NHL 2K11 skips Xbox 360 and PS3, only coming to Wii [update]

by David Hinkle on Mar 3rd 2010 5:30PM

During the recent Take-Two fiscal earnings report, we noticed something a bit off. See, back in December when we got our last update from the company, NHL 2K11 was missing entirely from the report. This suggested that there wouldn't be another game in the series.

Well, today Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick revealed that another iteration in the series is in the works -- and it's exclusively for the Wii. "As far as NHL, we're taking a year off on PS3 and Xbox 360 to refine, redesign and re-think," Zelnick remarked during the earnings report. So while Canadians* will have fewer options when it comes to platform, knowing the series hasn't been retired is a good thing, right?

Update: We reached out to Take-Two for a more comprehensive explanation of the choice to ditch PS3 and Xbox 360 this year. Here's what the spoksperson said: "We have decided to reevaluate our NHL strategy and will only be releasing NHL 2K11 for the Wii in fiscal year 2010. We want to become a stronger competitor in this category and taking a year off on PS3 and Xbox 360, while focusing on making the best possible game for Wii, should allow us to accomplish that goal."

*Come on, we all know Canadians are the only ones playing these games

Tags: 2k-sports, hockey, Microsoft, nhl, nhl-2k11, Nintendo, take-two, Wii, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (53)

Canadians and Finns.

And Detroiters.

Oh my!

@kiz, considering the wings are barely holding on to a playoff spot makes detroiters less likely to buy a hockey game next year.

If only Madden would consider doing the same thing. Of course, Madden actually sells, despite the small differences in each release from year to year...

Oh, and that guy up there.. he should be '2K Guy'.

That face would make an excellent pairing with 'Dead Space Girl'.

Kratos Girl MAKE A SHOP OF IT NAO!!!

Except Madden '10 (possibly the best Madden ever) is approximately 1,832,947 times better than Madden '09 (one of the worst Maddens ever).

After seeing Avatar, I wanna see a Kratos Na'vi.

Shouldn't it be NHL 2KW11? Get it?!?!

The only good thing about these games are the fist fights!

Than just play Boxing
Skip the middle man

NHL 11 will be better anyways. The 2K hockey games suck.

Like MLB 2K vs MLB The Show.

MLB The Show > MLB 2K

Yeah, NFL 2K was really the only sport they got right, and we all know what happened there...

@DBuck_eye

They got NBA right as well, and had quite the lead on the EA NBA games for several years.

It's just hockey and baseball that they suck at.

2K should do this with ALL 2K Sports games.

A developer skips over Xbox360 and PS3 to sell on the Wii exclusively?!? Hell must've froze over...

*Cough* Epic Mickey

I hear ya skeet.

**This isn't a Wii Bash**

My wife enjoyes it, when she does play it, which is rare. Our Wii hasn't been used in months. Granted, I do enjoy SMBW, but other then the occasional first party game, the Wii is pretty hard to play with when you have a 360 and PS3. Hell, I bought it for the wife, because she wanted Wii Fit, and other 1 time, she hasn't turned it on. My kids and I will hit it more when we're bored w/our other consoles.

the saints just won the Superbowl my friend hell is frozen .....

Perhaps they can hire the old Midway Mortal Kombat developers. Then we'd get real fighting.

FATALITY.

Decapatitation w/ hockey skates.

Rapidly hitting pucks in a machine gun like fashion.

Impaling w/ hockey sticks.

Simply put, they couldn't compete with EA's hockey game, which has absolutely blown theirs out of the water the last two years. Most consider EA's latest hockey games to be some of the best sports games ever made, and the last couple 2k hockey games have been just 'meh'.

Really, I think the only people buying the 2k hockey games were moms that didn't know it was even a different game.

2K Hockey is reflective of their coverboy Alex...wilts under the pressure.

That dude in the cover could use a dentist chair.

@ bradmeyerlive

Nah... he is rocking the gap-tooth smile. Thats whats up!!

"*Come on, we all know Canadians are the only ones playing these games"

NHL10 has actually been played nearly as much as Madden 10 on Live the last few weeks, and more than Madden when it was newer.

