When most people that play games today were young things always seemed so great at the time. The days seemed to go on forever and every sweet you ate was nicer than the last one. You can bet that the only thing that you can seriously say is better now than it was then is NHL games for Xbox & Playstation game consoles. They have just come on so much in the last 30 years since video games have become big.
You don't see any kids these days that could get excited about pushing a little white dot around the screen that is supposed to be a puck.The matchstick men that were supposed to resemble a fully padded out Ice hockey player have gone too. Kids still want to play games that they perceive as fun though.
Not all progression in presentation means that you will end up with a better game. Lots of the time all you need to enjoy yourself is the basic shapes but you need something. Something like speed and or accuracy to test your reflexes and skill. The games that have gone down in history whether they have been hockey, NHL, console based or not, have all had one thing in common. They have all been very playable. In some, the presentation didn't really matter at all. Like the type with the falling blocks that you have to arrange, many games relied solely on their ability to keep you coming back for more. Hockey games have been no different and no matter who is on the cover of any NHL title, it's what's inside the box that has really mattered. OK so there have been games that have been very successful without the great looks of today's big titles. These have been successful due to the intelligence of the games's inventor. They have known what a player wants and it might not always be a complete NHL league line up with all the stats to go with it. But I bet all that up to date information helped a lot when the players were choosing their best line up to compete against a friend. So with all the information, the game play and the good presentation in today's NHL titles, it's no surprise that they are as popular as a child with sweets in a playground. Like all games consoles and the sports titles that go with them, the hockey titles have progressed a great deal.
Really that has been key to making hockey games that can be played on a games console. They have had to make something that a true hockey professional has put their name to in many cases. So it's not just about making something that looks pretty but is awful or slow to move. On the other hand it is not been a good idea to make something that has been easy to move but looks terrible.
People and especially the younger generation of today are extremely luck to be able to play NHL games for Xbox & Playstation game consoles the way that they do. So much has been done over years of development that it's hard to comprehend what early games were like. Suffice to say they were cumbersome at best.