Last year, I produced a documentary entitled "World Cyber Games" for the National Geographic Channel. I just wanted to let everyone know that it's starting to be broadcast around the world. I'm not sure exactly when it's going on air in the various territories, but I do know that it was recently shown in South Africa, and it should premier in Asia in September.
The documentary follows Seo Jihoon (Xellos) on his journey to the 2005 WCG Grand Finals. We document his progress through the WCG Korea National Finals, his training and his lifestyle.
The documentary includes never-before-seen sequences such as Xellos getting his brain tested (to see if pro gamers are physically different from normal human, much like athletes), Xellos hanging out with his mum (where we learn how he ended up as a pro gamer), and incredible footage of XELLOS ACTUALLY SMILING.
Also featured are Cho Gyu Nam (CJ team coach), Lee Jae Hoon (fOru) and Na Do Hyun (silent_control). Guillaume Patry (Grrr_ca) gets a whole segment to himself. You'll also catch glimpses of international gamers such as Legionnaire (really, really briefly), Androide, Blackman, and Fisheye.
I'd love to post it on the tracker right now, but I can't because otherwise National Geographic will sue me. Let me repeat that. Can't put it online RIGHT NOW. ahem.
Please also understand that because it was made for a National Geographic audience (not to mention commissioning editors), most of whom are clueless about computer games, I could not make the sort of documentary I would have wanted to.
So please don't fret if you don't get a full analysis of Xellos' games, or we don't showcase fOru's defeat of Julyzerg, or the script seems to say the blatantly obvious. We do hope that everyone who watches the documentary enjoys it, and those who continue to use their computers as nothing but futuristic typewriters will be tempted to start playing Starcraft. And, of course, we hope that mothers aroudn the world will loosen up when their kids play computer games.
On July 30 2006 22:47 NerO wrote: so uh when and wut channel?
National Geographic Channel. I have no clue when they're going to broadcast. Losttemple, we were shooting in Korea and in Singapore... did we see you? What were you doing? =)
yeah i saw that. really nice program for people who are not interested in it. it was really nice to see starcraft match on a big screen :D i watched it with my mother :p
Oh, waitaminit... thelosttemple= tasteless? Yeah, that was us. You and your "I hope Xellos loses". You know how panicked we were when we found that our main character was dropping out of the storyline? =)
I watched it on TV here in Norway the other day, it was really well made and I enjoyed it greatly
You will prolly get some comment on the APM focus, since I doubt any of those matches were lost due to being "microseconds too late" (don't remember the exact wording).
Thanks for the great story and entertainment (even for one that had seen all the matches before)!
I knew this all sounded familiar and then I remembered that I saw it on an episode of Inside Stuff on OnGameNet when they were interviewing people at WCG
And if I remember correctly, you were interviewed, right Storyteller? I'm not sure if that was you or not, but I do remember a Singaporean guy (with glasses, I think) talking about a WCG documentary he was making
On July 31 2006 00:21 pubbanana wrote: I knew this all sounded familiar and then I remembered that I saw it on an episode of Inside Stuff on OnGameNet when they were interviewing people at WCG
And if I remember correctly, you were interviewed, right Storyteller? I'm not sure if that was you or not, but I do remember a Singaporean guy (with glasses, I think) talking about a WCG documentary he was making
Yeah, that was me. They were asking things like, "so, how do you feel now that Xellos has lost?" and I was trying my absolute best not to say "Goddamnit! The bastard silent_control just killed my storyline!" Plus the problem that National Geographic wasn't letting me say anything about the story (they embargo all info for fear that Discovery might rush out a similar docu before them) limited what I could say (next to nothing... )
I felt like a politician.
If nobody can download it yet, don't worry, I will seed it after it premiers in Asia.
You will prolly get some comment on the APM focus, since I doubt any of those matches were lost due to being "microseconds too late" (don't remember the exact wording).
Thanks for the great story and entertainment (even for one that had seen all the matches before)!
Thanks =) My first time producing an international docu, so I wasn't sure if would work out. I think the line you're referring to came from Xellos vs silent_control on Estrella and Paranoid Android, where they were using the exact same build, but Xellos always seemed to be a little bit slower, which gave silent_control a tiny advantage in army size.
It wasn't supposed to be that simplistic, but when we submitted our first script, one of the comments we got was "nobody will understand the term 'pincer movement'", so you an imagine how much we had to simplify the "battle reports"!
i saw that posted in our tv guide, but the guide says the documentary follows a WCG gamer and focuses on the problems relating to children playing computer games!
On July 31 2006 00:51 PuertoRican wrote: The download has been fucking up for the past 10 minutes or so. Restarting and stuff, wasting my time ;(
1 seed, 7 peers.
Hm? It's not fucking up, it's just that you've hit the ceiling of what has been uploaded and shared between the leechers already, and you're waiting for the lone seeder to keep uploading new pieces for you to d/l.
yea what ETT said is true. the trick to dling off of 1 seeder is to just ignore that you are downloading the file.
as comedian Mitch Hedberg would say, "I like baked potatoes, but they take too long to make. Sometimes I throw one in the oven, even if I don't want one. By the time it's done, who knows? I throw one in and go on vacation."
