Dead or Alive competitive commentary

[Relius Starkiller]

Can any of you link me to some videos with good dead or alive match commentary?

Better yet, do you know anyone that you think could be good at it?

 

[Gill Hustle]

The only thing I can think of as far as commentary, were the CGS matches and well, those were not very good.

Good commentary started after SF4 came back into the fold way past DOA4's prime.

 

[Relius Starkiller]

I remember the CGS, I'd rather piss glass than listen to that.

What I'm searching for is three guys to work a commentary team.

I'd need at least two people who know DOA and maybe another guy whos not as knowledgeable but is there to ask questions so that the action can be explained without forcing the team to always call exactly what they are seeing.

I've listened to some street fighter and MVC stuff but, I can't really pick one guy who'd I say "Yeah, hes got it down." Most of them are either talking over your head or droping a barrage of cringe inducing jokes - no offense to anyone whos into that stuff.

None of it will be live to begin with - we'll record over post produced online tournament footage.

 

[Gill Hustle]

I nominate Grap3 for one . . . cuz he has a good voice I guess

 

[MASTER]

Me and sWooZie. But not sure how much time is necessary even though its post production stuff. I can run it by sWooZie though and see what he thinks.

MASTER

 

[DrDogg]

sWooZie is great, but I see him more as an in-house person, rather than commentary. I've never heard Manny commentate, so I can't say much about that.

I've actually been asking around about DOA commentary, because I'm going to need it for DOA5 (probably before it's released). The name that everyone seems to mention is Tom Brady. A lot of people have their opinions of Bill, but I have to agree that he'd be good at commentary. I can also do DOA commentary if need be.

Also, it's important to know which DOA game you want commentated. Are we talking DOA5, DOA4 or DOA2U? Also, why online matches and why a three man team? The best fighting game commentary I've heard is always with a two man team. I think three people would just clutter it up.

 

[Allan Paris]

Rabies and Chosen1 are ok, though I know not too many people are fond of them. However, they are good with it and 3 is cluttered but I guess that's how they want to work things. Oh yeah, NinjaCW is good as well. All 3 I have heard commentate DOA4 matches.

 

[Matt Ponton]

Also, it's important to know which DOA game you want commentated. Are we talking DOA5, DOA4 or DOA2U? Also, why online matches and why a three man team? The best fighting game commentary I've heard is always with a two man team. I think three people would just clutter it up.

You can no longer play DOA2U online so I believe he's referring to DOA4.

 

[DrDogg]

Rabies and Chosen1 are ok, though I know not too many people are fond of them. However, they are good with it and 3 is cluttered but I guess that's how they want to work things. Oh yeah, NinjaCW is good as well. All 3 I have heard commentate DOA4 matches.

I feel as though Rabies and Chosen1 are also good in-house people. I haven't heard either on commentary, but they're hype men. I guess it depends on what the OP is looking for. You've got the "urban" style (think Yipes), then you've got the professional style (UltraDavid). I think there are pros and cons to both and it really depends on the event and the audience you're going for.

Chosen1/Rabies/sWooZie would bring the urban style, while Brady/myself would bring the professional style.

You can no longer play DOA2U online so I believe he's referring to DOA4.

Forgot about that. Still confused as to why someone would want to commentators for online DOA4 matches though. At this point, I think we're all trying to build the community, and I think streaming/uploading DOA4 online matches would do more to hurt the scene than help it. People already don't take DOA seriously, but when they hear the word "online", it doesn't matter what fighter you're playing, it's generally looked down upon.

 

[Matt Ponton]

I believe he's running online tournaments for TKP so they want to have commentators for the matches they'll put up.

Just a hypothesis.

 

[Relius Starkiller]

I believe he's running online tournaments for TKP so they want to have commentators for the matches they'll put up.

Just a hypothesis.

Ding, ding, ding.

sWooZie is great, but I see him more as an in-house person, rather than commentary. I've never heard Manny commentate, so I can't say much about that.

I've actually been asking around about DOA commentary, because I'm going to need it for DOA5 (probably before it's released). The name that everyone seems to mention is Tom Brady. A lot of people have their opinions of Bill, but I have to agree that he'd be good at commentary. I can also do DOA commentary if need be.

