Chasing Ghosts is on Showtime next month.

[TOK]

Starts December 3rd.

http://www.sho.com/site/schedules/product_page.do?seriesid=0&episodeid=133953

[miles2912]

Nice find.  Just plz bump it closer to the date.     

[Luigi]

Is anybody willing to capture it and send a copy to Germany? 

I have no idea how to see it here over the pond

[Shoegazer]

I was at a special screening of this movie with the director, one of the actors and the guy who worked on the CGI.  Since the actor was a Battlezone record holder, I challenged him to that game immediately after the movie (and was soundly thrashed).    He was literally rocking the machine on it's base while playing.  Very intense.

Excellent movie, folks.  Definitely recommend catching this on Showtime or DVD when it's released (trust me, it won't be too much longer).  If you've seen King of Kong it's in the same vein.  You see Walter Day in a totally different light.

Shoegazer

[joeH]

Friendly reminder that this will be on tomorrow.

http://www.sho.com/site/schedules/product_page.do?seriesid=0&episodeid=133953

[Havok]

Is anybody willing to capture it and send a copy to Germany? 

I have no idea how to see it here over the pond

Klov has the answer you seek.

(I just watched it a couple of days ago)

[Luigi]

Klov has the answer you seek.

Thanks

[BobA]

Thanks for the reminder.

[Mauzy]

<can-of-worms> How is Billy Mitchell portrayed in this film? </can>

[TOK]

Word is that he acts like a butthead. Perhaps the King Of Kong director staged that too? 
Have it set to record tomorrow morning, then its on again in a week or so in HD. Not sure how good/old much of the source material is, but its only on once in high def and I'd like to see it.

[Luigi]

Does anybody know the differences between the screener and the final version (if there is any)??   

What version is aired through showtime?

[Singapura]

Saw the movie yesterday. As much as I dislike Billy M. he doesn't appear as a complete --cream-filled twinkie-- this time. Even Roy Schildt appears rational. For a discussion that includes some posts from people that appear in the movie as well as an ahem link to the movie go here

[Blanka]

KLOV did not help, but my Swedish friends did:
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4544555/Chasing_Ghosts__Beyond_the_Arcade

[Blanka]

Just saw it. Weird to see the coolness of the games combined with the goofiness of 80-ties clothing and hair dressing and the dullness of American interiors.
Wonder if there is a similar documentary about Japanese arcade life in the golden era, or I hardly dare to say it, about any wacko European mastering Pac-Man back in 1981? Are there uberhaupt European highscores on these games? And on the Pac-Man, there must be some Japanese guy out there which rules Billy Mitchell? If you see these movies, they play a total different league of hand-eye coordination:
http://www.youtube.com/v/2cGF33QKluU&hl=nl&fs=1

[TOK]

Isn't that more of an exercise in memorization than pure hand/eye coordination? The song and key sequence is always the same, the layout of the buttons makes it more difficult vs. something like a piano, but its the same skill.

I'm not saying it isn't amazing to watch, but put that kid on a Stargate machine and he's still gonna die in 30 seconds. 

[shardian]

Isn't that more of an exercise in memorization than pure hand/eye coordination? The song and key sequence is always the same, the layout of the buttons makes it more difficult vs. something like a piano, but its the same skill.

I'm not saying it isn't amazing to watch, but put that kid on a Stargate machine and he's still gonna die in 30 seconds. 

Exactly - it's all memorization. That is why guitar hero has a mode where you can slow any song down to the point you can memorize it.

[Level42]

Uhhh guys......Pac Man IS memorizing. ALL the patterns ! The ghosts ALWAYS act the same.

For us Europeans these guys are very weird indeed. I still like them, they are different ! They give some color to the world.

Walter Day declared himself the official world record keeper. If you keep saying it everybody starts to believe it. (the emperor's clothes).

There's a guy from the UK who smashed "Mr.Awesome"'s high score on MC but it was never recorded.

Anyway, I watched it a second time and I must say my world (collecting and restoring classic arcade games) has NOTHING to do with the guys who try to get world records. It's two different worlds.

I was amused by that older guy who was a Berzerk pro. Quite the technician. Knows how to operate HAM-radio, but trying to power up a game a zillion times is not going to fix it....

[CheffoJeffo]

Anyway, I watched it a second time and I must say my world (collecting and restoring classic arcade games) has NOTHING to do with the guys who try to get world records. It's two different worlds.

I was amused by that older guy who was a Berzerk pro. Quite the technician. Knows how to operate HAM-radio, but trying to power up a game a zillion times is not going to fix it....

Yup and yup.

 

[Games001]

Sadly its not being shown on any of my Showtime stations.. wth? 

[Mauzy]

KLOV did not help, but my Swedish friends did:
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4544555/Chasing_Ghosts__Beyond_the_Arcade

IDK if that can be posted, but kudos for possibly helping me kinda slightly out with helping a friend find this movie for his cousin's best friends dad........... I didn't dl it though...

[protokatie]

Watching it right now... Only thing I can think is: Wow, these guys are HUGE dorks! I mean HUGE! O.o

[Blanka]

Take in account that in 1980
- there was no Clearasil
- the opinion on the best frequency of when to go to a barber was very different.
- glass thickness was much greater due to larger frames and worse optic materials
- white socks were and still are considered to be OK in the USA

But the Missile Command Champ, he's a complete wacko, way beyond Micheal Jackson. The shorts, the portraits in front of the flag, the hat...... EEEEK!