A friend of mine recorded it onto DVD from the tv. He needs help converting it to .AVI so he can then host it on youtube for all to see. Anyone know any good programs to do this ?
Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: ok i got -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: x3 vob files -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: which i was able to convert to avi -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: but the other files are -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: D2V file -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: LST file -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: IDX file -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: and then the exe file which is an IFO =Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: which is basically my version of media player -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: so if you can tell me how to convert all those files into 1 file so i can upload somewhere -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: then n/p
On July 31 2006 04:59 FrozenArbiter wrote: Awesome, wish I had whatever channels this will air on, but I don't :/
Thanks for the heads up tho, and the torrent links :D! I'm sure it will be very enjoyable.
If you donot have National Geographic Channel, YOU ARE NOBODY! :D.
Like 3 days ago, there was this thunderstorm in here, and I was watching tv, I came into the NGC, and they were broadcasting a documentary about hack, hacking and hackers in china. Very rad. :D
Torrent is dead and no one uploaded it anywhere :/ Please can someone upload it someplace good? sounds too good to miss. I'm sure bw.de would accept it.
Okay, I just got word from National Geographic about the territories it's aired in.
Nat Geo Australia New Zealand Nat Geo Asia Taiwan Nat Geo Benelux/Africa Nat Geo Brazil Portugal Nat Geo Central Europe Nat Geo Canada Nat Geo France Nat Geo Germany Nat Geo Spain Latin America
So everyone in the United States and almost the whole of Asia, plus the UK should still have a chance to see it. Plus it's likely to rerun a few times. So no torrent files yet! I love my job and want to keep it!
I found a dl link for the Polish version... not very helpful for anyone else though, they voice-over everything. Need English release. http://freya.dsv.agh.edu.pl/~beh/wcg.avi
On July 31 2006 01:06 Freezer_au wrote: A friend of mine recorded it onto DVD from the tv. He needs help converting it to .AVI so he can then host it on youtube for all to see. Anyone know any good programs to do this ?
Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: ok i got -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: x3 vob files -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: which i was able to convert to avi -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: but the other files are -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: D2V file -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: LST file -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: IDX file -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: and then the exe file which is an IFO =Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: which is basically my version of media player -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: so if you can tell me how to convert all those files into 1 file so i can upload somewhere -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: then n/p
YouTube has a 100mb file limit and 10minute length limit, so don't bother.
This sounds really interesting, but I can't get the torrent to work, probably no seeds. Getting desperate and downloading the polish version.
It doesn't cover a lot of what's in the full docu, but it's a nice, happy intro, I guess. The kind that'll make people who don't play starcraft want to watch. Voiced by Asha Gill, the British Indian model.
And no, I can't upload it anywhere yet. I do need good ratings for this to preserve my job.
You and I, We have met before Through the magic of a moment in Cyberspace Driven by a passion to win Playin' heart to heart, face to face The challenge of a life time
Stands before us now
Beyond the game In the shadow of the golden gate (ver2 ; through a portal into cyberspace) We have come to decide our fate We're here to celebrate Beyond the game Beyond the game At last the moment`s at hand All we need is to believe we can We'll make our stand Beyond the game! (beyond the game!) Beyond the game! (beyond the game!) Beyond the game! (beyond the game!) The world cyber games!
The teams are here, the spirit is right We`re connected now in a powerful way We celebrate our diversity Around the world with a passion to play The planet will be watching The message will be heard¡¦. (chorus)
On August 07 2006 14:05 skindzer wrote: Seems like its not going to air in latin america
The guy from NatGeo (Storyteller) said it was going to be aired in most NatGeo channels, and the Latin American one was listed there, So I guess we just have to wait .
Thank you for your email - The National Geographic Channel US (NGC) and the National Geographic International Channel (NGCI) are separate entities and our programming is targeted for different audiences. This "The World Cyber Games" program is an International Channel program and US Channel does not have plans to air this program.
On August 07 2006 14:05 skindzer wrote: Seems like its not going to air in latin america
The guy from NatGeo (Storyteller) said it was going to be aired in most NatGeo channels, and the Latin American one was listed there, So I guess we just have to wait .
Cool , but i didnt find ani information about it in natgeo.tv
On August 08 2006 16:20 PuertoRican wrote: I have 34% of it downloaded, but this is over a week. I didn't logon the BitComet site for like 3-4 days.
Hopefully I can get the rest.
I'm curious as to how I'm getting more of the file since there hasn't been any Seeders on.
It's has been the same for me, When I open uTorrent, I leave it open for a big while, like 10 hours, before I start to play, and I have never got more than 34%. I know there is a seeder, because, we were stuck at like 26%.
So, seems like NatGeo won't be airing this thing, Is a shame . I really wanted to see this in my tv. Anyways, let's hope a seeder joins the pool, and we can all share the file. ;P.
