Why no Hockey games for Wii?

[Roughneck]

What's up with that? I was sitting here waiting and waiting and waiting for EA NHL 2008 to come out so I could get back into some hockey Hockey goodness.....hell I`ve been playing NHL 2002 on PS2 since IT came out...I had no real need to upgrade, but with a new console I have the need.....And NHL 2008 was not released for my Wii....nor was 989`s NHL 2K8.

So does anyone know why exactly?

 

[i-n-z-a-n-e]

Funny, just realized that. I have no idea why not, haven't played any ea sports games; so i'm certainly unsure of how the sport style of games are for the system.

 

[cookiva]

hmmm....I could actually see that being waaaaay badass. Really need to release it.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I don't see why EA would release NHL 2008 on the Wii. EA Sports games do horribly on that system.

 

[amazingfantasy15]

When was the last time EA released any sports game beside Madden on a Nintendo console.

 

[cookiva]

It doesnt have to be an EA game. A hockey game built for the Wii could be pretty cool! You could have mini games playing as the goalie!!!

 

[terry78]

When was the last time a hockey game was released? Or even acknowledged alongside a football or basketball game? It's just never been that popular a sport. I have yet to hear anyone at the office say, "hey, how about those Blackhawks?"

 

[cookiva]

...its because they suck. Hockey games are usually the best sports games around, and IMO the most fun.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

It's because no one likes hockey.

 

[lateforwork]

I didn't realize that until I read this post .. I would think that maybe it has to do with Japan's culture .. they're not really too big on hockey, are they?

 

[terry78]

^Not really. They love basketball over there though. It's synonomous with hip-hop.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

They like baseball the best.

 

[Roughneck]

Okay....well Hocky is Huge in Canada...up here the hockey games do really well......and even the gamecube got hockey games I think

 

[Spidey-Bat]

It's not very popular in the states, unfortunately. The NHL has a really bad TV deal.

 

[Shifty]

EA has 2 Maddens, 2 Tiger Woods, 1 FIFA, 1 MLB, 1 snowboarding and 1 NBA for the Wii.

I would've thought that 2K would've put out an NHL game on the Wii if it has a good number of systems in North America and that EA is ignoring. Next year has to have one.

When was the last time a hockey game was released? Or even acknowledged alongside a football or basketball game? It's just never been that popular a sport. I have yet to hear anyone at the office say, "hey, how about those Blackhawks?"

Well the Owner, GMs and players turned the United Center into a ghosttown. But finally after getting low draft picks they're turning the franchise around.

Okay....well Hocky is Huge in Canada...up here the hockey games do really well......and even the gamecube got hockey games I think

All the PS2, PS3, and 360 versions on NHL2K7 and NHL 07 made the top twenty games sold in Canada in 2006. The PS2 version of NHL 07 was the #1 game in Canada last year even with only coming out in September.

I loved playing NHL 05 for the Gamecube. My brother and I picked the Sharks for franchise mode the first thing we did was acquire Joe Thornton in a trade. I can't remember who we traded for him but I know the video game Bruins got a much better deal then the actual Bruins would get a year later.

 

[Roughneck]

It's not very popular in the states, unfortunately. The NHL has a really bad TV deal.

Does OLN Still have it? Cause I remember laughing my ass off when I heard that.....

Up here in Canada we get the NHL on TSN, Sportsnet, CBC and then a bunch of NHL channels through the sattelite

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Some games are on NBC. But most are on satellite. I know they had the All-Star (I think that's what it's called) game on Versus (a cable or satellite channel). Most other games I think are on satellite channels.

 

[hippie_hunter]

When was the last time EA released any sports game beside Madden on a Nintendo console.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08
FIFA 08
NBA Live 08

 

[Shifty]

Up here in Canada we get the NHL on TSN, Sportsnet, CBC and then a bunch of NHL channels through the sattelite

Then there is the World Juniors, WHL, OHL, QMJHL, AHL and World Championships.

Some games are on NBC. But most are on satellite. I know they had the All-Star (I think that's what it's called) game on Versus (a cable or satellite channel). Most other games I think are on satellite channels.

The Genius Commissioner Bettman had the lockout for a year and then the league has been off ESPN for the last three years. Now they're trying to get back on ESPN. I'm thinking ESPN 4, as hockey fans have moved on, they've some how made it worse in America.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

ESPN makes everything bad. Baseball is completely unwatchable on ESPN with Joe Morgan as a commentator. He says the dumbest things you'll ever hear.

 

[Shifty]

ESPN makes everything bad.

At least American hockey fans could watch a game now and then instead of relying on 10 second highlights 45 minutes into SportsCenter.

 

[Roughneck]

Y'know....I was really hoping that after the lockout a few American Teams would be forced to move up here to Canada.....

I live in Edmonton and every single Edmonton Oiler game sells out.......it's like that for almost all of the Canadian Teams.....Even After Tampa bay won the cup they still had poor ticket sales.

 

[cookiva]

ESPN makes everything bad. Baseball is completely unwatchable on ESPN with Joe Morgan as a commentator. He says the dumbest things you'll ever hear.

If you think Joe Morgan is the wost part of ESPN, you really need to watch an entire game of Monday Night Football.

 

[The Amazing Spider-Man]

Speaking of sports games and Nintendo...

We've seen 'Mario Superstar Baseball', 'Mario Power Tennis', 'Mario Golf' and even 'Mario Hoops'. I want to see a 'Super Mario Slapshot'.

 

[Roughneck]

Mario isn't to good In Ice....don't you remember sliding all over the place in the ice Stages?

Anyway, it'll prolly never happen....Though it would be awesome....


The idea remings me of two things...first is a TNMT Table Hockey game I saw once when i was a kid, featureing Ninja Turtle characters as the players...

The Second is an old game for the NES simply titled Ice Hockey....you got to choose three guys (From either normal, Skinny or fat) Eash had different attributes.....anyway it was three on three plus goalies.

I could see Mario Hockey being pretty cool....pick your players from all of the usual Mario guys...each with different skill sets.....

But as I said it wont happen....Hockey just isn't a big enough draw in the US and Japan...