The AHL will be in a video game

The American Hockey League announced today a three-year partnership with Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc., which will feature the AHL in the all-new signature hockey franchise, Gretzky™ NHL® 2005 from 989 Sports®.

The partnership marks the AHL’s first involvement in the video game field. Gretzky NHL 2005 for the PlayStation® 2 computer entertainment system is available in stores now.

Thanks to exclusive licensing with the AHL, Gretzky NHL 2005 allows users to bring the stars of tomorrow to the ice today, with a deep and detailed franchise mode featuring American Hockey League team and player names.

More here: http://www.theahl.com/AHL/News/2004/11/09/707247.html

Shame it has to be with that series :dunce:

Just to bad 989 sports makes the game. 989 sports games have been for the most part astrocious with little exception to the not-terrible MLB series.

Shame it has to be with that series :dunce:

That's exactley what I thought when I first read it... 989 games are crap. :banghead:

Guess they don't know what it takes to make a sports game -

http://www.livejournal.com/users/ea_spouse/

Makes me think twice about buying EA games.

Does anybody know if you can play as the AHL teams or is it just a holding place for your prospects?

If I had to guess, I would say that it's probably just a holding place for your prospects. I would think that 989 would have promoted the fact that you could play AHL games if you actually could. Sounds very similiar to the minor leagues in ESPN 2K5 except that 989 has an official licensing agreement with the AHL.

My sentiments echo the rest, it's a shame that 989 made this arrangement. They haven't made a hockey game that has been remotely playable.

I will say that the video on their website looks decent, but gameplay is a completely different matter. Might be worth a rent.

WARK ! 989 sports sucks badly ! Why they didn't do partnership with Ea or Espn.I played some 989 sports games recently and the greaphics sucks badly !

NHL Faceoff always suck! I don't know why the Gretzky's franchise will be better.

If I can play as the Barons vs other AHL teams I will ask for Gretzky for X-MAS. :amazed:

i don't get EA. In MLB series u can play as your minor league teams, for the NHL series you can't do that. For the NFL madden series you can even relocate your freakin franchise.

EA spends more time on those 2 sports than they do on Hockey. THE FREAKIN SPORTS GAMES ARE MADE IN BURNABY, BC, CANADA...its the #1 sport here i mean its not *** hard to put some attention to that series now does it. Soooooo freakin disappointed with the hockey series.

I find myself playing Madden 2005 all the time, i had to take the Raiders and relocate the stupid team to Vancouver to get my BC "Grizzlies" (Detroit has the Lions).

I doubt it could be any worse than EA NHL 2005.

This year 989 might surprise us, and it's a cheap price tag on the game at 39.99 CAN

I doubt it could be any worse than EA NHL 2005.
Sorry but i have to diagree with you here i think ea sports is the best hockey video game out there and ea NHL 2005 is very good the only thing i dont like the second level of the game is to easy to score and the third ( one level higher) it is impossible to score, i played half a season on that level and the only time i won was if i alternated jerseys, for some weird reason or if i made a trade. pretty wierd . but overall i like t alot. So i dont know what everyones beef about it is.

OMG i bought GRETZKY NHL 2005 today and it BLOWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you thought 2k5 was CRAP well this is WORSE..(I KNOW THAT SOUNDS IMPOSSIBLE BUT IT IS TRUE) Stick with EAs game. And They did a HORRIBLE job rating the AHL players (BTW no playable AHL games in this..kinda hard to tell from that article if they meant the new game or future games)..Jason Labarbera..you know AHL MVP last year is rated a 50! LOL

OMG i bought GRETZKY NHL 2005 today and it BLOWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you thought 2k5 was CRAP well this is WORSE..(I KNOW THAT SOUNDS IMPOSSIBLE BUT IT IS TRUE) Stick with EAs game. And They did a HORRIBLE job rating the AHL players (BTW no playable AHL games in this..kinda hard to tell from that article if they meant the new game or future games)..Jason Labarbera..you know AHL MVP last year is rated a 50! LOL

So why don't you yell about it? :shakehead

you actually think 2k5 blows? In gameplay ESPN is by far the best and EA is more like a arcade game sometimes too much scoring gets to you plus no create a player.

plus no create a player.


Yeah what's the deal with that? If you could create players on sega genesis how can you not do it in the year 2005? And what is the sense of being able to create a team if you can't use that team in a franchise? The EA game blows.

There are things from the EA game that are better (I own both) but if you're only buying one, get ESPN and go search the net for some good slider settings.