I'd imagine many people are in the same boat as me. I haven't watched a real life hockey game in 5 years, but the EA NHL games are so damned good you don't have to care about the sport itself to have a blast with them.

the hockey games used to be fun, but the new ones are just to complicated, i can play NHL 2005 and get the controls in a game or two, in NHL 2010 i cant even understand what it wants me to do.

what i think they should release is a CFL game. they say it wont sell, but i think it would do ok

@Cory:

You found the skill stick to be complicated? I really think that when they introduced that control design, it changed the way hockey games were played and that's when the line between EA and 2K became a lot clearer. Each year since then EA has increased it's lead over 2K and it just can't keep up. NHL10 is awesome.

@cory

If you spend a couple minutes running through the tutorial it's actually incredibly intuitive, at least for the NHL 09-10 control scheme.

The left stick controls the skater's direction, and the right stick controls the -- err -- stick. I tried to play a quick game with the NHL '94 control scheme for fun the other day, the game was actually more difficult.

Seriously, run through the tutorial a time or two if you don't get it.

They did the same thing with the wrestling games Cory. I remember on the N64, A was punch, hold A was heavy punch (or kick), B was grapple, holding B was a strong grapple, then during either grapple you could press a d-pad direction with A or B to execute a move. There was a button for running and the same A/B combination worked that way too. The control scheme was flawless, then they changed it all to make is totally un-user friendly and almost unplayable in the smackdown vs raw games. I havent played a wrestling game since and i would be the first in line if they changed it back.

actually, i did do the tutorial, it said something about left stick to move, right stick to control the puck (like you said) but then i would try and spin, or deke and shoot and suddenly the left stick tuned into the spot the puck was being shot, and the right stick was power (i think, im probably wrong on that, i played the game a while ago)

This is what they need to do for the MLB 2k series.

that's honestly not too bad of a strategy. any fans of the series usually won't care what platform the game is on, as long as it's good, and nearly everyone already has a Wii, so the only way to fail in this model is if the game is bad or the company doesn't do good marketing; or both.

Wait... since when does nearly everyone have a Wii? Selling a lot of systems doesn't mean that a majority of gamers that want a hockey game will have or even want a Wii; that's a massive logical misstep.

considering that the Wii has outsold both of the other major home consoles every month for the past few years or so, i think it's fairly safe to assume that most FAMILIES have a Wii. maybe some lone wolf hockey fans are out there with only a 360 or a PS3, but that's not nearly a large enough audience to warrant anything in my argument as a logical misstep.

I play NHL 09 still and I have a blast with it. I think 2K has conceded the battle over the real consoles to EA in terms of hockey.

I think it's actually a smart move. It makes sense. EA dominates the PS3 and 360, but 2K will be offering the only licensed hockey for the Wii. They're basically admitting that they can't compete with EA, but in doing so, they should be able to score with the Wii... sorry I had to.

What, you don't think there are american hockey fans? I personally prefer NHL over 2K though

Promising, since they did put a lot of effort into their last NHL2K on Wii, iirc. Motion plus, online, the whole bit

Coming to a wii near you:

NHL 11 PRO SOFT-PUCK HOCKEY ALL-PLAY LITTLE KID BACK YARD HOCKEY

Wha? April 1st already?

the only reason they're doing this is because they want to get acclimated to the motion controller that ps3 will have and natal

Wha? April 1st already?

Damn Alexander Ovechkin is one ugly SoB!

@Cory

NHL 2000-2002 Dpad + Sqaure controls are better and has more pricison(SP) than analog controls.

sounds like bullshit ,rethink what . there are only them & EA that make a hockey game. hey if you don't want my money then say so ,don't bullshit me .

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! To be more competitive!? So they are gonna be more competitive by releasing nhl2k11 only on the wii and not ps3 and 360? Man, talk about some bomb sales. The 3rd party market is a huge failure on the Wii. PS3 and 360 are authentic sports gaming systems far ahead of the wii. Yeah, Wii sports sells but thats because its brainless and sells to the entire casual gaming market it carries. LOL, someone is gonna be fired come next year due to this decision when it sells less copies than dead space extraction. heh heh, what a joke.

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NHL 2K11 skips Xbox 360 and PS3, only coming to Wii [update]

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