Also, it's important to know which DOA game you want commentated. Are we talking DOA5, DOA4 or DOA2U? Also, why online matches and why a three man team? The best fighting game commentary I've heard is always with a two man team. I think three people would just clutter it up.

Swoozie is a good talker, so he'd be at the top of my list.

And thats really my point Dr. Dogg, I want to figure out whos going to be at commentary well in advance of DOA5, so practicing with online tournament footage can do nothing more then build confidence.

I think a three man booth works well in most physical sports - take HBO boxing for example.

HBO has three guys at the table Jim Lampley, Max Kellerman and Roy Jones Jr.

Lampley is there to provide the blow, blow action - He'll interrupt the interaction between Max and Roy to put more emphasis on whats going on in the ring - a moderator of sorts.

Max is there to tell a story - Hes the one whos hyping guys, he knows the fighters, can give you a little back story during the match.

Roy is the veteran fighter - He can tell you what a guy should be doing, what he could to next, why hes doing what hes doing and hes there to be questioned.

UFC, with Rogan and Goldberg is nice, but run over to the Sherdog.com forum and everyone is clamoring for Kenny Flroian or Frank Mir to be made permanent additions because of their credibility and their vast, perceived, knowledge of the game.

Basketball, Football, even pro-wrestling usually all do a three man booth - and I just like the way three people interacting sounds personally.

And I'd be extremely surprised if there isn't a combination of people HERE who could make that happen.

There are too many articulate, funny, knowledgeable people who play DOA for it to not make sense to start looking in house first.

 

[Game Over]

IMO, if you're going to reference other events when talking about commentary teams, you might as well reference those that relate DIRECTLY to what you are trying to setup (ie. Game Tournament Commentary). While pro sports like Boxing, MMA, Football, Wrestling (might as well add that, too), etc. make effective use of 3-man teams, the far majority of Game Tournaments (EVO, SCR, Final Round, etc) make effective use of 2-man teams and usually have multiple teams (or just multiple people) rotating out for commentary on various games.

So what I'd suggest is to first of all, find out ALL possible options you may have for commentary on the matches. Then, when you have a decent list of people who are actually interested in doing it, find out (ask if needed) which people would work well together (chemistry between a commentary team is a key factor). And once you have identified a few (or however many you have) good 2-man combinations, rotate the combinations according to scheduling and interest of those involved, so that you are not relying too much on one particular pairing essentially. This is what is proven to work, so stick with that for a while.

If at a later time, you see that you have enough people interested to where you might rotate 3-man teams, then try it SPARINGLY, just to see if it goes well. If it doesn't, then you can always go back to rotating the 2-man teams as normal.

 

[Allan Paris]

Those are full blown and highly established sports. DOA on the other hand. . . . Uumm. . yeah. 3 may sound good but, I feel that you are aiming to high, right now, given our small community. You know, crawl before you walk. What would help you also is educating new players, more educated players open the doors up for what you want. When the time comes the players you are looking at will be too into the game to even focus on commentating. Granted they can do it when they are not playing but, how often do you think that will be?

Educating players is key. Without it we keep the same select few knowledgeable players. Of course that's if you really want to aim for 3 people. 1 or 2 seems fine as of now in the FCG.

 

[Rikuto]

I can just see professional commentary on online matches now.


"Jann lee knocks kasumi into the corner and, wait is that, YES IT IS! HE DID THE ONLINE DRAGON KICK! kasumi is at half health and rushes for the throw, it connects and jann lee is in the air for a full ju -- no wait, she dropped it due to a lag spike. Ok they are at neutral again and... ok seriously guys, whats this? WHOS DOWNLOADING PORN!?"

 

[grap3fruitman]

After that, I nominate Rikuto.

 

[DrDogg]

Swoozie is a good talker, so he'd be at the top of my list.

Not to dismiss sWooZie, but a good talker does not equate to a good commentator. He may be awesome, I do not know, but there's a lot more to consider than just being a good talker.

And thats really my point Dr. Dogg, I want to figure out whos going to be at commentary well in advance of DOA5, so practicing with online tournament footage can do nothing more then build confidence.

