Chris Curutchet (longtime community member VeNOM2099) has produced a 5-minute NHL 2K10 highlight music video. It features HD gameplay footage and highlights set to Filter’s “Hey Man, Nice Shot”.

Nice Shot: NHL 2K10 Video by VeNOM2099

Here is the main list of fixes for the upcoming NHL 2K10 patch, including an extensive list of gameplay/control/AI improvements, online fixes, and other enhancements.

The patch is due to be released sometime by early/mid-December.

Gameplay

• Fixed soft crash with referee not dropping the puck when playing with slower speed settings.
• Retuned the default sliders to make gameplay faster.
• Retuned the speed for acceleration and launches, allowing the user to break out mid launch.
• Players can now speed burst during crossover animations.
• Pinning has now been made easier, and can be initiated with the check button at slower speeds.
• Stick sweeps and poke checks retuned to more accurately knock the puck away when hitting the puck or stick rather than the puckhandler.
• Retuned shot velocity on rebounds and loose pucks.
• Retuned one-timer animations so players closer to the net will now deflect the puck rather than take slap shots.
• One-timers are now more difficult and will be missed more often if the player isn’t in good position.
• Briefly disable loose shots when sweeping your stick without the puck and then gaining possession.
• Penalties are slightly reduced globally.
• Retuned how the AI clears the puck on Penalty Kills.
• Reduced the number of diving poke checks done by goalies.
• Retuned defensive AI related to blue line pressure and defensive zone play.
• AI will now better react to drop passes.
• Slightly increased the aggressiveness of the AI in their own offensive zone if they are on a penalty kill.
• More aggressive behaviors for offensive players after the puck enters the attacking zone.
• User should now have better control over the player when in a shot block animation.
• Players will now help out more in a pinning situation.
• AI is more aggressive on defense during odd man rushes.

Online

• Fixed de-sync related to custom soundtracks in online games.
• Made default online difficulty harder in unranked games.
• Add ability to sign in to cooperative franchise games from the Team Select screen, allowing for multiple users to play from the same console.
• Fixed OT Losses not tracking correctly in online play.
• Allow custom sliders to be used in unranked matches.
• Fixed the bug where you will randomly gain control of the goalie in Team Up mode.
• Fixed the issue so that users will always maintain the same color during Team Up mode.
• Fixed the issue with the speed burst bar / player icon flickering in Team Up mode.
• Fixed a disconnect issue that occasionally occurred while the server was down.
• Fixed an occasional disconnect problem in league games when line changes are made.
• Fixed an issue that would cause league games to sometimes abort at the end of the loading screen.
• Fixed an issue when the leader of a Pick-Up party leaves the party in the lobby.

General

• Reduced puck shadow size by 20%.
• In Reelmaker, added the ability to turn off the cursor like in replay (hit both bumpers simultaneously).
• Fantasy Drafts now reset all player glove colors to team color instead of custom.

Here’s another CPU-vs-CPU gameplay video, this time at the Winter Classic. I tried changing the sliders up a little:

- Acceleration was turned up… players move quicker as soon as they get the puck
- Speed burst effect is up, but length and recovery are way down… this results in short bursts of speed and it takes a long time for players to recharge (”catch their breath”) before they can go all-out again; this appears to give players an extra step sometimes, while a tired defender is not recharged enough to speed burst to catch up, for better or worse
- Creativity and hitting were turned up a bit

You can see the benefits and some side effects of changing these sliders. Enjoy!

NHL 2K10 Gameplay Video (CPU vs CPU)

Hope you enjoyed the teaser video, because here’s almost 2 full periods of CPU-vs-CPU gameplay footage. I tweaked the All-Star sliders as follows:

- Lower acceleration
- Slightly longer speed burst length & recovery
- Hitting frequency and effectiveness way down
- Shot tendency up a little, pass tendency down
- Lower shot and pass accuracy, and a few other tweaks
- All presentation elements (puck shadow, puck carrier info, etc) off

It looked pretty decent so I went ahead and recorded. These settings could still use some work, but this should give you a rough idea of the AI and “flow” of NHL 2K10 with just a little slider adjustment.

NHL 2K10 Gameplay Video (CPU vs CPU)

While running some NHL 2K10 CPU-vs-CPU games in the background as I tested my video capture setup, I happened to see this little nugget recorded. It’s only a minute or so long, but shows off the AI on a last-minute power play attack before the end of the period. It’s not much, but I just thought it was a cool looking sequence and figured I’d post the footage for you.

NHL 2K10 Gameplay Video (CPU vs CPU Powerplay Teaser)