The King of Kong

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IMAGE(http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/files/images/king.jpg)

I get uncomfortable anytime the mainstream media examines gaming culture. It's tied to the shame that lies at the heart of being a nerd. For example, I can't really enjoy Dungeons & Dragons if I can't be a little ashamed of it, and that probably stems from how I embrace the outsider status I pretend to have. It's okay for me to feel like an outsider, as long as others don't force that upon me.

Seeing The King of Kong, then, was a strange experience. Not only is director Seth Gordon exploring the world of competitive gaming, he's also examining the number one aspect of gaming that gives the mainstream a massive case of the wiggins: how seriously the community can take this kind of competition for such low stakes. Gordon's film puts the road to a world record high score in perspective, but also shows us the bright spots of competing, and how inspiring a competitor can be in the face of, in this case, ridiculous adversity.

The King of Kong follows Steve Wiebe, a school teacher from Redmond, Washington, on his quest to beat the world record high score in Donkey Kong. Wiebe is a guy in serious need of a win, a bright and personable guy who never seems to have the dice roll his way. He turns to Donkey Kong for solace, convinced that he can beat the high score for the game on TwinGalaxies, a website that tracks "world record" scores for classic coin-op games. The film also highlights Billy Mitchell, the current record holder and geek hero to the core group of gamers that serve TwinGalaxies, and the rivalry that develops between the champ and the challenger.

Wiebe is portrayed as the underdog of the piece, the guy we're rooting for, while Mitchell plays the perfect foil. He's bold, brash, and filled with bravado, confident in his self-appointed status as the greatest video game player in the world. His pride is bolstered by the other hanger-ons that compete for TwinGalaxies, lifers like Brian Kuh who revere the man as a living legend. When Wiebe proves himself as a serious contender and looks to take one of Mitchell's crowning achievements, it throws the tight-knit group at TwinGalaxies into turmoil, desperate to hold on to the status quo they're familiar with.

Or at least that's how the film paints the picture.

TwinGalaxies founder Walter Day, featured predominately in the film, has voiced concerns that The King of Kong doesn't accurately represent Mitchell and his friends, showing them as overly cocky and resistant to outsiders. Of course, Day is one of those friends mentioned, and it's hard to imagine that he's particularly proud of how petty his organization and its members are portrayed. The audience has to put its faith in the filmmakers, hoping that the subjects are being accurately portrayed, but there's really only two possible scenarios here: Either Mitchell and company didn't give the filmmakers enough access to offer a well-rounded study, or Billy Mitchell is a scheming, conniving, conceited asshole. My gut tells me it's the latter option.

Considering the hypocrisy displayed by Mitchell and many of the other principal players in the film, it's hard to think otherwise. For example, once Wiebe bests the recored high score in Donkey Kong, he submits a tape of his record-breaking high score to TwinGalaxies for review. The tape is denied, however, because some in the scorekeeping inner circle believe Wiebe's machine has been modified, and because of Mitchell's insistence that tapes can be tampered with. When Wiebe travels across the country to beat the high score in person, Mitchell's cronies call the champ with status updates and backstabbing comments, and once Wiebe succeeds in his task, Mitchell immediately sends a tape boasting an even higher score, which Day and co. accept without question. The entire scenario rings out crystal clear in the film: Wiebe is the outsider, and he's not welcome.

What makes The King of Kong entertaining is watching Wiebe pick himself up and try again. He's always given up in the past, as the film shows us through interviews with friends and family, but this time he's going to give it his all. It's inspirational, to the point that we don't care that the prize Wiebe is after is a little silly, and the people he has to contend against are more than a little sad. That the audience can so embrace the outsider and cheer him on shows that video games don't always have to be demonized in the media. We can forgive how juvenile it is that grown men are taking Donkey Kong this seriously as long as the result is this much fun.

Comments

I love watching movies like this! I get a little jealous cause I just can't find that kind of passion within myself to be that competitive, or care to the point of ocd'n. If you like this movie you should check out Word Wars. It is a look at the obsessive world of competitive Scrabble.

There is one other option in terms of subjectivity. It is possible that the filmmakers had enough footage of Mitchell, but preferred to leave it on the editing room floor - you know, to create tension, encourage us to support Wiebe and such...

Demiurge wrote:

I get uncomfortable anytime the mainstream media examines gaming culture. It's tied to the shame that lies at the heart of being a nerd.

