[sonick]

Originally Posted by DanHibiki

The 2k hockey series was way better than the EA series until NHL 08. Although EA made the jump to "next-gen" in 07, it wasn't until 08 that the game felt much more complete. I tried 07 and it felt like it was a game in it's alpha stages of development and it's great graphics was not enough to lure me away from 2k.

NHL 08 was such a big impact that they even had a little segment on the 2k vs EA hockey series on Sportsnet.

Before NHL 08, NHL 2004 was the only other good EA NHL game (not including those old school 2D sprites ones).

This. In the mid 2000's, EA's NHL series got complacent and didn't bother really improving the game year to year. NHL2k however did, and for a few years put out a much superb realistic hockey sim game compared to EA.

Realizing this, EA stepped it up with its new motion-stick gameplay (or whatever they call it) and basically blew NHL2k out of the water when it was introduced in 07/08.

NBA, MLB and NFL as well, gameplay wise the 2k sports was much better than their EA counterparts for simulation fans. I don't follow it much nowadays whether NBA or MLB is rated better than EA, but for NFL they were so concerned of losing ground on their highly lucrative Madden franchise, put out the dough to buy the exclusive video game rights from the NFL. Luckily the other leagues did not follow suit even though EA did offer the same type of deal.