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New York Day 2
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In my haste to report all the bad stuff yesterday on my journey here to New York, I neglected to mention the funny, odd and good things. Incredibly, yes there were a few better moments of the journey.
The seat I had turned out to be next to someones husband and they had been seated apart by a few rows. The lady asked if I would swap and of course I obliged, but then began a series of odd coincedences, such that the only phrase applicable is "its a small world". Here I was on a flight from Bristol, England to New York, USA and find myself sitting next to a couple where the husband was born in the same hospital and town as I was and the wife grew up in the same suburbs as I did. An interesting couple, she was a geography teacher and he was an "archivist", visiting thier daughter in princetown and then flying on to Las Vegas for a holiday together. I mention this, mainly because after exchanging a few pleasantries, the lady wanted to know what I was doing in New York. Initially I was sceptical that she would not understand what I do at events and simply kept it simple, "I work for a broadcaster".
She pushed a little more, wanting to know who for and what did I do exactly, so I explained about being a gaming commentator for an internet video stream company. This kinda lost her, but likening it to a TV broadcaster for soccer gave her a safe feeling again. A few hours later in the journey she wanted to know how this worked but in more depth and despite my discomfort at explaining to a mid-50's non-PC user what Unreal Tournament was and how several PC's linked together allowed interactivity, she took it pretty well.
If ever my eyes needed opening, it gave me an insight into the mind of what I am sure she wouldnt mind me calling, a mainstream technophobe. If these people are ever to be converted ( I have my doubts on this though) or at least be cultivated into "knowing what exists in e-sports" then its obviously mine and other e-sport broadcasters to make sure this happens. Its down to everyone that wants e-sports to succeed as well, but as someone who is supposed to "bring the game" to others, I feel that responsibility more than most. Players do a hell of a lot for it globally, especially the likes of fatal1ty of course, but its down to the people who comment the games to ensure that we get as many people interested in gaming as a whole and not just concentrate on the people that regularly tune in. Saying that, part of our appeal is that we cater for the people that know the game and simply cant be at the event, so we need to find that happy medium so as to not turn off those who already enjoy our broadcasts, but at the same time make it more appealing to the casual viewer. Perhaps though, this is a way off just now, simply because as someone without a PC or with limited internet access/knowledge it would be impossible for them to tune in anyway.
It does beg the question of where do we go next. The next logical step is to move towards TV broadcasts using satelite stations or shows on exisiting satelitte stations, something which giga already does and does very well. There really needs to be an English alternative to Giga though and it just cant come soon enough. It needs to happen in the USA of course, but Europe needs it just as badly. We only have to see the success of Korea as a broadcasting market to know that it can work, all be it on a much smaller and less enthusiastic (by the mainstream) scale.
They say you learn something new every day and today I learned that you can use a kiwifruit and a bannana as a battery that can power a radio. Incredible really that someone has the capacity to be able to think things like this, let alone make it happen. But, thats exactly what has happened. Using a set of electrodes made from copper and zinc and stuck into the fruits in question, it does indeed provide enough power for 30 days of radio listening... amazing.
I also learnt today that the Empire State Building was constructed in just 1 year and 45 days from start to finish with a staggering 4 1/2 floors completed per week. 7 million man hours went into the building, employing over 4000 people during construction. 10 million bricks were used, 6500 windows, 120 miles of pipe and 2.5 millions feet of wire were all used in the building. Initially the building was slightly shorter than it is now, but a TV style mast was added towards the end to make it the (then) tallest man made structure in the world. Interestingly the cost of the building including land was $41 million, but more than double that has been spent in the last 10 years alone on restoration...
A.M. in New York City of October 13th would prove to be a little unlucky for a number of reasons, not least of which for the organisers from the GGL with the event centre at the Javits convention Centre on 34th Street.Id met up with the iTG crew, Syn, Trillian and Rome at 10:30 in the starbucks on Time Square and after we moaned about the amount of rain a phone call interupted our coffee to let us know we wouldnt be needed for some time as the Javits was flooded thanks in part to a leaky roof and mainly due to the 7 solid days of heavy rain. We spent the morning buying umbrella's and coats and also, especially myself, spending far too much money on toys for my children in the over-sized Toys R Us store on Broadway. A 100ft ferris wheel INSIDE the store added further grandiose which in the UK simply doesnt exist.
A pizza or two at Rays and then more tourning in the rain, although it had lightened up a little by now. Finally at around 7pm we headed for the event location to begin our setup. Its now 1:17am, which actually is pretty good going for a setup night arrival back at the hotel. Both EC and EWSC were well after 4.30am on night one...
Sleep now, as I didnt get much last night, falling victim to "boring TV" syndrom and nodding off at 9.30pm local time and then waking at 2am (body thinking it was 8am) and then of course had to try and get some sleep to stop Thursday becomming a nightmare. Fortunately I grabbed about 2 further hours and Thursday was ok, if still very wet.
