Support NeoGAF

[V_Arnold]

<3

Artosis and Tasteless (and Day9) DESTROY, RAVAGE the shit out of the whole fighting game commentary scene. No contest, no issues, no questions asked.

And that is why an MLG/GSL/Etc >>>>> even EVO. I only watched the finals because other times, there were actually enjoyable commentary offered. Priceless. Seth Killian is a hope though.

 

[LeonSKennedy90]

The fighting game community is in this weird state where everyone knows what direction it needs to go in, but not many want to either commit or put in the effort. We're just sort of floundering aimlessly.

I'm just questioning whether this "evolution" is worth the price of admission.

 

[h3ro]

 

[Fersis]

i can't stand skisonic. james chen, i'm indifferent.

also, i enjoy ifc JJJJJJJEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAANNNNNNN yipes once in awhile. his commentary is somewhat calm, yet outtacontrol! plus, it's kinda fun to see him get salty.

I think that Yipes toned down his commentary. Which i really like now.

He's insinuating black people can't produce anything but what you call 'hood' commentary. Pretty sure that's not his intention, but it's the only interpretation that makes sense as a criticism to the article. It's a cultural debate now.

That would be very silly of him. (Or maybe he was joking around)

BTW anyone has a link to those Starcraft II streams? Wanna see how good they are.

 

[TheExodu5]

My girlfriend has a joke about this aspect of eSports commentary. If you offer a free ice cream cone to an eSports commentator they'll excitedly explain the raw emotion brought upon from this delicious, frozen treat. They'll tell you the how this specific flavor was exactly the right option at this point in time and carefully explain how this made their day. But if you make the same offer to a fighting game commentator you basically get the Nintendo 64 Kid screaming "ICE CREAM" at the top of their lungs until they pass out on the floor.

This is incredible. That's a pretty good way of describing most of the good Starcraft 2 commentators (Day 9, Artosis, Tasteless).

Artosis and Tasteless (and Day9) DESTROY, RAVAGE the shit out of the whole fighting game commentary scene. No contest, no issues, no questions asked.

And that is why an MLG/GSL/Etc >>>>> even EVO. I only watched the finals because other times, there were actually enjoyable commentary offered. Priceless. Seth Killian is a hope though.

Yup. The commentary is a large part of what makes these tournaments enjoyable. Tastosis make any game fun to watch.

 

[ThatCrazyGuy]

Haunts:

I didn't know where to post this (here or your IPW comments section), since you asked what you or Spooky could do to make it better.

My suggestions are:

Have better overlays on the screen, to have more information.

- of course the round count.
- Maybe next to the players name, have where they are from.
- at the bottom of the screen, maybe have where in the bracket this match is, espcially in the later parts of the tourny. Maybe it could say "loser's semi", or "bracket A winner's", or something along those lines
- Maybe having a ticker at the bottom, to say this information, and other stuff, like what match is up next, or who the particular players have beaten so far in the tourney, or what upsets have happened off stream.
- Maybe to reach this end, have online brackets back, so this information can be easily accessed, for both the news ticker, or the commentators. It's weird when the commentators have no ideas what is going on in that regard.
- Maybe if a bottom ticker is not feasible, have a more editable player card, or splash screen that you can splash between matches with the relevant info I mentioned above
- And a personal with is probably lame, lol. I wish there was a real time clock in the bottom of the screen, saying like it's 9pm pacific. I think it would make it easier to traverse through archives. Like, my friend said so and so played at 3 pm. I can fast forward through the archives looking at the clock. Or like when I read through threads, I can see something went down at 2 pm, so I can go to the time stamp easier.

My personal pet peeves about commentary are not vulgarity alot of the times, it's the negativity about the game being played.

I HATE when the commentators go on and on and bitch and whine and complain about the game they are commentating. Be upbeat and positive about what is going on, on screen. Especially during Majors. Snarky remarks for a laugh are cool and all. But not all damn day.

That said, I I personally just want someone who is comfortable on the mic and is a good talker and has a reasonably nice voice.

When I come to think about it, Chen does seem to ramble alot on streams, hehe.

I really like Yipes. He's getting better and better to me.

I don't mind yelling either when it's warranted. I mean, I love Gus Johnson when he goes crazy. There are spots for everything. I love hype.

Anyways, just my opinions and thoughts as a long time stream monster

I love TS/IPW btw, heh.

