The King Of Kong

Few associate them with kill screens, an arcade in New Hampshire, and an electronic ape. (Call it the Moore/Gore effect.)

I had the chance on Friday to see The King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters. The story documents the history, the hysteria, and the unintentional hilarity surrounding Twin Galaxies' Donkey Kong record and the two main players involved, Billy Mitchell and Steve Weibe.

It does hit a little close to home - and not just because of VJA and PNN. There's a bit near the beginning with a Funspot employee proudly declaring his vices:

"I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't do drugs - I play video games. Which I think is a far superior addiction to any of those other ones!"

As soon as he finished, I knew the words that were to immediately escape Katie's lips: "THAT IS SO YOU." Guilty as charged.

The film is currently open in four cities, and is rapidly widening. If you have the chance to see it, please do. It's hard to not enjoy.

As Sicko had absurd responses from the healthcare industry, and as An Inconvenient Truth had much spinning applied from big corporations, King Of Kong is getting backlash as well - from Twin Galaxies.

Twin Galaxies is an organization that may not be familiar even to those who live/eat/breathe/sleep video games. Since 1983, Twin Galaxies has been tracking and verifying video game scores. The film portrays them what would be best called an unflattering manner.

Consider what follows "further reading" on the film.

Complaints about Weibe's 1049k score taking too long to verify:

"Finally this controversy is over... congrats to steve on his accomplishment." -user DJGex

Former head referee's loooooooong dissection of the 1049k record:

"It is always important that that the entire truth be brought out whenever possible. There ia a tremendous amount of detail regarding the Steve Wiebe and Donkey kong verification that is not present in the King of kong movie." -Walter Day

Billy at Pac-Man Championship Edition event:

"While on the topic of King of Kong, Mitchell reiterated many of the discrepancies between his reality and the film that have recently surfaced. It's not that Mitchell doesn't make valid points in his defense, he does, but it's hard to feel sorry for someone who willingly signed away his self for use in "reality" entertainment. By his own admission, Mitchell's ego has been damaged because he got played."

Billy Mitchell sets new DK record in July

Even though he was proclaimed the "Video Game Player of the Century" in Tokyo in 1999, that doesn't stop Billy Mitchell from adding more glory to his legendary reputation. On Friday, July 13, 2007, exactly 25 years after setting the original world record, Billy scored a high-score on the legendary Donkey Kong arcade game that has been verified to be the new world record.

TG forum thread resulting from the previous news

Most interestingly, in that thread, one post has been edited (and one originally posted) with the following:

Twin Galaxies has taken on new executive management and new legal counsel. 

No one will be denouncing any players on the TG forum any more. The issue of the Donkey kong scores 
will handled or discussed only by our top management and our legal counsel. 

Respectfully, 

Walter Day 
President 
Twin Galaxies