7 ms·

If you haven't seen the documentary King of Kong, it's quite an entertaining backstory for these events.

scrame 4y ago
There's a companion movie "Chasing Ghosts" that I thought was much better for humanizing this particular group of oddballs.
- embedded3 4y ago
  Are you talking about this one? https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2745684/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2745684/ If so, how is it connected to King of Kong, when you say it’s a companion movie, they don’t seem to have any connection at first glance.
  - madmax108 4y ago
    https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0479879 https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0479879 <- This is the one. "Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade 1982's Video Game World Champions share their philosophies on joysticks, groupies and life."
Mountain_Skies 4y ago
Even the makers of the show admit they edited footage to craft a villain narrative and create conflict where it didn't exist. It shouldn't be used to inform your views on anyone involved but it does make for some fun entertainment.
- JKCalhoun 4y ago
  Pretty sure they didn't talk him into wearing his patriotism on his sleeve with the loud American flag ties and such — and his villainous Trans-Am-driving coiffure, ha ha. The guy exudes all the vibes of a narcissist. As others have said, a guy so much fun to detest. What a great film.
  - ok_dad 4y ago
    This comment about ties and cars makes me wonder what I enjoy that others would have perverse fun in tearing down.
    - DubiousPusher 4y ago
      I wouldn't know. I'd comment more but I need to get back to routing these RGB fan cables...
  - tdehnel 4y ago
    interesting that patriotism (love of your country) is now being cast as a bad thing
    - pfarrell 4y ago
      I interpreted the commenter as referring to the gaudy display of symbols of patriotism as fashion, not to the idea of patriotism itself. For another take on the danger of loving one’s country, see the Irish tune “The Patriot Game” by Brenden Behan (especially as performed by the Clancy Brothers).
    - JKCalhoun 4y ago
      The people waving their patriotism in other people's faces have, in my experience, not been doing it for the right reasons.
- hitekker 4y ago
  Funny, the wikipedia page says something different: Twin Galaxies colluded with Billy Mitchell to support his fraud. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_of_Kong#Emulation_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_of_Kong#Emulation_con... The referee in charge was later delisted and banned. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Rogers_(gamer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Rogers_(gamer)
  - boomboomsubban 4y ago
    >Funny, the wikipedia page says something different: Twin Galaxies colluded with Billy Mitchell to support his fraud Both can be true. The movie purposefully cast Mitchell as a villain based on little hard evidence, they happened to be right that he was one. I don't see how you can accuse Twin Galaxies of collusion. Sure, they were probably too lenient on someone they had a decades long connection to, but this lawsuit is about them admitting their mistake and condemning Mitchell.
    - rcxdude 4y ago
      It's a reasonable accusation: for a while Twin Galaxies basically just had a few people making up numbers and their mates writing it down, without even a hint of verifying it (including a few scores which were blatently impossible to anyone who had even a slight familiarity with the game, like a game where the score only increments in multiples of five having a score where the last digit is 3). One really important point is that while it's the same organisation name it's been bought out and there's now a completely different group of people running it (and they seem to be much more concerned with sniffing out cheaters).
      - hitekker 4y ago
        Yep those are two important points. Another one is that Twin Galaxies basically sat on the collusion for a decade after the movie came out. A lot of wannabe criminals on the internet can't see this though; they live in a fantasy where fraud and malfeasance are just fun words to argue over.
BeetleB 4y ago
King of Kong is my goto example of a documentary that is highly manipulative, and you wouldn't know it unless you had other sources of info. Some examples: This is highly de-recommended. The documentary twists way too many facts: Billy Mitchell did not avoid Steve. In fact, he met him during that event. Billy Mitchell and Steve already knew each other - years before they had been part of another event, and there's even a photo of them posing together. Steve wasn't trying to break Billy's record, but his own record which he had set some years prior. When his record was disqualified in the movie, the record was reverted to his own prior record.

There's a companion movie "Chasing Ghosts" that I thought was much better for humanizing this particular group of oddballs.

embedded3 4y ago
Are you talking about this one? https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2745684/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2745684/ If so, how is it connected to King of Kong, when you say it’s a companion movie, they don’t seem to have any connection at first glance.
- madmax108 4y ago
  https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0479879 https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0479879 <- This is the one. "Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade 1982's Video Game World Champions share their philosophies on joysticks, groupies and life."

Mountain_Skies 4y ago

Even the makers of the show admit they edited footage to craft a villain narrative and create conflict where it didn't exist. It shouldn't be used to inform your views on anyone involved but it does make for some fun entertainment.

JKCalhoun 4y ago
Pretty sure they didn't talk him into wearing his patriotism on his sleeve with the loud American flag ties and such — and his villainous Trans-Am-driving coiffure, ha ha. The guy exudes all the vibes of a narcissist. As others have said, a guy so much fun to detest. What a great film.
- ok_dad 4y ago
  This comment about ties and cars makes me wonder what I enjoy that others would have perverse fun in tearing down.
  - DubiousPusher 4y ago
    I wouldn't know. I'd comment more but I need to get back to routing these RGB fan cables...
- tdehnel 4y ago
  interesting that patriotism (love of your country) is now being cast as a bad thing
  - pfarrell 4y ago
    I interpreted the commenter as referring to the gaudy display of symbols of patriotism as fashion, not to the idea of patriotism itself. For another take on the danger of loving one’s country, see the Irish tune “The Patriot Game” by Brenden Behan (especially as performed by the Clancy Brothers).
  - JKCalhoun 4y ago
    The people waving their patriotism in other people's faces have, in my experience, not been doing it for the right reasons.
hitekker 4y ago
Funny, the wikipedia page says something different: Twin Galaxies colluded with Billy Mitchell to support his fraud. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_of_Kong#Emulation_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_of_Kong#Emulation_con... The referee in charge was later delisted and banned. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Rogers_(gamer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Rogers_(gamer)
- boomboomsubban 4y ago
  >Funny, the wikipedia page says something different: Twin Galaxies colluded with Billy Mitchell to support his fraud Both can be true. The movie purposefully cast Mitchell as a villain based on little hard evidence, they happened to be right that he was one. I don't see how you can accuse Twin Galaxies of collusion. Sure, they were probably too lenient on someone they had a decades long connection to, but this lawsuit is about them admitting their mistake and condemning Mitchell.
  - rcxdude 4y ago
    It's a reasonable accusation: for a while Twin Galaxies basically just had a few people making up numbers and their mates writing it down, without even a hint of verifying it (including a few scores which were blatently impossible to anyone who had even a slight familiarity with the game, like a game where the score only increments in multiples of five having a score where the last digit is 3). One really important point is that while it's the same organisation name it's been bought out and there's now a completely different group of people running it (and they seem to be much more concerned with sniffing out cheaters).
    - hitekker 4y ago
      Yep those are two important points. Another one is that Twin Galaxies basically sat on the collusion for a decade after the movie came out. A lot of wannabe criminals on the internet can't see this though; they live in a fantasy where fraud and malfeasance are just fun words to argue over.

BeetleB 4y ago

King of Kong is my goto example of a documentary that is highly manipulative, and you wouldn't know it unless you had other sources of info. Some examples: This is highly de-recommended. The documentary twists way too many facts: Billy Mitchell did not avoid Steve. In fact, he met him during that event. Billy Mitchell and Steve already knew each other - years before they had been part of another event, and there's even a photo of them posing together. Steve wasn't trying to break Billy's record, but his own record which he had set some years prior. When his record was disqualified in the movie, the record was reverted to his own prior record.