[MLG] Fall Season Broadcast Schedule - Page 6

They are better, they have better players, a relatively exclusive product and higher production values.

So I've worked for all 3 of these tournaments you've listed, each on more than one occasion, the whole "MLG is miles behind thing" is pretty much BS. MLG blows all of those tournaments out of the water in terms of options. Dreamhack has a 720p free stream, ok that's nice, MLG has 4-6 streams, player PoV, instant-replay VoDs and a far superior streaming setup. If possible they need to get up to 60fps from 30, that's a nice experience, but since they do 1080p rather than Dreamhacks 720p they might be hard-pressed to pull that off. I hear all this talk of "better production" from people that don't know what production is. In my experience MLG has better production overall. Dreamhack has better venues and as such provides a superior live experience. It's hard to compare the Raleigh convention centre to the Ericsson Globe. MLG could definitely do with finding some more exciting venues, they're way behind on that, not even first in the US since IPL gets better venues for their gigs. Dreamhack and MLG both suffer from downtime issues, Dreamhack is currently ahead in that respect but it's not perfect, there are still plenty of crowd-shots and lots of music filler. Dreamhack gets to use copyright music, Sweden is wonderful and all that. MLG has analysis in the bag. Analysis desk plus the replay Analysis touch-screen is more professional and provides more information than the Dreamhack Analysis couch. MLG continues to get better players, Dreamhack doesn't get top-tier Koreans as often though makes up for it somewhat with European depth of talent. MLG production value in terms of audio quality tends to be superior and that's mostly because of how they do it. They keep the casters as far away from the PA as possible, minimizing the kind of nasty reverb we got in WCS EU. There tend to be less production fuckups as well, production coming through on the stream, non-functional mics, that stuff is way less common at MLG. Their "portable studio" setup is much more effective, not to mention looks significantly more professional. MLG equipment tends to be better too, I do rather dislike the gear Dreamhack uses, those bloody around the ear mics will slice ya flesh and they don't honestly sound that great either. Much prefer the Sennheiser gear MLG uses, it's more comfortable, more robust and better quality overall. There's a reason that stuff is used for sports-casts.

Quite frankly, the gap, assuming there is one and that's a matter of opinion, is way smaller than people make it out to be. MLG needs to get it's act together in terms of filling down-time. More interviews, more action replays, more analysis. Ideally they could get 2 more booths and do the GSL style of setting up while another match is going on, to provide a constant stream of matches. 60fps would be nice but not essential, it's a luxury and one I'll happily give up if it means 1080p and less of the artifacting we see on the Dreamhack stream (which knowing those guys will probably be cleared up by next tournament, they're super smart). Both are great tournaments and yet I see Dreamhack constantly praised and MLG constantly shit on. MLG is trying to run a business entirely on the basis of their tournament content, they have a lot of paid staff, a lot of expensive equipment and many costs to deal with. Dreamhack is not just eSports, has many volunteers and a number of advantages due to their position as a "cultural" event. Both are awesome and I'm sick to death of one being praised (to the point of ignoring some of it's mistakes and faults) and the other being constantly shit on at every turn. The bias exists on both TL and Reddit, it's enormous and obvious and quite frankly needs to stop. It's destructive, it serves no practical purpose and if we were to lose either MLG or Dreamhack it'd be a huge blow to the scene as it stands. Both deserve support.