EA has said that their annual ice hockey game will receive two playable female characters. The two are Angela Ruggiero from the USA and Team Canada’s Hayley Wickenheise. This is the first time female stars have appeared in the franchise as playable athletes.
While we’re still not going to see a full female team, it’s a step in the direction of inclusion for the franchise. It remains to be seen how the developers will make the duo’s stats measure up to the rest of the legendary hockey stars they’ll be appearing with. Stars like Doug Gilmor, Dominik Hasek and Jarri Kuri will also appear.
I think it’s good to see female stars begin to gain some recognition for their prowess but it’s peculiar to see them slotted in alongside the male stars of the sport. It will be interesting to see how the developers get around the disparity in their statistics – the real-world women of the sport performing at a level generally seen by many as below that of the highly paid men of the NHL.
The sooner we see the inclusion of complete teams and leagues from the women’s side of the sport, the better.
Source: Press release
bmg_123
Guess it’s a nice token release, but like you say, a little peculiar…but then again, someone’s gotta make that first step.
hazelam
it’s a good first step, so long as they don’t make it the last step as well.
they just need to take that same step with Fifa.
the women’s game is getting more popular all the time, outside the us at least.
it was pretty popular at the Olympics, i’m sure they said like 100 thousand people were at the stadiums for the first two matches and 80 thousand people were there watching the women’s football final.
i’m sure a Fifa that featured women would go well in Japan after their team won the world cup last year, and a silver in the Olympics.
the women’s game must have gotten more popular there after that.
i like to remind people, the only team to beat Japan in last years tournament was England. ^_^
hazelam
also, it’s a shame so few events in the official Olympics game featured women, especially when this was the first Olympics where every country competing had female athletes taking part.