Loara Holmes chats with NHL Slapshot senior producer Joe Nickolls at EA Canada.

NHL Slapshot (Electronic Arts; Wii; rated everyone), with its uniquely elegant and bad-ass peripheral, could offer the freshest take on video hockey that gamers have experienced for a while. Here’s hoping it works.

This week, I was invited, along with The Side Mission crew, to visit the sprawling magnificence that is Electronic Arts Canada headquarters to take a look at the game. Did you know they have beach volleyball courts, and their own bargain bin in the lobby? I was this close to buying Brí¼tal Legend before our escort fetched us.

My levels of wonder and awe climbed into the red, as we passed indoor basketball courts, a soccer pitch, and a full service cafeteria called EAt (get it?) on our way to the EA Sports wing. Dude—people actually work here.

Once we settled in, I monkeyed with a camera while the lovely and talented Loara Holmes spent a few minutes chatting with the senior producer of NHL Slapshot, Joe Nickolls, who described Slapshot’s unique selling proposition.

The Wii-exclusive hockey title will be sold bundled with a hockey stick peripheral (which is roughly 100 times cooler than the Mario Kart steering wheel) when it hits stores September 7.

Chris Vandergaag is a Vancouver-based freelancer. When he's not gaming, writing, or forwarding links of questionable moral repute, he's asleep.