Seth has the best commentary hands down, he did a fantastic job. I also enjoyed James Chen, Keits, Ski, and Dogface. You could probably put Dogface anywhere and he will make it hilarious lol. I agree with what a few people have said earlier, Seth + Dogface team would be epic. During the MVC3 exhibitions I thought Sessler did a pretty good job, in fact I thought it was going to be a lot worse when I saw that he was going to be commentating. Keeping him there for SSF4 was a bit annoying, but what can we expect when G4 had to have him in.
Big thanks to James Chen and Sam (?) for the commentary on my match. You guys made it seem like it was a good match, when really I just lost handily. Thanks to Calipower Alex Valle for adding commentary and a shout out to my first match as well. I was stupid nervous but no excuses, BC Choi and Ken Chiga were just better.
All in all I was a big fan of the commentary of when I caught the streams after. Sessler is a tool but hey, what the hell are you going to do right? G4 being connected with EVO is ultimately a good thing.
Major props to S-Kill, James Chen, Ski, Keits, and many others who made it some of the best commentary ever.
And let’s not forget UltraDavid for coming to the first day and commenting too. He and James Chen are among my favorites for in-depth information. I really loved how Chen came all the way back to the mike just to explain why the safe jump setup didn’t worked against Adon’s faster get up. This level of dedication just shows how much love they have for the community.
S-Kill is both insightful, entertaining and downright a master of reading the mind of the players. He goes deep into the player’s mind to address what’s going on the stream.
Adam Sassler was the stain in this otherwise great set of commentators. While I do understand why they had to put him there, I think they could’ve added a third commentator to try and silence his bs a lil bit more.
Kudos to everyone involved, this year’s EVO was just beautiful. \o/
Well, I’ll just summarize things I posted in the streaming thread.
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Please please please stream out to Justin.tv, Stickam, Ustream.tv, and Mogulus at the same time. Yes I know that would require four computers streaming, but you can setup a script on the main page to randomize viewers to other streams based on connectivity. Maybe have a separate command center where there is a video splitter going to the four systems that stream out. It appears that Stickam and Ustream couldn’t handle the amount of people viewing the stream at once, so using both or maybe even adding in one more failover stream running simultaneously could keep one of the streams from getting bogged down.
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Please show us the awards ceremonies. I know it might not seem important to you guys, but the stuff that happens outside of the match helps people get into the scene more than just showing random matches then cutting them off. Giving people time to recognize some of the members of the community goes a long with to getting them to come out and know who they are cheering for in the future. To that effect they did at least have a player cam, but showing the awards being handed out would cement it more in people’s minds IMO.
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Building off of number 2, Please don’t cut off the stream and go completely off air just to change equipment. You can continue to have commentary, you could have run some videos of the side action going on in the room other than the main screen, you could even run some commercials provided by your sponsors while everything was being setup. The amount of dead air going on hurts when you’re dealing with casual fans who might not have the patience to wait for it to start up. People tuning into the stream while you had your off air moments might have been confused and thought the stream wasn’t running at all. Then they would have missed out. Sure, I guess that helped a bit with problem number 1 (i.e. less viewers = less stream crashes), but you want to get the casual fans in and keep them in, then keep the stream running.
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Teach your commentators how to shut off a mic when they put it down. The mics were far too sensitive so we were listening in on conversations that we definitely should not have heard.
Other than those small problems, I think the tournament was well run. (Almost) Everything happening on time must have been a big challenge, so I’m glad it turned out as well as it did.
Sessler was so bad, it makes everyone look good right? Seriously, you can’t complain much when sessler kill the commentary.
Other than that, James Chen has a lot of knowlege about the players…but ramble on a little too much sometimes. This usual interrupt the play by play, when there was an exciting combo or counter being done. Like the Doug Collins of commentary, all these inside story that nobody really knew, but get a little carry away and takes away from the actual fight going on.
Overall i thought the commentary was less hype than last year’s. Adam Sessler (sp?) not sure what his deal was, but he should have stuck to just asking questions he felt a noob would ask.
Feedback:
Less explaining what is going on the screen and more COLOR commentary. I think a lot of commentators treat it like subtitles or something…where its just a regurgitation of what is happening on screen…I don’t need “Ken is hitting some jabs and…ohhhh there it is! SRK FADC ULTRA!!!”… I’d prefer some commentary and analysis what isn’t painfully apparent on screen… on reasons so and so did what…or what so and so is possibly trying to set up. I think it did happen, but it needs to happen more often.