On August 07 2006 15:49 bsj9 wrote: I mailed National Geographic USA to put the documentary on air :|
What's their e-mail? With our powers combined, we can make this happen!
Guys, I'm really touched. It was my first time producing an international documentary, and I hoped, but never actually believed, that anyone would be interested. I even had nightmares of people watching the trailer and then deciding that it didn't look so great after all.
I'm not sure about the connection between National Geographic US and National Geographic International, because I don't actually work for National Geographic. I work for an independent production house based in Singapore, and National Geographic commissioned this documentary. I was so tormented by the production process that I didn't spare a thought for what would happen after.
Nevertheless, I'll try to make some enquiries on my end and try to get it shown in as many territories as possible.
In the meantime, I'm really encouraged by the response here, and especially that people actually took the trouble to write in to National Geographic. Hope everyone spreads the word and the trailer, to forums and even to people who don't play Starcraft. One way to encourage the various National Geographic channels to air a documentary is if it does well in another part of the world. Here's hoping that ratings in Asia will be through the roof!
On August 08 2006 16:20 PuertoRican wrote: I have 34% of it downloaded, but this is over a week. I didn't logon the BitComet site for like 3-4 days.
Hopefully I can get the rest.
I'm curious as to how I'm getting more of the file since there hasn't been any Seeders on.
It's has been the same for me, When I open uTorrent, I leave it open for a big while, like 10 hours, before I start to play, and I have never got more than 34%. I know there is a seeder, because, we were stuck at like 26%.
So, seems like NatGeo won't be airing this thing, Is a shame . I really wanted to see this in my tv. Anyways, let's hope a seeder joins the pool, and we can all share the file. ;P.
I really want to see this, I've wanted to go to a WCG event for a long while. Eventually, I hope your documentary gets aired in english, or in the USA, GL.
On July 31 2006 01:06 Freezer_au wrote: A friend of mine recorded it onto DVD from the tv. He needs help converting it to .AVI so he can then host it on youtube for all to see. Anyone know any good programs to do this ?
Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: ok i got -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: x3 vob files -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: which i was able to convert to avi -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: but the other files are -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: D2V file -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: LST file -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: IDX file -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: and then the exe file which is an IFO =Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: which is basically my version of media player -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: so if you can tell me how to convert all those files into 1 file so i can upload somewhere -=Nick // NG-Starhunter=- says: then n/p
what happend to this? Zip it up and upload on megahost or something xD
On August 09 2006 01:25 Highways wrote: What was the original language of the documentary?
English, man... we all speak English in Singapore =) But, of course, most of the soundbites were in Korean dubbed in English (not as good as original Korean, if you ask me). The narrator was Asha Gill, the British born Indian model. She hosts Lonely Plant on Discovery.
On August 09 2006 01:25 Highways wrote: What was the original language of the documentary?
English, man... we all speak English in Singapore =) But, of course, most of the soundbites were in Korean dubbed in English (not as good as original Korean, if you ask me). The narrator was Asha Gill, the British born Indian model. She hosts Lonely Plant on Discovery.
I thought that Singapore had it's own language until I talked to Wilson Chea, and I was asking him how many languages he could speak, since he was talking to both the Japanese and Korean guy. He said 3. English, Japanese, and Korean.
I said, and the Singapore language right?
He said no, we speak english here, I said oh.
On August 09 2006 01:24 Binky1842 wrote: 36.2% on 56k... 190 megs.. not in english
That trailer is such a good damn teaser for anyone who's watched or followed WCG at all.... We need someone who has it to go on Afreeca and set a nice movie time
I dont use Torrent - If someone has a fast server connection or something i will help uploading this file 349MB (nice rip btw :-)) If you got fast speed connection / serv and can fix the torrent i will upload the file
msg me by email: Schmidt2@gmail.com or just on this forum post.
And I will not upload to everybody who just want if for themself (not that fast connection in upload)
only have 4mbit / 256
Well MSG me - and i will help you guys I Havnt seen the doc yet.. but gonna do in 10 min
I think broodwar.de would be a great place to serve the file ? See you
Second, maybe try to upload to www.yousendit.com or something, I'm sure someone here would be more than happy to host it on their site, or throw it up on the torrent tracker.
On August 10 2006 12:59 superjoppe wrote: KizZyDK: You can use winrar and make 4 parts of it, and upload each part to rapidshare or yousendit. then we with better bandwidth can keep spread it.
On August 10 2006 12:59 superjoppe wrote: KizZyDK: You can use winrar and make 4 parts of it, and upload each part to rapidshare or yousendit. then we with better bandwidth can keep spread it.
No don't do that. Just don't.
Why not? That method is often used to spread files via rapidshare/yousendit.
On August 11 2006 03:21 MOBAJOBG wrote: "The Storyteller": Is this Asha Gill, the British Indian model but is actually a Malaysian? http://ashagill.com/resume.php
Yeah man... She lives in KL... Bangsar, I think. We had to fly her down for the voicing. She was really good though, and well worth it.
