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The new version of the ICE-Q system will include data from NHL EDGE, one of the world’s largest ice hockey information databases.
Recently, I had the pleasure of attending a talk with Mike Inglehart and David Pritchett, creative director and lead designer –respectively– of the new EA SPORTS NHL 26. During the talk, they were kind enough to tell us about different improvements and, among them, there was one that caught my attention: the new version of the ICE-Q 2.0 system.
For those unfamiliar, ICE-Q 2.0 is a gameplay intelligence system that aims to improve player movement and responsiveness within the game.
Now, for this new edition, the development team has stepped up by adding NHL EDGE, one of the world’s largest databases when it comes to ice hockey.
So, with this new version of its ICE-Q, EA SPORTS NHL 26 promises to be more realistic and accurate than ever thanks to the information provided by NHL EDGE: skating speed, shot power and location, and much more.
Likewise, thanks to this data, they can not only match the attributes of the original sport to the video game, but also offer a greater degree of differentiation between players.
With this data, Electronic Arts’ sports simulator will have an additional basis to identify the characteristics, capabilities and unique traits of different movements, as well as the unique qualities of the most prominent ice hockey stars.
This way, Mike and David explained that thanks to this system they will be able to incorporate unique features of different players into the game, such as –for example– Draisaitl’s low shot.
The main idea behind all this work is to give a greater sense of realism and control to EA SPORTS NHL 26, bringing it closer than ever to the original sport. It was already there in the previous edition, but with the next installment it promises to be more accurate than ever.
The new ICE-Q 2.0 will also have a positive effect on the goalkeeper. Angles are now better covered, so reactions and saves have greater coverage. They respond better to unexpected trajectories, emulating more accurately the options available to a real goalkeeper.
During the talk, what became most clear to me is that the development team has put a lot of effort into building a much more immersive and detailed experience thanks to ICE-Q 2.0. In theory, it’s a very appealing idea.
By adding so much data, players are more likely than ever to differentiate themselves, creating an ecosystem where the small distinctions between athletes are real, thus giving the gameplay a series of variables that were not possible before.
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