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NHL 23 brings an enhanced Frostbite experience, cross-play and much more in the most connected virtual hockey experience to date. The new game is set to release on October 14th with preorder perks allowing early access. The yearly iteration of EA Sports NHL is closing in on us and the release date for NHL 23 has been set to October 14th. As usual, we’ll be getting the choice between a few different editions with some extra pre-order perks, which we’ll be taking a closer look at towards the end of this article. Once again, with NHL 23, the franchise really draws inspiration from some of the sport's most exciting and influential players. In recent years, we’ve seen an influx of exciting new talent into the NHL, breaking barriers of what we ever thought was possible on the ice. We’ve also seen the emergence of worldwide stars in women’s hockey and the momentum they’ve been able to generate for themselves has served the sport extremely well, but they’ve also paved the way for the younger generation looking up to them. This year, EA Sports NHL is adding more Women’s content than ever and including some of the greatest female players to ever take the ice in the HUT game mode, allowing you to make your dream team of the sport’s greatest players a reality. With this being said, the cover athletes acting as an inspiration for this year's game will be Trevor Zegras from the Anaheim Ducks and Sarah Nurse from the Canada Women’s National Team. If you missed it, check out our cover athlete reveal article here. “I’m pumped up and excited to be on the cover and it’s a huge honor for me. It’s a game I've been enjoying for quite some time and I’m pumped to see that so many of you have tried my moves out there. See you on the ice!” - Trevor Zegras “I’m so excited and honored to be the first ever female cover star on an NHL video game. Women’s hockey is definitely here to stay!” - Sarah Nurse Leaning into what Frostbite has to offer While last year was something of a transition year for the franchise, this year the development team should have really been able to lean into the full potential of what the Frostbite engine and the new generation consoles will be able to deliver, and from the snippets we’ve seen thus far, it’s looking promising. The visual aspects and the lighting is obvious, but the crowd atmosphere, dynamic momentum, emotion and overall immersion in the arenas is a thing that’ll be the next step with the new title. Last chance puck movement On top of the improvements and tweaks the team has been able to make to existing mechanics, some new things we’ll be seeing in NHL 23 is last chance puck movement and enhanced goaltender AI. While the latter might be rather self-explanatory, last chance puck movement is going to be an interesting one that might divide a lot of opinions. What it does is allowing your player to reach for the puck in a last chance effort to make a play on a loose puck. Whether it’s going to be a shot while falling down or a pass to your teammate, you can now go for these moves in a situation that might have previously been lost. Enhanced AI all around NHL 23 promises enhanced goaltender AI, but also really leans into the X-Factors that will now impact how the AI players play the game even more. For example, players with the One tee X-Factor now have a higher propensity to look for a shooting position and their teammates will actively try to find the passing lane for that rocket slapshot. Cross-play implementation What we’ve heard from the development team thus far, is that the connected experience has been their main goal for NHL 23, and we’re happy to report that they’ve been able to deliver on that front. While the community has been asking for cross-play be implemented to the NHL-series, we haven’t really seen or heard anything about it, until now. NHL 23 promises to bring full cross-play implementation to the Hockey Ultimate Team and World of Chel game modes, allowing PlayStation and Xbox users to play against each other for the first time in the series history. The one drawback is that cross-play won’t be available across console generations and it will not be available at launch, but is going to be included in an update in November. Cross-play promises to greatly improve the matchmaking experience and allow you to play with your friends regardless of the console commitment you’ve made - that’s a massive W in our books! Pre-order versions of NHL 23 - double entitlement NHL 23 features two versions of the game available for Pre-order starting today. Players will be able to opt for the standard version or the X-Factor Edition on any console. When opting which version to go for, keep in mind that while NHL 23 will include cross-play for consoles within the same generation, it does not feature cross-play between console generations. If you are planning on upgrading to a next generation console over the course of the NHL 23 life cycle, we can confirm that HUT progress will be transferable to some extent, meaning that the top 20 players and coach can be locked, whereas the rest of your collection will be converted into pack value towards your HUT team in the next gen version of NHL 23. Standard Edition - HUT X-Factor Women's choice pack - 5 World of Chel X-Factor Zone ability unlocks - Be a Pro X-Factor slot unlocks (2), XP boost and bonus trait points - Signed Sarah Nurse World of Chel jersey X-Factor Edition - Double entitlement (Unlocks the game for both Gen 4 & Gen 5 consoles) - 3-Days early access - 46000 NHL Points - HUT X-Factor Player choice pack - HUT X-Factor Power-up starter pack - HUT X-Factor Women's choice pack - 5 World of Chel X-Factor Zone ability unlocks - Be a Pro X-Factor slot unlocks (2), XP boost and bonus trait points - Signed Sarah Nurse World of Chel jersey Technical test and release date There will be a technical test going live most likely around the start of September, but no date or duration has been confirmed at the time of writing. As it is a technical test, the community will be asked to report feedback to the development team and also all streaming and recording of the work in progress is prohibited. Signups for the technical test have closed by now. NHL 23 will be available on October 14th, 2022 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. For more information visit https://www.ea.com/games/nhl/nhl-23.

