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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.
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!
I'm very happy that he won, but is he still married? From the documentary, it looked like his playing was tough on his family life. I couldn't imagine how much more dedication would be needed to beat Mitchell's top score--probably a lot more than what we saw in the movie.
there's a Donkey Kong kill-screen coming up.
-dZ.
Carol vs. Ghost
The filmmaker did a fabulous job of creating a compelling story with interesting characters, where there was no story, and nothing but boring people. All the scripted 'reality' directors on TV these days should take note of this film, it should be their Citizen Kane.
However, I wouldn't infer too much about what people are really like based on it.
Think of the editting of Homer's TV NewsZine interview when he was accused of sexual harassment.
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.
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.
My work here is dung.
Even as much as I love classic arcade games, I haven't seen the movie. Everything I've read about the movie casts it as over-edited to the point of being fictionalized. Here's just one such review.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Is this with or without the ROM hack that removes the kill screen and restores the programmer's original intent for the game?
I watched that movie on Hulu a couple months back. It is probably still on there, if it hasn't expired. Check it out.
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Jason Scott wrote:
Salutations, Ignorant Fuck.
A number of weblogs recently linked to this page from out of the blue, leading me to believe you jostled among them and found yourself reading this entry. This might explain your commentary on a page written in February, with multiple clarifying followups, that has otherwise been superceded elsewhere in the five months hence.
As I sincerely doubt that your filmmaking and film watching career harkens back to the exact moment your choking, bloodied infant form issued forth from your screaming mother, I will assume that you are one of those folks who takes a number of liberties when he constructs his scribbled opinions in the heat of emotion and ignorance. Therefore let me say the following, in an easy to understand list:
1. This movie and my movie are not the same movie; they did not steal my idea and I did not steal theirs and they do not overlap in subject matter.
2. I am making several movies.
3. While movies are, by their nature, edited products, out and out lies and misrepresentation opposite to reality are generally not what people should find “at the finish line” when they assemble their footage.
Enjoy your filmmaking career and die, slowly and alone, forgotten but for your distant-faced caretakers.
Posted on 23-Jul-08 at 11:34 pm
Suggested reading: Twin Galaxies' Official Statements about "The King of Kong". They probably shouldn't even be allowed to call that movie a "documentary".
Sturgeon was an optimist.
Yeah it's been stated that the movie's editing makes certain things seem different than how they went down. Stuff like how Billy Mitchell's videotaped score being rejected the following day and Walter Day apologizing to Weibe. And when Weibe's videotaped score was rejected, the record reverted to the other record he set in 2003, not to Mitchell. And Weibe has stated that the scene in the restaurant where Mitchell avoids him leaves out the part that came later where Mitchell came over and apologized for being rude and introduced his wife.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_kong#Disputed_facts
Weibe is the everyman character we all identify with and Mitchell has an abrasive personality that make for an excellent film. But both men agree that the movie doesn't portray them correctly. Still, it's a great film. What I wonder is - will there ever be a DK score that's literally impossible to beat?
Schnapple
Why not just link to the original story?
http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=19&id=2264
I have to return some videotapes...
Great, now I'll have "In the Hall of the Mountain King" stuck in my head all day.
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.
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:
and
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 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
Twin Galaxies also has an interesting writeup on the creative license taken by the movie. Don't forget that the apology letter Weibe received was actually immediately after the FunSpot videotape incident, and not years later as implied by editing.
It's a great movie. It takes the rather dry world of competitive video game playing, and turns it into something eminently watchable. But don't pillory Mitchell for how the filmmakers edited him to seem.
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