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Um started commentating even before Ongamenet was created in a kid's cartoon channel named tooniverse that was brodcasting starcraft leagues. "There were no game channels at first. We just took a ping-pong table that was rolling around somewhere inside the tooniverse company building and put a black cloth over it to use for stage setup and had a very small prize pool. It was just for fun, a small, weird event" He reminisced. Really puts into perspective how far we've come, especially from the point of view of man who has been here from the very beginning and is still active. Very few men in BW can boast an ongoing legacy like that, and it's great to hear his opinion on these very dark times.
I hope BW lives long enough so that the ping pong table that birthed professional BW becomes a sacred artifact.
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Good to know there is some optimism around :D
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On September 01 2011 08:56 eviltomahawk wrote:Show nested quote +Um started commentating even before Ongamenet was created in a kid's cartoon channel named tooniverse that was brodcasting starcraft leagues. "There were no game channels at first. We just took a ping-pong table that was rolling around somewhere inside the tooniverse company building and put a black cloth over it to use for stage setup and had a very small prize pool. It was just for fun, a small, weird event" He reminisced. Really puts into perspective how far we've come, especially from the point of view of man who has been here from the very beginning and is still active. Very few men in BW can boast an ongoing legacy like that, and it's great to hear his opinion on these very dark times. I hope BW lives long enough so that the ping pong table that birthed professional BW becomes a sacred artifact.
Wondering if they have kept the table.... One day we might see it on a museum with Egyptian artifact and Greek sculpture. Beside it lies, the table that gave birth to ESPORT!
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United Kingdom1685 Posts
The guy is a living legend. You can tell he loves the game of BW.
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holy shit this guy is a boss! Definitely gave me some new perspective on the happenings of BW
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On September 01 2011 07:10 Manifesto7 wrote: Thanks a lot for the article. He is a really amazing guy, and his comments help give perspective to what is happening.
If I were Blizzard, I would see this as a golden opportunity. Sponsoring one of the teams in trouble (or merging two of them) would be incredibly beneficial. - Repair relationships with kespa - Become a savior in the eyes of the Korean fan base (no pun intended) - Provide a great marketing and advertising platform for reasonable cost
Just leave the existing management in place to increase trust, and boom, ultimate goodwill presence in an important market.
It's surely an excellent idea, but I think we all know deep down that Blizzard is too stubborn and short-sighted for this to happen.
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thanks for this translation, its very important to keep things in perspective
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On September 01 2011 07:10 Manifesto7 wrote: Thanks a lot for the article. He is a really amazing guy, and his comments help give perspective to what is happening.
If I were Blizzard, I would see this as a golden opportunity. Sponsoring one of the teams in trouble (or merging two of them) would be incredibly beneficial. - Repair relationships with kespa - Become a savior in the eyes of the Korean fan base (no pun intended) - Provide a great marketing and advertising platform for reasonable cost
Just leave the existing management in place to increase trust, and boom, ultimate goodwill presence in an important market.
I recall some Blizzard exec saying "as a business, we naturally want consumers to buy our newest product", or something to that extent. With that mindset I can't ever see them sponsoring a BW team, despite its potential.
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On September 01 2011 07:10 Manifesto7 wrote: Thanks a lot for the article. He is a really amazing guy, and his comments help give perspective to what is happening.
If I were Blizzard, I would see this as a golden opportunity. Sponsoring one of the teams in trouble (or merging two of them) would be incredibly beneficial. - Repair relationships with kespa - Become a savior in the eyes of the Korean fan base (no pun intended) - Provide a great marketing and advertising platform for reasonable cost
Just leave the existing management in place to increase trust, and boom, ultimate goodwill presence in an important market.
That is an interesting idea. An even better idea is EG Fox. 
I really would like to see GOM do another MSL, that would be so baller.
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On September 01 2011 08:21 ZeroChrome wrote:Show nested quote +On September 01 2011 08:03 Zona wrote: Hmm, there seems to be another danger that's not being mentioned...the decline in the number of fans and viewers.
I really wish I knew enough Korean to dig around for the viewership ratings, but one thing I noticed is that in the "most popular games played in PC bangs" surveys, Brood War has dropped off the top-10 list entirely. Back when SC2 was introduced, BW was still more popular than SC2 among players at netcafes, but now it's not there anymore. (Mind you, SC2 hasn't really displaced it - it's just even more free MMO's on top now, with SC2 seemingly around the same place it was before.) The rankings on gametrics puts BW at 4th. Which is actually slightly higher than earlier this year.
BW played has decreased but yeah, its rather stable and stays on the top 10 (I like to keep track on Korean PC Bang games for what to play next ^^)
But I still agree with the other guy that wanted to destroy Nexon DNF and Maple getting far too much play in PC Bangs (Also Aion and recently Tera)
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Ultralisk commentator ftw. I hope him and Kim Carrier can continue commentating until their hair turns grey.
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<3 UJG!
manifesto's proposition also so awesome~ maybe someone could shoot a blizzard contact they know an email?
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I think the way SPL is run must be changed. Having teams play each other 7 times a year to determine play off order seems retarded to me. There is basically nothing at stake at each game.
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This guy is probably only reason why I love OSL so much I'm a big fan of him
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On September 01 2011 11:46 GoTuNk! wrote: I think the way SPL is run must be changed. Having teams play each other 7 times a year to determine play off order seems retarded to me. There is basically nothing at stake at each game.
it'll have to be changed, because without MBCGame there can't be two games run concurrently. If it were up to me, I'd change back to 5 rounds from 6 (R3 Winners League) and have the top 4 teams make the playoffs. One match a day instead of two, since it's only OGN now. PL could run 6 days a week instead of 5, since there's no MSL.
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Damn you Nexon!!!
Inspiring words from Commentator Um though.
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On September 01 2011 07:10 Manifesto7 wrote: If I were Blizzard, I would see this as a golden opportunity. Sponsoring one of the teams in trouble (or merging two of them) would be incredibly beneficial. - Repair relationships with kespa - Become a savior in the eyes of the Korean fan base (no pun intended) - Provide a great marketing and advertising platform for reasonable cost
Just leave the existing management in place to increase trust, and boom, ultimate goodwill presence in an important market.
While I would be happy to see a new team formed or some of the now disbanding ones saved, I don't see Blizzard sponsoring a team playing out like this. I don't know what the korean stand point on this is, but if I was a korean I'd find Blizzard first going after kespa and BW while heavily pushing SC2 and then suddenly sponsoring a team in BW highly suspicious, no matter if they left the existing management in place or not.
Also, although BW is no longer being patched or in active development (right?), isn't it a bit fishy to have a development company sponsor a team in their own game? Kind of like NFL running their own american football team.
It's a beautiful idea, but I don't see how it working out like that.
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^ Anything that reduces the frequency of games that the players have to prepare for is a good thing in my book. It's pretty ridiculous now, with 2 games almost every week.
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Definitely puts things in perspective. BW clawed it's way up to the top from the very bottom. It's been through tougher trials, and I for one believe it will persist. Like he said, its all in the hands of the fans, and I think anyone who's been around TL long enough knows theres no shortage of passion for this game. We'll make due, one way or another!
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