"The King of Kong, A Fist Full of Quarters"

[Sprucemoose]

Has anyone seen this movie?  It is supposed to be about the current Donkey Kong High score holder and a young contender.  The reviews look promising.  I tried search the forums for anyone that has seen it, but found nothing.  Anyway, might be worth a look:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000XQ4HR8/ref=nosim/uncrate-20

Product Description
In this hilarious critically acclaimed arcade showdown a humble novice goes head-to-head against the reigning Donkey Kong champ in a confrontation that rocks the gaming world to its processors! For over 20 years Billy Mitchell has owned the throne of the Donkey Kong world. No one could beat his top score until now. Newcomer Steve Wiebe claims to have beaten the unbeatable but Mitchell isn't ready to renquish his crown without a fight. Go behind the barrels as the two battle it out in a vicious war to earn the title of the true King of Kong.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/BIOGRAPHY

[shardian]

What I find astonishing is that you have been a member here for 5 years, and you post this like you've never heard of it before. How have you never heard of this movie?!?!?!?!

I have to assume one of two things:

1. You posted this as a  joke
2. You have been in a coma for 2 years and just woke up today.

[Sprucemoose]

LOL.  After reading your post I wish I really did know about this movie, but I have never heard of it.  I even did a search to prevent such backlash

[shardian]

I think G4 is showing it on TV now.

Anyways, it is a very entertaining movie - even my wife enjoyed it. Apparently the producers took some creative liberty with the facts, but it is still a good watch.

They also have the green light for a fictionalized version with Vince Vaughn and his comedy crew as the cast.

[Sprucemoose]

Thanks, Shardian

G4 is in fact showing the movie on 6/13 @7pm est for anyone else that had their head in the sand for the past couple years.

Tivo has been updated

[JeepMonkey]

It is available to Watch It Now if you have Netflix.

[Ginsu Victim]

I think G4 is showing it on TV now.

Anyways, it is a very entertaining movie - even my wife enjoyed it. Apparently the producers took some creative liberty with the facts, but it is still a good watch.

They also have the green light for a fictionalized version with Vince Vaughn and his comedy crew as the cast.

There's been no news of any casting.

And I suggest Sprucemoose go to Twin Galaxies and check the forum devoted to the truth behind the events of King of Kong. There is SO much wrong in that movie.

Such as:
Billy Mitchell wasn't the champ. He was beat by Tim Sczerby, who was beat by Steve Wiebe. Steve was trying to get his million-plus score recognized in the film.

Steve and Billy played live head to head in 2004.

When both Tim and Steve beat the record, Billy let everyone know and was very proud of what they had done. He promoted them heavily.

The tape that Billy sent to Funspot was only to promote a bounty of $10,000 for anyone who could beat that score. It was not an official submission. Walter put up the score without Bill's permission, then took down the score within 48 hours. The record reverted back to Steve Wiebe. Billy submitted the original tape without any tracking issues, which was scrutinized and submitted as the record.

At the end of the film, Steve beats the score, but have you watched the special features? Bill is the current record holder. When he last set the record, he still had FIVE SCREENS to go and killed himself off so the record wouldn't be so high that the competition gets killed. He also wasn't on track to match his personal best score, so why set the record that high when you know you're able to do even better?

[boykster]

It is available to Watch It Now if you have Netflix.

was one of the first things I watched when I received my shiny new Netflix Player by Roku

(yes, I know you can watch stuff on the computer too, but this is my new toy  )

[AtomSmasher]

It is available to Watch It Now if you have Netflix.

was one of the first things I watched when I received my shiny new Netflix Player by Roku

(yes, I know you can watch stuff on the computer too, but this is my new toy  )

I've been thinking about getting one of these.  Do you like it and/or recommend it?

[RayB]

He's right though. Try searching for King of Kong and the forum returns zero results!

[massive88]

He's right though. Try searching for King of Kong and the forum returns zero results!

Drop the "of" and you'll get the hits!

