much greater challenge when playing against the AI.
There's more... but you'll have purchase a copy to find out...
Wow! That's quite a feature set. May we ask which of the new feature is your favorite and why?
It's difficult for me to pick just one of the new features in Gretzky™ NHL '06. They've all added so much to the franchise that it's hard to put the controller down! The new Artificial Intelligence (AI) design with the 31 strategies that can be called on-the-fly has much appeal for me. "Wayne vs. Wayne" is exciting and addictive. It's all about hard hitting and goal scoring, not to mention the fact you get to play as Wayne. But I'll talk more about "Wayne vs. Wayne" later. For now, since I can't really decide, I'll talk about Team Chemistry.
Being a former pro hockey player myself, the depth of this feature takes me back to the locker room and all the complex interactions that went on between teammates. You'll notice that team captains around the NHL aren't necessarily the most skilled or top scoring players. Clearly there's a leadership intangible involved that some players have and others don't. What I love about Team Chemistry in Gretzky™ NHL '06 is that you're rewarded for more than just goals, assists, and wins. Everything such as big hits and killing penalties, to how sound your team is financially, come into play when trying to build chemistry. Of course all of those things can decrease your team's chemistry as well. But what I really love is that you build chemistry between players by playing them together on a line. In Gretzky™ NHL '06, Team Chemistry involves not just the team aspect but also aspects of Line Chemistry and Player Chemistry. Just like in the NHL, your not going to find a Gretzky-Kurri combination overnight. You're going to have to experiment and find players who gel, players who are willing to pay the price for their teammates.
Which key new feature was the most difficult to implement and why?
I'd have to say Team Chemistry I guess... It's a complex new feature with 3 distinct levels of chemistry: Team Chemistry, Line Chemistry, and Player Chemistry. Because of this, the implementation was quite difficult. For starters, factors such as goals, assists, big hits, successful penalty kills, a team's financial health, and more had to be tracked both positively and negatively. Next these factors had to be tallied to determine a team's overall chemistry. They also had to be broken down to determine the chemistry between players on each line to give the user feedback within Line Chemistry. From there the factors were tracked to determine Player Chemistry, which displays the chemistry between each player on a team and each of his teammates. Quite an intricate process considering it is tracked all season long and ultimately has an influence on player progression. Chemistry values also affect player attributes, giving a slight boost or decrease, depending upon the value of a player's overall chemistry. Put all of this and more together and you'll have an idea of the difficulty of implementation. But it's been well worth it!
I'm sure it will be well-received by fans. We have also heard you can play with 5 Waynes, how is that possible?
Gretzky™ NHL '06 offers gamers and hockey fans alike the all-new "Wayne vs. Wayne" mode, which does in fact make it possible to play with 5 Waynes at once. The basic concept is that through good play you earn "99 Time" which goes to filling up your "Wayne Meter". Everything from goals, to hits, to maintaining puck possession, to combo plays (such as one-timers), and so on earn you "99 Time" in Gretzky™ NHL '06. Your meter is full once it hits 99, but when it reaches roughly 75 it will burst into flames and a pop-up will appear informing you that Wayne is available for activation. The key here is to wait until your meter is full at 99 before activating Wayne, because you'll earn a letter towards the spelling of W-A-Y-N-E. Once you've triggered Wayne with a full meter 5 times (and spell W-A-Y-N-E) you'll not only receive one Gretzky as an extra skater, but instead get 5 Waynes to skate with for the remainder of the game. Now that's some offensive firepower! Just remember that your opposition can spell the word W-A-Y-N-E too, making it possible to have up to 10 Gretzkys on the ice at once. So you'd better learn to defend as well.
On top of the ability to skate with multiple Gretzkys, "Wayne vs. Wayne" provides the user with numerous special effects. During "99 Time" flame trails follow skaters who trigger speed burst. Rings of light, or "hit halos", appear when big hits are delivered. The ice surface flips back and forth between shades of blue and white. Rules such as offsides, icings, and even penalties have been turned off. All this and more add to the frantic pace we wanted to create. Big hits and lots of goals was the idea behind this mode.
Another special twist to "Wayne vs. Wayne" in Gretzky™ NHL '06 is how we convey the confidence boost skaters would receive if Wayne stepped onto the ice to join their team in real life. Obviously their confidence would grow, so we decided to visually convey this by having Wayne(s) and all his teammates grow 15% bigger during "99 Time". But that's not all. In addition to towering over their opponents while Wayne is on the ice, their skills or player attributes get a 5% boost as well. So you can see the advantage of playing good, smart hockey and triggering Wayne to join your team.
That's very cool indeed. Moving on, what sort of career mode updates can we expect to see in the game and what sort of options will we have?
Gretzky™ NHL '06 doesn't have a career mode per say, but our Franchise Mode has been completely overhauled and supports greater financial control, improved trade and fantasy draft logic, much deeper financial controls and, of course, the ability to play or sim all AHL games and have full control of the NHL and AHL rosters.
Gretzky™ NHL '06 offers fans the chance to act as the coach and GM for the team. They are responsible not only for the team's success on the ice, but also on the balance sheet. The user, however, does have an owner that will be monitoring his progress and will give status reports throughout the season. If you as coach and GM can run a successful and efficient team then you have nothing to worry about. However, if you have a major payroll and not major success, you will definitely find yourself looking for a new job.