 

[Stabby McSter]

It seems harder to commentate these type of games though, due to the faster pace of these matches (especially MvC). So much shit can happen in the span of a few seconds. you can be calm at one point while commentating, and then be genuinely surprised the next, hence the yelling of "ICCCCEEEEEE CRRRRRREAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMM."

Then again, you have guys like Seth Killian who compose themselves even in the most intense moments.

But Killian is more of a PR guy, and that's probably why he has an upper-hand. I think everyone gets caught up in the community and s-kill can just come in with a clean slate.

And now I have no idea what I'm talking about.

 

[Seven Force]

I think that Yipes toned down his commentary. Which i really like now.

Yipes is still going to be Yipes, but lately, I think he's gotten a lot better about striking a balance between dropping some knowledge on the matchup at hand (Which can't be easy to do in a timely fashion, given how hectic some games like MvC get) and the usual commentary shenanigans he's known for.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

The one complaint I have about Killian is that any given Evo, you will hear this 900 times:

"________ is fighting for his tournament life right now!"

yes

he is fighting in a tournament

thank you, seth, for reminding me

 

[Anth0ny]

This is incredible. That's a pretty good way of describing most of the good Starcraft 2 commentators (Day 9, Artosis, Tasteless).

Honestly, top 8 at any fighting game national could be described the same exact way. Do we expect the top tier commentators to do commentary for 10+ hours for 2 or 3 straight days at major tournaments (besides Evo)? Obviously that's when the goons get on the mic and start with the Lil B references.

As long as they don't ruin the top 8/important bracket matches (in other words, David/Chen/SKill get on the mic when the bracket starts), I really couldn't care less.

 

[abq]

Fighting games are more fast paced than RTS. You can't really analyze and explain safejump setups, option selects, bait or frametraps the same way you can analyze a build order.

 

[letsbereasonable]

While boorish, bad jokes are awful all around, I have less of a problem with them at middle of the week events than I do at majors. If the less "professional" commentators want to meme it up at Guard Crush and WNF, that's fine, but keep the majors at least somewhat tolerable.

I would also like to see brackets better integrated with commentary, or at least linked to the stream in general. I know this can be tough to manage, as casters might have limited access to the event organizers with this information, but getting tourney info from a centralized spot is much more viewer friendly than trying to get an answer from the stream chat between floefaces.

 

[Fersis]

Yipes is still going to be Yipes, but lately, I think he's gotten a lot better about striking a balance between dropping some knowledge on the matchup at hand (Which can't be easy to do in a timely fashion, given how hectic some games like MvC get) and the usual commentary shenanigans he's known for.

I really think that he realised that he couldnt keep his 'rude' (*Jared and Haunts giggles*) commentary on Major's streams.
Props to IFC Yipes

 

[Chavelo]

ESPN Yipes and Salty James Chen for 2012.

Enjoyed the article, will write something for the comments later today.

 

[Cynar]

I'm a fan of Spooky commentary.
It's a very pleasant matter-of-fact flow.
Let's see that OTG. Yeeeeeeees. Now gimme that DHC. Good shit Good shit.

Of course, I love me some Rush Hour...basically Chris Hu and anyone.
Yipes is just a given. The godfather of modern commentary.

Yeah, exactly what this article is about. Fighting games need to have more professional commentators.

 

[zlatko]

I'm one of the few I guess that dislikes James Chen and Skisonic. I'd even listen to Keits ramble on before the two of them. I start to yawn fast when they are on the mic and both of their attempts at humor are just so fucking bad.

Seth Killian is clearly in a league of his own, and maybe more people need to talk to him on what it is he does when he wants to talk about a match.

I prefer commentators with a funny personality that throw in some gems of wisdom here and there. Magus comes to mind here. He's a smart guy and knows his stuff for games, but he's at his best when he's just saying random shit. I'm also a big fan of Chung on the East Coast, and it baffles me why he isn't being brought out to more events to do commentary. Stream monsters love him.

Like mentioned by V Arnold in here though Tastosis > fighting game community commentary by a long mile. It's the perfect dynamic duo, and it just happens naturally. It's that JD and Turk level of awesome.

Ultradavid is definitely the best after S.Kill when it comes to analyzing play and commentating about it, but often you can tell at a major he's just forcing it and trying hard. He'd be perfect if there was someone he could form a dynamic duo with, because James Chen really isn't it.

Oh, but there is one person in the FGC I'd listen to over Tastosis, and that's Spooky. Spooky is on another level.

