I used to play EA Sports’ NHL series on my PC. But because the new gen NHL 07 was not developed for PC, I had to buy a XBox 360 last year so that I could play. This year, NHL 08 is even better and I am always excited playing the game, until now when it freezes a lot and I can not even start a game.
When I first got NHL 08, it used to freeze randomly. After reading through the forums, someone mentioned about not to boot the system with the disc inside the DVD Rom. Since then, I have always started up my XBox without a disc, wait for the dashboard to load, and then insert the disc. This has solved my problem and I have not experience a freeze for a couple months. However, recently the game freezes again. Most of the time it freezes when it is trying to load into an exhibition game. It freezes when it is giving you some tips about the game where it should say “press start” to begin the game.
I have read through the forums and I know many people are having freezing problems too. There doesn’t seem to have a fix for the problem as some are blaming on the XBox while some are blaming on the game. I have been playing Burn Out Revenge and doesn’t have any problems. So I am not sure which way to fix. Should I turn the XBox in for service? Or, should I get a new disc? Do you have any freezing issue with XBox 360 or NHL 08? 
I’ve had to stop playing it on my xbox 360 because it freezes so badly, now on the start up screen. I’ve emailed EA Sports to no avail, talked to a tech, nothing helps. 60 bucks down the drain and for what?? A month of hockey.
It’s too bad because it’s the best hockey game that I’ve ever played. Next year I will wait 5 months before buying to see if there are any issues like this. The freeze doesn’t happen right away, it takes a month or two, so the gamer guys that do the ratings had no idea.
[…] I have blogged about NHL 08 freezing on XBox 360. I was not able to decide whether to get a new disc or turn in my XBox 360 for service. But now I […]
Hi Marky. I have just updated on this issue. You may want to check my newest post for more details. Basically, cleaning and repairing the disc has done the job for me.