I disagree actually. Commentating on an pre-recorded online match is very different compared to commentating on a live offline match. You do not want your commentators to be online players or think like online players. However, if you take an offline player and have him commentate an online match, his insight into the match will be wrong because strategies/reactionary skills that work offline are very different compared to what works online.

Also, there's a reason fighting games work better with a two man team, they move MUCH faster than most real sports. You can have a three man team in boxing or basketball because there are frequent breaks for a solid minute or more. The only time you get a break in a fighting game tournament is between matches, and in most cases you're really not talking about what just happened, you're giving insight into the upcoming match (or talking about the tournament in general). I just don't see three people sharing the mic equally over the course of a 1 minute round or 3 minute match.

Now, I'm all for what you're trying to do here, I just think you're kind of going about it the wrong way. You do need to find players who can speak well, but as Game Over mentioned, you need two players who are compatible and work well together. You also need players who can travel frequently. If you want them to commentate for DOA5, you can't have them doing online matches. As I said, that would be considered a joke to most competitive players. So you need to find people who can travel to tournaments.

In addition, you need players who will not be in the top 4 or so. If not, you need to have backup options. Based on DOA4 tournament results, having Manny commentate would mean you'd probably have to find someone to take his place when you got down to top 8 (Brady could also fall into this category).

I've done fighting game commentary before, and I watch tournament streams almost daily. There's a lot more that goes into selecting good commentators than the things you've mentioned.

 

[UncleKitchener]

I make terrible Let's Plays, I make horrible jokes and I'm also a great team player.

I can surely fill that role here in the UK scene. That is once we get any streams going.

 

[Rikuto]

Juggle juggle juggle!

Let's just stop embarrassing ourselves with this garbage, alright? If the game is hype enough that it can make use of hype commentators, then great. Right now it's not at that point.

 

[Relius Starkiller]

I think being a persuasive talker goes a long way in establishing a report. The only thing I've got against Swoozie is that he doesn't have a unique enough voice. His real strength is his ability to tell a story and hes got pretty good facial expressions.

I disagree actually. Commentating on an pre-recorded online match is very different compared to commentating on a live offline match. You do not want your commentators to be online players or think like online players. However, if you take an offline player and have him commentate an online match, his insight into the match will be wrong because strategies/reactionary skills that work offline are very different compared to what works online.

Also, there's a reason fighting games work better with a two man team, they move MUCH faster than most real sports. You can have a three man team in boxing or basketball because there are frequent breaks for a solid minute or more. The only time you get a break in a fighting game tournament is between matches, and in most cases you're really not talking about what just happened, you're giving insight into the upcoming match (or talking about the tournament in general). I just don't see three people sharing the mic equally over the course of a 1 minute round or 3 minute match.

Do things go wrong online? Yes but the point is to find the matches that create at least a reasonable facsimile of an offline match.
If we get a final in DOAT. . .whatever- 76 - that both players admit is shit, we're still doing a pay out, we're still announcing a winner and we'll still throw up footage but will that footage be used as practice material - nope.

This is what happens when guys don't have practice.

That is not acceptable for a major tournament final, not at all. If these guys had more time to work with each other, maybe it could have been better but lets be real here.

Neither of them really have the voice for it and thats an important consideration - how you sound.

And as far as breaks in Boxing, MMA and even basketball. . .there negligible. You usually have 3 to 4 solid minutes of action between breaks in Basketball. A free throw set of two shots lasts. . .20 seconds? An average set of street fighter lasts 2 to 3? Whats a fireball war in street fighter last. . .5 or 10? See what I'm getting at?

In the end its all about practice and maybe I'll try it two man, maybe I'll go one man, but until we figure out who is actually good at it. . .lets try to figure out who's actually good at it.

And my mother always told me that once you're good at something you should never be doing it for free

Unless you're a chick with big cans - then you should be shakin em at every opportunity that presents itself.

 

[Allan Paris]

Well go with what you feel.

A few in-house names have been dropped. I also gave a possible solution to help you out. Of course you'd have to see if they have the personality to commentate after they are properly educated in the world of DOA.

Good luck in your hunt to finding good commentary for DOA4. . . . . . . . . .online.