Edit: Oh wow I just realized I'm a derp, because the FGC does have a dynamic duo---Mike Ross and Gootecks. The problem is they don't seem to like to do commentary or feel their commentary is good. If they just went into it approaching it like it's just another episode of excellent adventures, then they'd be perfect for commentary.

 

[Bizazedo]

I'm just questioning whether this "evolution" is worth the price of admission.

Depends what you want out of the scene.

The bigger it gets..the more money that's involved..the more people get heavily vested in it and work at it.

Would the Koreans be as good at Starcraft if real money wasn't involved that allowed them to practice the insane lengths of time that they do? Of course not.

It elevates the competition.

If it gets big enough, then real pressure appears on Capcom to make it as balanced as possible (instead of crap like Yun "bringing the community together") and they feel motivated because huge tournaments and well known faces bring more people into their game.

If you just want it to be more laid back and casual, you'd naturally resist this.

And either opinion is fine, you just have to decide what you want. If you want it to get big, that means more professional commentators (and that doesn't mean stale, I think Yipes has been doing an amazing job and to steal an ESPN draft line, "shows tremendous upside").

He's insinuating black people can't produce anything but what you call 'hood' commentary. Pretty sure that's not his intention, but it's the only interpretation that makes sense as a criticism to the article. It's a cultural debate now.

As soon as this topic showed up, I knew this take woudl appear .

 

[Lost Fragment]

Forgive my ignorance of pro Starcraft and such, but isn't there a lot more money involved in those kinds of events? I don't doubt that people like Ultradavid and James Chen are occasionally paid to go to events, but I'm under the impression that commentators for MLG events actually make a living off of competitive gaming.

If so, that's the big reason why I think it's unfair, and probably unwise, to hold fighting game commentators to that same standard, even if I agree that we eventually need to get to that level.

 

[DjangoReinhardt]

I'd like to see fighting game commentary depart from some of the conventions of televised sports commentary. In particular, I don't need play-by-play of on-screen action because it's right in front of me. It's a relic of the radio-only days in sports and there's no reason for it to exist in this context.

I'm totally on board with color commentary and analysis, though.

 

[USD]

*Ctrl+F Ryan Hunter*

There's already something wrong with this thread.

Maybe it's because I'm a total stream monster, but I can enjoy just almost every type of commentary under the sun, as long as it's not too off-topic, or too inaccurate. I honestly don't think the commentary situation is really that bad how it is, but I guess I'm tolerant. Some commentators like Keits and Skisonic get waaay too much shit.

And like others have mentioned, the pace of play makes comparisons to games like StarCraft only somewhat relevant. I have to agree with Darry's response.

As for my favorite commentators, when it comes to the technical and analytical side of commentary, I think Ryan Hunter is one of the best, if not the best. An amazing amount of game knowledge, and able to pick up on a lot of the nuances that are often overlooked.

 

[Raging Spaniard]

I dont know what it says for the state commentary, but my initial reaction is to always turn it off. I just wanna watch the fight, be quiet.

I think ever since that mahvel video, commentators are always trying extremely hard to find a new meme that will make them e-famous ... which in theory is OK because professional sportscasters and announcers are always trying to come up with something memorable to say.

As a listener you're going to have the camp that wants to be entertained and the ones that want to be informed. Right now there's little choice.

 

[Xater]

I dont know what it says for the state commentary, but my initial reaction is to always turn it off. I just wanna watch the fight, be quiet.

I think ever since that mahvel video, commentators are always trying extremely hard to find a new meme that will make them e-famous ... which in theory is OK because professional sportscasters and announcers are always trying to come up with something memorable to say.

As a listener you're going to have the camp that wants to be entertained and the ones that want to be informed. Right now there's little choice.

I like both. Why can't we have both?

 

[Azure J]

I absolutely agree. I find most (non-Killian) fighting game commentary to be absolutely putrid, driven completely by two screaming jackals repeating memes and laughing to themselves.

There was a UMvC3 stream a little while back where the commentators were falling over themselves to make repeatable nicknames for every move. In one match, while Dr. Strange did a move that involves a book a few times, the two kept screaming

"READ A MOTHERFUCKING BOOK"
"THAT'S SOME READING RAINBOW SHIT"
"TAKE A LOOK, IT'S IN A GODDAMN BOOK MOTHERFUCKER"

over and over and over and over. And this is between all the "DR. DOOM IS BRINGING THE FOOD DRIVE, AM I RIGHT" lines repeated ad nauseum.

It's not even kind of clever. It's the basest, least intelligent jokes you can make in any situation and adds nothing informative or entertaining to what I'm watching.

