what an amazing post. i have to read it more than 1 time to give a real statement.
but i think it covers a lot of things were "western" commentary lacks something. i read that "themarine" learned A LOT about the sc2 scene just for casting WCG. thats something i miss...people like tasteless and artosis seem to know nothing about the scene recent results and so on. the only thing they really care about is results in Code S because they are casting it.

StarStruck

25339 Posts

March 12 2012 20:16 GMT

#103

On March 13 2012 01:03 Pokebunny wrote:
A wild mensrea appears, and no one comments

I was going to this morning, but then I realized most people don't even know who mensrea is or what the name brings.

It's a rarity, sure. I've seen Mens posting a lot more frequently though.

Warpath

Canada1242 Posts

March 13 2012 04:56 GMT

#104

The part of the korean observers is true. watch the curser through a game a brood war. 75% of the time its hovering over the minimap, waiting for a commentator to finish what hes saying about the current screen.
Because his attention is so focused on the minimap and probably not looking at the actual game, he will almost never miss a thing, barring crazy battles that dont warrant the camera being taken away (which just adds to the 'HE WAS DOING A DROP ALONGSIDE ALL THIS! coolness)
Whenever its not on the map, its selecting (mostly) random units so you can see upgrades/energy after EMP/close to dead important units(defiler/science vessels or dropships after scourge) or storm drops and other big kill units.

More professional casters need to stop 'watching the game' imo. It seems like I'm seeing more of the game than most because i like to watch the minimaps

bgx

Poland6595 Posts

March 13 2012 07:34 GMT

#105

On March 13 2012 13:56 Warpath wrote:
The part of the korean observers is true. watch the curser through a game a brood war. 75% of the time its hovering over the minimap, waiting for a commentator to finish what hes saying about the current screen.
Because his attention is so focused on the minimap and probably not looking at the actual game, he will almost never miss a thing, barring crazy battles that dont warrant the camera being taken away (which just adds to the 'HE WAS DOING A DROP ALONGSIDE ALL THIS! coolness)
Whenever its not on the map, its selecting (mostly) random units so you can see upgrades/energy after EMP/close to dead important units(defiler/science vessels or dropships after scourge) or storm drops and other big kill units.

More professional casters need to stop 'watching the game' imo. It seems like I'm seeing more of the game than most because i like to watch the minimaps

Also worth to note, that observer and commentators are ridiculously experienced, basically they can showcase any weird stuff that is going on, for example when JD blocked his ramp with drones, observer showed his main hatchery and centered view to show the vision jaedong had when he was macroing, and why he could not see it.

Slightly

United States80 Posts

March 13 2012 08:01 GMT

#106

I think there is an unfortunate consequence of a lack of game knowledge, at least in the English SC2 commentary, in that casters often throw unrelated filler into every available silence. Judging by the subtitled match in the OP, Korean commentary is heavily focused on the game, the players and their mindsets, and how everything is unfolding. In the less active moments of the game, the Korean commentators add statistics and background information as filler to keep the players rooted in the game. English commentary lately seems to be trending towards comedy as filler, perhaps due to how successfully Tasteless utilizes it in his casts, and how well Artosis follows him.

The problems I have with this comedic mindset as a viewer arise when: the casters constantly make bad jokes, when I feel like a professional caster could still be touching on other aspects of the game, and when the casters are so busy laughing at how clever they believe themselves to be that they end up missing action in the game. This happens a lot actually, and granted sometimes the action may not be game changing, but it's still annoying to see units or buildings getting killed while the casters laugh and make irrelevant jokes. It makes me feel like I'm watching a game beside a noisy friend rather than hearing the game casted.

I don't see this happening with the Korean casts, but then I don't understand Korean so the only matches I get to draw from are those that get subtitled so if anyone wants to touch on this subject with a better understanding feel free.. I'm admittedly singular with my representation of Korean casting.

zyce

United States649 Posts

March 13 2012 12:42 GMT

#107

It was incredibly fun to watch the JD v Stork match with the captions. Thanks so much for putting that together! It would really be something else to see more videos like this one in the future.

Boundz(DarKo)

5311 Posts

March 13 2012 14:03 GMT

#108

edit damn I saw this had already been posted.. on 1st page =_= sry

+ Show Spoiler +

Not really 100% on topic but its korean commentating starcraft with subtitles, for those who have missed.

And also http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=65727

Crota

United States90 Posts

March 13 2012 15:20 GMT

#109

Thanks for the good read guys. I'm gonna try to process this all and try to work on my own commenting.

reincremate

China2210 Posts

March 13 2012 17:04 GMT

#110

I don't speak Korean, but having watched BW for several years, I frequently inadvertently to react to stuff with "waaaaaa" or "yaaaaa".

KissKiss

United Kingdom136 Posts

March 15 2012 05:01 GMT

#111

Tobi, the commentator that does a lot of Dota2 stuff does a pretty good job of creating the same sort of atmosphere you'd see on a Korean BW cast. He gets excited, he speaks fast and calls all the action and he screams Black Hole whenever Enigma uses his Ult. He makes a game that I honestly don't enjoy that much exciting to watch.

I do really enjoy the commentary at the homestory cups though. Nice banter between pro players and knowledge bombs dropping all over. Not enough hype for a finals perhaps, but I find that style of commentary more interesting for group matches etc.

Daigoro

Germany251 Posts

March 15 2012 20:12 GMT

#112

Lovely post, on a topic i have been wondering about myself. I remember reading a post from gom about Tastosis' casting maybe a year or so and it was evident how much their commentary technique has evolved, along with the game. I do love the 'Yaa', but still i will prefer casts in a language i can understand.

But I will watch all the subbed casts for sure. Thanks for the writeup!

niemine

Finland1 Post

March 17 2012 22:08 GMT

#113

Finnish icehockey cast.