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"Another cool thing we added this year is line matching at the opening faceoff. So for the first time, you can put out your fourth line to start a game to go against the first line of the away team in order to try and intimidate them right away. We're even giving a little bit of an advantage to the home team by enabling them to pick a line after the away team picks theirs.

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"On the other hand, if you have tough guys on the ice, to protect Sidney Crosby, a tough guy will jump in and fight for Crosby. That's a really cool feature and something that I've never seen in a hockey [video] game before. And it plays into our whole Team Toughness feature because you need to have tough guys on your team to protect your superstars. These guys with the puck all the time, those are the players everyone wants to hit, so you need these tough guys on the ice to step up and protect your superstars. The AI actually drives the CPU player to come in for the fight. I picked a fight with Ovechkin the other day and Brashear came in and checked me down and started a fight with me, so I learned not to go after Ovechkin after that.

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"We're trying to be as authentic as possible to what you're watching in the playoffs right now. Look at the crowd and everyone in Washington is in red, everyone in Pittsburgh is in white, and we're going to have that in the game where people in the stands are going to be wearing the jerseys of the home teams. Again, being authentic and drawing people in to what makes a hockey game so different than any other sport. And the most important thing to remember about the interactive arena is that you're controlling it. If you get into a fight, you get the crowd going. If you're lackluster and boring, they're going to boo you. If you score goals and make a bunch of saves, you're going to get your home crowd going. And another thing is, when you're in an opposing building and you have a star like Pronger or somebody who has been a thorn in your side, your home crowd will boo every time that player touches the puck.