Thursday, June 04, 2009

Not Donkey Kong King


Steve Wiebe (picutred), long-time competitive Donky Kong player from the Seattle area, was unable once again to beat the "reigning champion," Billy Mitchell's record at this year's big game event - E3.

The prize in the contest was $10,001, paid in quarters. According to the article on Yahoo! Games:
"But luck wasn't with Wiebe. After an early attempt was unexpectedly halted by a power cut, Wiebe won through to the game's infamous 22nd level, where a bug inevitably causes the game to generate a level with a time limit that's impossible to beat. Wiebe's final score was 989,400 -- just short of the existing record set by Billy Mitchell in 2007, which stands at 1,050,200"

The competition between these two came to the public's attention when it was captured in a documentary movie in 2007 called King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters. I recommend the movie if you are a video game fan or a fan of the underdog. It is available on DVD now. Once you see the movie you will know why I put "reigning champion" in quotation marks.

Poor Wiebe, he just can't seem to topple the reigning champion, and it's often due to bad luck. You are still a champ in my book, Steve! Keep on Playin'!!

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