Steve Wiebe is the King of Kong Again

Anyone who watched 'The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters' knows the epic struggle for global Kong dominance waged by Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell. Wiebe took back the crown by scoring 1,064,500-points which was officially verified. And if you haven't seen the movie, go watch it. You won't be sorry.

Comments

Worth watching

[Abstrackt]

After watching King of Kong I'm extremely happy to hear Wiebe is back on top. Something about Billy Mitchell has never sat right with me.

Re:Worth watching

[rotide]

Billy Mitchell really came off as a douche willing to do whatever it takes to win, including cheat. Although, with any type of editing, it's easy for the author to portray a person in whatever way they choose.

Either way, congrats to Wiebe!

Re:Worth watching

[Tanktalus]

You've never had an off day where you blow up at someone, but then come back to your senses and apologise for it? All that editing needs to do is drop the apology, and you look like a douchebag. With full context, i.e., the apology, you suddenly look much more like a normal human being.

So depressing

[tenzig_112]

Now maybe he can spend some time with his kids. The scene in the documentary with him playing DK while his kids were asking for his help really depressed me. I'm not saying he's a bad guy, I just hope he uses this as an impetus to start being a dad.

Re:So depressing

[zero_out]

Indeed. If anything I think the kid needed that lesson. If he cut himself with scissors, I'm sure his father would have come running. He was four years of age, and wanted his father to come wipe is butt. At some point, a kid needs to understand that he's not the center of the universe, and he can do some things on his own. At some point, you have to let a baby cry itself to sleep, and at some point, a kid needs to wipe his own butt.

Re:So depressing

[WankersRevenge]

Dude ... believe it or not ... sometimes doing the things that you love helps you be a better dad. His kids are probably much happier than if he kept that tension locked inside of him just so he can spend more time with them and yes, be happy to be with them. Some call it "cave time" - ie, get out of my face so I can process. Otherwise, internal tension would be released in other ways to the detriment of the entire family which is far worse.

And really, kids will crawl all over you no matter what you do. I work from home and the days when my daughter isn't at daycare when my wife is home, she's basically jumping on my computer for my attention. Put a camera crew in my room and I'd look like a workaholic neglectful dad.

Re:So depressing

[zero_out]

Marriage is hard. In fact, it's harder than many contents. Just look at Lance Armstrong. It was easier for him to win 7 consecutive Tour de France titles than for him to be married. His cycling career was very successful, while his marriage was a failure.

Re:So depressing

[geekoid]

And? I don't think the best time to determine when your child is ready is when it happen to be inconvenient to video game playing.
And you certainly don't just stop helping with talking to the child about it. The reeks of apathy toward the child, and Apathy is the opposite of love.

I didn't see them movie, so the kid could be 20 for all I know, but your attitude is wrong and exemplifies bad parenting.

Re:So depressing

[Tetsujin]

I'm not a parent

Then I think that should be the beginning and end of your advice about parenting.

Re:So depressing

[syousef]

Dude ... believe it or not ... sometimes doing the things that you love helps you be a better dad. His kids are probably much happier than if he kept that tension locked inside of him just so he can spend more time with them and yes, be happy to be with them. Some call it "cave time" - ie, get out of my face so I can process. Otherwise, internal tension would be released in other ways to the detriment of the entire family which is far worse.

And really, kids will crawl all over you no matter what you do. I work from home and the days when my daughter isn't at daycare when my wife is home, she's basically jumping on my computer for my attention. Put a camera crew in my room and I'd look like a workaholic neglectful dad.

What a bunch of self indulgent horse shit. Kids can crawl all over you while you smoke, get drunk and slap them around. But that wouldn't make you a good dad. It would make you an abusive drunk asshole. Just because you're around your kids doesn't mean you're giving them what they need. You have to limit the "me" time to something reasonable and even during that me time set a good example. Can't believe shit like yours gets modded up. Goes to show most slashdotters might know a lot about tech but are selfish idiots who know nothing about child rearing.

Re:So depressing

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not a parent

Then I think that should be the beginning and end of your advice about parenting.

Hmmm, Are you saying we can no longer learn by observing?
Are you saying that we should not pass on info on things we have learned by observing?
Are you saying that the poster was raised by wolves and has had no chance to observe successes and failures when it comes to human parenting?
would you say the eldest of 12 children in a nice Irish Catholic family will not have parenting experience until they have kids of their own?

Are you suggesting that you would raise your children through a strict program of trial and error?
Would you only accept info from other certified parents, say like Jenny McCarthy's followers do?

Just because you have bred, doesn't make you the exclusive holder of all knowledge about parenting.

We all get a chance to see people succeed and fail at parenting (and many other things), every day. If we are smart we file these into "good idea" "bad idea" tables so we have this info accessible should we ever leave Slashdot and breed.

Re:So depressing

[syousef]

What a troll. He's talking about working hours and having kids at home at that time for whatever circumstance. Would you call him indulgent if he was clocking in an office without even being near his kids for 8-10 hours a day?

First, he was talking about "doing the things you love" not spending time with his family.

Second, you don't know the difference between a troll and a different opinion or a difference in circumstance.