[Sprucemoose]

Thanks for the info about the film GinsuVictim.

Drop the "of" and you'll get the hits!

...what kind of search feature is this?

dangit Saint!

[MameMaster!]

Download a free copy of the issue of GameRoom Magazine that had my feature article about the movie right here:

(scroll to bottom of the page for the free issue)

http://www.gameroommagazine.com/ 

[Minwah]

This film is out on DVD in the UK on the 16th (June 2008)...my copy was sent today...

[saint]

Thanks for the info about the film GinsuVictim.

Drop the "of" and you'll get the hits!

...what kind of search feature is this?

dangit Saint!

"free"

[Ginsu Victim]

Thanks for the info about the film GinsuVictim.

Drop the "of" and you'll get the hits!

...what kind of search feature is this?

dangit Saint!

"free"

ZING!

[saint]

No, it's broken. Will talk to SirWoogie

[Sprucemoose]

Posted by: saint  Posted on: Today at 01:21:46 PM 
Insert Quote 
Quote from: Sprucemoose on June 06, 2008, 03:27:11 PM
Thanks for the info about the film GinsuVictim.


Quote
Drop the "of" and you'll get the hits!
...what kind of search feature is this?

dangit Saint!




"free"

LOL.  Should have seen that one coming.

[shmokes]

Some of what GinsuVictim is saying about the film may or may not be true, but there's no question that Billy Mitchel is a --cream-filled twinkie--.  Unless his lines were written for him and he was literally performing them for the film (and unless his ties are fake), he's a --cream-filled twinkie--.

[Jdurg]

Some of what GinsuVictim is saying about the film may or may not be true, but there's no question that Billy Mitchel is a --cream-filled twinkie--.  Unless his lines were written for him and he was literally performing them for the film (and unless his ties are fake), he's a --cream-filled twinkie--.

 

It's like seeing someone beat the crap out of his wife on video, then someone claims that they didn't show the part where he picked his wife up off the ground and treated her wounds.  No matter how you put it, the wife-beater is a wife-beater.

[ahofle]

Hehe, did anyone notice when he was stocking his hot sauce at that store, he moved the competitor's sauce to the back and put his in front of it? 
I mean, unless he was specifically asked to do some of these things (answering the phone with "world record headquarters" for example), then he is definitely a ---tallywhacker---. 

It was not an official submission. Walter put up the score without Bill's permission, then took down the score within 48 hours. The record reverted back to Steve Wiebe. Billy submitted the original tape without any tracking issues, which was scrutinized and submitted as the record.

Huh?  I specifically remember Walter asking him on the phone something to the effect of "I just want to confirm that you are officially submitting this score" to which he presumably replies yes.  At that point he hangs up and updates the website. 

[Ginsu Victim]

Hehe, did anyone notice when he was stocking his hot sauce at that store, he moved the competitor's sauce to the back and put his in front of it? 
I mean, unless he was specifically asked to do some of these things (answering the phone with "world record headquarters" for example), then he is definitely a ---tallywhacker---. 

It was not an official submission. Walter put up the score without Bill's permission, then took down the score within 48 hours. The record reverted back to Steve Wiebe. Billy submitted the original tape without any tracking issues, which was scrutinized and submitted as the record.

Huh?  I specifically remember Walter asking him on the phone something to the effect of "I just want to confirm that you are officially submitting this score" to which he presumably replies yes.  At that point he hangs up and updates the website. 

If I recall correctly, you can hear Billy on the phone, but he doesn't give a reply. Did Walter take his silence as a yes?

[ahofle]

If I recall correctly, you can hear Billy on the phone, but he doesn't give a reply. Did Walter take his silence as a yes?

I don't know or remember the exact details, but it seemed like a pretty damned straightforward question to me.  Even if the answer was not shown in the film, I'm not sure why Walter would have updated the website right after that basic question if it was not somehow answered affirmatively.  Regardless, it's a pretty irrelevant 'inaccuracy' as the same video WAS eventually used to get the high score (just not a copy), whereas Steve's video was rejected.