On the topic of the AHL in 989's game, it's a good start, but I want to be able to play with those teams. 2K5 has the AHL team cities and colours, and the players accumulate stats, but you can't play with them.

EA has the Euro leagues (no Russian league though?) and you can play with them which is good. My ideal game would have Euro leagues (Rus. Swe. Czech. Germ.) and the AHL and you could play the games for all of them. EA's baseball game had AAA and AA, so it can be done. Have those leagues and young players pop up on the Euro teams and AHL teams and you can draft those players. The technology is there, but they don't seem to want to put the resources into a hockey game, its a real shame.

i don't get EA. In MLB series u can play as your minor league teams, for the NHL series you can't do that. For the NFL madden series you can even relocate your freakin franchise.

EA spends more time on those 2 sports than they do on Hockey. THE FREAKIN SPORTS GAMES ARE MADE IN BURNABY, BC, CANADA...its the #1 sport here i mean its not *** hard to put some attention to that series now does it. Soooooo freakin disappointed with the hockey series.

The NHL series doesn't hold a candle to Madden, Live, or their baseball games in terms of sales, so naturally it takes the hit in favour of the other games.

EA has the Euro leagues (no Russian league though?) and you can play with them which is good. My ideal game would have Euro leagues (Rus. Swe. Czech. Germ.) and the AHL and you could play the games for all of them.

Too bad the Euro leagues are half assed efforts (atleast the Finnish league). Last years rosters, the gold helmet worn by each teams top scorer is instead worn by their top goal scorer, all the arenas look like Helsinki's Hartwall Arena and the PA guys announcements are all from NHL 2001(!). It will be interesting to see how they handle SM-liiga in next year's game since there'll be one team promoted to the league from the second tier Mestis-league. If that team is in the game in the first place and has this season's roster, there's going to a lot pissed off Finns (in addition to those who didn't like this year's game).

you actually think 2k5 blows? In gameplay ESPN is by far the best and EA is more like a arcade game sometimes too much scoring gets to you plus no create a player.


too much scoring? i cant even buy a freaking goal.

There are things from the EA game that are better (I own both) but if you're only buying one, get ESPN and go search the net for some good slider settings.

On the topic of the AHL in 989's game, it's a good start, but I want to be able to play with those teams. 2K5 has the AHL team cities and colours, and the players accumulate stats, but you can't play with them.



First off, I would definitely agree to get ESPN 2K5 instead of NHL 2005. I used to be a loyal EA guy, but I'm through with them. IMO NHL 2005 is pretty bad.

As for the AHL in 989, aside from having an official licensing agreement with the AHL (thus can use the actual team names and colors), it sounds exactly like the minor league feature in ESPN 2K5. The season is virtually played and statistics are kept. Maybe in 989 there are more AHL players, but, if you can't play the games, who really cares?

The NHL series doesn't hold a candle to Madden, Live, or their baseball games in terms of sales, so naturally it takes the hit in favour of the other games.


In maybe 2002 and 2003 it might have been different but the past 2 years Madden has taken over big time, why? because EA has drifted away from simulation hockey and went towards Arcade style. I don't know which idiot decided that but it was a stupid move.

I also said i agree Madden is far superior, which is why i play the game. Of course i relocated my team (Oakland) to Vancouver for the 2006-07 season, thats very cool imo.

I mean imagine if you can control your team the way you can in Madden, that would be the best game out there.

Sorry but i have to diagree with you here i think ea sports is the best hockey video game out there and ea NHL 2005 is very good the only thing i dont like the second level of the game is to easy to score and the third ( one level higher) it is impossible to score, i played half a season on that level and the only time i won was if i alternated jerseys, for some weird reason or if i made a trade. pretty wierd . but overall i like t alot. So i dont know what everyones beef about it is.


What do you like worship EA or something? WHen there is a crappy game, you have to admit that its crappy.

Like i said my brother works there. 8 people were fired and the Warfield group were let go. The reason? They released a game that was not finished properly and you can tell when you play the game. When you go to replay when u score (autoreplay) the screen that pops up with the white background is soo unfinished looking you can tell how bad this game is. ESPN 2k5 may have glitches, but i would rather put up with glitches than bad gameplay.

NHL2005 is just about big hits and that stupid free4all. The game is for children not for all ages, thats the major different in the EA brand for Hockey.

too much scoring? i cant even buy a freaking goal.

Perhaps this may be more appropriate then? :)