There always doesn’t need to be chatter, especially when nothing special is going. It is like when you are on a date, not all silence is awkward…you don’t need to fill the void with random talk.
Overall i thought the commentary was less hype than last year’s. Adam Sessler (sp?) not sure what his deal was, but he should have stuck to just asking questions he felt a noob would ask.
Feedback:
Less explaining what is going on the screen and more COLOR commentary. I think a lot of commentators treat it like subtitles or something…where its just a regurgitation of what is happening on screen…I don’t need “Ken is hitting some jabs and…ohhhh there it is! SRK FADC ULTRA!!!”… I’d prefer some commentary and analysis what isn’t painfully apparent on screen… on reasons so and so did what…or what so and so is possibly trying to set up. I think it did happen, but it needs to happen more often.
There always doesn’t need to be chatter, especially when nothing special is going. It is like when you are on a date, not all silence is awkward…you don’t need to fill the void with random talk.
There was a brief moment before the finals when Justin got on the mic and I thought he was going to help Seth out with the commentary:woot: Moments later, he was subsequently booted it seemed
Thanks to Adam Sessler for lightening the mood when the entire stream went to shit.
I was more upset that Sessler’s commentary had come to an end than I was that I was missing the grand finals when the stream crashed.
Before anything, thanks to all the commentators (hope I’m spelling it right, too lazy to check) for helping out the community.
- I was hoping they would add a third person when Sessler came on to help Seth out. He could have really used it.
- In relation to #1, I normally really enjoy Seth’s commentary and consider him one of the best, but I couldn’t help but be annoyed with the top 8 commentary for ssf4 which I know wasn’t really his fault. If I was asked to talk during something I didn’t know much about, I would probably try to say as little as possible, but apparently Sessler feels otherwise. Then he would say something or ask something and Seth would have to go along with it which brought his commentary down as well.
- I guess in relation to #2, they were talking non-stop during the matches. There is no way in holy hell that you can have something of substance to say every single second of every match. Take a moment to sit back, watch and analyze the match as it’s happening, and say something when it’s something worse saying.
I’m trying to think if commentary is like that normally (In that they speak constantly) and I never noticed and only noticed for the top 8 because of the Sessler situation, or was it just the top 8 that this happened. All I know is I was tempted to mute the top 8 because of the commentary but ultimately didn’t because there’s nothing quite like hearing the roar of the crowd.
After having read what I wrote for #3 part of me feels like commentators probably do speak a lot but I never notice because it’s quality commentary whereas it irked me for the top 8 because of Sessler. I dont know.
Let me get this straight. You wanted to hear Sessler over actually watching the finals of the main game of the tournament you tuned in to watch? Why tune in at all? Hulu Xplay all you want, instant Sessler.
My god learn to detect sarcasm. I would’ve thought “lightening the mood” would have shown you how ridiculous I thought he was and how much of a laugh it was for him to think he should act like he knew what he was talking about.
I didn’t hear all of the tournament streams, had work/social obligations this weekend. But what I did hear was pretty positive, and definitely an improvement over past streams. I didn’t hear Tekken specifically, and I think Aris is a hilarious guy, but if there was that level of bias going on, that’s a legit gripe. Professional announcers in other competitions, sports or otherwise, have to sit on their bias and be as objective as possible. Their purpose is to entertain and inform, but not to sway opinions one way or another. If progress continues as it has though I think that eventually we’ll get to that point.
As for Sessler, look at it this way. This was G4’s first step into the pool, so of course they’re gonna send their dude. If fighting games go big, maybe a few years from now G4 has it’s own fighting game correspondent or something. Perhaps that correspondent is someone who’s honed their public speaking skills on these very streams and is knowledgeable about the game. Think of Sessler’s commentary as the potential for growth, to the point where you guys can have your own identity, your own well known figure that’s dedicated to fighting games. As big as Seth has gotten, he’s probably still not as well known as someone like Sessler. If progress continues though, maybe he could be.
Oh and for similar reasons to what I just said above, quit crying when they explain basic terms like option select, reset, etc. If you want this to grow, you need to accept the fact that stuff you’ve known for years isn’t common knowledge, nor is it all that easy to come by unless someone explains it to you.
Mostly a positive performance, I personally enjoyed ultradavid, s-kill, and seb for the brief time he was on. Ski was great at TvC and MvC2, two games I don’t know much about. Not much to say about Sessler that hasn’t already been said… except that he was the Triforce of this year’s evolution. Counting the rounds really grinds my gears, not even basic knowledge about a game that’s been out since the 90’s.
