2013 Pokémon World Championships Livestream Feedback

[SMP88]

I'll echo the complaints about scheduling. Saturday night TCG streamed from about 10-2:30 CST. I was barely able to stay awake by the end of it, I can't imagine what the people in EST felt like. I was surprised that we were still sitting around 10k viewers actually at that point. I think if the matches were should earlier they could have gained another 4-5k viewers.

I also agree with announcing who won non streamed matches as they occur. It was tough trying to find out who was winning through facebook, especially for T32 and T16.

I think having a camera streaming swiss rounds without commentary would be good. There was a Japanese site that was streaming a table for the VGC swiss rounds and it was getting quite a few views, even though the table was always 0-X or 1-X players. If you have multiple cameras set up I would stream as many as possible across different channels. If that's not possible, at least record the matches and upload them on the youtube page throughout the day.

 

[Pooka]

Overall, this was a huge step forward for Pokémon. When The Top Cut started two years ago, we only dreamed of this becoming a reality, and now here it is. Hopefully TPCi continues to expand its coverage in the future. I'd love to see events of all levels streamed, but Worlds is the most important one to put on display. Having these events streamed professionally is so crucial to the game's growth. I look forward to seeing where it goes from here.

My only (selfish) complaint is that I wasn't involved at all with the commentary, but that decision isn't in my hands. It is my goal to become an official commentator to represent the Pokémon TCG, and I hope one day that becomes a reality. I'd give up playing in a heartbeat to be calling the matches. But until that day comes, keep up the good work, and I'll support and promote Pokémon with everything I have.

 

[iLifeless]

The issue with topcut being played at night could've easily been prevented by having 2 streams set up.
I was even exhausted so much i didn't even felt like playing anymore after top 16. Due to being exhausted but also having lots of pressure on me, i've made some (probably lots of) misplays during top 8.

 

[Pikabruce]

I was watching it on TV (via a Roku box) and it looked fine.

The layout of the TCG feed seemed somewhat wasteful to me; only about 50% of the screen was devoted to the gameplay area. The gameplay didn't need to be shown at 16:9, since that left wasted space off each side of the table. I think the gameplay area should have been shown at 4:3, and increased in size.

 

[keniselvis]

Seriously LOVED the stream. I loved that it was (and still is) up so that I could watch it later or replay it. I can't express how much I enjoyed it.

Commentating isn't easy! There were obvious times of the guys struggle to commentate while taking direction from their ear pieces. IF you have to choose between GREAT commentators and players who KNOW the game, I'd rather have the players who know the game and let them learn the commentating ins and outs.

Great job. Lots of great comments on here. Just wanted you to know how much I appreciated the opportunity to watch!

 

[KazamBolt]

Way way wayyyyyyyyyyyyy better than all other years.

Last year was the first time matches had ever been streamed officially in the history of Pokemon.

But the stream was good as a whole and the best part was just seeing the improvement between last year and this year. Looking forward to what happens with the stream next year!

 

[camerongira]

It was good not perfect but way to go pokemon on getting a step in the right direction.

 

[Scizor]

Overall it was a great success and certainly blew away last year.

Pros:
- Picked some of the best match-ups and we were able to see some incredible games
- Choosing knowledgeable commentators was great
- Picture was pretty good
- Didn't really cut out of the games during play or deter us from seeing anything

Cons:
- Way too many commercials/down time in between matches and the same themed music for 10+ minutes at a time
- Not enough information on what was going on in other matches

I would like to see some commentary in between matches about what is going on (decks being played, who is winning other matches, predictions, etc.). There is always going to be down time but I feel that there was too much. There are plenty of things to talk about. We should also be made more aware of what is going on in other matches. We are focused on the feature match that is on camera, but more Worlds coverage is a good thing.

 

[Stealth]

I didn't watch all of it (because of the abysmal schedule mentioned earlier) but here's a few things:

Overall, the stream quality itself was good enough. The microphones were clear and the video was clear enough to follow both the VG and the TCG from a viewer standpoint. Since there was no content between matches, there's not much to say about that, other than the fact that it should be pretty easy to fill this up with real interviews, aka anything but a mindnumbing dubstep song and 'Where are you from'. That was one of the more awkward things I've seen lately.

VG:
I'll say this as a disclaimer: I know nothing about the competitive VG and I stopped playing the VG long ago because I dislike the series. That said, I think the commentary was excellent and the casters seemed to fully understand the meta and the decisive moments in the games. They also explained the Pokemon choices of all the players in-depth. This made it enjoyable to watch even for an 'outsider'.