And congratulations on finding the torrent. =) Please please please everyone who watches it, try to catch it on TV as well so that NGC will continue to commission documentaries on progaming. =)
On August 11 2006 03:21 MOBAJOBG wrote: "The Storyteller": Is this Asha Gill, the British Indian model but is actually a Malaysian? http://ashagill.com/resume.php
Yeah man... She lives in KL... Bangsar, I think. We had to fly her down for the voicing. She was really good though, and well worth it.
And congratulations on finding the torrent. =) Please please please everyone who watches it, try to catch it on TV as well so that NGC will continue to commission documentaries on progaming. =)
I would watch it on TV, if they actually PUT IT ON TV in the United States..... ugh >.<
If bw.de dont replay and some one makes an torrent file of it. Could everyone agree with that they will seed so long that they could so everyone gets it?
And thanks to everyone who makes this possible to download this documentary.
It was VERY good. Creds to The Storyteller. Some things were explained in a quite "Noobish" way but that's reasonable since the audience consists to 95% of people who has never played starcraft.
Ahahaah, I loved it. Really, GJ, and you did a very good job for a broad audience. I like how they say Xellos controls 3/4ths the map, then you see the game and he just has 1 more expo than Rock ~_~ heheh cute. I wish the documentary could have been made after CJ's formation.
And It was nice to see Grrr.... Damn his place is NICE. For a spot like that in Korea? Fack~
Thanks for all the comments guys =) I'm going to sleep with my big head taking up rather a lot of space on my pillow =) I hope the Asians watch it again when it premiers in Asia on Nat Geo though... I harbour hopes of a sequel, and the more people watch this, the higher the chances of that happening. Show Nat Geo US what they missed =P
Closer to the premier date, I'll post in this thread again with some production photos and "behind-the-scenes" stories to drum up interest... hopefully they'll make their way to other forums as well.
And I'll respond to questions about why we did what we did tomorrow morning, so feel free to ask anything =)
Very nice documentary. I felt some information was misleading, or rather, exaggerated, but this was probably for the people who don't play sc as much as us. Enjoyed it nonetheless since it was about sc.
I hate the fuck outta the guys doing the voices. They sounded like "ahh I have to pracccticee"
The documentary awas goodly, I rather have subtitles instead of Voices over the people. But it was amazing, Call me geek, but that shit was fucking awesome~~!!
this was the best documentary of bw that i have seen i even appear for 4 o 5 seconds on it :D:D rofl really good job man now im really amazed and i love xellos now 8)
This documentary would be great for introducing people to progaming, I think. People that would normally respond negatively to it if you would just show them a VOD would enjoy this, and gain a better understanding, I think.
I liked it but I think that gaming parts could be better, it would be better whit some emphasis on strategy then only speed of clicking, things like timing would be propably more interesting then showing that somebody have more army, you could show less games but cover them more indept imo.
That was really well done! shame they won't air it on U.S television... I especially liked the part where they described andriod, neglecting to mention the spit->punch incident and general assholeness.
Well, as I said before, the whole thing is amazing for people who isn't aware of what happends there in Korea, or to people who doesn't know shit about programing, and they just know "little stuff"
The way they "explained" the game, was nice, it was easy to understand, to people who don't know the game. To us, it was just like...Yes, I know that!. But to normal-people, it is a good way to get into gaming.
Seeing Grrrr... was fucking awesome btw, haha I like the way he talks about progaming, and his Hangeul has improved like a LOT.
On August 13 2006 17:32 Drowsy wrote: That was really well done! shame they won't air it on U.S television... I especially liked the part where they described andriod, neglecting to mention the spit->punch incident and general assholeness.
Oh... I didn't know about this... What spit-punch incident?
Why the WCG and not some other tournament with more money/better players?
National Geographic's (henceforth referred to as NGC) Asia Pacific office is based in Singapore, as is my company. When they approached us to do a documentary on pro-gaming, the original idea was to do one on what it took to organise the World\'s Largest Computer Game Tournament. We would be able to film everything in Singapore.
I argued against that, because that would be boring. Besides, I really wanted a free holiday. They relented in the end, and let me turn it into a Korea story, but WCG still had to be the focus. For one thing, its an international event, and that makes it easier to relate to for a non-Korean audience.
Why Xellos and not Boxer/Savior/July/Chojja/Rekrul/Nal_Ra/Nada etc.?
Firstly, they weren't in WCG. Like I said, this had to be a WCG documentary.
Secondly, when we asked this nice girl working in the PR department of ICM (the company that organises WCG) who we ought to feature, she said "I think you can feature Seo Jihoon. He was number one Starcraft player in WCG last year. Also, he is quite good looking boy ^^"
Well, the good looking boy part settled it for us.
And, of course, it makes it easier to plan a documentary like that. NGC documentaries nowadays need a storyline and a main character, like a Hollywood movie. It\'s hard enough trying to get into the top ten in Liquibet, let alone gamble tens of thousands of dollars in manpower and equipment on a player advancing through WCG. So having a seeded player who goes straight to the Korea National Finals lowered the chances of us losing our main character halfway through the story, and wasting all the shots we did of him at home and in his boarding house and all.
