Post by Sara on May 23, 2008 21:18:09 GMT -5
I have a viewing recommendation I'd like to share with y'all: a documentary called The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.
Kong chronicles the story of Steve Wiebe, a resident of Redmond, WA; after being laid off, Wiebe starts playing Donkey Kong, both as solace and to give himself something to focus on. He goes online, finds the world record score for the game, and decides he's going to try and beat it. The score, which had been on the record books since the mid 80s, was set by Billy Mitchell; in the competitive video gaming community, Mitchell is something of a demi-god who once held world records in several different games and remains the only person ever to play a perfect game of Pac-Man.
What ensues is a surprisingly compelling tale of Wiebe's quest to become the officially recognized record holder and the development of a bitter rivalry between himself and Mitchell. During the first fifteen minutes or so I was somewhat unimpressed, but before I knew it I was totally into the story and invested in whether or not Wiebe succeeded.
My brief bit of reading online after seeing the doc indicates that, as you'd expect with most any documentary, Kong isn't a completely accurate and unbiased telling of the story. But it was still very interesting and entertaining, and provides a fascinating glimpse into a world I didn't even know existed. Two thumbs up.
Kong chronicles the story of Steve Wiebe, a resident of Redmond, WA; after being laid off, Wiebe starts playing Donkey Kong, both as solace and to give himself something to focus on. He goes online, finds the world record score for the game, and decides he's going to try and beat it. The score, which had been on the record books since the mid 80s, was set by Billy Mitchell; in the competitive video gaming community, Mitchell is something of a demi-god who once held world records in several different games and remains the only person ever to play a perfect game of Pac-Man.
What ensues is a surprisingly compelling tale of Wiebe's quest to become the officially recognized record holder and the development of a bitter rivalry between himself and Mitchell. During the first fifteen minutes or so I was somewhat unimpressed, but before I knew it I was totally into the story and invested in whether or not Wiebe succeeded.
My brief bit of reading online after seeing the doc indicates that, as you'd expect with most any documentary, Kong isn't a completely accurate and unbiased telling of the story. But it was still very interesting and entertaining, and provides a fascinating glimpse into a world I didn't even know existed. Two thumbs up.