If the only way you can make ends meet is to work 100hr weeks or walk 6 kilometers to fetch water for your family then that is quite simply what you have to do to support them. Then, when you've done that you can talk about time with the family and time for yourself. All this self obsessed I just need me time crap requires not just survival and subsistence but prosperity. Not everyone has that.

Re:So depressing

[jeko]

Just because you have bred, doesn't make you the exclusive holder of all knowledge about parenting.

Of course not. But listening to non-parents offer parenting advice is like listening to virgins lecture on sexual technique. :-)

Careful with Borrowing Character Judgments

[eldavojohn]

After watching King of Kong I'm extremely happy to hear Wiebe is back on top. Something about Billy Mitchell has never sat right with me.

Perhaps how the 'documentary' demonized him? Is he egotistical and full of himself? Probably. But it seems the documentary was either not entirely truthful or misrepresented time lines. I met Walter Day at the Mall of America in college and will say that in the few minutes I chatted with him he was the kindest and most honest person I have met. If Walter Day doesn't think Billy Mitchell is pure evil than neither do I. If Billy had tried to do anything truly sinister I think Day would have short circuited it and I'm not clear on whether or not the mailed in tape that beat Wiebe in the documentary was actually accepted.

I'd be careful to accept something as truth when it could have made for gripping cinema. Mitchell is such a villain in the documentary that it's almost too good to be true when juxtaposing him to Wiebe.

I would caution your "doesn't sit right with me" assessment from a film and point out it's probably as reliable as anything meant to entertain someone can be. Yeah there's probably some truth to it. But Mitchell is no more purely evil than Wiebe is purely good. Selective footage can make it seem that way though. Before you jump all over Mitchell I would suggest you read the this and meet him first. You've selected one single source that is a highly entertaining movie and it has a very high chance of being unfairly biased to represent an epic battle between good and evil. They may be foils of each other in several ways but I would imagine some of it is manufactured to put you on Wiebe's side. Mitchell's devoted a lot of his life to video games and has held other records. The documentary really doesn't seem to investigate the positives of Mitchell as much as it does Wiebe.

Just something to consider when judging others.

Re:On Hulu.com

[Anonymous Coward]

We don't live in US you you insensitive clods

There's enough information in the film

[s-whs]

After watching King of Kong I'm extremely happy to hear Wiebe is back on top. Something about Billy Mitchell has never sat right with me.

Perhaps how the 'documentary' demonized him [slashdot.org]? Is he egotistical and full of himself? Probably. But it seems the documentary was either not entirely truthful or misrepresented time lines. I met Walter Day at the Mall of America in college and will say that in the few minutes I chatted with him he was the kindest and most honest person I have met. If Walter Day doesn't think Billy Mitchell is pure evil than neither do I. If Billy had tried to do anything truly sinister I think Day would have short circuited it and I'm not clear on whether or not the mailed in tape that beat Wiebe in the documentary was actually accepted.

You chatted a few minutes? Under which circumstances? You should know that matters... That's why the film does without doubt portray Billy Mitchell as he is, an asshole. From the previous slashdot story on this as mentioned by others there's a comment by someone who nails it on the head:

[ SydShamino wrote: ]
In the film, Billy Mitchell is not portrayed as an asshole. Billy Mitchell is an asshole. The film just portrays him in his natural habitat. It also shows how Twin Galaxies has its own "Good Ol' Boy Network" to identify who it trusts regarding scoring. This comes into play because most high scores are earned at homes, where the proof is a video camera pointed at the screen. Theoretically, someone could modify their boards so that the game acts differently, thereby cheating to win.

and

[ SydShamino wrote: ]
Anyone can play nice for their grandmother or for the cameras. However, there are some things that a person simply does not do if they are a polite, non-asshole person.

It's not like the film editors put words in his mouth, or manipulated long continuously-filmed scenes where he acts like a dick. It doesn't matter how many kittens he saves during the day, if he does certain things, he's an asshole.

As to Walter Day, what I noticed most of all is that he said Steve Wiebe 'redeemed' himself. Redeemed? He didn't do anything wrong! He just confirmed his ability that day. As to that dual circuit board that may or may not act differently than a regular one: Not his fault if it did act differently, so W.Day should have said Wiebe confirmed his ability, not that he redeemed himself. And if you think this is just an error, I think not, such things show how people think... Further:

I'd be careful to accept something as truth when it could have made for gripping cinema. Mitchell is such a villain in the documentary that it's almost too good to be true when juxtaposing him to Wiebe.

I would caution your "doesn't sit right with me" assessment from a film and point out it's probably as reliable as anything meant to entertain someone can be. Yeah there's probably some truth to it. But Mitchell is no more purely evil than Wiebe is purely good. Selective footage can make it seem that way though. Before you jump all over Mitchell I would suggest you read the this [mtv.com] and meet him first. You've selected one single source that is a highly entertaining movie and it has a very high chance of being unfairly biased to represent an epic battle between good and evil. They may be foils of each other in several ways but I would imagine some of it is manufactured to put you on Wiebe's side. Mitchell's devoted a lot of his life to video games and has held other records. The documentary really doesn't seem to investigate the positives of Mitchell as much as it does Wiebe.

I read the mtv interview and very little of Mitchell's personality comes through (in fact there's fairly little of his own words in it!), except that he tries to talk his way out stuff. Also, the inaccuracies are more the normal