NHL 14 pre-orders come with Ultimate Team card packs, in-game boosts

All NHL 14 pre-orders worldwide will come with two dozen card packs for Hockey Ultimate Team, publisher Electronic Arts announced today.

EA is packing NHL 14 pre-orders with the same "Ultimate Pass" included in pre-orders for FIFA 14: a schedule of 24 weeks of gold packs for Ultimate Team, the fantasy-team mode with digital trading cards. Gold packs come with cards for very good players and a guarantee of one rare item.

Retailers around the globe are offering additional bonus content for NHL 14 pre-orders on top of the Ultimate Pass. Fans who pre-order at GameStop or EB Games in North America will receive a FatHead sticker sheet and two extra waves of unknown content. Those who choose Amazon will get boosts for created players in Be A Pro and EA Sports Hockey League tied to branded equipment from Warrior and CCM; Easton is the manufacturer in question for Best Buy and Future Shop pre-orders. And Origin pre-order customers will receive boosts for goalies.

NHL 14 will be released Sept. 10 on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in North America, and Sept. 13 in Europe. It will not be released on Xbox One or PlayStation 4. Pre-order offers are also available in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany/Austria/Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Russia.