99% of the time, EVO finals accepted, I have to mute the entire stream's volume because of an annoying, overly excitable commentator who doesn't know he's not funny, which sucks because I do like hearing the game's audio. A commentator-less stream would be fantastic.

You are my favorite poster and as much as this is all true... It's really a guilty pleasure of mine to say that I enjoyed all of this and love commentary with a slight no holds barred element to itself. Personally, I feel as though the best solution is to either get more folks who are able to blend both professionalism and that feeling of having fun with their material by themselves (Yipes) or bringing that balance with a setup where one commentator brings the technical and the other brings the "fun".

In the end though, I just enjoy what it is already way too much and wouldn't stir the pot too badly lest we start seeing dryer and dryer commentary from something that should first and foremost be entertaining.

 

[Raging Spaniard]

I like both. Why can't we have both?

Because being funny on the spot and knowledgeable is an incredibly rare find? Nevermind that a round lasts less than 90 seconds.

 

[Corky]

Silk-Hu 4 lyfe

 

[DryEyeRelief]

Yeah, I honestly couldn't help but laugh off that twitter post. There are people all different creeds who are guilty of the behaviors I talk about in the article and to come to the conclusion that I'm somehow racist for not enjoying fighting game commentary anymore is beyond silly.

It is a cultural debate though.



There's a lot of love for ultradavid. I have to ask everyone here, what makes him the best?

 

[Anth0ny]

Because being funny on the spot and knowledgeable is an incredibly rare find? Nevermind that a round lasts less than 90 seconds.

Yipes + Chen does it pretty well. Watch the CEO grand finals. Besides the salt, it was really well done.

 

[Grecco]

My girlfriend has a joke about this aspect of eSports commentary. If you offer a free ice cream cone to an eSports commentator they'll excitedly explain the raw emotion brought upon from this delicious, frozen treat. They'll tell you the how this specific flavor was exactly the right option at this point in time and carefully explain how this made their day. But if you make the same offer to a fighting game commentator you basically get the Nintendo 64 Kid screaming "ICE CREAM" at the top of their lungs until they pass out on the floor

I couldnt disagree more with this. Sorry.

 

[Fersis]

It is a cultural debate though.



There's a lot of love for ultradavid. I have to ask everyone here, what makes him the best?

Knowledge, pacing, vocabulary and .... he doesnt scream all the time.

I couldnt disagree more with this. Sorry.

Nothing to be sorry ^__^-d

 

[JudgeN]

*Ctrl+F Ryan Hunter*

There's already something wrong with this thread.

Maybe it's because I'm a total stream monster, but I can enjoy just almost every type of commentary under the sun, as long as it's not too off-topic, or too inaccurate. I honestly don't think the commentary situation is really that bad how it is, but I guess I'm tolerant. Some commentators like Keits and Skisonic get waaay too much shit.

And like others have mentioned, the pace of play makes comparisons to games like StarCraft only somewhat relevant. I have to agree with Darry's response.

As for my favorite commentators, when it comes to the technical and analytical side of commentary, I think Ryan Hunter is one of the best, if not the best. An amazing amount of game knowledge, and able to pick up on a lot of the nuances that are often overlooked.

brofist.jpeg

Ryan hunter is very underrated

Love Aris on the mic, wish he get on it more.

 

[FormallyFamicom]

Edit: Oh wow I just realized I'm a derp, because the FGC does have a dynamic duo---Mike Ross and Gootecks. The problem is they don't seem to like to do commentary or feel there commentary is good. If they just went into it approaching it like it's just another episode of excellent adventures, then they'd be perfect for commentary.

They do great work, I really enjoyed their commentary at Shadowloo Showdown (before they got "overcooked" anyway).

*Ctrl+F Ryan Hunter*

There's already something wrong with this thread.

Yeah, Ryan Hunter is great. I would've mentioned him but I forgot his name. :lol He worked extremely well with UltraDavid at EVO this year.

 

[CPS2]

Rockefeller and Dogface are the best imo.

BB Hood vs Amir <3

 

[Arzehn]

I like commentators that actually talk about the game, and don't complain about AE balance during the whole tournament.

 

[TurtleSnatcher]

Best 3

Ryan Hunter, UltraDavid, Seth Killian

These guys are so technical and exciting to listen to. I love it. I learn things from them.