Who are the two players that GO lost to richer teams?
The year before the documentary was made, Midas and Gorush left for SKT1. Of course, even before that there were good players leaving GO. Off the top of my head, I can't quite remember, but was it Nal_Ra?
Which international players appear in cameos?
Fisheye and Blackman appear in the pretitle, of course. Darki appears in part 3, along with a bunch of others whose names I can't remember. There are a bunch of people watching Xellos practise, including tasteless. We interviewed JohnRambo, Testie, CNstorm and a couple of others as well, but their soundbites didn\'t make it in due to time constraints. Legionnaire appears briefly too, at the end of part 3. Androide says in a slightly menacing, Russian mafia way, "tommorrow see you," to fOru and fOru clutches at Legionnaire's arm in terror.
Why not have fewer games and cover them more in depth?
Well, it was partly my fault. They were all such good games that, like Annabel Chong, I had to stick as many in as I could.
But it was also partly due to time constraints. In a 47 minute documentary, we had to chart Xellos' s journey, and we could only do that by showing key games, such as his match against silent_control that got him his winning ticket to Singapore. Also, we had to make sure that every part had at least one game, to keep people coming back after the commercial break. And, of course, we had to explain why our main characters were dropping out of the documentary left, right and centre.
So after we were forced to put in all those games, we found we couldn't develop each of them as much as we wanted.
Finally, there was the audience problem again. One of our commissioning editors was completely clueless when it came to gaming, and she didn't want us to put in any more information than was necessary. Everyone understands the games the way we've done them now, but I suspect she's still a bit hazy.
Still, you have her to thank for being able to see that games at all. I wanted them in, but my executive producer and my director, who know nuts about gaming, didn't want to bother describing the games at all. My editor, a gamer, stood with me. And NGC had their own point of view. Even though the commissioning editor couldn't understand them, she believed that they were necessary to create drama. After all of us had many, many arguments, we finally decided on what we have today.
But NGC has a point: for the layman, you can give a lot of information in the first game and go more and more in depth. After the commercial break and watching Xellos's lovely sweat in the gym, he'll forget all about it and you\'ll have to explain it to him again. And unfortunately, that's when you start losing people who have no interest in Starcraft.
Having tested it out on a test audience, we had to admit that perhaps explaining scouting, rushing, cliffs, micro and macro was a little too much. A real pity. BUT, the Starcraft wiki will cover all that! =D
Are you sure Xellos control 3/4s of the map?
Yes, he had TheRock contained, so technically, he could have grabbed all those expos if he wanted to =) But it is an oversimplification, because the battle did sway back and forth. Unfortunately, we couldn't go into every turning point of the battle.
Why is there no gossip in the video, like silent_control's two girls at WCG or Androide's evil personality?
Because NGC insists that we must verify everything we say in the video. Gossip can't be verified =)
What\'s with the character voices? They suck!
I agree. No offence to the people who did the dubs for us, who were all professionals with a lot of experience. However, I don't like dubbing in general. I think it spoils the film in general, and the film loses a lot of its heart.
However, this is NGC's policy, unlike Discovery, which often has subtitles. The reason for this is that it's faster for the NGC territories like Korea and Japan to dub over the entire documentary than to type in their own subtitles, and they try to standardise practices around the world.
Also, there's a general feeling that in the English speaking world, people don't read subtitles. They just switch channels. This may be misinformation on their part, but there you go.
Was it shot on film or digital?
It was shot on digibeta, which is deemed suitable for broadcast quality on international channels. Digibeta is one step above beta-SP, which is above mini DV.
Digibeta is slowly becoming obsolete due to HD, though.
Film is too expensive to shoot a documentary on, so not many people do that anymore. We shot 75 hours worth of footage on digibeta. It would have cost a bomb to shoot the same amount on film.
Well done man. I thought this to be an incredibly well-done bit, and although people around here are extremely well informed, and in Korea WCG tends not to be the biggest thing, I thought it to be a GREAT representation of the gaming scene to people who've never even heard of SC before. And especially after reading and understanding the prerequisites for this, excellent, excellent job.
I did however ROFL when I heard the "now he controls 3/4 of the map" lol thats maybe a bit too amateurish to say, and the English voice dub was horrible but thats nothing new- English dubbing is always extremly terrible for any anime I've ever seen dubbed in the USA so I'm used to it.
I would have liked if you mentioned Xellos's victory in thr Olympus 2003 OSL... to win the OSL (or the Korean WCG itself) is a much bigger honor for Koreans than the actual WCG. Also would be awesome to see progamers like Boxer/Yellow/Reach say a few words about Xellos, what they think about him as a rival, very important in a personal docu imo! lots of gamers (of any game) would recocnize Boxer for example, and hearing him say possitive words about Xellos would be a good credibility booster for people who never heard of him before, and I'm sure lots of top progamers would say great things about him as a rival.
