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shoutcasters: from a look behind the scenes to behind your screen

A shoutout to shoutcasters, the familiar voices to your ears

By Justin Chan

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Photo courtesy Twitter user @reepal

"Rip" Parbhoo casts Arena of Valor Finals day with co-host Jeff "SuiJeneris"Chau

Reepal “Rip” Parbhoo’s first experience with Tekken was in 2005, when his Dad bought him Tekken 5 for the PS2 to play in his Orange County home. 13 years later, he’s casting the 2018 Evolution Championship Series in Las Vegas, to a crowd of over 11,000 people.

 

Esports casters are a vital part of the Esports experience, as are commentators to traditional sports like basketball and soccer. Similarly, Esports casters use their knowledge of the game they are commentating, and give it color for the viewers on the scene, or at home watching through Twitch or Youtube.

 

“The thing about casting is, we do more than narrate what we see on screen,” Parbhoo said. “[Casters] point out nuances in a player’s playstyle, comment on things [a player] needs to do to beat their opponent, all that, translated for the viewers.”

 

As a part-time programmer, Parbhoo pointed out the complex frame data system that fighting games use as a main part of his commentary.

 

“In Tekken, and most other fighting games, frames are a unit of time, and certain inputs for a left punch, for example will take 12 frames to come out, if the opponent’s punch comes out faster, in 10 frames, you’ll always lose that engagement. It’s like a science, and I really try to make that show in my commentary.”

 

Parbhoo prepares for a casting session by looking at frame data charts. He refreshes his memory regarding the “best moves” of each character, including the frame data, which he will slip in his commentary throughout the game.

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For a look at an example of the full list of frame data for a single Tekken character, click here.

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Other than casting Tekken with his immense knowledge of the game, Parbhoo has his own Youtube channel where he creates Tekken tutorials to his 38,000 subscribers. More recently, he has started branching out to other games as well, such as Fortnite and Omen of Sorrow.

 

“As casters, we also sometimes conduct interviews with the players, where we have a player come up to the desk for a chat. Personally, I wasn’t very good [at interviewing] when I first started, I was more used to casting in the corner by myself.” says Aaron “Medic” Chamberlain, a shoutcaster for the European League of Legends Championship Series (EULCS).

 

Chamberlain got his nickname “Medic” because of his previous job as a Doctor in the UK. Now, he works for Riot Games on a freelance basis as a shoutcaster, and is currently based in Berlin, Germany.

 

“[In preparation for casting], I have my notebook with me, where I jot down information and statistics for the games I’m about to cast.” says Chamberlain. “Whenever there’s a lull in the action, I look down at my notebook and try to offer some relevant statistics.”

 

However, shoutcasters in League of Legends are most notably known for their ability to keep up with the action unfolding in the game with their words. An example below:

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“When the action picks up, it really is quite the effort to do play-by-play commentary because everything happens in a matter of seconds [in League of Legends]. Usually I let my casting partner take over after an intense teamfight so I can properly catch my breath.”

 

Chamberlain is well known in the community for his on-screen partnership with fellow caster Andrew “Vedius” Gray, so much as the community have coined the term “MediVedi” when referring to the pair on stage.

 

“I really enjoy casting with Vedius, I’d like to think he keeps the atmosphere more cheerful, especially when I tend to get a little too serious sometimes.” says Chamberlain when prompted about his partnership with Gray.

 

“Watching professional League of Legends without casters would be terrible, it’d be boring to say the least.” says Bentley “Gible88” Tse, a caster for local League of Legends tournaments in and around Vancouver.

 

Tse, a student at the University of British Columbia, streams League of Legends in the evenings, adding that streaming is not too different from casting, as the games otherwise are “not that interesting to watch.”.

 

“It’s not like football[soccer], where you can enjoy the atmosphere of the crowd, the casters everyone watches, we know their names, we know their personalities. They are part of the [Esports] viewing experience.”

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