The tagline for EA Sports' upcoming NHL 12 has been "Be The Next Great Legend". Before Steven Stamkos was named the cover boy in June, there was some thought that Wayne Gretzky would find himself on the game box given his previous relationship with EA Sports.
But instead of The Great One being on the box, it appears he and a handful of other NHL greats will be -- to borrow EA Sports' famous motto -- in the game.
GameTrailers.com released a teaser video this morning promoting the inclusion of hockey legends into next month's release of NHL 12:
Aside from Gretzky, there's a Detroit Red Wing rubbing out Milan Lucic. Steve Yzerman, perhaps?
A Chicago Blackhawks defenseman with the number 7? No doubt Chris Chelios.
And finally, we get a glimpse of a Pittsburgh Penguin from the knees down making a Boston Bruins defenseman look silly. Appears like Mario Lemieux replaying his famous goal against Ray Bourque.
As far as who else might be the Legends group, on the XBOX achievements page for NHL 12, "Russian Rocket" and "Mr. Hockey" are listed, a strong clue that Pavel Bure and Gordie Howe will be part of the bunch.
EA had promised a "big announcement" when they began releasing videos highlighting the newest gameplay tweaks and additions to the NHL 12. While being able to play as some old time NHL greats is fun, this announcement doesn't exactly get hardcore gamers super excited when there's other areas of the game that could be improved such as online and offline gameplay.
With 2K Sports adding NBA legends such as Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan to their recent basketball games, EA is following suit after featuring a Montreal Canadiens legends team the past several years.
Are you NHL gamers out there stoked for this addition or were you hoping EA's "big announcement" was more of a gameplay fix?