Overall I give it 9/10 for the great enjoyment and hope for another one :-)
Thanks so much. I'm going to watch this documentary soon, some of the people I know in real life actually have seen it before me. They don't even play SC and say it is pretty cool; that really means you did a great job. Keep it up.
On August 14 2006 07:12 XDawn wrote: I loved how they displayed the game The map, and the little cube/pyramid to tell whos base is who and all that
Yeah, that was a really effective method to show the games. You could know nothing of starcraft or rts gaming at all and still understand what was going on. That was a really great documentery.
Would have been great for people who dont know much about the gaming scene due to the simplification. A couple of exaggerations however. "Point 0000005 of a second matters in that game". and "The russian comes in with a GAZILLION Fighter planes"
meRz: Boxer is almost 27 I think, and yeah he's still kicking ass :-) not as much as before though, I'm not sure however if its because he's getting older or because all the rookies are getting so much better these days, maybe both.
just watched it. pretty cool. a few annoying mistakes were present, but i'm pretty sure they were only there to make things a little easier to follow for people not familiar with progaming. i liked how they did the storyline sorta thing with the revenge subplot n stuff. cute
it was misleading in that they made out that WCG was the most important/desired thing to be winning. pretty much everything was scaled according to WCG results; guillame getting 3rd, xellos being "world champion" because he won in 04 and that if silent_control beat xellos he'd be an overnight sensation... come on. WCG champ just doesn't come with that kind of status in korea among players or fans for that matter. and with hardly a breath inbetween they said the top players only win 60/40 so why would a loss to silent_control be such a shock.
i think they should have shed some light on the scene in korea in regards to prize money/status/priority of korean leagues and tournaments vs WCG. n that there's an expiry date at 25? as far as im concerned, like in physical sports you can play top level up til about 30. it's just that starcraft's only been out 7 years or so and it's unlikely people would have started playing it at 23 or 24 years old, but rather more likely at 14-17 years old.
On August 14 2006 06:02 miNi wrote: You should have mentioned that the KOrean WCG is 452345234582734523475 times harder than the WCG Finals,
but I liked how the documentary revolved around Korea, like it should be.
your partially right and partially wrong wcg 2004 and before was all about wcg korea wcg 2005 was about wcg finals wcg 2006 will be about wcg korea (oov midas sumozerg > fisheye even)
Why wasn't Xello's victory in the Olympus OSL 2003 mentioned?
Because NGC is very irritating when it comes to mentioning commercial entities. The footage of Xellos crying when he thanked his mum is from the Olympus OSL. The shot has actually been cropped. In the original shot, the word "OLYMPUS" was a the top in large letters. You know, Olympus paid goodness knows how much money to sponsor the OSL. This is the moment they've been waiting for, when their brand name gets beamed to millions of households worldwide on the National Geographic Channel... and the NGC commissioning editor says, "ooo... Olympus. Cut out Olympus. It's product placement. Can't do that."
"But they're SPONSORS." I said.
"No," she said.
So that's problem with Olympus. The problem with mentioning the OSL is that it would again take time to explain to the layperson who doesn't know about the Korean progamign scene. We had a lot to squeeze into 47 minutes!
Plus, that would raise the question: why the hell are you making me watch a documentary about the WCG if the OSL is so great? and everyone would switch to Discovery =(
So all we could do was say that, "he won his first major championship."
Why didn't you interview other progamers and ask what they thought of Xellos?
That's something I really wish I had done, but to be honest, I wasn't entirely familiar with the pro-gaming scene at the time, so I wasn't sure who to ask. We did, however, have a handful of names we considered: Julyzerg and Boxer, especially.
The second reason was the problem of getting these people to actually talk. Their coaches were understandably reluctant to have them come on camera and say that they were scared stiff of Xellos =)
The third reason was time constraints. We went to Korea twice. The first time, we were shooting between 13 and 17 hours a day for 10 days non-stop and barely finished everything. So we found it hard to squeeze in one more interview.
And the fourth reason was we couldn't squeeze those interviews into the 47 minutes we had. Actually, a lot of international players said that Xellos was a fearsome player. Even Grrr said it. But we didn't have space for those soundbites.
Overall, this is one of those things I really wish I had done. Let's see if I can can pressure NGC to do a part two!
Why didn't you say that the Korean WCG is a lot harder than the WCG Finals?
Because then nobody would watch past the middle of part 3. Like I mentioned, NGC docus these days are like Hollywood movies. Would you watch a movie where the main bad guy is defeated 3/4 into the film, and his weaker side kick takes up the last 1/4? That's why Peter Jackson cut the last scene of LOTR from the movie =)
You got something against old people?
No... With regards to the retirement thread, it is true that many progamers retire young. I think it's partly like any sport: a young player like Tiger Woods comes on. His style is different, he pwns everyone. Two years later, everyone starts adapting. If the original player doesn't adapt as well, he'll start losing, and losing bad. Some players don't want to adapt and they retire. Like Grrr.
But also, I think it does have to do with speed and reflexes. fOru, for instance, told us that there are some things he just can't do anymore because he isn't fast enough. The difference is slight, by itself it doesn't guarantee a loss, but it does mean that you're "past your prime".