SportsGamers, We just saw the first footage of NHL 23 with the new reveal trailer and while there’s a lot going on in the minute and 41 seconds of footage, there’s not a lot of concrete information about the game we’re able to take away from it. However, some new additions to the game have been clearly highlighted, we’ll be taking a closer look at everything here. Also, if you haven't seen the trailer yet, check it out below! First off, the trailer is very fast-paced and is built to look like a live broadcast. Whether that will have to do with the game looking to support the social aspects of the game and aid streamers and content creators alike in their work with the game, we’ll have to wait and see. The thing that is certain is that this year, there will be a heavy focus on social play, which is evident from the trailer, where cover athletes Trevor Zegras and Sarah Nurse are joined by TSN’s Marissa Roberto, the Ducks’ mascot Wild Wing and Zac “AlwaysHockey” Bell for some very arcadey looking hockey action in the HUT and EASHL game modes. Zegras flip and last chance puck movement These are some of the things you surely couldn’t miss in the trailer and especially the viral Zegras flip was something we expected to see in this year’s iteration. It looks like the flip will be triggered through the lacrosse move animation and is going to be another variation that players can try to pull off from behind the net this year. On top of that, we’re seeing a few different examples of last chance puck movement, which allows your player to reach for a lost puck in a last chance effort to make a play. There’s the option to either go for a shot, like we see Trevor Zegras doing in the trailer on a few occasions, or you could opt for a pass, which is what Sarah Nurse is going for in the still image we’ve got below. Cross-platform matchmaking, mixed HUT teams and custom special teams strategies Here’s a screenshot that gives a lot of interesting information about the new game. It’s from the HUT hub and shows us that this year, we’ve got cross-platform matchmaking, which is confirmed to work within the console generations only (coming in a November update). Also, we’ll see mixed HUT teams with women’s national teams being added to the game mode, so now your dreams of having all the sport’s iconic players on your team can be a reality. Lastly, the screenshot hints that we could be seeing custom special teams strategies or at least an expanded amount of variation to the options on that front. NHL 23 will be available on October 14th, 2022 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. For more information visit www.easports.com/NHL. For all new information on NHL 23, please check out our article about the game here! Notice anything cool or interesting that we missed? Let us know in the comments!

Canadian Women’s National team hero Sarah Nurse becomes the first female hockey player to grace the cover of an NHL video game, as she is featured on the cover of NHL 23 together with Anaheim Ducks highlight machine Trevor Zegras. For the first time in franchise history, the EA Sports NHL cover art will feature two athletes, when both Trevor Zegras and Sarah Nurse will grace the NHL 23 cover.  We’ve all seen the highlights and some of the impressive and creative moves that Trevor Zegras showed off in his sophomore year with the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks. Most notably, the internet breaking flip pass for Sonny Milano against the Buffalo Sabres. As usual, the new iteration of the NHL video game series draws some inspiration from its cover athletes, so we wouldn’t be surprised if some of these moves have been added to the game.  Sarah Nurse has become an international hockey hero and an inspiration for the new generation of female hockey players. At the Beijing Winter Olympics, she not only led the tournament in scoring and capped off the tournament with a gold medal around her neck, but she also became the first ever black woman to win ice hockey gold at the Olympic stage.  Together with Trevor Zegras, Sarah Nurse is leading the charge of a new generation taking over the ice! Stay tuned for the full NHL 23 reveal tomorrow at 17:00 CEST, as we’ll be following the announcements closely and bring you the latest scoops on the new game as soon as they drop. You can follow along with tomorrow's first airing of the reveal trailer here: