EHM The Blue Line

jossc wrote:just wondering how everything stands with si and nhl ehm at the moment. i mean is there any chance of a comeback at all?

Unfortunately, I don't think there's any hope at all. After all, SI is a company, and they need to make money. EHM proved to be a failure, and thus, I think it's unlikely that they'd dare invest any more in the idea.

Imo having a few 1-3 coders work it for a year or two wouldn't be big that big of an investment considering that the previous game is still gathering pretty good intrest, and todays digisale markets have grown about 500% since '06. They have FMs on sale in Steam already, a platform that finds probably 80% of the digital game buyers. Just sayin'.

Well I hope that Dabo pulls out Riz's and gets hired by some company *coughparadoxcough* and will be able to produce even more high quality manager that the one he is doing now.

foxlockbox wrote:They have FMs on sale in Steam already, a platform that finds probably 80% of the digital game buyers.

It's funny you mention that, because PC Gamer just had an article about Steam's success:

Steam controls up to 70% of the PC download market and is "tremendously profitable"

Personally, I would absolutely love it if SI considered EHM on Steam. It's probably the one tiny glimmer of hope still left... that they consider trying Steam.

B. Stinson wrote:

foxlockbox wrote:They have FMs on sale in Steam already, a platform that finds probably 80% of the digital game buyers.

It's funny you mention that, because PC Gamer just had an article about Steam's success:

Steam controls up to 70% of the PC download market and is "tremendously profitable"

Personally, I would absolutely love it if SI considered EHM on Steam. It's probably the one tiny glimmer of hope still left... that they consider trying Steam.

Yep it would reach alot bigger audience, even though hockey sims are kind of a niche market I bet there would be a good bunch of new players in the "few" million Steam users.

And they really don't have to go with actual league licenses as long as they make the game editable. The fan community would go and make the NHL and all of the other leagues.

Steam + no licenses + editability + new features = HUGE WIN!

If there was an new EHM I would like access to the statistical database so all the statistics would be customizable, such as getting the statistics for Shots Blocked(SB) per game or SB/minute played.

foxlockbox wrote:Imo having a few 1-3 coders work it for a year or two wouldn't be big that big of an investment considering that the previous game is still gathering pretty good intrest, and todays digisale markets have grown about 500% since '06. They have FMs on sale in Steam already, a platform that finds probably 80% of the digital game buyers. Just sayin'.

Well I hope that Dabo pulls out Riz's and gets hired by some company *coughparadoxcough* and will be able to produce even more high quality manager that the one he is doing now.

It struck me now that I once again thought about this.. That maybe we should uh.. enlighten SI about this... I was going to write them an email or something by myself, but guessing that would have little effect/weight for them, I thought would anybody be interested in some kind of group petition, open letter sort of thing?

"Hey look guys how good the community is still doing after 5-years, maybe you should try again with your fancy Steam-platform and all. And uh yeah we don't need them licenses screw NHL we don't wann play with real teams just make it as much editable as possible".

I mean its worth a shot, right?

bruins72 wrote:And they really don't have to go with actual league licenses as long as they make the game editable. The fan community would go and make the NHL and all of the other leagues.

Steam + no licenses + editability + new features = HUGE WIN!

But actually licenseless game would be so much harder to market. "Hey look all hockey fans, wanna play with your favorite team? Play the Pissburg Pensbirds with their leading star Cindey Crosbi! A must buy! (PSST, THEM FANS HAVE MADE GREAT IRL ROSTER UPDATES, MAKE SURE TO DOWNLOAD THOSE FOR FREE)"

I play alot of FM11 and have bought every version of it since CM 01/02, if the layout was like it is on the latest version it would rock..

• also I'd like a better match engine, feels like it's the same results all the time.
  
  Better player developing system
  
  Finance should play more of a role like it does in real life
  
  The chance of a club being bought up by a more wealthier consortium or sugar daddy type of owner.
  
  smarter AI when it comes to trades
  
  overall better controlled stats so players dont score 80-90 goals like they're capable of now

I could go on and on how this game has so much untapped potential but I'm sure it's already been mentioned.

Ah well, I'll continue to dream about a new EHM.

foxlockbox wrote:

bruins72 wrote:And they really don't have to go with actual league licenses as long as they make the game editable. The fan community would go and make the NHL and all of the other leagues.

Steam + no licenses + editability + new features = HUGE WIN!

But actually licenseless game would be so much harder to market. "Hey look all hockey fans, wanna play with your favorite team? Play the Pissburg Pensbirds with their leading star Cindey Crosbi! A must buy! (PSST, THEM FANS HAVE MADE GREAT IRL ROSTER UPDATES, MAKE SURE TO DOWNLOAD THOSE FOR FREE)"

I have to disagree. Just look at Out of the Park Baseball - they've gone ages without licenses or official rosters, before finally getting real info included with 2007(?). And to-date, OOTP fans have been enjoying a great new version every year, with the latest one due to be released any day now. EHM, however, has been dead for four years, and has all of us on our knees begging for anything new. And ironically, the expensive licenses that were supposed to make the game more appealing, are actually creating a legal barrier which is severely crippling the ability to keep it updated and relevant.

However, I still agree about Steam. Steam would be a must, in my opinion. Right off the bat it's gonna be a huge boost to marketing, simply from the number of users on Steam who would be seeing the game. Then you've got reports that developers get a much bigger piece of the pie from Steam, versus traditional sales. Those two points alone make me think it's a no-brainer .