[massive88]

If I recall correctly, you can hear Billy on the phone, but he doesn't give a reply. Did Walter take his silence as a yes?

I don't know or remember the exact details, but it seemed like a pretty damned straightforward question to me.  Even if the answer was not shown in the film, I'm not sure why Walter would have updated the website right after that basic question if it was not somehow answered affirmatively.  Regardless, it's a pretty irrelevant 'inaccuracy' as the same video WAS eventually used to get the high score (just not a copy), whereas Steve's video was rejected.

Wha?  Have you guys read the Twin Galaxies statements?  The videotape at funspot was for submittal, and Walter personally approved it as shown in the movie.

What the movie didnt show was that the score was up there for no more than 48 hours before it was taken down, and Walter aknowledged that it was a mistake to ever put it up in the first place.  His score in that video was never after that officially recognized.

Its been a while, but I think theres an email from TG at the end of the movie apologizing to Steve, and I think its that email that was actually sent after Funspot apologizing for posting the score and all while he was there.

http://www.twingalaxies.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11027

[shmokes]

Yeah, but what you don't seem to realize is that the email doesn't erase all the ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- they did.  They didn't send the email because they became better people.  They sent it because after everything Steve did, there was no way they could continue treating him the way they had, no matter how much they'd like to.  I mean, WTF, they had a policy of accepting scores based on videotape.  That one guy's job was to review videotapes for just that purpose.  But when they got one that showed Weibe beating Mitchell's score they suddenly changed the policy just for that tape.  They even sent people to his garage to verify the integrity of the board he was playing on.  One has to wonder why they went to this trouble since finding absolutely nothing wrong with his board led to the conclusion that his tape could not be accepted.  WTF?

Regardless of whether they pulled Mitchell's taped score off the website after 48 hours, it was an unethical, petty slap in the face to Weibe that they put it up at all.  Did Walter send anybody to Mitchell's house to inspect the board of the machine he was playing on?  Did his tape show signs of cheating (oh, wait, it actually did . . .)?  There was one simple dynamic at work there, the Twin Galaxy judges (one of whom was Billy Mitchell himself) didn't want to see Billy Mitchell lose his #1 ranking.  They set up a bunch of artificial hoops that nobody ever had to jump through besides Steve Weibe, hoping that he would just disappear (and if not for the Guinness thing it probably would have worked).  Once he finally jumped through all of the hoops they practically had no choice but to apologize.  I would hardly call that magnanimous.

[massive88]

Im not commenting on if it wasnt a dick move or not, just the facts of that tape and score, thats all.

It was for submission, and it was approved, initially.  That score from that play-through was never approved after that weekend.

[shmokes]

And all I'm commenting on is that Billy Mitchell is a gigantic --cream-filled twinkie--.  He's so ridiculous in almost every way that he seems like a freaking cartoon character.

[shmokes]

BTW, I go up to Hollywood on a regular basis.  Really nice beaches.  Maybe I'll run into him some time.

[Ginsu Victim]

Yeah, but what you don't seem to realize is that the email doesn't erase all the ---Cleveland steamer--- they did.  They didn't send the email because they became better people.  They sent it because after everything Steve did, there was no way they could continue treating him the way they had, no matter how much they'd like to.  I mean, WTF, they had a policy of accepting scores based on videotape.  That one guy's job was to review videotapes for just that purpose.  But when they got one that showed Weibe beating Mitchell's score they suddenly changed the policy just for that tape.  They even sent people to his garage to verify the integrity of the board he was playing on.  One has to wonder why they went to this trouble since finding absolutely nothing wrong with his board led to the conclusion that his tape could not be accepted.  WTF?

