I had the privilege of participating in a conference call yesterday where the producers of NHL 2K9 fielded questions submitted by the gaming media. The whole thing has been recorded for your listening pleasure, with the exception of about 20 seconds in the middle where the call dropped out, most likely due to all this hurricane action we’ve been getting.

Producer Ben Bishop and online producer Jay Iwahashi gave some candid and interesting answers to our questions. The big concept for this year’s game is that it’s “different” from last year’s game and is supposed to be a lot easier to just pick up and play. They also lay claim to the first and, so far, only hockey title for the Wii, which they give the impression is their favorite version of the game. I’ll let the men speak for themselves:

When skating around in the NHL, every bit of extra control finesse can help. Attempting to add a new layer of realism, this year’s NHL from 2k Sports introduces the ProStick. Registered trademark? You bet.

Stick controls are now mapped to the second analog stick, which 2k claims will make the gameplay feel more authentic. Not that there’s anything authentic in hockey about twiddling a joystick, but it should be enough for most gamers.

So it’s a step forward for sports game controls. Now if they can just get the license, gameplay, graphics, and audio up to the same level of innovation, they might have a complete game here. Otherwise, it’s just a slap-dash attempt at slap-shots.