B. Stinson wrote:

foxlockbox wrote:

bruins72 wrote:And they really don't have to go with actual league licenses as long as they make the game editable. The fan community would go and make the NHL and all of the other leagues.

Steam + no licenses + editability + new features = HUGE WIN!

But actually licenseless game would be so much harder to market. "Hey look all hockey fans, wanna play with your favorite team? Play the Pissburg Pensbirds with their leading star Cindey Crosbi! A must buy! (PSST, THEM FANS HAVE MADE GREAT IRL ROSTER UPDATES, MAKE SURE TO DOWNLOAD THOSE FOR FREE)"

I have to disagree. Just look at Out of the Park Baseball - they've gone ages without licenses or official rosters, before finally getting real info included with 2007(?). And to-date, OOTP fans have been enjoying a great new version every year, with the latest one due to be released any day now. EHM, however, has been dead for four years, and has all of us on our knees begging for anything new. And ironically, the expensive licenses that were supposed to make the game more appealing, are actually creating a legal barrier which is severely crippling the ability to keep it updated and relevant.

However, I still agree about Steam. Steam would be a must, in my opinion. Right off the bat it's gonna be a huge boost to marketing, simply from the number of users on Steam who would be seeing the game. Then you've got reports that developers get a much bigger piece of the pie from Steam, versus traditional sales. Those two points alone make me think it's a no-brainer .

I totally agree. Add to that the fact that the biggest factor in strong sales on Steam is probably just producing an excellent game. When people see highly rated/reviewed games, they will easily drop a few bucks on a game they may have never considered before. A lot of indie titles are raking in the cash because they're good games; marketing and such is a distant second.

I really do think that if they released an even more solid version of EHM 2007 on Steam, they would make a ton of money. I've said it before, but when EHM 2007 was released, I didn't know it existed. I actually did a search for hockey sims and found the site. Sales are hard to come by when you depend on the consumer to actively seek you out.

I just wish the fine folks at SI would reconsider this product and release a new version.

Well, SI claimed that piracy actually killed the game -- I have felt all along that it was lack of proper marketing that killed it. Could be that they were relying on their FM fanbase to install the trial and go from there, but Steam would probably be the way to go. Also, you would need to get ads into all of the magazines enthusiasts read when preparing for their hockey pools -- Hockey news...etc. The type of person that cares enough about hockey to pick up a magazine like that could very well be the type of person who would enjoy EHM. Just a thought.

That's how I stumbled on it. During the lockout The Hockey News ran a fantasy dispersal draft and used EHM 2005 to track everything, by the time I got annoyed with EA Sports NHL series EHM 2007 was out.

Ah, well, I had no idea that the Hockey News was using EHM for their draft.

I think EHM has a cult following now and if they ever do release a new version along with some proper advertising then it will be greatly successful.

Every sports forum I go to, I see some sort of ehm related thing. That kind of thing was non existent when the game was released.

I really hope they reconsider releasing a new version, I really don't think they realize how successful they could be this time around.

sonny21 wrote:I think EHM has a cult following now and if they ever do release a new version along with some proper advertising then it will be greatly successful.

Every sports forum I go to, I see some sort of ehm related thing. That kind of thing was non existent when the game was released.

I really hope they reconsider releasing a new version, I really don't think they realize how successful they could be this time around.

I'll drink to that!

Also I'd would improve the contract part of the game, it's almost impossible to sign franchise players to long term contracts with big numbers.

edit : And as I posted this I finally got Drew Doughty to sign a 7 year 52 milljon deal.

How much money would it take to get this game back into production? I know one of you must have a rich father.

AdamOates wrote:How much money would it take to get this game back into production? I know one of you must have a rich father.

LOL, my thinking was along the same lines... I say we all chip in for regular lottary tickets, and when we win, we donate to revive EHM!

Let's make some count.
Three good programmers would make let's say $3000 a month (trying to contain expenses). Let's imagine to develop it for 6 months, it would be $54.000
A DB manager and responsible, let's say $1500, it's other $7500
Let's count other $5000 for different collaborations and expenses (head researchers, etc).

Total should be at about $70.000
It would require 2333 sells to recover the expenses.
It's doable

I'm not sure how much the programmers would get paid in the UK - $3000 per month just seems a bit low. That being said, they would just be able to go ahead and use the latest and greatest FM game engine, so they wouldn't have to start from scratch or anything to that effect.

Also, you would want to put a lot of money into marketing --- with properly developed and cleverly placed ads, and also point people to ehmtheblueline for all of their EHM needs I don't see why they couldn't sell 100,000 copies.

Morty Benson wrote:I'm not sure how much the programmers would get paid in the UK - $3000 per month just seems a bit low. That being said, they would just be able to go ahead and use the latest and greatest FM game engine, so they wouldn't have to start from scratch or anything to that effect.

Also, you would want to put a lot of money into marketing --- with properly developed and cleverly placed ads, and also point people to ehmtheblueline for all of their EHM needs I don't see why they couldn't sell 100,000 copies.

Well, I was talking about a potential low-cost first edition.
Does anyone has about $70.000 in his pocket? I'm sure Dabo can make a killer product with such a budget.

If they would make a budget, then maybe they could set up something at http://www.kickstarter.com - then people could donate. If the $$ goal was reached, then it could get done. If not, everyone would get their money back. At least this would be a sign of how much interest there is.

i'd like to be able to send some ironic flowers to the incompetent GM who stiffed me for the US national team job only to be humiliated by germany and switzerland.

It's nice to see EHM get some coverage over on Operation Sports: A Eulogy for NHL Eastside Hockey Manager.