There are tons of other cool features with the Gretzky™ NHL '06 Franchise Mode that should be mentioned as well. First and foremost, the user will have the ability to create his own team, from the logo on the jersey all the way down to the color of the seats in the arena, and bring that team into the NHL as the 31st team in the league. You will not have to remove a team from the league to add your own - very cool. You can stock that roster through a fantasy draft, have the AI do it for you, or even clone the same player over and over again and see how you would fare with a team of Jagrs or Forsbergs at every position.
Does the game have a create a player mode and if so what can we expect from it? How about EyeToy functionality that shows emotion similar to WTS 2006?
Players will be able to create both their own players as well as their own teams in the game. The create-a-player is really cool and does incorporate the EyeToy. Users can use the EyeToy™ functionality to take a picture of themselves, apply it to a player and have their face appear in the game.
Does Gretzky NHL '06 have any online play support? What specifically will it offer? Will we be able to download updated rosters if there is a NHL season, and if so, how will that work?
Gretzky™ NHL '06 will again support both broadband and narrowband online play. And it's free!
Specifically, it will offer head to head and (up to 64 player) tournament play. This includes message boards, polls, detailed stat tracking, and USB headset functionality.
Here at Gretzky™ NHL '06 headquarters, we pride ourselves on having the most current and up to date rosters. So, yes, we will have downloadable updated rosters. We'll provide one before the start of this NHL season and then as often as necessary there after. Simply create a login name, go online, and you'll be prompted to download the new updated roster file. Download it and save it to your memory card. When you're ready to play, the game will prompt you to say whether you want to use Default, Updated or Pro Manager rosters. Select "Updated" and you'll now have the most up to date roster there is!
Who is going to be doing the commentary in the game?
Gretzky™ NHL '06 will again be Mike Emrick doing the play-by-play and Darren Pang handling the color commentary.
What do you think puts Gretzky NHL '06 above the other hockey games on the market?
First off, we provide the user with the ability to play as Wayne Gretzky, arguably the best hockey player ever. Second, we're the only console game providing the ability to play with all the AHL teams and 500+ real AHL players. You won't find either of these opportunities anywhere else on the market.
Beyond that Gretzky™ NHL '06 offers the incredible new arcade-style "Wayne vs. Wayne". A mode that will provide fast, high scoring games, not to mention up to 10 Gretzkys on the ice at once! There's also Team Chemistry that I feel takes the user deeper into the locker room than ever before. Involved in both Franchise and Rivalry, Team Chemistry will reward not only good play and players that wear their heart on their sleeve, but also a savvy user who delves deep into player relations and works hard to build chemistry and winning line combinations.
After that, Gretzky™ NHL '06 has the new, much more challenging AI system. Along with this system comes an amazing 31 strategies, all with the ability to be called on-the-fly while you play. Everything from the Left Wing Lock, to the Stretch breakout, to the Neutral Zone Trap, to the Umbrella power play, and more are now at your disposal.
Already unique to the Gretzky™ franchise is the Rivalry mode – which has been expanded upon, giving you Head-to-Head Rivalry in addition to Series Rivalry. Now, with Head-to-Head, you can switch the team you control each game, but all the stats will still be tracked. In fact, we've expanded our Rivalry stat tracking to incorporate almost any stat imaginable. We've also giving you an end to your Rivalry. You can choose between lengths of 11, 25, 51, 75, and 101 games.
Also Gretzky™ NHL '06 has all-new player models, deeper franchise, downloadable rosters, etc...I could go on. Suffice to say, I'm very proud of Gretzky™ NHL '06 and feel we've taken hockey games to the next level.
When can we expect Gretzky NHL '06 to hit store shelves and is there any chance of seeing it on the PS3?
Gretzky™ NHL 2006 will be available exclusively for the PlayStation 2 in mid-September and on the PSP™ (PlayStation Portable) entertainment system in October.
And now for some personal questions. As a former hockey pro yourself, who is your favorite hockey team and why?
This is a more complex question than you may have thought. Since I won a championship and finished my career with the San Diego Gulls of the ECHL, obviously they are one of my favorite teams. Also, being from Winnipeg, I cheer for the Manitoba Moose in the AHL. And finally, being Canadian, I'd have to go with both Vancouver and Ottawa as my favorite NHL teams. Although I used to be a huge Red Wings fan (still love Steve Yzerman!) and catch all the Avalanche games I can to see Peter Forsberg play.
Who was your favorite hockey player growing up? Who is it now?
Growing up in Winnipeg, Canada, my favorite players were Wayne Gretzky and Steve Yzerman. Today, I still have to go with Stevie Y! You can't find a better leader anywhere. But also, Peter Forsberg. The guy is so talented, so smart, and so tough that he could be my favorite player to watch play.
Anything you want to highlight that we may have missed in our questions?
The team at Page 44 has worked incredibly hard to produce a fun, fast hockey game that will have the right combination of simulation and arcade elements and modes to appeal to the hardcore hockey fan and the novice as well. We are very excited about Gretzky™ NHL '06 for both the PS2 and the PSP, and hope gamers and hockey fans are as well.
Click for more info on Greztky NHL 2006 for the PS2 and PSP.
