The King of Kong (Must See)

[Wobbly Goblin]

My sister "Snooze" suggested that I watch this documentary about "Donkey Kong". For those of you with a NetFlix account, you can watch it online...pretty cool!

When "Steve Wiebe" got laid off, he turned to the classic arcade game Donkey Kong for solace; soon, he decided to challenge "Billy Mitchell's" long-standing record score. So began the bitter rivalry that lies at the heart of this curiously compelling documentary. Providing a history of competitive video gaming and a look at some of the key players, The King of Kong is at its best when revealing just how far Mitchell will go to retain his crown.

YouTube - TGTV.003 The King of Kong (Director's...

[The Green Guy]

It's a good movie. Definately a must see. I have some spoiler warnings though, appearently the movie was a bit skewed to portray things the way the director wanted them and not necessarily factual. Walter Day of Twin Galaxies believes that the documentary is dishonest in its portrayal of the actual events.

Spoiler Warnings: Highlight Below ...

• Steve Wiebe actually first beat Tim Sczerby's high score of 879,200 points, posted in 2000 — not Billy Mitchell's 1982 score. (In response, the film's producers claim that "[Tim Sczerby's] consistently disputed record was impossible to verify and did not merit inclusion in the film."
• Representatives did not sneak into Steve Wiebe's garage and take apart his arcade machine without his permission as implied by the film, but were welcomed by Wiebe and even took photos together and played some games of Donkey Kong with him before Wiebe himself unlocked the machine to allow them to photograph the circuit boards.
• Billy Mitchell was not always avoiding Steve Wiebe. They met and played together on several occasions before the time period of the film, notably the 2004 Classic Gaming Expo, and they were on very friendly terms — even giving interviews together. In one scene in the film, it is implied that Mitchell drove away from his restaurant when he learned Wiebe was there, but Day contends that in fact Mitchell came in with his whole family and greeted everyone apologetically, including Wiebe.
• Steve Wiebe actually held the high score record for almost 3 years, and when his videotaped score of 1,006,000 points was rejected, the record actually reverted back to Steve's own previous record — it did not revert to Billy Mitchell's 1982 score as implied by the film.

Day feels that the information presented above "shows that Twin Galaxies did recognize Steve Wiebe's great skills and honor him," and "reveals that Twin Galaxies did not elbow Steve's accomplishment aside so as to protect Billy Mitchell's 874,200 point score."

[Doc Sonic]

I've been waiting for this to come out on netflix!

[Snooze]

Originally Posted by The Green Guy

It's a good movie. Definately a must see. I have some spoiler warnings though, appearently the movie was a bit skewed to portray things the way the director wanted them and not necessarily factual. Walter Day of Twin Galaxies believes that the documentary is dishonest in its portrayal of the actual events.

Spoiler Warnings: Highlight Below ...

edited to conceal the intentional white out text which showed to clearly to be a spoiler anymore :P

Billy still came off on camera as a major Jerk...that's with a Capital "J"...
If the film did not flatter him it was because he did nothing on it that was flattering, even knowing the camera was recording. Sad but true. Anything can be said when the camera's are off, but it was pretty obvious that Steve was treated with distain by Billy's groupies. No offense...

[Wobbly Goblin]

Originally Posted by Snooze

Anything can be said when the camera's are off, but it was pretty obvious that Steve was treated with distain by Billy's groupies.

I kind of came away with the same opinion. In fact, Billy himself came off as an arrogant ass-hole throughout the entire movie. I can't think of one thing that I liked about him.

[The Green Guy]

Okay, well of course I agree as well ... but don't you think thats because it was how he was portrayed in the film. If they showed him in a different light you would have a different opinion. It was heavily edited. All parties involved in the film have stated that the film needs a version 1.5 to fix all the Hollywood like drama added to it. Not much different than a Roger Moore documentary, all you get is what they want you to see. I thought it was a great movie until I found out the truth behind it all, then it felt kinda like it wanted to be more than it actually was. If you ask me all of them nerds are weird!