Boxer is 27 and still doing very well. But in general, that doesn't happen. How many 27 year old progamers are there on the front line?
What's with the point 0000005 seconds?
Okay, we didn't say that, the doctor did =) And he just sounded so cute going "woah woah woah woah woah woah farrrrv seconds" that we just had to leave him in =)
What's with the gazillion fighter planes?
Well, there were a lot of them...
Why is Xellos considered World Champion just because he won the crummy WCG?
Because that's the name of the title. Does it mean he's the best in the world? No... but does it mean he gets to call himself World Champion? Yes, though he doesn't, so nobody laughs at him. It's like the World Series being called the World Series even though there's nothign "Worldly" about it.
If silent_control beat xellos he'd be an overnight sensation?
Well, he DID become an overnight sensation after he beat Xellos, though not quite in the way he thought he would...
Okay, I admit, it was exaggerated in order to show what was at stake, and we based it on the fact that Xellos got a lot of fans when he beat Boxer on TV. But yes, it was exaggerated. No doubt he would have got a lot of publicity for a week and then disappeared.
If the top players only win 60/40, why is losing to silent_control such a shock?
Wasn't everyone shocked when Xellos lost to silent_control? =)
I appreciate these comments, guys. I hope to do a sequel and all this helps me plan for that day and make it better. So criticism is welcome. =)
On August 14 2006 23:20 Wasabi wrote: yeah, i want to watch Olympus finals now
i've never seen anyone else cry for joy in a starleague before (but I only started spectating after IOPS Starleague)
He cried for the best reason in the world, he wanted to thank his mom. It was funny when they were talking on his house, and he said that, he played in the nights, when his mom was sleeping and stuff.
=P. Very cute the relationship he has with his mother. Very nice ^^;
i really appreciate the Q&A storyteller. i actually felt bad after writing the stuff i did because overall i really enjoyed the program, but wrote mainly about my criticisms for some reason. it was exciting and engaging; well suited for the general public. you've done a great job because now more people will know about the extent of gaming overseas and it might promote a greater acceptance through the western world. again, well done :D
I liked it so much I watched it again with my older brother yesterday. He doesn't know much about sc except from what I show him and he said it was a good documentary. It's a shame that it had to be under an hour. I would've liked it to be near two.
lol Storyteller your Q&A rock :-) A sequel about Boxer + iloveOov would be the most amazing one ever! think about the Master/Student relationship, the fact is Oov is about to win the WCG (imo) just like Boxer did (though Boxer won 2 of them), the fact that Boxer had the most amazing Zerg rival [NC]Yellow and now Oov has Julyzerg as a rival, how Boxer and Oov met in OSL finals.. it was so emotional.. And you won't have any problems finding tons and tons of progamers to say good things about Boxer I think Boxer will retire sooner or a bit later, and people need to see as much as possible about the greatest gamer ever born!
On August 15 2006 14:52 maoam wrote: The stuff about radioactive glucose being injected into the bloodstream was scary.
the brain uses sugar. radioactive sugar allows sensors to see where it's being used the most. PET scan.
Yep, they do it all the time in non-experiment situations, so, its not really scary (I've even had it done, and nothing weird happened to me, well, unless you count the third arm I grew )
On August 16 2006 05:49 JudgeMathis wrote: I know I skipped a lot of pages(I've read from 1-8). But, I want to know where I can start downloading the documentary.
On August 15 2006 14:52 maoam wrote: The stuff about radioactive glucose being injected into the bloodstream was scary.
the brain uses sugar. radioactive sugar allows sensors to see where it's being used the most. PET scan.
Yep, they do it all the time in non-experiment situations, so, its not really scary (I've even had it done, and nothing weird happened to me, well, unless you count the third arm I grew )
I've had this done to me, too. Radioactive does not equal deadly, it's only dangerous in high levels.
On August 16 2006 05:49 JudgeMathis wrote: I know I skipped a lot of pages(I've read from 1-8). But, I want to know where I can start downloading the documentary.
How can you be a pro gamer without the willpower to look through 15 pages? RAWR...
=)
Try clicking on "tracker" on the main menu at the top fo the screen. There should be an option to download the torrent file.
During Xellos's battle with silent_control in the Korea National Finals, the line
"Silent_control desperately tries to break the blockade. But in the end, Jihoon has the resources to replace his losses. Silent_control just can't keep up."
was originally supposed to read
"Silent_control desperately tries to break the blockade. But in the end, it's the economy, stupid. Jihoon has the resources to replace his losses. Silent_control just can't keep up."
National Geographic axed my line =( I thought it was funny =(
On August 16 2006 06:09 FrozenArbiter wrote: Very nice documentary, I kinda cringed at some of the lines (and the world cyber games music) but overall it was very enjoyable.
Great work, let us know when you produce something else (even if it's not gaming related)
On August 16 2006 07:49 The Storyteller wrote: with regard to cringeworthy lines...
