Soundproof Booths and Critical Frames

I normally prefer no sound at all, if possible, outside of the game’s sound, when trying to concentrate while playing in a tournament but this week I actually had a lot of fun at Versus where lots of people shouted a lot. The reason I like the golf/tennis culture of it all is because a video game like ST happens at 60 frames every second, and there are going to be particularly critical frames that you’ll want to time certain attacks on. When you shout something to a player, e.g. “backfist!” or “do the super!!”, it takes a lot longer just to blurt the words out of your mouth than any one of those frames takes to occur (plus travel across the room, be heard by the player, and be comprehended in time for the player to actually do it-- IF he trusts your judgement, of course). I know, I know, everyone thinks they can multitask, and process it all at once and still play the game-- yet the price of multitasking is too high if it means you are concentrating less on the critical frames (which the best players are able to do, and that is the most important thing to stay focused on). Those critical frames are what determine the match. Basically there’s playing the game, hey let’s have fun and relax, not work too hard, and then there’s, you know, PLAYING the game. During this week’s tournament, when I was playing, I often shouted BACK to the crowd (all in good humor etc.) a lot but you can’t really hear it on the stream since the announcer was too far away. Also, it’s not like the player’s opponent can’t hear you as well, you know?

Consider the last Evo and the announcers, esp during mvc3. You often heard things like “oh and here comes the tag in, he’s going to win it all-- OH NO that is not what actually happened at all, suddenly something COMPLETELY different changed the match entirely BUT look here’s a big comeback-- oh no nevermind, who can actually follow what’s happening in this game anyway…” etc. The best announcers can’t even keep up with it all, even in a game like ST where we are a lot more familiar with typical setups and situations from playing it so much over the years.

I’m not totally against hype- the interaction with a crowd can be fun. At a music concert, for example, the performer will often get the crowd to sing part of the songs instead of doing it himself. I’m not saying that the people in the crowd should get discounts, or that the singer is lazy. But certain types of crowd interaction don’t work so well for fighting game performances, I mean you can’t just say “hey Daigo, take it away!” and hand him your stick during your match.

multitasking is only for girls, its a fact

What I do not like in tennis is how the crowd is assumed to be a nuisance. It really takes the emotion out of the game. They should be allowed to cheer and scream as much as they wanted, and they are in football or basket. All games have critical moments where players are required to pay attention or give the enemy a big opportunity. I see no difference from fighting games, except that it is 1v1. You do not have to worry about your defender eating an easy trick and the keeper not having enough time to reach the ball while you cannot do anything, so everything is your fault or your enemy’s merit. That aside, it is the same. What makes a difference is how sound can be used in fighting games to give you better timing, while in many other sports it is often not that important.

David and James Chen did fine commentating ST today. However, I do not really expect commentators to really tell everything that happens: that is what the image is for. It would make sense if there were radio streamings of ST events, which is not likely to happen. I just expect them to detect the major moments of the matches, which Japanese commentators usually do, too, even though we can not understand what they actually speak, for the most part.

Yeah, but those in Japan are not just crowd, often: people cheer for their teams in the “bunch"vs"bunch” events. On the other hand, some thugs screaming “Fuck you Daigo” do not make the community look good, in my humble opinion.

Or so they like to think.