I just saw Word Play, which is a documentary about competitive crossword puzzle solving. The thing that surprised me the most about it was how objectively it was directed. We've grown accustomed to expecting documentaries about geeks to highlight geekiness and condescendingly disparage it. I was pleased to see that Word Play avoided that cliche.

Mere Anarchy wrote:

There is one other option in terms of subjectivity. It is possible that the filmmakers had enough footage of Mitchell, but preferred to leave it on the editing room floor - you know, to create tension, encourage us to support Wiebe and such...

Yeah, I was going to say this.

The editing and direction was brilliant from a filmmaking perspective, but if they picked and chose specific footage to make Billy appear like someone he wasn't then it kind of sucks and an informative documentary, but as Steve Wiebe said in an interview, the cameras only captured what Billy actually said. Despite those flaws the movie is hilarious and tons of fun. I'd recommend it to anyone.

I saw this movie a couple weeks ago and thought it was great. At first I was a little uncomfortable, being the lone gamer in a group of four watching the movie. Maybe it was inner-geek or something, perfectly comfortable around other gamers, either in person or over the web. But here in the theater was a crossing of my favorite pastime/geek culture and "normal" people I interact with regularly out there in the "real" world. Kinda like when George Costanza on Seinfeld saw his worlds colliding when his girlfriend tried to enter his intimate circle of friends (Boyfriend George/Friend George).

Anyway, all that anxiety flew away a few minutes into the film when I realized just how off the deep end this little sub-genre of gaming geeks were. I mean we're seriously talking about the tin-foil hat wearing breed of geekdom here. The socially inept but lovable variety. Still, you can't fault them for their level of intense passion. But I digress.

I've seen Billy Mitchell defended by gamers who hadn't even seen the film but instead read movie reviews and synopsis. How a film is edited is a compelling argument for how film directors chose to slant a story. Who they want to make the Good Guy or the Bad Guy. But in this documentary at least, Mitchell seems to be his own worst enemy in regards to his portrayal in the film. "You give someone enough rope" as the saying goes and Billy does a fantastic job of coming off as a sleazy, c*ck-sure, arrogant tool. There's even a couple "tender moments" where they show him befriending and elderly lady who is a Q-Bert fan. So even though it's not a one-dimensional edit job (as far as we can tell), Billy's negative baggage seems to far outweigh his positive traits. You can't deny that there's a Rocky "underdog vs. champ" vibe to the film but I do think the director maintained a level of integrity in his portrayal the two main characters regardless.

I also agree with Gone2Plaid that the movie had some excellent production values for a documentary. I understand that it's the directors debt.

I give the movie a definite thumbs up and feel that you don't need to be a gamer to enjoy it (my party of non-gamer friends loved it too).

If you liked King of Kong, you should check out the OTHER video game movie that was at Sundance this last year, Chasing Ghosts http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479879/. It focuses on the entire gang of the original Twin Galaxies, and isn't quite as controversal.

I really want to see this, but it just isnt playing close (ZC: 92677)

I drove 60 miles up to Eagan, MN to see this movie and I feel it was well worth it. My friend says all interviews that he's seen with Billy Mitchell are consistent with his negative portrayal in the film. I think it was very well done, and as the writer of the piece alluded, it portrays how petty and childish Twin Galaxies can be. It's truly run like a members-only country club, more concerned about it's own prized star than the integrity of the records. It all seems to work out in the end, although I was disheartened to hear that ol' Billy reclaimed the record a couple months ago according to Twin Galaxies' official site.

I get the feeling that Twin Galaxies didn't used to be a member's only club- that only happened when the popularity of the arcade died way down, and Twin Galaxies arcade itself had to close doors.

They lost any form of influx, video games at home etc take off (as well as the popularity of "insert coin to continue games") and here are these old.. dinosaurs.

They get defensive, and when they realize a group of people will still attribute respect to them, they get arrogant.

Aaron D. wrote:

(Boyfriend George/Friend George).

It's actually "Relationship George" and "Independent George." Sorry, haven't seen the movie yet.

Both EGM and GameInformer had articles in the last month or two looking at the "inaccuracies" contained in the portrayal of Mitchell, but that's mostly Mitchell himself saying so. Still, worth noting.

And even if he WAS protrayed "inaccurately," I think it's fine... documentary editors/makers always have choices to make... and let's face it, there is no 100% objective truth these days.

Saw the film, thought it was great. Both my wife and I saw it. I'd definitely recommend it.

