#ultradavid

Well, I think coming at this being all mad that the other shoe is finally dropping is a bit cynical - there’s a lot of negativity going around about Let’s Players in general that I think is kind of undeserved.

To me, it’s just more that Let’s Playing being a “profession” is a little too easy. When something grows that quickly and that much money starts being thrown around, it just won’t last. One way or another, something was going to come along and make things harder for everyone involved. That’s just the way the world works.

When you have so many people producing so much content, of course the signal-to-noise ratio is going to greatly favor noise.

The big deal is that “commentary” is becoming kind of an important thing on the internet, I guess. Guys like Total Biscuit got their start as Starcraft commentators. People are starting to cheer for guys like UltraDavid in the same way they do with sportscasters like Bob Costas. Some people thought they had careers in video game commentary.

And some of them still do! Day[9] is probably going to keep going. TotalBiscuit is going to keep doing Starcraft.

The problem is that it was too easy to start up a Youtube Channel and start doing commentary over anything. What’s happening now is more like that stuff being regulated. It wouldn’t surprise me if there might be a way in the future to make money off of Let’s Play, but it’ll be a much more difficult, selective process. It’ll involve direct partnerships with publishers, there’ll be a hiring process, so on and so forth.

Ultradavid

Let's be honest, there are too many good streams worth watching and its impossible to watch them all. Don't let the avalanche of stream, archive and youtube content overwhelm you! Instead, let me provide a condensed and curated list for your viewing pleasure! 

First let's get something straight; I don't claim that this is the only thing worth watching. I do however think that there is not enough time to watch everything. So I thought to myself "why not do you the favor of providing context to some selected highlights?"

Over the weekend both Dreamhack Winter 2012 and Curleh Mustache provided some excellent material for this very column. 

Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition - Dreamhack Winter 2012

(Replay Duration: 30+ mintues)

The Dreamhack Grand Finals in Jonkoping, Sweden for? Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition once again pitted teammates and rivals WW/MCZ.Ryan Hart and WW?MCZ.Infiltration in a run-back battle for supremacy. Coming from the loser's bracket, Hart was dealt the difficult task of winning two best of 3 sets in a row. The result? A heart pounding set filled with crazy setups from Infiltration and equally crazy reactions from Hart. Watch and enjoy: 

I absolutely love the professional presentation and legitimacy that Dreamhack provides for their tournaments. In my humble opinion, this format is the future - I'll even forgive Rachel Quirico for accidentally referring to these guys as StarCraft players. ;)

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 - Curleh Mustache

(Replay Duration: 7+ mintues)

...And this brings us to IFC Yipes' more traditional fighting game tournament. Curleh Mustache is run by and seeped in the love and culture of the Fighting Game Community. Compare for a moment the difference of having two players isolated up on stage and the near claustrophobic conditions of a tournament like Curleh Mustache where players are literally surrounded by competitors and spectators alike. I would personally lament the loss of the intimacy provided by these relatively lax events, but only time will tell what format is adopted.

Side note: I have been a huge fan of the "Hulk, Hagger, preferred anchor" team since I saw it used so effectively by Jan Michael del Rio and others during the SBO qualifiers at Arcade UFO this year. (Listen to my interview with Jan discussing his thoughts on why the team is so good here!) On to the replay!

During Curly Mustache, player Fooblat played a Hulk, Hagger Wesker team that did some real work against his opponent. Don't cry foul for potential spoilers! Enjoy the match and its excellent commentary provided by none other than IFC Yipes and ChrisMatrix.

You can watch all the rest of the Curleh Mustache replays on TeamSpooky's YouTube channel.

So what do you guys think? Not only about the replays, but about the column? This is a new regular feature and it will likely go through some changes in the near future including more replays and timeliness. Hope you guys enjoyed it.

Bonus: Any Dan Hibiki fans out there? UltraDavid himself provided his own curated list of replays from the Dreamhack team tournament featuring the unfortunately named team, Anal Intrusion. Enjoy UltraDavid's picks: