PowerPlayGoal.com – Hockey From A Different Angle

Welcome to The Definitive Fan – The online guide from PowerPlayGoal.com to the types of fans who you’re likely to meet (or not meet) at a hockey game.
Some of these fans clearly have a true passion for the game, others, well, they are just there for something to do.

Fan Type #5 – The Fair Weather Fan

This weather forecast predicts clear skies, and a winning streak for your favourite NHL team.

Bio:
Often confused with the Bandwagoner. As the name suggests, the Fair Weather Fan only comes out to support their team when the weather is fair, as in, when their team is playing well. They’ll attend plenty of home games during a time period in which the team is successful.

They’ll continue to go and watch games for as long as their team is constantly doing well: they’ll then buy merchandise, such as a jersey, talk about the team, and hockey in general, with their friends and fellow fans all while making themselves sound like they know everything about the game… but the very moment something bad happens, like the team ending their awesome winning streak with a supposedly “major” loss, they will suddenly feel slightly disappointed. Generally, sports fans do feel unhappy when their favourite team has just lost a game, especially the passionate fans of said team, but they never go as far as to lose interest altogether.

Usually, no matter what the team is going through or how bad they are doing, the more passionate hockey fans will still continue to attend and watch games to support their team. As for the Fair Weather Fans however, while the team continues to struggle during a losing streak, they’ll conveniently lose interest, because all of a sudden they now have supposedly better things to do, like watching America’s Got Talent or something. They won’t bother with hockey again until word of mouth tells them that the team is winning again, and that this fan has just missed the most epic win the team has ever had.

Characteristics:
No distinguishable characteristics, they seem to blend in.

Favourite Team:
SUNBELT TEEMZ OLOLOLOLOL. Seriously though, every team has its fair share of Fair Weather Fans.

Other:
As far as players go, they may only remember the names of the star players. Try talking to them about Pittsburgh for example, and the only names they’ll remember will most likely be Sidney Crosby, “Mall King”, and “that guy in goal… Flurry? Something like that”.

I’m Wildwing64, hoping you enjoyed this issue of the Definitive Fan.

I might be taking a huge, huge risk here, but for this edition of War on Logos, I’ll be ripping on the logo of… shock horror! An Original Six team! (Oh wait, I already did once before without coming under fire for it, so I guess I’m good to go!)

Well, OK. I’m not going to be ripping on it par se, because I don’t personally see what exactly is wrong with this logo. It’s not me that hates it, but it’s the Toronto Maple Leafs’ very own fans that do not seem to like this logo much at all. Why? Well, keep reading to find out!

Design-wise, I can’t spot what’s wrong with it. There’s nothing particularly stupid about the way it looks, nor is there really anything for me to poke fun at (unless you count the technically grammatically incorrect “Leafs”, which I believe is referring to the single leaf on Canada’s flag). It’s modern-ish, the font works well, and overall the logo is very simple but effective, if in my humble opinion a bit boring. So really, the way the logo has been designed is not necessarily the reason why Leafs fans hate it.

Since I myself am not a Leafs fan, nor do I personally know any, I’m not entirely familiar with the team and how they are run, nor do I really care. But a little peek around the internet has made me discover that, no matter how much the fans love the team, how much money the team makes or how many consecutive sellout crowds this team gets, the Leafs’ fanbase has not been happy for the longest time. Strangely enough, or not, the years of disappointment began sometime after the last time Toronto won the Stanley Cup in 1967, not too long before this logo was introduced.

The team won the Cup with a similar, but different logo, and sometime before team owner Stafford Smythe passed away, the Leafs changed their logo to something almost identical to what they use now (the current design was introduced in 1982), and shortly after Smythe’s death, his shares were bought by a man named Harold Ballard, making him the new owner of the team, and thus marking the beginning of an era that Toronto fans look back on with great displeasure.

After many years of enduring Ballard’s mismanagement of the team, he too passed away in 1990, thus ending his ownership of the NHL franchise. But Leafs fans still haven’t been too happy, as since then they’ve only made the playoffs in ten out of eighteen seasons, have not made the playoffs at all since the Lockout ended, and at the time of writing they are off to the worst start in franchise history.

The fans, it seems, have had enough, and recently a campaign has launched in hopes of changing the Leafs’ logo, and meanwhile, another fan has even gone so far as to auction his own loyalty to the team on eBay.

As the above campaign suggests, many Leafs fans agree, and I will agree too on this matter, that Toronto should switch back to the logo below – currently in use as an alternate logo – as their primary instead. The fans of the team feel that it’s reminiscent of better times, while I myself feel that the logo is just better in general.