Behind the scenes note #1:
During Xellos's battle with silent_control in the Korea National Finals, the line
"Silent_control desperately tries to break the blockade. But in the end, Jihoon has the resources to replace his losses. Silent_control just can't keep up."
was originally supposed to read
"Silent_control desperately tries to break the blockade. But in the end, it's the economy, stupid. Jihoon has the resources to replace his losses. Silent_control just can't keep up."
National Geographic axed my line =( I thought it was funny =(
Bad call on National Geographic's part for two reasons:
1. Your line was better.
2. Your line, through use of a commonly known phrase related to the role of the economy in society, relates to the viewer instantly the role of the economy in StarCraft. By changing it to generic talk about resources, the viewer merely hears what to him is esoteric babble.
On August 16 2006 06:09 FrozenArbiter wrote: Very nice documentary, I kinda cringed at some of the lines (and the world cyber games music) but overall it was very enjoyable.
Great work, let us know when you produce something else (even if it's not gaming related)
BEEEONNNNNNNNN DDD GAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIMMMMMMMMM
(Beyond...) (Go beyond...) (Go beyond the game...)
Ooooooooooh, yeah! (yeah! yeah! yeah!)
You and I we have met before Through the magic of the moment in cyberspace Driven by a passion to win Playing heart to heart and face to face
The challenge of a lifetime Stands before us now
Beyond the game Through the portal into cyberspace We have come to decide our fate We're here to celebrate Beyond the game!
Beyond the game At last the moment's at hand All we need is to believe we can We'll make our stand Beyond the game! (Beyond the game!) Beyond the game! (Beyond the game!) Beyond the game! (Beyond the game!) The World Cyber Games!
The teams are here; the spirit is right We're connected now in a powerful way We celebrate our diversity Around the world with a passion to play
The planet will be watching The message will be heard
Beyond the game Through the portal into cyberspace (oooh, yeah!) We have come to decide our fate We're here to celebrate Beyond the game!
Beyond the game At last the moment's at hand All we need is to believe we can We'll make our stand Beyond the game!
Through the portal into cyberspace (oooh, yeah!) We have come to decide our fate (aw aw aw!) We're here to celebrate Beyond the game! (Beyond the game!)
[radical guitar solo]
Beyond the game At last the moment's at hand (oooh, oh!) All we need is to believe we can (aw, unh!) We'll make our stand
Beyond the game! (Beyond the game!) Beyond the game! (Beyond the game!) Beyond the game! (Beyond the game!) The World Cyber Games!
On August 16 2006 06:09 FrozenArbiter wrote: Very nice documentary, I kinda cringed at some of the lines (and the world cyber games music) but overall it was very enjoyable.
Great work, let us know when you produce something else (even if it's not gaming related)
BEEEONNNNNNNNN DDD GAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIMMMMMMMMM
(Beyond...) (Go beyond...) (Go beyond the game...)
Ooooooooooh, yeah! (yeah! yeah! yeah!)
You and I we have met before Through the magic of the moment in cyberspace Driven by a passion to win Playing heart to heart and face to face
The challenge of a lifetime Stands before us now
Beyond the game Through the portal into cyberspace We have come to decide our fate We're here to celebrate Beyond the game!
Beyond the game At last the moment's at hand All we need is to believe we can We'll make our stand Beyond the game! (Beyond the game!) Beyond the game! (Beyond the game!) Beyond the game! (Beyond the game!) The World Cyber Games!
The teams are here; the spirit is right We're connected now in a powerful way We celebrate our diversity Around the world with a passion to play
The planet will be watching The message will be heard
Beyond the game Through the portal into cyberspace (oooh, yeah!) We have come to decide our fate We're here to celebrate Beyond the game!
Beyond the game At last the moment's at hand All we need is to believe we can We'll make our stand Beyond the game!
Through the portal into cyberspace (oooh, yeah!) We have come to decide our fate (aw aw aw!) We're here to celebrate Beyond the game! (Beyond the game!)
[radical guitar solo]
Beyond the game At last the moment's at hand (oooh, oh!) All we need is to believe we can (aw, unh!) We'll make our stand
Beyond the game! (Beyond the game!) Beyond the game! (Beyond the game!) Beyond the game! (Beyond the game!) The World Cyber Games!
I don't know wether to love you or to hate you but thanks to your documentary, you made me addicted to Starcraft again!
For the past month, I've been watching VODs quite a lot!!!! ...been distracted from school because of starcraft (thanks to the documentary)
As a matter of a fact, I'm currently distracted from my work right now!
One criticism though: Why is it so that Silent_Control is portrayed so negatively? Maybe it wasn't done on purpose but I find it unfair that Silent_Control was the "evil" one in this whole story. E.g: When he gets beaten by Xellos, he says that he's going to come back and do all he can to beat him (this somewhat gives us the impression that he's the evil antagonist of the story)
Anyway... :D Apart from that criticism, very nice documentary.
EPT
![[image loading]](http://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/microsites/natgeo_presents_6/images/eps_8_img.jpg)
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