NHL 2004 Gaming Rig

I've loved the game since it came out. Still feel it's the best as far as playability goes. So much fun was had, it's arcadey, yet still entertaining. When I sold it I never quite understood why I felt so empty, but soon realized the hole in my heart was size of a GameCube disc...

I found out a couple years back that there is quite a large modding community surrounding that game, in fact, they have a dedicated site and team that keeps it running and up to date.

I touched on modding it as well. And played it, quite a bit, had a blast. But in recent months, hit a snag when it wouldn't install on my PC. Tried numerous times, nothing. Listening through the soundtrack, recalling memories from the game, looking back at my childhood, I got the idea to bring this all back.

My plan is to get a PC running Windows XP, or just install it on a cheap machine, that is at least capable of running it (and the mods/higher quality graphics and adjustments) and then build a sort of NHL 04 Exclusive console. Basically take a PC, attach a keyboard on a sliding table top, that can tuck under a flatscreen monitor, with 2 PC game controllers running out the front of the setup. Almost looking like an arcade machine, it'd be able to run the game, and I could keep it up to date and store files on the hard drive, plus back up on an external.

My goal would be to have the playable game on this machine, completely recent as far as updates are concerned, boxed up in a easy to use setup, that I could design to fit the look of the game, paint it with NHL graphics and related art.

What a project it'd be. It'll be. I will do this.