TCG:
I was not too impressed by this. Some of the casters seemed unsure what was going on at the table they were watching. Especially one of them, mentioned earlier by others, sounded like someone who has never seen the Pokemon TCG in his life.
The other thing I want to say about this is that they didn't even try to make it newbie-friendly to watch. I didn't hear any explanation of what a certain deck wants to accomplish. What's Plasma's game plan? Why is the deck good right now? Why is Jason not doing damage with his attacks? Even a small comment like "Jason's first goal is to slow down the game and gain card advantage through Sableye's Junk Hunt" would've made it a lot easier to follow for someone who doesn't play the TCG. There's just so much to talk about besides just saying what you see, even a short topic list on the casters' table would be a huge improvement here. You could do deck profiles between rounds or during judge calls to make this easier as well.

 

[Scizor Master CLR]

This year was my first time watching and it was great. The video was sharp and the audio was clear. The commentary was very useful for me (haven't played in 6+ years).

One thing I would consider changing is the cards used to show what was being played. The Full Art versions were pretty to look at but difficult to read (I was watching on a 37" TV). Other than that it was all good.

 

[Ninja]

I absolutely loved it, and was sure to catch every bit of it. My only problem with the stream was that music that was on repeat every break. Sometimes it would fade like the stream would start, but nope! It wouldn't... And I would listen to the song again.

I think the music should be more Pokemon relatable. The music didn't make me think Pokemon at all. And it started to get fairly annoying after a while...

But yeah! Keep it up!

 

[AyameHikaru]

Overall it was a great success and certainly blew away last year.

Pros:
- Picked some of the best match-ups and we were able to see some incredible games
- Choosing knowledgeable commentators was great
- Picture was pretty good
- Didn't really cut out of the games during play or deter us from seeing anything

Cons:
- Way too many commercials/down time in between matches and the same themed music for 10+ minutes at a time
- Not enough information on what was going on in other matches

I would like to see some commentary in between matches about what is going on (decks being played, who is winning other matches, predictions, etc.). There is always going to be down time but I feel that there was too much. There are plenty of things to talk about. We should also be made more aware of what is going on in other matches. We are focused on the feature match that is on camera, but more Worlds coverage is a good thing.

Not sure what you mean by this... Do you mean the matches they'd previously played? There weren't any other games going on simultaneously. That was done just so everyone could watch every match without missing anything! :thumb:

 

[Shino Bug Master]

Not sure what you mean by this... Do you mean the matches they'd previously played? There weren't any other games going on simultaneously. That was done just so everyone could watch every match without missing anything! :thumb:

...Yes there were? Top 2 was the only point at which there were no other matches. Top 32-Top 8 had other matches going on when they would cut off the stream, and no on stream mention was given towards the results of Top 4 at all. I would have loved the stream to resume in between each higher flight of top cut to tell the audience who advanced, or at least put the updated bracket in the long waiting loop.

But really it was a fantastic stream overall. Really great stuff all around.

 

[Ness]

I'd really have liked to see Kyle Sucevich doing commentary. He is literally the most experienced Pokémon commentator in the world, and his experience pays off when commentating games and conducting interviews. Additionally, he is extremely knowledgeable and wouldn't make some of the mistakes others made when commentating matches.

I think more organization would help the commentators sound better. This applies not just to the matches, but also to postgame interviews. For example, when interviewing someone, the commentator should have an outline of his or her questions mentally prepared. Some of the interviews just sounded like rambling and I couldn't even tell what the questions were.

I realize this was our first time with this at Worlds, so there is of course plenty of room for improvement, and I look forward to seeing it in the future!

 

[Abudoggie]

....... It is my goal to become an official commentator to represent the Pokémon TCG, and I hope one day that becomes a reality. I'd give up playing in a heartbeat to be calling the matches. But until that day comes, keep up the good work, and I'll support and promote Pokémon with everything I have.

Wow Kyle... I had no idea you would actually place game commentary ahead of your own major tournament game play. I hope that Pokemon made the same incorrect assumption that you would prefer to play. Since you guys started doing recording and commentary I have especially enjoyed your commentaries. Including ptcgo games, TPCi probably has no idea the massive number of games you stream, record and comment on each year. I can't think of a single experienced TCG player with more commentary experience than you. Also particularly enjoy your timing and delivery which reflect this experience and is pleasant to listen to. Hopefully TPCi will learn of your interest and put you in the rotation. :thumb: