Complaints about commentary in video games... - ManiacMatt1782's Blog

ManiacMatt1782's Blog

Complaints about commentary in video games...

Posted on June 10, 2012 at 09:54 AM.

(9)

...seems pointless to me when you think about it. Commentary is probable one of the most space consuming, time consuming and most importantly budget consuming things there is in a video game. In MLB the show, People whine and complain about Matt Vasgersian Dave Campbell, and Eric Karros, Who I feel, for a video game, do a fantastic job. Same with Gary Thorne and Bill Clement. Hell I have even seen people complain about the great Duo from the NFL 2k games, who went by fictional names Dan Stevens and Peter O'Keefe. Those guys did an amazing job for a video game. What most of the complainers do not understand, is everytime you change the commentary, it is going to cost you money, and it is not cheap. Look at Madden for example. On top of the insane amount of money EA has put out to be the exclusive maker of NFL games, They have also changed commentary a few times as well. When you change the commentary, you have to pay for the man hours in the booth. Depending on the name, it will cost you. Gus Johnson had to command a nice chunk of change, and EA has now dumped him in favor of another change this year. But replacing him costs more money, because you have to hire someone new, and now you cannot use all the lines he has already recorded again. On top of that, you take away from your programming team. A programmer now has to take all of the new lines, which would be way more, than if you used the same commentator to add more lines, since now you are starting from scratch. And program them into all of the appropriate situations. In a sports game, think about how much work that is. Instead of say maybe 1 sound programmer working on that task, now you may have several in order to have it done by deadlines for release. Extra salaries, means extra money out of the budget, which means less time and programmers will be spent on improving other flaws in the game, in favor of something that should really be more of an afterthought in a game, like commentary.

Comments

# 1 13whitebread @ Jun 17

I feel sorry for a company that makes a ton of money boo hoo.

# 2 ManiacMatt1782 @ Jun 17

Yes make an arbitrary comment that makes zero sense. This isn't about what you think should be the budget for a game. The bottom line is, there are budgets, And commentary and Voice acting, is a very very expensive resource. I don't feel sorry for EA or SCEA, or 2k. But I also understand that there is a budget that these companies have to adhere to. I think changing the commentary team every couple years, is an EXTREME waste of resources withing that budget, that could be better spent on focusing on gameplay.

# 3 ManiacMatt1782 @ Jun 17

Also, before the argument of different people work on different things, audio has nothing to do with gameplay comes into play, it goes back into budgets. you have to hire more audio people and commentators to do the job. that means there are less gameplay programmers on the project. so yes Audio programming does effect gameplay programming. But you can continue your belief that these guys working on the games have an unlimited budget to work with.

# 4 geisterhome @ Jun 18

so what, commentary is an important part of most sports games, contributing to the atmosphere as much as only few other things do. any resources are very well invested there even on the expense of "gameplay".

# 5 ManiacMatt1782 @ Jun 18

My point is you have derektown here, who in a thread on nhl 13 actually came out and said,

Quote:

Originally Posted by derektown


	I agree the key word is fresh something new there is no doubt that Gary and Bill have had the best commentary in sports video games to date with NBA2k12 running a close second. We just want something new even if there is more dialog added it will still seem the same. Those two don't even do hockey anymore well maybe Bill but not Gary. Maybe next year

So he is wanting to change what he feels is stellar commentary just for the sake of changing it. When Networks have a duo that works, they don't mess with it. The phillies for years had Harry Kalas. You know when they changed commentators, AFTER HE DIED IN THE BOOTH. He was great there was no need for a change. Now someone wants commenttary changed just because they are A.D.D. about it? doent make sense to take resourses away from gameplay to chang commentary that by his own admission, is not only sufficient, but the best in gaming according to his own words.

# 6 ManiacMatt1782 @ Jun 18

Hell I don't even think that highly of Thone, He mispronounces a lot of names, but still he does a sufficient job and that's that. That is all that there needs to be in a video game, sufficient commentary.

# 7 geisterhome @ Jun 18

im not for changing it all every year, what id like to see the most is a steady evolution. they shall keep the same guys for an entire console generation if they want. just add smth every single year and thus provide us with more variety.keep whats good, remove whats outdated, and for that add smth which is even better

# 8 ManiacMatt1782 @ Jun 18

I agree with that, infact that's what they do for the most part, but the do leave in some outdated lines, But overhauling and adding new announcers just for the sake of adding new announcers makes no sense to me.

# 9 geisterhome @ Jun 19

I agree, but gotta say at the same time that some videosgames, like you are mentioning mlb the show here, are below my standards of what is be a decent commentary. the shows commentary is plain terrible.