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This fall there will not only be two hockey games out for Playstation, but there will be a new addition to the genre. Fox is planning on releasing their hockey title, NHL Championship 2000 this fall along side with NHL 2000 and NHL Faceoff 2000. The new addition should heat up the hockey market which should bring out the best in each game.

NHL FaceOff 2000 incorporates all 28 NHL teams for the 1999–2000 season (including the Atlanta Thrashers™) with updated rosters and the ability to play through an entire season. Players will be able to create and mange their own teams with complete rosters -- draft, trade, release and sign free agents. Gamers can track more than 30 individual and team stats and compete for any of 15 NHL awards, including the Hart Memorial, Art Ross, Vezina, Conn Smythe, Presidents and the Stanley Cup®. The game will also have eight international teams.

NHL Faceoff 2000 will have realistic 3D player models based on player size, weight and facial appearance. The arenas in the game are derived from the actual blueprints and presented in lifelike detail. The game go as far in modeling the areanas by including championship banners that are in arenas around the league. NHL Faceoff 2000 also has accurate Jumbotrons™ in the arenas. Players can sprint across the blue line on a breakaway, glide in and unleash a slap shot that hits the post or goes too high and shatters the glass.

The crowds in the game will be interactive in that they will participate in team chants, yell and even will occasionally throw hats onto the ice after a hat trick. NHL Faceoff 2000 will have a two-man commentary TV-style presentation; New Jersey Devils’ acclaimed announcer Mike Emrick and ESPN’s analyst Darren Pang.

NHL Faceoff 2000 will feature seven different game-play camera angle option settings and numerous cut-aways, zoom-ins, pop-up stats and in-game panels. 989 Sports is also saying the puck will be easier to see with their new "Puck Halo" feature, which will make the puck more visible in the corners and in front of the net. The game will even have personalized goalie face masks from around the league.

The game will reportedly have a new I.C.E. AI (Intelligence Comprehension Execution Artificial Intelligence) which will allow players to play and react just as they do in the NHL. We hear this for this about every game on the market. Needless to say what company attempting to create a simulation won't say their players will react realisticly?

The motion captured animation are performed by St. Louis Blues winger Scott Young and former San Jose Sharks goalie Kelly Hrudey. They captured more than 150 player animations. Th game also has Refined Icon Switching™ on defense and Icon Passing™. NHL Faceoff 2000 will have on-the-fly strategy control that lets gamers change his attach with the touch of a button.