I haven't seen the film yet but I plan to in the near future. There has been a lot of talk about how partial the filmmaker's portrayal o TwinGalaxies and Billy Mitchell was and there's been a lot of talk about this over at RetroGaming Radio, a very well-respected retro audio show and community. TwinGalaxies is more than just a website. It's been around for over 30 years and is considered the world over as the authority on high scores. There are more than a few people who think they were portrayed in an unfair way in order to create a tense, "underdog story." However, Walter Day is on record on the EGM Live podcast as saying that while he disagrees with the director's portrayal, he still thinks The King of Kong is a great film and recommends it to people. I'm sure it's well worth seeing, just don't take what you see as gospel truth.

This was just released on DVD this week. I watched it last night and enjoyed every minute of it. It's like watching a Cohen Brother's film.

I have now added chumpatizing to my vocabulary.

If others, like myself, missed this back when it was in theaters I recommend giving it a rent.

Yeah I just saw it on Dvd. Great film. I watched some of the extras and most were interesting except for Walter Day thinking he's a big rock god or something.

I fully enjoyed this as well... I wonder if Billy Mitchell is as "Evil" as he was portrayed, though... I remember a slate of articles around the time the movie originally debuted where he was saying he got a "raw deal."

I wonder if Billy Mitchell is as "Evil" as he was portrayed, though... I remember a slate of articles around the time the movie originally debuted where he was saying he got a "raw deal."

The scene where Mitchell finally showed up at the Guinness World Record match in his own hometown and then proceeds to blow off Steve who said "Hello" I thought was pretty telling. Yeah, editors can build whatever story they want but they have to have the pieces to do it and that piece spoke volumes for Mitchell's character.

Also, just saw this through the XBL Marketplace. FANTASTIC movie.

I saw this movie last night off the live marketplace and absolutely loved it. What I really loved about it wasn't the gaming aspect of the film, but the human story behind it. You see Wiebe grow as a person and ultimately overcome his history of failures. You see Billy Mitchell so used to being the man and in the words of Walter Day "Billy's King Kong record will never be broken" that when a contendor steps up his world gets turned upside down. Even Walter Day whose Twin Galaxies organization has so much invested in Billy Mitchell he has to wrestle between protecting their guy or recognizing the upstart.

This isn't a great gaming documentary, it's a great documentary on the human condition.

I just rented this movie on Xbox Live, and I really liked it. I wasn't expecting a movie about someone trying to beat the high score in Donkey Kong to be as inspiring, but it really was. After watching the movie I had to assure my wife that I wasn't going to try to get the high score in any old arcade games. Then I got an overwhelming urge to spend some time with Galaga on XBLA.

While I think that the filmmakers may have picked and chosen scenes to play up the good guy / bad guy thing, the camera caught enough of Billy Mitchell's own words and actions that I feel comfortable that it wasn't all created by the filmmakers. That said, I didn't think Billy came off as a completely horrible person -- just sort of a dick to a person he ought to have treated better.

I wonder whether this movie appeals more to those of us who spent time in arcades in the late 70s and early 80s. My guess is that some of the younger gamers who say they hate the retro games on XBLA will have trouble relating to these people who are consumed by these old arcade games.

I've just seen this. Great film. Billy Mitchell seemed to have backed himself into a corner. I think (and this is pure conjecture) he set the initial record and then, while he was still 'hot' on the game, he recorded an even better score. Rather than handing the tape of the new record in straight away he decided to keep it under wraps, in order to out manoeuvre some unknown future challenger. The big problem was that he submitted his tape on the very same night that Wiebe broke the record. I'm not sure if it was his express intention to 'kick' Wiebe in his moment of triumph as he did (possibly it was.) It could well have been that he was just caught up in retaining the record that was about to be 'stolen away' by a challenger.

Once he'd submitted his tape he was stuck. He probably didn't have the skills to beat Wiebe anymore so he couldn't let himself face or even get to know the guy. It all went back to the decision to hide the tape of his second high score that probably seemed like a brilliant idea at the time. Mitchell came off as a man who was overly reliant on that one record to shore up his fragile self image.

Walter Day made mistakes but he acknowledged and corrected them in a very gracious way.

Edit: I've just watched the bonus footage and interviews on the DVD. It's excellent stuff and it gives a much more rounded view of the whole thing (might not change your mind on the personalities involved though). Apparently Mitchell recently beat Wiebe's high score in public so that's my theory about him not having played for a long time out the window.

The people at twingalaxies have their side of the story which if you're interested can be read here in the forums.

Has anyone seen Chasing Ghosts: beyond the arcade?