Regardless of whether they pulled Mitchell's taped score off the website after 48 hours, it was an unethical, petty slap in the face to Weibe that they put it up at all.  Did Walter send anybody to Mitchell's house to inspect the board of the machine he was playing on?  Did his tape show signs of cheating (oh, wait, it actually did . . .)?  There was one simple dynamic at work there, the Twin Galaxy judges (one of whom was Billy Mitchell himself) didn't want to see Billy Mitchell lose his #1 ranking.  They set up a bunch of artificial hoops that nobody ever had to jump through besides Steve Weibe, hoping that he would just disappear (and if not for the Guinness thing it probably would have worked).  Once he finally jumped through all of the hoops they practically had no choice but to apologize.  I would hardly call that magnanimous.

Twin Galaxies gave Steve no problems with his first submission (also his record on Donkey Kong Jr). It was only after they found out he was using a Double Donkey Kong board that they had a problem (it's not allowed).

Steve went to Funspot to prove that he could produce a score like that. Up until the tape in question, no one had been known to have played a million+ game.

[Ginsu Victim]

Here's a quick timeline of some events:

1982 - Bill set the high score in Donkey Kong with 874k (public).
2000 - Tim Szcerby breaks the record with 879k (taped).
2003 - Steve Wiebe breaks the record with 947k (taped).
2004 - Bill gets 933k in public for 2nd place. Rumor has it that he has broken 1 million in private.
2004 - Steve gets 1.006 million on tape and submits it.
2004 - Bill and Steve both reveal at CGE2K4 that they have over 1 million on tape.
2005 - Steve's 1.006 is hung up in the verification process so he decided to go to Funspot to prove himself. Steve is still (and has been for nearly 2 years) the official world record holder with his verified 947k score from 2003. He scores 985k at Funspot. Bill's 1.047m tape is revealed the next day.

[Ginsu Victim]

quoted from sdkess, a guy who was at the funspot event (and at Kuh's cabin):

Now for some other clarifications:

    Why not submit the tape when you first got the score?


Because, as a general rule, Bill does not submit tapes. The Funspot tape is the only score of Bill's ever submitted that was not achieved live in public. It was not even intended to be a submission but ended up getting submitted anyway. He was planning to set a score live at some undisclosed point. He eventually did this and still holds the record.

    Steve Weibe might have liked to know the new high score before he flew out to Funspot.


Steve did know that Bill had over 1 million on tape. He just didn't know the exact score. They discussed it together at the CGE 2K4 event 9 months earlier. Here is a link to the radio interview that took place about 9 months before the Funspot events:

http://www.twingalaxies.com/files/billyandsteveinterview.mp3

Even if Steve didn't know that Bill had a better score, why is it Bill's responsibility to inform his primary competitor of his every move?

    If Billy's high score was set in 1982, why did he himself never beat it until the events of the movie?


He did beat it before the events of the movie. Bill got 933k live at the Midwest Classic in 2004. Granted, this was only 2nd place behind Steve, but Bill did no point pressing and just raced through the game. Also, Bill has a family and a business to run. Gaming is not his #1 priority.

    Why did Bill tell people to guard the tape with their life?


It's obvious that he's not completely serious. A lot of what Bill says is intentionally over the top. He does this on purpose as part of his "gamer" persona. It's a big stretch to imply that Bill intended to formally submit the tape just because he told Brian and Doris that the tape was really important. People who were at Funspot and watched the tape in the cabin were all told specifically that the tape was not a formal submission.

[Donkey_Kong]

Some people can't get over the fact that Billy was made to look like the villain in the film.

Also, try to put yourself in his shoes. Try to imagine that you have (or have had) the world record on one or two of the most popular games of all time. You have either held the record from back when the game first came out, and are still competitive on it to this day....Kinda hard to do right? The truth here is...not many people (if any) that talk about how much of a --meecrob-- Billy is, can say that they have been in, or are in a situation even remotely similar.

Anyway, I suppose we are all judgmental in our own way on our own level. I read this forum a lot, almost all the threads and a lot of times I see things and become judgmental as I'm sure some do with my ramblings. Just remember though, that you never know who is reading your posts here. You could be insulting the very person reading your post, including Billy. In fact, I made a post one day at Twin galaxies and Billy called me the next day to explain to me on the phone, how the film made him out to look like a --meecrob--. How things were completely different in reality. So yea, I tend to TRY not to insult people online, directly or indirectly because of this...you all make your own call of course.