@ Sektr: Dude, as you are well aware… this is the internet. And being that this is the internet, one, there are Sessler fanboys. Two, text is ambiguous no matter how dripping in sarcasm you think you may have drenched it. Red Rapper (I think that’s what his name is, guy who did the rap intro to the supers finals) yelled “shut the fuck up!” at me for asking for Morgan Webb. Use a sarcasm tag or something would you? Cuz no, I wouldn’t put it passed anyone I don’t personally know to actually like that tool.
Easily.
Dave spoke clearly, intelligently, concisely, and was entertaining. While ultradavid is obviously a standout in those regards in our scene, there are definitely other players of his caliber that would have been happy to help out. It’s upsetting to me that the one who did the best commentary all weekend… wasn’t even really part of the team. He just ran up when he saw Hakan (knowing nobody up there would be able to speak on Hakan with any insight), and was kind enough to stick around for a while.
I think Seth did great, obviously. Ski was great. Chen was great, too. Yipes was good for the 3 minutes he was on.
As for general style shit, I really don’t think it’s necessary to patronize your audience anymore. Maybe it was last year… but I really don’t think we need to break down every little basic thing… and ignore the stuff that’s truly interesting. Which brings me to my next point…
…and he clearly doesn’t know SSF4. There was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much Keits this weekend. His insight during TvC was great. That’s where it should have stopped. During SSF4 all he served to do was tell inane anecdotes, constantly talk over and interrupt other, obviously more insightful commentators, and either misinform, or say the same nugget of information over and over again… since that’s all he knows about the game. It’s confused me for years, trying to figure out what Keits has done to be given reign over so much stuff he’s not that amazing at, but I really think he needs to be pulled from commentary on games to which he adds nothing. My ears are still bleeding from the Gene/Justin CvS2 Finals match from 2008, but he just keeps going.
There have to be hundreds of people at Evo that know much more about SSF4 than he does. IMO, with so many great players there… and so many great players that would LOVE to help out, there should never be anyone on commentary that doesn’t know a LOT about higher level SF4 play. Even if you do feel the need to pander to lowest common denominator viewers, these players that understand the top level tactics are more than capable of explaining the basics.
I know you guys weren’t comfortable with Yipes on the mic, in fear that he’d mess up your family broadcast… but at least he knows what’s going on. Even if you’re not comfortable with Yipes, there are plety of players there, that would love to help out, that play just fine on the Evo broadcast. Whenever I see commentators that have no clue what they’re talking about, I’m always reminded of how KillerKai jumped on Devastation stream last year, with zero prep time, and was abel to speak eloquently, efficiently, and most importantly to me, with knowledge of high level tactics and mindgames… and he was just a random player out of the crowd. He wasn’t some super top player (though he’s obviously a very good player in his own right). The fact that there was a guy like Keits, who to me was obviously out of his element, on the SSF4 stream sooooooooooo much, just made it seem like he wanted to hear his own voice on the Evo stream as much as possible… which was kinda confirmed by that Keits/Ski TvC outtake. It’s not about providing the best stream possible for the viewers… it’s about getting shine. :tup:
Whatever though… our scene is definitely mature enough for every game to have amazing volunteer commentators. There shouldn’t be any fluff. I just don’t see what the need for it is. The same way I wouldn’t wanna see Aris doing TvC commentary for the sake of continuity, we don’t need to see anybody on SSF4 stream just because they want to be part of the most popular portion of the tournament.
Thanks to everyone especially the Melty Blood guys. I knew nothing about the game but they kept me informed enough about the characters and the meter system so I could not get confused.
Also long live Skisonic, keep that guy on anything stream available.
This a million times. I think it was downright unprofessional to provide commentary on a player that the commentator favors to win. While the small instances of knowledge dropped was nice at times, it wasn’t nearly as technical as it could have been. I would have liked more “He nailed the timing on that Just Frame and went for the Bound” and less of “Oh man, get me some Mylanta because I’m gonna crap my pants.”
The commentary on the women’s tournament was unremarkable as well. Sure, the level of play wasn’t quite the same, but the commentary could have heightened the experience and made it exciting. Sherry was too busy watching the match that her commentary mostly consisted of “Oh no…”
Both the Finals and MvC3 were done amazingly well by Seth. Adam didn’t really get in the way, as he knew that he knew nowhere close as much as Seth did. His commentary was more or less aimed at people watching a fighting tournament for the first time, which is good for the community. It didn’t distract me, and I don’t see what all the complaining is about.
Nominated.
Anyone know what headsets the commentators were using this year?