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SportsGamers, With the 5th generation of consoles being out for almost two years at this point, after careful consideration and community polls we've made the decision to move to Gen 5 consoles starting with ECL '23 Winter, as announced in late July in our article about the NHL 23 Technical Test. This means in all simplicity, that future tournaments organized by SportsGamer.GG will be played on Gen 5 versions (PlayStation 5 & Xbox Series X|S) of NHL 23, but we will be gauging interest for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One tournaments, and external partners can still choose to host PlayStation 4 or Xbox One tournaments at SportsGamer.GG. What it all comes down to then is, which version should you get in order to make sure you can participate in all SportsGamer.GG events? Here's a quick reminder of how the cross-play feature on NHL 23 will work: Players can play against any opposing team within their console generation, but mixed teams will not be possible. Therefore, teams must be made up of only one console generation and type in order for cross-play to work. However, keep in mind that EA Sports hasn't yet announced when exactly the cross-play feature will be implemented to the game, and it is possible that tournaments launched before then will not be able to support teams from the other platform. For ECL '23 Winter specifically, the preferred platform of choice will be PlayStation 5. We predict Xbox Series X|S teams will be able to join in on the ECL action once cross-play is confirmed to have been added to NHL 23, so hopefully by the ECL '23 Spring season at the latest. NHL 23 features two versions of the game available for Pre-order. 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, you should definitely look to go for the X-Factor Edition in order to secure double entitlement without having to buy both editions separately. The bottom line is, if you want to be able to participate in all upcoming action, we recommend still purchasing the X-Factor edition, getting you the double-entitlement. However, our own tournaments and leagues will in the future be ran on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S platforms. Here are the NHL 23 Editions available for pre-order including the pre-order perks: 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 - 4600 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

At around 20 CEST last night, the NHL 23 Technical test focused around the World of Chel was released and we hope all of you have received your codes in the mailbox by now. This is an exciting time for our community and we hope all of you will have some fun testing out the early build of NHL 23 over the next few days. As always, these tests are early versions of the game and don't show the full finalized product, but are here for the community to get a taste of what's to come and voice their opinions. As one of the biggest NHL gaming sites in the world - not to mention the amazing talent and passion of our community members - we want to help out with this. That is why we're reaching out to you in order to hear what you think. Any concerns and opinions are welcome, both the good and bad. Please let us know in the comments section about anything you run into during your time with the game and expand on the topic as much as possible. If you enjoy something in particular e.g. the passing in the Technical Test, be sure to bring that out also to make sure it doesn't change. If you find any bugs, please let us know as much detail as possible, so that the development team will be able to recreate them as accurately as possible. Please note that the official EA Answers HQ forum is also live and taking feedback and that is the official way of providing feedback of the technical test. You can find it by clicking this text.

NHL 23 is the most connected virtual hockey experience to date and despite all the focus on bringing us cross-play, NHL 23 also brings us some other news! Last Chance Puck Movement Hockey is most certainly a contact sport and one of the most frequent gameplay occurrences is some type of player contact and situations where you’ll end up jostling for position. In previous iterations of the game, these events have led to the offensive player being unable to react, but NHL 23’s Last Chance Puck Movement will address that issue. With over 500 new animations, you’ll now be able to move and shoot the puck more realistically than ever just like the superstars of the NHL do on a nightly basis. The development team has added a new mechanic accompanying Last Chance Puck Movement, which allows players to dive for the puck in a desperation attempt by double tapping the shoot or pass button when skating towards a loose puck. In order to balance out the playing field, desperation moves have been added to defensive play features too. The key factor in puck battles moving forward will be body positioning, and the player with the more favorable position will be able to counter plays more easily. Updated strategies NHL 23 aims to bring you more control of the game than ever before and does so by allowing you to use new strategies. Two new strategies have been added to the game, which are the 1-3-1 power play and the 1-1-2 penalty kill. You’ll now be able to control these strategies by assigning player positioning before and after faceoff draws and utilizing the new X-Factors in order to get the most of your special teams whenever you get the chance! You'll also be able to select player specific roles for your powerplay, so now you're in total control to get the right players on the job. Balanced gameplay With balancing the game in mind, NHL 23 will be improving the ability for defensemen in passing lanes to pick up the puck and intercept passes, again, with the key factor being body positioning and field of view for the player. Offensive players will still be able to play the puck in behind defensemen if their positioning is more favorable. Community feedback about poke checks has also been heard, and with that, the development team has been able to make some improvements mainly in relation to the effectiveness of poke checks when chasing or in a bad position. There will now also be a speed penalty when activating the defensive skill stick. 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.