All Articles: NHL 17

NBA 2K17 simulation scores as Warriors win NBA Finals… but Predators trash NHL 17 prediction with loss

It didn’t take seven games, but NBA 2K17‘s playoff simulation became a reality last night, and the Golden State Warriors won the NBA Championship.

It was a high-scoring series, and the Warriors closed it out in Game 5 with a 129-120 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. The two teams have been trading championships over the last three years, with the Warriors winning it all in 2015, and Cleveland claiming victory last year. The difference this time appeared to be Kevin Durant, who signed with the Warriors in the offseason. Durant averaged 35.2 points per game in the series, and was named the Finals MVP.

Elsewhere in the sports world, EA’s NHL 17 simulation didn’t work out as well. As predicted, the Nashville Predators reached the Stanley Cup Finals, but they lost the series against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Both franchises will get another chance this September with the upcoming release of NBA 2K18 and NHL 18.

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NHL 17 predicts the Nashville Predators will win their first Stanley Cup this year

The Nashville Predators joined the NHL as an expansion team in 1998… and if NHL 17‘s playoff simulation is correct, they’ll win their first Stanley Cup this year.

According to the prediction from EA Sports, the Predators will beat the Montreal Canadiens in seven games in the 2017 Stanley Cup Finals:

It all came down to one game. P.K. Subban and the Nashville Predators against Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. It was a back-and-forth game that featured stellar saves and highlight reel goals until Viktor Arvidsson scored with 17:37 left in the third period to give the Predators a 3-2 lead. Ryan Johansen would tack on an empty net goal late in the third period securing the first Stanley Cup in Nashville Predators franchise history.

As of today, the real-life Predators have a 2-0 series lead over the Chicago Blackhawks in their first round matchup. Meanwhile, the Canadiens are leading the New York Rangers two games to one.

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Sports! NBA 2K17, Madden 17, FIFA 17, NHL 17 are the best-selling games in September 2016

nbalogoFootball season is in full swing, and the NBA season is getting ready to tip-off this weekend, so it’s a great time to check out this year’s newest sports simulations. Gamers definitely agreed, as four sports titles were at the top of September 2016’s sales report from The NPD Group.

2K’s NBA 2K17 was #1, and it was followed by three from EA Sports: Madden NFL 17 (#2), FIFA 17 (#3), and NHL 17 (#4). Shooters dominated the rest of the list with BioShock: The Collection rounding out the Top 5, and Destiny: The Collection (#6), Overwatch (#8), and Call of Duty: Black Ops III (#10) all in the Top 10.

Believe it or not, Minecraft failed to find a place in the Top 10 for the first time in nearly a year. Perhaps this is why hardware, software, and accessory sales totaled $838.2 million last month, which is down from September 2015’s $1.09 billion tally. But the NPD is pinning the blame on the PS4 Slim and Xbox One S.

“Spending on software, hardware, and accessories declined by 23% compared to this time last year,” NPD Analyst Sam Naji told GamesIndustry.biz. “The release of the PS4 Slim and the second month of the Xbox One S was not enough to stimulate total hardware spending and this month’s new software releases could not compete with last year’s stronger slate of new games.”

The full Top 10 from September 2016 can be found after the break. (more…)

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Xbox Store Today: ReCore, Pac-Man Championship Edition 2, The Witness, more

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It’s a big day for the Xbox Games Store, as Xbox One owners will be able to choose from more than a dozen new releases this week, as well as the launch of Microsoft’s Xbox Play Anywhere program.

ReCore is a third-person action game for the Xbox One from Armature Studio and Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune. Players will take control of Joule Adams, one of the last remaining humans on Far Eden. As she struggles for survival, she’ll have to fight back against evil robotic foes and create her own army of friendly automatons. As the first Xbox Play Anywhere title, players who purchase it for the Xbox One will also receive access to the game on Windows 10 as well.

Most of this week’s new releases deal with “Survival” in some way or another, but The Witness is in a class of its own. Players wake up on “a strange island full of puzzles” and must work out the solutions if they want to continue in the Xbox One title. A simpler survival story can be found in Pac-Man Championship Edition 2, an Xbox One game that pits the famous Pac-Man against the Ghosts once again.

Frank West’s fight isn’t with any kind of spook or specter, but the living dead. And he’ll need all the help he can get as Capcom will re-release Dead Rising, Dead Rising 2, and Dead Rising 2: Off the Record on the Xbox One this week. The remastered games will feature improved graphics, and you can even grab all three of them at a discount with the Dead Rising Triple Pack.

2K Games and Irrational Games will also re-release a loosely connected trilogy for the Xbox One this week with the launch of BioShock: The Collection. Containing BioShock, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite, Xbox One owners will be able to play through visually-enhanced version of the games and listen to developer’s commentary from Ken Levine and others.

And are you ready for some sports? New hockey (NHL 17), racing (NASCAR Heat: Evolution), and soccer games (Pro Evolution Soccer 2017) are available to download for the Xbox One today. Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 was also released for the Xbox 360.

Finally this week, Telltale Games will launch new entries in two of their episodic series. Xbox 360 owners will be able to play as both Batman and Bruce Wayne in Batman: The Telltale Series – Episode 1: Realm of Shadows, while Xbox One and Xbox 360 owners will be able to experience the finale of Minecraft: Story Mode in Episode 8: A Journey’s End?

