World Cup casting compared to SC2 casting - Page 3

On June 21 2014 05:13 BrieFanFiction wrote:
Hello everyone, in this thread I would like us to hold a discussion comparing the World Cup and its casting quality to the high-end SC2 casting (eg: Dreamhack, MLG). I for one have noticed a few differences between arguably the world's most watched event, and SC2 casting, and what I've noticed has made me very proud. I personally think SC2 casting is far superior to the current world cup's English casting.

Sitting on my rear this summer having been unable to find a job, I've been watching 3 world cup games a day for the last week, and my god have I noticed something: The World Cup's English casting, commentators, and analyst desks are just plain weak compared to SC2's (again I'm referring to our big tourneys).

What I've noticed:

Music

World Cup: Exact same filler-content-song played each time ("Oh-way-yah" anyone?)

SC2: Different filler-content-songs played, most of which are pretty fresh. So fresh that a lot of chat channels will display the song name if you enter !song (or something similar) because song name requests are so common. Sorry, but I don't see large-scale demand for this weak FIFA World Cup soundtrack.

In-Game Casting

In my opinion, the World Cup's in-game casting is absolutely terrible. The casters build almost no hype; they just sit there most of the time twiddling their thumbs and occasionally naming the players who are passing the ball. By the time a goal comes around, the vibe is so dead that the caster can barely even get excited, which leaves us fans too emotionally flat. Let's compare that casting style with SC2's casting where throughout the game premium casters like Artosis, Apollo, Kaelaris, Nathanias (yep, I consider him a top caster now after his performance at Dreamhack) will build hype throughout the game and then straight-up do a controlled freak-out when the battles begin. The vocal ranges, controlled shouting, and intensity provided by SC2's casters is simply incredible to whatever this World Cup jazz is. The game knowledge being spouted off by the casters is just incredible sometimes.

Apollo (made-up example): The last time Violet played Scarlett was 4 weeks and 13 days ago and Violet all-inned 3 times in a Bo5 to take the win, however that was on (random map) and this is (random map) which doesn't quite favor those kind of tactics as much. I predict a greedy macro style from Violet because he doesn't think Scarlett will expect it.

World Cup Casters (example): The last time France played Switzerland was in the 1992 world cup; France did not quite pass muster.

Production

I am watching the World Cup live for free on ESPN3 (espn3.com for those who are interested, this is the only legal and free way to watch it in the US for all the games). Now, the online stream seems to be a secondary idea for ESPN seeing as most viewers will be watching in their televisions, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that I'm seeing the same production as TV viewers but minus the advertisements. A lot of the World Cup's filler material is pretty sharp, I must say. There are close-ups of players making sharp-turns, then slow-mo as they kick the ball; replays of goals and penalty kicks, lots of close-ups of players screaming and fist-pumping. SC2 production has this filler material as well, but for some reason it doesn't pull me in like the World Cup's, perhaps because SC2 filler material is not as physical in nature (a fist pump from the sitting position doesn't do much to thrill me).

I think SC2 has an inherent disadvantage when it comes to relaying our intensity to the viewers at home, largely because our intensity is of a mental nature instead of a physical one. How we can remedy this, I don't know. Do you have any ideas?

Boundaries of Discussion

Although it's nice when threads take on their own lives, I want this thread to stay focused on the topic. The reason for this is because I want to crowd-source opinions about the world cup and SC2 production/casting, what we can do better, what they do better than us, what we do better than them, and what we can learn from the FIFA World Cup's production and casting.

What can we learn from the largest televised event in the world to help ourselves be more marketable to sponsors, and therefore enable our growth?

How do you think SC2 casting and production quality compares to the World Cup's?

Remember: The World Cup is currently playing, go watch it and then watch MLG and see how the casting compares. See how the production compares. See how much passion is imparted to you by the people on the other end of the cameras; then let's discuss it here and try to help our sport grow.

Sorry in advance if my post rambles a bit, I've had a few beers

On June 21 2014 09:08 Roswell wrote:
Football is only the most popular sport, because its the easiest and cheapest to play. Not because it is the "beautiful game." How exciting to watch people pass a ball around for 90 minutes. The defenders advantage is such a buzzkill. It would be like if in Basketball you were only allowed to bring 3 players past your half court.

On June 21 2014 05:20 FlowOfIdeas wrote:
Plus I think tasteless/artosis have better synergy than any other sports casting duo/team.