[protokatie]

Take in account that in 1980
- there was no Clearasil
- the opinion on the best frequency of when to go to a barber was very different.
- glass thickness was much greater due to larger frames and worse optic materials
- white socks were and still are considered to be OK in the USA

But the Missile Command Champ, he's a complete wacko, way beyond Micheal Jackson. The shorts, the portraits in front of the flag, the hat...... EEEEK!

I was talking about them NOW, not back then....

[Blanka]

IDK if that can be posted, but kudos for possibly helping me kinda slightly out with helping a friend find this movie for his cousin's best friends dad........... I didn't dl it though...

How was it? 

I posted it because it will be 0-chance to see this in Europe any time within the next 10 years via an official channel. And hey, downloading is not illegal here (sorry French but your Bruni Meister zinks different about zat). But give me a paypal link of the maker, and I will drop him a tip.

[Blanka]

Well NOW they look well like, Americans.... Maybe ripe for Sun City. And the HAM radio man could be McCains brother. Well maybe the spider-man still has some dorkness.
Does anyone know if the cheerleaders are the original girls too?

[CheffoJeffo]

Take in account that in 1980
- there was no Clearasil

There was Clearasil, it just didn't work worth a damn! Now get offa my lawn !

 

[Mauzy]

IDK if that can be posted, but kudos for possibly helping me kinda slightly out with helping a friend find this movie for his cousin's best friends dad........... I didn't dl it though...

How was it? 

Dunno yet. let it run over-I mean I have no Idea....

[TOK]

I got to see my DVR'd copy of this from Showtime today. I enjoyed it, but I already knew who quite a few of the people were. I wondered why they didn't push it harder in the wake of the King of Kong buzz, but the reason is now apparent. This would appeal to very few people that aren't already embedded in the scene.

From what I've read about the torrent copy thats going around, there is some stuff cut out of the release copy shown on Showtime. I definitely still want to see the older "screener" version.

[Ginsu Victim]

Just watched it. Very interesting, especially hearing Steve Sanders swearing.

Wow, Robert Mruczek's art collection....what a waste of money.... (probably not aired on the Showtime version)

[Mauzy]

Just watched it. Very interesting, especially hearing Steve Sanders swearing.

Wow, Robert Mruczek's art collection....what a waste of money.... (probably not aired on the Showtime version)

Yeah that art collection bit isn't really necessary at all, though it does show off how much he plays into the negative nerd stereotype (living with parents, obsessed with video games, owning an obese cat, strange sci fi woman art collections...)

The greatest quote came from Steve Sanders I think, honestly I can't remember who said it (please correct me if I'm wrong) , but it was the whole "---fudgesicle--- you, Billy Mitchell. ---fudgesicle--- you." line was awesome. The conviction with which this was said was hysterical.

Also, Mr Awesome (Roy Schildt) has to be the biggest ---meecrob--- bag I've ever seen. I thought he was an idiot in The King of Kong but holy crap.

Overall I thought this was great. Walter's piece at the end seemed to be the perfect end. I can see where a few further sound edits were necessary, but other than that this was really well done!

[Singapura]

Just watched it. Very interesting, especially hearing Steve Sanders swearing.

Wow, Robert Mruczek's art collection....what a waste of money.... (probably not aired on the Showtime version)

I thought so too at first. However, it's quite a serious collection. But Robert explains it quite well here

[shardian]

To be fair to the creators, we were never meant to see the 'art collection'. That copy floating around is an screener.


I thought the movie was okay. There were some funny parts for sure. I got the impression the editing was kind of choppy, but maybe they didn't have much good stuff to work with. They definitely went out of their way to make some of the gamers normal, and some of the ultra crazy.

[shardian]

Oh and on the '2 different worlds' between us and the record maker guys. I notice that it seems NONE of those guys actually collect/repair arcade games.

[Mauzy]

Oh and on the '2 different worlds' between us and the record maker guys. I notice that it seems NONE of those guys actually collect/repair arcade games.

I was disappointed to see that. I think the only people who have their own machines were the guys were nonworking Berzerk cabs. One guy did have a lot of slot machines though. Surely there was a cab hiding in there somewhere.

[TOK]

Think the real goofy acting dude (that won the That's Incredible shootout) had a Centipede behind him. Looked like he was in his house.

[Trebeck]

It was a really neat look into these people but at the end I found it a little depressing honestly.  I felt bad for these guys.
If you take a walk around mininova you might run into a ghost.

[Havok]

Yeah, these guys for the most part are really lame. Especially that ref dude with the 300K pr0n collection, who still lives with his mom...

[Mauzy]

From what I saw only two or three people were remotely successful. Billy Mitchell has a restaurant and hot sauce (or BBQ sauce. whatever), one guy is a lawyer. The other said he wasn't a pimp but he hung out with beautiful people. Otherwise yeah, lame.

[CheffoJeffo]

Yeah, these guys for the most part are really lame. Especially that ref dude with the 300K pr0n collection, who still lives with his mom...

As opposed to that unemployed dude who sleeps in the middle of the floor with eleventy spiders in the closet and still lives with his mom ?

[Mauzy]

But he has a ---steaming pile of meadow muffin----ton of consoles. That at least out weighs the abnormal amount of spiders and part of the missing bed. Still in no way, shape, or form a success though.