I grew up in the cold northeast of America and spent my winters playing ice hockey on ponds and lakes throughout New England, so I was terribly excited when EA announced that NHL 19 will have a dedicated pond hockey mode.Pond hockey in NHL 19 takes the form of NHL Ones, which invites players to join up with two others for a 1v1v1 shootout on outdoor rinks.Fans watch from the sidelines, shivering in winter jackets, while animals can be seen in the background. Pond hockey is considered the purest form of the sport, and in NHL 19`s pond hockey mode=, there are basically no rules and absolutely no whistles. It`s all about keeping the puck, deking your opponents with skill moves, and scoring goals. There are four different outdoor rinks, and you advance to the next one each time you win. The leaderboards reset every day, so you`re encouraged to come back all the time.I recently had the opportunity to speak with senior producer Sean Ramjagsingh about pond hockey in NHL 19. We had a long chat about the origins of the mode, what forms of prototyping it went through, and how it might help the NHL franchise reach even more players. The interview is below, edited and condensed for clarity and brevity.You can check out GameSpot`s NHL 19 review here.GameSpot: How long have you been planning this, and where did the idea come from?Ramjagsingh: I think it`s an evolution to be honest with you. So if you go back even before we launched NHL 18 ... we`re always about sort of authenticity. You know with an EA Sports game you`re going to get to play with the real players, the real uniforms, the real arenas, and try to have as many of the details absolutely served on point. We`re going to deliver that every single year. So, last year as it started with NHL 18, we started to look for opportunities to branch out and reach a wider audience and appeal to a wider audience. And lower the barrier of item into the experience as well.You know, as games have become sort of more complex as cons ...
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