Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Live Coverage

ChaosJim

ChaosJim

Member
Many people in the Pokemon community know Anthony Eason, and just today he came in 2nd at Magic US Nationals (Congrats!). I was able to watch his match in the finals via www.ggslive.com, and I was wondering if this is something that is possible in the future for Pokemon.

The commentary adds a lot for many different levels of player. I understand there would probably be some concerns, but we have nearly a year until US Nats or Worlds to figure out what they might be and try and solve them.

Somethings that come to mind immediately are:

1) Emphasize Masters Division. A lot of the promotion surrounding the game isn't targeted to Masters for various reasons, but this seems like a low cost, highly effective means of netting that market segment.

2) Consider a test-run at Regionals or a smaller foreign Nationals. Any detrimental effects that could change the smoothness of the event or technical problems that might arise could be discovered early, and not publicly on the world stage.

3) Many of our current judges could provide great commentary. With no desire to play favorites, and only wishing to name names of people who I've heard talk strategy, Steve Arena, BDS, Chrisbo, and Pokepop immediately come to mind. We've got some fabulous translators who could help with language barriers, but I'm sure some could even give insightful comments specific to their native players.
 
I agree some better event coverage would be good for the game. I remember when they started doing feature matches again at 09 worlds I thought we were going to at least get some video footage of the match, but we don't get anything.
I really don't understand the point of "feature matches" at worlds if theres no coverage of the match itself, all they're doing is telling us X's national champ is playing Y's national champ.
 
ChaosJim said:
Many people in the Pokemon community know Anthony Eason, and just today he came in 2nd at Magic US Nationals (Congrats!). I was able to watch his match in the finals via www.ggslive.com, and I was wondering if this is something that is possible in the future for Pokemon.

The commentary adds a lot for many different levels of player. I understand there would probably be some concerns, but we have nearly a year until US Nats or Worlds to figure out what they might be and try and solve them.

Somethings that come to mind immediately are:

1) Emphasize Masters Division. A lot of the promotion surrounding the game isn't targeted to Masters for various reasons, but this seems like a low cost, highly effective means of netting that market segment.

2) Consider a test-run at Regionals or a smaller foreign Nationals. Any detrimental effects that could change the smoothness of the event or technical problems that might arise could be discovered early, and not publicly on the world stage.

3) Many of our current judges could provide great commentary. With no desire to play favorites, and only wishing to name names of people who I've heard talk strategy, Steve Arena, BDS, Chrisbo, and Pokepop immediately come to mind. We've got some fabulous translators who could help with language barriers, but I'm sure some could even give insightful comments specific to their native players.
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I agree about the lack of coverage. I've said things about it myself before. My response to your points are as follows, Jimmy:

1. This game has been around since 1999 and this has not happened. I do not expect this to change, unfortunately.

2. I agree with this completely.

3. I don't think we'd have any problems getting people that want to provide commentary, whatsoever.
 
You never know what may happen. At Worlds, I stood next to Jerry and kept him up to date on the status of the play by play of all 3 finals. He then was able to direct the video crew to switch the matches to the center screen when big moments were occurring ala the championship moments. He was getting pumped up as I explained the strategy behind the moves. I even called the MAs finals going to 1 prize each when Pram got Champ out. He couldnt believe the levels of play. They may try to do something more next year and I would be more than glad to help them out with commentary or whatever.

Keith
 
Keith, I don't really think it's the commentary that most players want to see.

It's getting the matches live-streamed on the internet.

I'd rather watch matches live as they're happening from a remote location than have the commentary happen live onsite without any remote live-streaming.

IMO, it's long overdue for this game. I want to see (and hear) more from Worlds and Nationals than just periodic, censored updates on the main website and scattered postings here and on FB and Twitter. Especially if I'm not onsite. I want to see the Featured Matches as they're happening if I can't be there. I want to watch the Finals and certain chosen top cut matches as they're happening if I can't be there.

In short, internet live-streaming, even if it's just video without audio, is preferable to me to commentary without the live-streaming.
 
BTW, we got someone to stream both Swiss matches and the Top 8 matches for TCG. It was amazing to watch them at home! All you need to set it up is an iPhone and a streaming software. It would be great to see someone do this for TCG next year.
 
Prodigiosus said:
BTW, we got someone to stream both Swiss matches and the Top 8 matches for TCG. It was amazing to watch them at home! All you need to set it up is an iPhone and a streaming software. It would be great to see someone do this for TCG next year.
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That's sick, iPhones should be prizes for SPT, Regis, Nats, and Worlds winners. :thumb:
 
As a long time Magic player, I'll tell you that Wizards' own coverage of streaming live play is much smoother than gglive's, but gg does one for each round of play, where Wizards only does the Top 8.

Another big difference is the decklists; every card in a deck in every major Magic event is known. Even with Worlds finished, the Pokemon community seems to hold onto the decklists as tightly guarded secrets. Live matches would show what's in the deck.
 
bullados said:
Keith, I don't really think it's the commentary that most players want to see.

It's getting the matches live-streamed on the internet.

I'd rather watch matches live as they're happening from a remote location than have the commentary happen live onsite without any remote live-streaming.

IMO, it's long overdue for this game. I want to see (and hear) more from Worlds and Nationals than just periodic, censored updates on the main website and scattered postings here and on FB and Twitter. Especially if I'm not onsite. I want to see the Featured Matches as they're happening if I can't be there. I want to watch the Finals and certain chosen top cut matches as they're happening if I can't be there.

In short, internet live-streaming, even if it's just video without audio, is preferable to me to commentary without the live-streaming.
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You didnt get what I was saying. The video folks were impressed and pumped about the finals and the imput I could give them. I would hope they BUILD on this and do MORE with this next year.

Keith
 
pokemon should have event coverage like magic but pokemon dosn't like showing match's cuz they dont like giving away what people are playing(even when most of the time people are ok with it)
 
One thing you have to keep in mind is the size and nature of the audience. The number of people willing to watch the finals live (particularly when you consider the possible time differential) without any sort of commentary is probably no more than a few hundred. I think the best option is to record the finals, then edit together a version with a commentary within a week or so.
 
they, already edit their videos of the finals. This year's finals you didn't see anything other than the 1 question interview for some reason they thought it was a good idea to merge 2 videos into one. At least last year we saw a speed up version and could appreciate that one game. There is such a thing as too much editing, and that is what happens every year for worlds coverage. IMO, the best way to do it, even w/o commentary is to just show the matches(live or not) unedited. Its a shame that fans can't see high level play.
 
SHPanda said:
they, already edit their videos of the finals. This year's finals you didn't see anything other than the 1 question interview for some reason they thought it was a good idea to merge 2 videos into one. At least last year we saw a speed up version and could appreciate that one game. There is such a thing as too much editing, and that is what happens every year for worlds coverage. IMO, the best way to do it, even w/o commentary is to just show the matches(live or not) unedited. Its a shame that fans can't see high level play.
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When I say edited, I mean removing downtime during the game-shuffling, searching, etc. Extraction is probably a better choice of words for the official videos. In terms of editing the video down, this is where a commentary can really help because it can be used to summarize less interesting portions of the game without losing that information, and t can be used to insert strategic of contextual information that players who are more casually interested may want.
 
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