More information about all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)

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NBA 2K17, Pac-Man CE 2, BioShock Collection, and a lot more added to PS Store

It’s a big day for the PlayStation Store and this week’s update starts off with enough sports games to fill a gym bag…

  • NBA 2K17 is the latest basketball sim from 2K Games. It’ll be available for the PS4 and PS3 on Friday, September 16.
  • NHL 17 is the latest hockey sim from EA Sports, and it’s now available for the PS4.
  • Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 is the latest soccer sim from Konami, and it’s now available for the PS4 and PS3.
  • NASCAR Heat: Evolution is also now available and its the first NASCAR racing sim to be released for the PS4.

Competitive eaters will also get their chance to shine this week as Bandai Namco has launched Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 for the PS4. The last Championship Edition game was released in 2010, and Pac-Man has learned plenty of new tricks in the intervening years including how to “bump” Ghosts. He’ll need all the help he can get, because Pac-Man will also battle bosses for the first time in Championship Edition 2.

One of gaming’s first heroes won’t be the only blast from the past to greet PS4 owners this week. BioShock: The Collection is a remastered compilation of Irrational’s beloved trilogy that’ll also include commentary from the developers. And Frank West will return in the Dead Rising Triple Pack, which will include Dead Rising, Dead Rising 2, and Dead Rising 2: Off the Record. All three games will also be available as individual downloads.

Nostalgia-driven gamers might also be interested Rive, the final game from developer Two Tribes. A side-scrolling shooter with a dash of platforming for the PS4, Two Tribes likes to think of Rive as their “metal-wrecking, robot-hacking” swan song.

Finally this week, Telltale Games will add new episodes to two of their series. Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 8: A Journey’s End? is available to download for the PS4 and PS3, while Batman: The Telltale Series – Episode 1: Realm of Shadows comes to the PS3 for the first time.

More information on all of these games (and a lot of other new releases) can be found after the break. And don’t forget, the PlayStation Blog has a complete rundown of this week’s new add-ons and discounts. (more…)

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New Retail Releases: NBA 2K17 Early Tip Off, ReCore, BioShock Collection, More

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Ladies and gentlemen, it has begun. The “Fall Gaming Season” begins now, and publisher are flooding store shelves with more than a dozen new titles this week.

With the NFL season kicking off today, let’s start with this week’s sports offerings. EA Sports released Madden NFL 17 three weeks, but the publisher is back this week with NHL 17 for the PS4 and Xbox One. If you’re more of a basketball fan, 2K Games will release the NBA 2K17: Early Tip Off Edition this week for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. Soccer supporters will also get a new simulation this week with the release of Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 on the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. And the checkered flag goes to NASCAR Heat: Evolution, which will be released for the PS4 and Xbox One this week.

Far away from Earth’s athletic fields is the planet of Far Eden, an interstellar colony that’s been overrun by villainous robots in Microsoft’s ReCore. Developed by Armature Studio, with additional idea work by Keiji Inafune, ReCore lets players fight back as Joule Adams, a resourceful woman who has her own team of robotic helpers. ReCore will be released for the Xbox One and it’ll also be available digitally for the PC as an Xbox Play Anywhere title.

You know who else has access to a lot of gadgets? Batman. And Telltale Games will put the World’s Greatest Detective through the ringer this week with their Batman: The Telltale Series – Season Pass Disc for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. The disc will include the first episode from Telltale’s Batman series and digital access to every subsequent episode released (the second is scheduled to launch on September 20).

Finally this week, a trio of re-releases will reintroduce gamers to a few beloved franchises. BioShock: The Collection will bring BioShock, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite together in a single package for the PS4 and Xbox One (and digitally on the PC) with improved graphics and exclusive commentary by Ken Levine and other developers from Irrational. Meanwhile, Capcom’s Dead Rising also makes the leap to the PS4 and Xbox One (and, again, digitally on the PC) with improved graphics. And Square Enix and Nintendo collaborated on a brand new localization for the 3DS release of Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past.

A complete list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)

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EA announces NHL 17 and they want your help picking a cover athlete

The NHL playoffs are in full swing, but EA Sports is already thinking about next season. The megapublisher recently announced that NHL 17 will be released for the PS4 and Xbox One this Fall and they’re asking fans to once again select the cover athlete. Here’s what the first round of voting looks like:

Jamie Benn (#NHL17Benn) VS Aleksander Barkov (#NHL17Barkov)
Joe Pavelski (#NHL17Pavelski) VS Anze Kopitar (#NHL17Kopitar)
Connor McDavid (#NHL17McDavid) VS Jakub Voracek (#NHL17Voracek)
Victor Hedman (#NHL17Hedman) VS Vladimir Tarasenko (#NHL17Tarasenko)

The contest is now open at NHL.com, or you can cast your vote through Twitter using the hashtags above. Fans can vote as many times as they like, and tweets count double on “Twitter Vote Thursdays.”

In addition to the cover athlete vote, EA also released their “Vision Trailer” for NHL 17, which shows “how the team [at EA Canada] is working directly with fans to build the biggest and most exciting hockey game to date.”

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A Day-By-Day Guide to All of 2016’s New Video Games (April – September)

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The Spring and Summer months are currently less dense with new releases than the first three months of the year, but that should change fairly soon, especially since publishers have staked a claim to every week from the beginning of April to the end of June with at least one big new release dropping every seven days.

Are you ready? Because here… we… go… (more…)

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