Backbreaker dev working on hockey sim - Report

EA Sports' NHL video game franchise is one of the most persistently lauded series in history. Its main competitor, the NHL2K series, elected to take a year off and release only a Wii version of its hockey franchise. Now it appears a third hockey franchise is coming via NaturalMotion Games.

According to a BBC video profile of Oxford-based NaturalMotion Games, the developer is now working on Icebreaker, a follow-up to this summer's unlicensed football installment, Backbreaker.

In the video, NaturalMotion developers detail the work that has been done thus far on the project, which includes motion-capturing hockey players and designing the virtual skaters' look.

Although no one in the video says the name Icebreaker, when the video pans to the art designer, the Icebreaker logo (resembling Backbreaker's) is clearly visible. 505 Games published Backbreaker, but the publisher has not said anything about Icebreaker to date. As of press time, 505 Games had not responded to GameSpot's request for comment or clarification on the matter.

For more on NaturalMotion’s Backbreaker, check out GameSpot's review.

BBC video profile