Anyway, that's all I got to say about that!    

[shmokes]

If Billy does not want to look like an ---uvula---, perhaps he shouldn't act like a complete an utter ---uvula--- while there are cameras on him.  I'm just sayin . . .

[RayB]

Some of what GinsuVictim is saying about the film may or may not be true, but there's no question that Billy Mitchel is a --cream-filled twinkie--.  Unless his lines were written for him and he was literally performing them for the film (and unless his ties are fake), he's a --cream-filled twinkie--.

Watch the interview where he buys Doris Self a QBert machine. He's not the ---tallywhacker--- the movie is edited to make it seem like. Read up Twin Galaxy's forum posts on what was presented falsely in the movie. For example, there are links to radio interviews where Wiebe and Mitchell both appear together and are rather chummy.  The movie, like most movies, was edited for "best effect" as opposed to pure fact.

[Ginsu Victim]

For example, there are links to radio interviews where Wiebe and Mitchell both appear together and are rather chummy.

Like the one I posted above.

[AtomSmasher]

Anybody watch the latest episode of XPlay called "Beyond the King of Kong"?  The whole episode was pretty much composed of new interviews with Steve and Billy.  Billy still sounds like an ass in the new interviews, although Steve was saying that he believes most of what Billy says is tongue-in-cheek humor.  Also, apparently Billy was really nice the first time they played together, but started treating Steve like the anti-christ shortly after that (thats a paraphrase of what Steve said in the interview).

[bishmasterb]

Billy Mitchell just seems like he knows how to put on a good show.

Would King of Kong be interesting in the least without Mitchell acting like an ass? Of course it wouldn't, that's what makes the whole thing compelling. Perhaps Billy knows this, perhaps not.

Of course, it also appears the director played pretty loose and fast with the facts to make a more compelling story as well.

[Singapura]

[shardian]

All of the talk about facts does not change some of Billy's actions in the movie. The two scenes that jump into mind are when he calls Brian to set up the video viewing and the follow up call to confirm it showed. The guy had a look on his face that doesn't lie. It was etched in stone and said "I'm being a royal ---meecrob--- and I love it".

The other is at the end of the movie when he is sitting with the lawyer buddy and looks pissed when Sanders compliments Wiebe. Then makes the "I'm not familiar enough with the situation" comment.

Either Billy is a oscar worthy acting talent and had his lines written for him, or he really is a piece of crap.

[Ginsu Victim]

That would be funny....if Bill had a mullet.

[wp34]

Anybody watch the latest episode of XPlay called "Beyond the King of Kong"?  The whole episode was pretty much composed of new interviews with Steve and Billy.  Billy still sounds like an ass in the new interviews, although Steve was saying that he believes most of what Billy says is tongue-in-cheek humor.  Also, apparently Billy was really nice the first time they played together, but started treating Steve like the anti-christ shortly after that (thats a paraphrase of what Steve said in the interview).

Thanks for the tip on this.  I missed it on TV but they have the segments posted here:
http://www.g4tv.com/xplay/episodes/7709/XPlay_Presents_Beyond_The_King_of_Kong.html

Billy does come off as an ass in the interview but I have to think at least some of it is an act.  It is so over the top it is unreal.

[Donkey_Kong]

Pretty cool stuff.



Where are those neigh sayers that said part II would never come to be?

[javeryh]

I FINALLY saw this last night with the wife.  We loved it!  It was kind of like Trekkies if anyone has seen that.  I kind of figured it was edited together for maximum effect/rivalry purposes but it was still entertaining.  Steve's wife is a saint.

[Dartful Dodger]

It's one of the watch instantly movies on NetFlix, and I still can't justify watching it.

[javeryh]

That's how I watched it (using my Xbox 360).  The quality was great and the movie was too!