Meeting at 8.30am so off to sleep now, with a very busy day ahead tomorrow when the opening qualifiers are played and the CS tourney starts in earnest.
The seat I had turned out to be next to someones husband and they had been seated apart by a few rows. The lady asked if I would swap and of course I obliged, but then began a series of odd coincedences, such that the only phrase applicable is "its a small world". Here I was on a flight from Bristol, England to New York, USA and find myself sitting next to a couple where the husband was born in the same hospital and town as I was and the wife grew up in the same suburbs as I did. An interesting couple, she was a geography teacher and he was an "archivist", visiting thier daughter in princetown and then flying on to Las Vegas for a holiday together. I mention this, mainly because after exchanging a few pleasantries, the lady wanted to know what I was doing in New York. Initially I was sceptical that she would not understand what I do at events and simply kept it simple, "I work for a broadcaster".
She pushed a little more, wanting to know who for and what did I do exactly, so I explained about being a gaming commentator for an internet video stream company. This kinda lost her, but likening it to a TV broadcaster for soccer gave her a safe feeling again. A few hours later in the journey she wanted to know how this worked but in more depth and despite my discomfort at explaining to a mid-50's non-PC user what Unreal Tournament was and how several PC's linked together allowed interactivity, she took it pretty well.
If ever my eyes needed opening, it gave me an insight into the mind of what I am sure she wouldnt mind me calling, a mainstream technophobe. If these people are ever to be converted ( I have my doubts on this though) or at least be cultivated into "knowing what exists in e-sports" then its obviously mine and other e-sport broadcasters to make sure this happens. Its down to everyone that wants e-sports to succeed as well, but as someone who is supposed to "bring the game" to others, I feel that responsibility more than most. Players do a hell of a lot for it globally, especially the likes of fatal1ty of course, but its down to the people who comment the games to ensure that we get as many people interested in gaming as a whole and not just concentrate on the people that regularly tune in. Saying that, part of our appeal is that we cater for the people that know the game and simply cant be at the event, so we need to find that happy medium so as to not turn off those who already enjoy our broadcasts, but at the same time make it more appealing to the casual viewer. Perhaps though, this is a way off just now, simply because as someone without a PC or with limited internet access/knowledge it would be impossible for them to tune in anyway.
It does beg the question of where do we go next. The next logical step is to move towards TV broadcasts using satelite stations or shows on exisiting satelitte stations, something which giga already does and does very well. There really needs to be an English alternative to Giga though and it just cant come soon enough. It needs to happen in the USA of course, but Europe needs it just as badly. We only have to see the success of Korea as a broadcasting market to know that it can work, all be it on a much smaller and less enthusiastic (by the mainstream) scale.
They say you learn something new every day and today I learned that you can use a kiwifruit and a bannana as a battery that can power a radio. Incredible really that someone has the capacity to be able to think things like this, let alone make it happen. But, thats exactly what has happened. Using a set of electrodes made from copper and zinc and stuck into the fruits in question, it does indeed provide enough power for 30 days of radio listening... amazing.
I also learnt today that the Empire State Building was constructed in just 1 year and 45 days from start to finish with a staggering 4 1/2 floors completed per week. 7 million man hours went into the building, employing over 4000 people during construction. 10 million bricks were used, 6500 windows, 120 miles of pipe and 2.5 millions feet of wire were all used in the building. Initially the building was slightly shorter than it is now, but a TV style mast was added towards the end to make it the (then) tallest man made structure in the world. Interestingly the cost of the building including land was $41 million, but more than double that has been spent in the last 10 years alone on restoration...
A.M. in New York City of October 13th would prove to be a little unlucky for a number of reasons, not least of which for the organisers from the GGL with the event centre at the Javits convention Centre on 34th Street.Id met up with the iTG crew, Syn, Trillian and Rome at 10:30 in the starbucks on Time Square and after we moaned about the amount of rain a phone call interupted our coffee to let us know we wouldnt be needed for some time as the Javits was flooded thanks in part to a leaky roof and mainly due to the 7 solid days of heavy rain. We spent the morning buying umbrella's and coats and also, especially myself, spending far too much money on toys for my children in the over-sized Toys R Us store on Broadway. A 100ft ferris wheel INSIDE the store added further grandiose which in the UK simply doesnt exist.
A pizza or two at Rays and then more tourning in the rain, although it had lightened up a little by now. Finally at around 7pm we headed for the event location to begin our setup. Its now 1:17am, which actually is pretty good going for a setup night arrival back at the hotel. Both EC and EWSC were well after 4.30am on night one...
Sleep now, as I didnt get much last night, falling victim to "boring TV" syndrom and nodding off at 9.30pm local time and then waking at 2am (body thinking it was 8am) and then of course had to try and get some sleep to stop Thursday becomming a nightmare. Fortunately I grabbed about 2 further hours and Thursday was ok, if still very wet.
Meeting at 8.30am so off to sleep now, with a very busy day ahead tomorrow when the opening qualifiers are played and the CS tourney starts in earnest.
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