The latest addiction for the Duo is a downloadable game (for 10 bucks I think) on 360 – NHL Arcade, aka “Mini Goalie”.  Why do we call it this? Mini goalie is one of the power ups you can get when you rock someones world – it shrinks the goalie and makes it very easy to score. Without power ups this game would be fairly boring and resemble that of the early NHL ‘96 game for SEGA – which at the time was awesome. There are other improvements too – freestyle control deeking, checks that make you flinch, and tons of power up’s like speed skates, big goalie, and lazer shot (which is actually the most worthless one).

What makes this game so addicting is online play and the desire to be ranked the highest – which is damn near impossible. The rivalry between Team Chicago (graham and roommates aka xMacDx) and Team Indy (Myself and roommates aka Brad Stevens) has become one for the ages, and even though Team Chicago usually dominates, the close calls, the freestyle deeks, goalie checks and 3 v 3 format keep up coming back.

Both teams have recently broken the 100 wins mark, and have winning percentages above .500. Usually our strategy is check the goalie and shoot – not a favorite among those who lose to us, but until we get the triple deek down, its all we have!

Play us if you dare – but don’t message us after we stomp you and say “learn how to play the game right!” (we get about one of these per day) If checking the goalie was not part of the game, the developers would not have allowed it (this is why solo players hate playing 2 or 3 people).

PS – due to a recent losing streak when playing solo – I have sworn off this game due to shear frustration. However, my roommates have been dominating with the goalie check technique, and I will rejoin them when the time is right…let the trash talking begin.