So there we have it: the current logo of the Toronto Maple Leafs is hated not for its design, but for the years of mediocrity that the Leafs have had since their last Stanley Cup win.

I’m Wildwing64, and I declare War On Logos.

NHL 10 (PS3/Xbox 360)

The 18th incarnation of the popular NHL series sees such additions as a new fight engine, improved graphics and a more realistic crowd.

Admittedly, I have now had this game for almost a month, buying it on the PS3 pretty much on its launch day – I am yet to play the Xbox360 version, but minus a few features (will cover them later) it is essentially the same version.

With the previous version (NHL 09) winning countless awards, EA had a pretty steep hill to climb to enable them to trump last year’s release. Could they do it?

Presentation

After the bog standard nine hours of updates to download from Sony, my copy of the game was loaded and after selecting my language, I was treated to a rather nice video, which seemed to put an emphasis on you winning the Cup. Isn’t that cute.

Immediately after loading, I am prompted to create my persona. This is a vital function to allow the “Be a Pro” mode to work (added last year) and while some may find it rather intrusive to have this on startup, it gets it done, so that you can really get your teeth into the game later on.

Once this is done, you’re welcomed to the menu system, which unsurprisingly is the same as last year, with a few different options, and different wallpaper graphics. Besides this, you’re essentially seeing the same menu system used for the last three incarnations of this game (Perhaps four even?). Still, there’s no point in re-inventing the wheel, so I guess the same applies here.

Gameplay

NHL 10 consists of what you would expect any self respecting hockey game to have – A Quick Play mode, a Season mode, a Shootout mini game, an area to polish up on your training, and team management options (Rosters, etc). Also included is last year’s Be A Pro mode, a Montreal Cup Mode and, new for this year, a Playoff mode.

The Playoff mode is interesting, as it allows you to recreate last years playoffs. Of course, for a Stars fan like myself, this mode serves no more purpose than mocking us for not being in it, but its a nice touch, and the fact that you can play this against a friend is a great idea.

EA also added a GM mode. This function allows you to take in-depth control of your team, deciding everything that goes on with your chosen franchise – so perhaps someone can sort out the mess that is Toronto.

Online, is the same affair as last year: I found loading to be better, but this could be because I migrated to a PS3 from an Xbox this year, so it’s a moot point.

Controls are the same as NHL09, with the addition of Boarding: it is now possible to hold your opponent against the side, and attempt to steal the puck from them. Another nice touch, which helps make the game feel that much closer to the real thing. The passing system has been made a lot more slicker, and the puck takes in speed and angle when it hits the side now.

Goalkeeping has been tweaked, and alongside new animations the goalie has a new level of A.I., with them making more save attempts than ever. However, I did find a small flaw with the goalie, that they won’t go for a puck that’s directly next to a goalpost. It’s not helpful at all to have the goalie staring at the puck and then just letting the other team grab it and score.

However, the most raved function of NHL10 is the new fight system, and post whistle action. It is now possible to start fights or to just intimidate other players once the whistle has been blown. The fights are now in first person too, and you no longer button mash to hit or avoid your opponent, instead you use the left and right analogue sticks. Your rules and game style choice will determine how often these features happen, if at all, and of course, how many penalties you will get.

Additionally, PS3 owners now get the chance to bin the game music and install their own. This also allows you to choose individual music for your teams, on functions such as Penalties, Goal Scoring, Winning, Losing and so on.

Graphics

Similar to last year, and definately the smallest improvement – The new intro videos for starting the ice, and the improvements of the Be A Pro look slick, and the framerate never drops. Whilst I’m adamant that better can be achieved, you’ll know for certain that you’re not playing 2K10 for Wii: The crowd has been given a personality, and now for the first time ever, they won’t all get up and cheer if you score. Every person is animated, and there’s no fake cardboard fans.

Lasting Appeal

With all the new modes, and the endless amounts of people around 24/7 on online play, you’re pretty much set until NHL 11 comes out.

Overall

I love this game. Ive had every version of the NHL series since 06, and in the 4 years of owning this series, I have seen evolution in every series, and whilst this version offers nothing overly ground breaking, it rounds off some rough edges and adds some nice little touches to make you feel like your playing hockey – minus the cold, the physical feeling of being hit and the sweat.
Where EA go next year is beyond me. I’ll defiantly be pre-ordering my next copy.

Rating: 9.5/10 – “Superb”