The few weeks before the start of the NHL regular season is usually coupled with the release of the NHL video game titles, and this year, the competition is as fierce as last year's Stanley Cup Finals.

Following NHL 2K6's clearly-rushed next-gen debut on the Xbox 360 last year, 2K Sports went back to the drawing board this year and overhauled the old graphics engine to change the way players skate and shoot in NHL 2K7. Add a mandate to improve overall presentation in general and you get a game that resembles its predecessor in spirit only.

"Last year really came down to the wire, as the development team didn't get the final Xbox 360 hardware until quite late, and we still had much of our focus on Xbox and PS2," said Ben Bishop, executive producer for the game. "For 2K7, the focus has shifted to next-gen, and that full year of experience with the hardware has really made a difference."

In tackling the presentation issues that have plagued previous versions of the series, the developers implemented a concept they called Cinemotion, which is an alternative way of watching the game during gameplay using music in place of audio commentary (handled by the duo of Bob Cole and Harry Neale).

The idea was to get the gamer feeling the intensity of the game through crowd reactions, player banter and a musical score that would resemble the way music helps advance a story in movies. It's not The Mighty Ducks or Miracle, but it's something along those lines.

But general aesthetics can only augment the specific visuals of on-ice action, and Bishop says that was a key to the presentation being tight and responsive.

"The other big area we wanted to improve was the skating, and we now have an entirely new engine (the programming code that makes a game animated and interactive) in place that has more fluid and realistic animations than any hockey game has ever had," he said.

Player models were redone from scratch while skating, shooting and basic animations during play stoppages were altered. Replays were "cleaned up" to ensure that the camera stays with the puck's movement while players stay agile and dynamic, as opposed to board stiff in years past. Fighting, meanwhile, always the token sideshow that is not exactly endorsed anyway, remains relatively unchanged.

But in a hockey league geared towards offense and fast skater mojo, games based on such NHL spirit can easily go overboard, which is why a new system Bishop described as "Pressure Control" was put in place to focus a little more attention on the defensive side of the game.

"Now you can target a specific opposing player and instruct one of your players to put varying amounts of pressure on him," he explained. "On the most basic level, you can simply have your target shadowed, but you can take it up additional notches and call for things like a full on body check or even a second player to come over and help."

Being overzealous with the feature can naturally lead to a penalties (unless penalties are turned off) so pressure must be applied judiciously, making it a balanced new feature. "Additional control over teammates on defense really adds a nice layer of depth," Bishop commented. The option is meant to be used as part of the Coaching Strategies system or even On-the-Fly coaching (where users press a button to virtually call out new strategies from the bench while the puck is in play), so that you can match up lines or free up one of your star players.

And keeping pace with the importance the league has set on rivalries, 2K7 also has a "Rivalry System" which assigns three major and three minor rivals for each NHL team. In those match-ups, the ambience and team attitude is clearly cranked up. "You'll notice a change in the general atmosphere, as the crowd will be more pumped up and excited," Bishop said. "The action on the ice will be more intense and the game will be more physical and a bit faster. If you win a game against one of your rivals, your team also gets a 'chemistry boost.'"

Part of the intention, Bishop added, is to have the "rival" games stand out in a schedule over the course of a season. The developers also tinkered with the roster management settings, so that the CPU will think twice before trading a player to a rival. The team salary cap also makes its debut in the game.

Though online gameplay was not significantly altered, there are some new online features. Teams that win in an online league will now be treated to a full Stanley Cup celebration sequence, while standings will now be tracked by points rather than wins and losses. Party Mode and 2-on-2 Mini Rink will also be available as alternative online modes.

As Bishop assesses the title's next-gen look and feel, the finished product is very much a new direction for the series.

"The big issues for us were to make the game look and feel next-gen on the graphics side, try something new and different with the presentation, overhaul our skating system, and then fill in everywhere else as much as possible with things like Pressure Control, the Rivalry System, general AI work, and the various online features," he said.