Revven
FrankerZ
They're not going to "get" the high level commentary if they don't understand the game. Even if we didn't get Chen for Top 8, I guarantee you that prog and D1 would definitely, definitely be aiming most of their commentary at the general audience who don't or haven't seen top level Smash before. The difference is, the people who watch EVO are the same people who watch other big tournaments where James Chen is prominently seen commentating for those other games. They'll feel a lot more at home with someone recognizable alongside prog than D1 would be to them (no offense to D1 obviously).
It would be different if this was the biggest Smash tournament at a Smash international/major, but it's not a Smash only tournament. It's at the biggest fighting game tournament in the world, where there's more than just Smash there and you're going to have a much broader audience than just Smashers watching; even in the crowd.
This isn't aimed squarely at Smash players. Tens of thousands of people are going to be watching the live stream at home, those people need to not be lost in what's going on on-screen. They need to be part of the hype WE experience at every tournament. If we want people to get into our game the same way, they absolutely need someone like James to ask prog questions about certain things so that audience doesn't get lost in favor of the traditional commentary they don't understand.
Have some perspective. We have the stage we've been wanting again for years, one sacrifice out of the many accommodations the EVO staff has already given us is nothing. And again I stress to you that James Chen isn't going to go in there knowing nothing and acting like "oh oh! what was that?" He has general knowledge of the game and is familiar with it on some level. He's going to prep for it, that's what any great commentator like James does. This isn't the first time he's commentated a game he doesn't play at a high level.
If it turns out I'm wrong somehow and Top 8 commentary is abysmal, I'll eat a sock.
It would be different if this was the biggest Smash tournament at a Smash international/major, but it's not a Smash only tournament. It's at the biggest fighting game tournament in the world, where there's more than just Smash there and you're going to have a much broader audience than just Smashers watching; even in the crowd.
This isn't aimed squarely at Smash players. Tens of thousands of people are going to be watching the live stream at home, those people need to not be lost in what's going on on-screen. They need to be part of the hype WE experience at every tournament. If we want people to get into our game the same way, they absolutely need someone like James to ask prog questions about certain things so that audience doesn't get lost in favor of the traditional commentary they don't understand.
Have some perspective. We have the stage we've been wanting again for years, one sacrifice out of the many accommodations the EVO staff has already given us is nothing. And again I stress to you that James Chen isn't going to go in there knowing nothing and acting like "oh oh! what was that?" He has general knowledge of the game and is familiar with it on some level. He's going to prep for it, that's what any great commentator like James does. This isn't the first time he's commentated a game he doesn't play at a high level.
If it turns out I'm wrong somehow and Top 8 commentary is abysmal, I'll eat a sock.
