For the second consecutive year EA Sports will offer an early online beta with the oncoming edition in the NHL video game series. Registration is open for the free NHL 17 beta that will run July 28 through Aug. 4 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
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While NHL 16's beta involved only one mode, NHL 17 will offer all three online modes to play:
EA Sports Hockey League
The popular team-up mode features up to six users per team all connected in and controlling one player, but is level-capped for the beta.
Online Versus
The standard head-to-head online experience with all 30 NHL teams.
Hockey Ultimate Team
Begin team building and playing in the card-collecting mode, but NHL Points can not be purchased during the beta.
Additionally one of the big new features for NHL 17, the ability to create and customize arenas, will be available in the beta. Those arenas can be used in EASHL and HUT.
NHL 17 releases on Sept. 13 for Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko is the cover athlete. The higher priced Deluxe Edition of the game will include 50 'Gold Plus Packs' for Ultimate Team plus an exclusive equipment bundle and NHL '94 Team Celebration for EASHL. Amazon Prime members can pre-order any of the editions of the game and get 20 percent off the price.
Bryan Wiedey posts sports gaming news and analysis daily at Pastapadre.com, is co-founder of HitThePass.com, hosts the Press Row Podcast, and be reached on Twitter @Pastapadre.