On June 21 2014 09:38 The_Masked_Shrimp wrote:


If you could listen to the two french commentator for WWE I am pretty sure anyone would consider them the best caster duo ever. They are just hilarious and very entertaining, they are the only reason why I ever watched catch xD

On June 21 2014 10:17 tadL wrote:
esports casting on streams is still the same we had with radio casts when we could not see the damn game live. Its like sports radio casts. they cant stop talking and talk, talk and talk. They cant just shut the fuck up (to say so) and let the game tell you the story. I see that the armys are engaging. I dont need a caster to tell me that the armys are engaging. And I dislike this a lot.

I do not want a caster talking with 500 words per minute. I dont need it too. Tell me what as I casual do not know or understand. Why he does this build, why changed the standard and went for this, why take a third and so on. But not

OH MY FUCKING GOOD FORCEFIELDS FORCEFIELDS BLINK BLINK STIM yadadadadadadadaYELLYELLYELLYELL. I am not blind. I can see this on the livestream.

ps: And I do not want useless hype. If something is good we will see it. If something is great we will cheer for it. And if something is straight up boring just dont say a damn thing. But it looks like casters think they have to talk all the time or they do a bad cast.

On June 21 2014 05:49 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:


Korean Starcraft casting >>> Spanish soccer/ football casting though

On June 21 2014 09:08 Roswell wrote:
Football is only the most popular sport, because its the easiest and cheapest to play. Not because it is the "beautiful game." How exciting to watch people pass a ball around for 90 minutes. The defenders advantage is such a buzzkill. It would be like if in Basketball you were only allowed to bring 3 players past your half court.

On June 21 2014 09:08 Roswell wrote:
Football is only the most popular sport, because its the easiest and cheapest to play. Not because it is the "beautiful game." How exciting to watch people pass a ball around for 90 minutes. The defenders advantage is such a buzzkill. It would be like if in Basketball you were only allowed to bring 3 players past your half court.

On June 21 2014 10:46 Swift118 wrote:


Basketball seems like a brainless sport where people run up and down a court making horrible noises with their trainers.

We can all make stupid posts about things we know next to nothing about.

On June 21 2014 12:26 Roswell wrote:

I was first team all state as a midfielder, granted I probably wasnt good enough to make a starter in college but I know plenty about football. The game would be better without offsides being a penalty. Would get rid of some of that stupendous defenders advantage. You basically cant burn someone one on one past college.

When you have an average of 2.3 goals scored per game, (world cup,) you have a high majority of games that end with one bad call or no call, which results in a free kick. So all that effort 90+ mins goes to waste because of a questionable call. I mean hell, the first game of this world cup was decided by a brazil player diving. And not only that if the game results in a tie, you simply do penalty kicks and remove anything resembling a team sport to a simple mechanical skill. Imagine if Basketball at the end of a tie was decided by whoever couldnt make the next free throw loses.

And perhaps the worst part of football is their is no coaching during the game, besides calling a sub, you have 15 minutes during half time to go over things. American Football the coach is probably the single biggest factor besides having a great QB. There are no plays in soccer other than positional battles. Basketball has 200+ plays, soccer has "give and go"? Free kick and Corners? Football is amazing because it has basically zero commercials and is by far imo the best sport for schools. But MLS and Premiere is so boring, remove offsides and you have a better game.

On June 21 2014 12:26 Roswell wrote:

I was first team all state as a midfielder, granted I probably wasnt good enough to make a starter in college but I know plenty about football. The game would be better without offsides being a penalty. Would get rid of some of that stupendous defenders advantage. You basically cant burn someone one on one past college.

When you have an average of 2.3 goals scored per game, (world cup,) you have a high majority of games that end with one bad call or no call, which results in a free kick. So all that effort 90+ mins goes to waste because of a questionable call. I mean hell, the first game of this world cup was decided by a brazil player diving. And not only that if the game results in a tie, you simply do penalty kicks and remove anything resembling a team sport to a simple mechanical skill. Imagine if Basketball at the end of a tie was decided by whoever couldnt make the next free throw loses.

And perhaps the worst part of football is their is no coaching during the game, besides calling a sub, you have 15 minutes during half time to go over things. American Football the coach is probably the single biggest factor besides having a great QB. There are no plays in soccer other than positional battles. Basketball has 200+ plays, soccer has "give and go"? Free kick and Corners? Football is amazing because it has basically zero commercials and is by far imo the best sport for schools. But MLS and Premiere is so boring, remove offsides and you have a better game.