Worst
James Chen



Lulz factor
Chris Hu and Yipes

 

[Brobzoid]

I prefer the informative type that keeps it positive (doesn't rag on weaker players in random pool matches, etc) and calls out when option selects are used, how player A is using spacing to control the tempo, what player B is looking for in order to set up his game plan, etc. I play most of the games that I watch streams of, but it helps to hear stuff like that to go along with the fight itself because I feel like it makes me more aware, not just in that match, but in general, like I'm learnin. I think Ultra David is well liked because that's essentially what he does. Same with Seth Killian and even Spooky when he gets on the mic.

I do enjoy the more hype oriented people as well, but I could watch an entire tournament with the former whereas the latter I might get a bit tired of it - especially considering some people aren't as funny as they might think. ;-/

 

[USD]

And I don't see what's wrong with yelling into the mic? Nuki is one of my favorite (Japanese) commentators, and he has no problems screaming in the mic. His voice is so clear and distinctive, no way you could confuse him for anyone else.

I really don't think there's any commentator that just yelling constantly to the point that it's obnoxious. But then again, I have a pretty high level of tolerance.

 

[Chavelo]

GUYS, ARTURO FREQUENTS NEOGAF.

YOU DON'T WANT TO PISS OFF ART.

With that rape face of his...

D:

 

[SapientWolf]

Wow, people like skisonic and james chen? They're forever keits tier to me.

S-kill and Ultradavid are excellent.

Skisonic helps me step my game up. I chock the hate up to the weird anti-intellectual undercurrent that's constantly present on the internet in general.

I guess he just needs to be paired with a color commentator.

 

[Grecco]

Skisonic helps me step my game up. I chock the hate up to the weird anti-intellectual undercurrent that's constantly present on the internet in general.

I guess he just needs to be paired with a color commentator.

My problem with Skizonic is that his "hype" meter is just off balanced. He gets excited about things that nobody else in the room gets excited about, and sometimes has asked why everybody else gets excited about something. I think hes the only commentator ive heard who loses his voice during a stream.


"Getting hype" is something important for fighting game commentators.

 

[Fersis]

Gladly surprised at the amount and quality (Even if i dont agree with some of them) of the comments on iPlaywinner.

 

[zlatko]

I like commentators that actually talk about the game, and don't complain about AE balance during the whole tournament.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY3omlGXGOI

 

[fubarduck]

Yeah, I honestly couldn't help but laugh off that twitter post. There are people all different creeds who are guilty of the behaviors I talk about in the article and to come to the conclusion that I'm somehow racist for not enjoying fighting game commentary anymore is beyond silly.

You are calling out Skisonic because you strongly dislike him and wrote an article after a weekend he was criticized so that you can try getting him away from commentary in the future. Ha ha ha! Laugh it off!

 

[DryEyeRelief]

Knowledge, pacing, vocabulary and .... he doesnt scream all the time.

What vocabulary?

Also:

 

[fubarduck]

I think I'm going to write an article about getting too salty the day after someone throws a joystick at a tournament. Then say things like "we don't need people braying like horses when they throw joysticks".

 

[SapientWolf]

My problem with Skizonic is that his "hype" meter is just off balanced. He gets excited about things that nobody else in the room gets excited about, and sometimes has asked why everybody else gets excited about something. I think hes the only commentator ive heard who loses his voice during a stream.


"Getting hype" is something important for fighting game commentators.

Ski and Art (I think?) got hyped on the ending to the last round of Viscant/Flocker @ Seasons Beatings. If they got any more hype they would have gotten an aneurysm.

If everything is hype then nothing is.

 

[Fersis]

What vocabulary?

He doesnt throw 'F bombs' .We could say that he has a G rated commentary

 

[Chavelo]

Oh, hey, fubar is also a member of GAF! If you're on, what's your opinion on the situa-

/refreshes

...

 

[devastatorprime]

Just start calling Ammy a wolf instead of dog. If only so we dont have to see stream monsters typing dog this dog that every 2 seconds. If there were a Tiger in Marvel I wonder if we would he hearing thats a dead cat/kitty all the time.

Happy Birthday in regards to catching 2 characters is MvC3 is also one of the dumbest things I've heard.

Besides that commentary is pretty damn good and always very entertaining.

 

[Stabby McSter]

GUYS, ARTURO FREQUENTS NEOGAF.

YOU DON'T WANT TO PISS OFF ART.

With that rape face of his...

D:

It's alright, we have a counter: Julie London!

 

[N4Us]

I don't care if KOF13 becomes a multi-billion sponsored event. As long as Hotpockets can still voice the Clarkanator I'm okay.