Behind the scenes of NHL 2K9: Rick Nash gets a gamer grilling

By 2008, 2K’s hockey titles had developed a reputation for being complex—some argued too complex. For NHL 2K9 , the new development team at Visual Concepts decided to "rebuild the experience from the ground up" to make it more gamer-friendly.

While critics at the time gave it mixed reviews, fans often remember NHL 2K9 for the quirky, immersive features that modern games sometimes lack: