Exposing the Fraud that is KoK - Expose by Todd Rogers

[rtm]

This is gonna blow your mind. Todd Rogers, the King of Video Games, and who has a told in KoK, had a lot on his mind regarding the one-sided piece of junk known as KoK. Here are Todd's own words which may be found at the Digital Press Site...

http://www.digitpress.com/ - go to Forums, Classic Gaming, then the thread called "Billy Mitchell reclaims Donkey Kong world record"

Greetings All,

I really don't know where to start on this topic of King of Kong. But in my opinion, the movie was shaped for only one reason,......to make money... and that the film people did, the producers of TKOK sold it for $760,000 to Picture House/New Line. Well that was the obvious choice for why the movie was made, but in the duration of things, you really have to know what went on behind those scenes to get what footage they acquired.
Here are some examples.

(1)"The YOUTUBE Video"
That Youtube segment Texas GeeksTV "TGTV 003.(abridged)" implies that Steve Wiebe has the current world record, hell even on that clip Walter Day even looks/speaks like he is acknowledging, legitimizing the fact that Steve W is the new world record holder knowing full well that I officiated Billy’s achievement a full month earlier, SHAME ON WALTER, and with a certification that IMPLIES that the record was set on Aug,19 2007 when in fact, the showing of Cert in the video is when that CERT was typed, by WALTER and ONLY for Steve's previous 1.49 million attempt the world record that is now mentioned in Guinness, which the scores performance it self was questionable by some TG Refs including myself before it was approved by Walter and submitted to Guinness, but we will get into that later.....But in this video Walter for the sake of the Movie, Steve and Walters own personal gain for TG, makes it look like Steve has surpassed Billy's new world record of 1.50mil that was set in Orlando on July 13th 2007 where I was the senior Twin Galaxies ref that officiated, having that title with Twin Galaxies I don't need any video proof just my word alone for viewing the achievement and attending the event to verify it should have been enough to be recognized as a world record. Then in this (Abridged) video there is that little blurb at the end where Steve mentions that he didn't think that Billy would ply quietly, and then proceeds to say that he wanted to congratulate him on his new record not mentioning that Billy broke Steve's own high score on DK and then he says he thanks Billy for the competition with out mentioning his name, who is Steve kidding, Steve is Billy's competition, not the other way around.
(1b)Texas GeeksTv 003. (Directors Cut) makes note of the new record and Steve’s failed attempt and also gives a clearer shot at the Cert where it states that Steve made that 1.49mil on March of 2007 again not approved by myself but yet it gives a clearer shot of the whole cert, I'm glad at least they "The Texas Geeks TV" people took the time to show what was changed and made the necessary corrections in their video.

(1b)"Billy’s New World Record on DK"
I personally witnessed Billy performance LIVE at the F.A.M.B. show - "Florida Association of Mortgage Brokers" it was an 80's themed event, that was being held in Orlando where Billy achieved his 1,050,200pt score, Billy not only had me present to authenticate the attempt but he had a live feed showing his game play, and another camera on a tripod taping him sitting performing and a vcr recorder recording the game play.....AND....AND.... he sent his DK PCB off to Nintendo to have verified by an official tech rep, before the event so that is was on the correct settings and an authentic DK board, to top things off we had an impartial security firm lock and unlock the cabinet before and after his performance to have verified once again by Nintendo rep after his achievement, to show that it was the same PCB un-altered as before, this PCB was sent off personally by the security firm so no tampering would be involved with switching out PCB's. Talk about trying to legitimize ones performance.....would Steve W do that???? Who knows, and if he did I'm sure that the Picture House people would blow it up to sizable scales making it look like Twin Galaxies forced him to do so.

(2)"PICTURE HOUSE & Steve Wiebe"
Its nice to see that Picture House usually has there Q/A's after each screening of TKOK but the really strange thing is when there are people present in the audience that have knowledge of what went on behind the scenes that were filmed, that they automatically whisk Steve off the Q/A panel or Stage before he can answer any questions OR again if the Picture House people do notice someone else that appeared in the movie that’s in the audience, they just don't want those people to ask any questions and then they just don't have the Q/A at all....talk about raising an eyebrow, so what are they afraid of, possibly that their golden child isn't really all cracked up to what they allege in the movie????? Or that maybe the footage that they are showing so proudly has in fact been shaped with out an ounce of truth. Steve W knows all too well what and how they sculpted that movie and how to make him look so the viewing public will feel sorry for him, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that.
(2b) "Legitimize a Fake"
All I know is that if it were me in his shoes, I certainly wouldn't defend the fact that the movie people "Picture House & Launch Pad Productions" I.E. Seth Gordon, Ed Cunningham, had manipulated and pieced together segments to legitimize the film with, authentic footage -"Steve W's DK performance at Pompano" a legit DK board set, with pieced footage - "Steve's DK performance at his house" a questionable PCB, to make the movie more believable base on manipulated segments. Some of the segments that I’m talking about were Steve’s game play at his house being spliced with the pompano to make it look like the same continual game legitimizing Steve’s game play, because after all if you are playing on a doctored PCB board you wouldn't want that game play shown in the movie where people notice things that aren’t suppose to happen....right....

(2bb) "Stored High Score"
Here is an example, in the movie it shows Steve W turning on the power "plugging it in the wall" to his DK machine in his garage and he makes a comment after setting up his camera to tape, "its my high score - saved" it shows a 829,700pt score, "0:12:55 mark" and then the film crew zooms in a shot of his high score on the screen" well most DK gamers know that when you turn a machine on that your HS is lost and it shows only the default programmed HS, so this would indicate that maybe Steve W is playing on an altered board.

(2c)"If it were me"
Back to the IF IT WERE ME thing, my logic is this "It's my reputation that would be on the line and with all the history that I have I certainly wouldn't try to make myself more then what I am already just for the sake of 90 minutes of fame". But being that Steve W is this supposed underdog-no body and the movie wants everyone to relate to him and feel sorry for him I guess its ok in his eyes to go with the flow as the movie people tell him what to or how to act. But the truth of the matter is this, If I were the star character and I willingly knew that the movie people intentionally co-arced the movie to juice up a story just to compel the public to see it and make some money off of them, and in the same duration make one of my competitors look bad, and I mean so bad that you can tell that they added and spliced snippets together to make him look like a dirt dirtbag, I would say HELL NO, I'll just let my scores do the talking for myself at every event at any time. After all it’s about gaming competition not degrading my opponent’s home life and personal character.

(2cc) "Mis-Lead Scores"
Example, in the movie there is a segment where at the Pompano Steve Sanders is on the phone with Billy Mitchell, "1:01:34 mark" and Steve Sanders is telling Billy about some scores, the scores that he was stating were about Steve Sanders going against Donald Hayes on Joust in the order of score increments, but yet again the producers of the TKOK show it as Steve Sanders is talking about Steve Wiebes score attempts on DK, when you look at the top scores on the DK game later on in the movie that Steve W is playing none of the scores mentioned by Steve S were on the top list of the DK HS display. Again we are talking about the movie people being like illusionists, looking at one hand and doing the work with another hand, fooling the public, saying what you don't see wont hurt you mentality, but in this case what you do see hurts someone else.... put yourself in their shoes.

(3a) "Lead you on & Drive By"
Another little lead you by the nose segment is where in the latter part of the movie it shows Billy pulling up to the restaurant and meeting with Steve S, "1:06:41 mark" and the movie would make you believe that Billy doesn't want anything to do with entering the restaurant because Steve w is present, but the truth of this segment that is NOT shown was that Billy really did show up at his restaurant when Steve W was present, I have personal footage of this. Billy not only comes in to greet the group of all the gamers but Walter Day even introduces everyone including Steve W while the FILM people "Launch Pad Productions" are shooting, yes the movie people have this on tape too. The thing that gets me is , if Billy was such an a**hole or so full of himself like the film people would like you to believe, why would Billy pay for everyone’s tab at the table including Steve W's, if it were me, I sure as hell wouldn't have paid for my rival if I hated him so much as the movie portrays.

(4a) "The DK Game Play"
I'm not debating that Steve W is not a top notch DK gamer, because he is. I saw him achieve 985k at FunSpot I thought that it was pretty damn impressive considering that I've only reached around the 550k mark and the moves that Steve made in his game play were remarkable. I have also viewed Billy’s performances both by tape and live just like Steve W's, both players have decisively different tactics to attain what they achieve. But after seeing both gamers play, I have to lean more towards Billy as the superior DK gamer. My opinion is not just because I know of Billy longer, but the proof is in the pudding just watch both gamers games and make a decision on your own and then you’ll have better piece of mind. I have nothing against Steve W. but just his taped gaming submissions, they have been questionable on more then one occasion, that and the simple fact of that he knows what’s going on with the movie and doesn't speak out about it's true and untrue facts.

(5a) "The Supposed Break In"
Here is another example of lets bullsh*t'ya, In the beginning of the movie it shows both Steve W and his wife talking about the break in of their garage by two TG officials "at the "0:25:31 mark". If this were true where are the police reports of this occurrence, after all wouldn't one think that if his house or garage were indeed broke into that something would have been stolen or damaged by the intruders? Or most of all your privacy was violated. The truth here is that when Perry Rodgers and Brian Kuh showed up to the Wiebe's residence that both Perry and Brian were INVITED not forced and then lead in thru the garage entrance not the front door, by Steve’s mother-In-law and yes they were invited because the mother-in-law was feeling bad about the two sitting outside in the driveway waiting.... Ok.....with that in mind, here is something else that will blow your mind, Perry and Brian couldn't have accessed Steve's machine, as the movie would imply, the reason why they couldn't access the machine was they didn't have the key to open it, and just WHO had that key you may be asking.......Steve W..... After all it’s his machine. So waiting upon Steve's arrival, the only thing that Perry and Brian could do was just play the game, that’s if the game was set on free credits or there was a button on the game to add credits. When Steve arrived at his house, again No police report was filed and Steve did not kick out the TG officials OR should I say his guest gamers for trespassing, infact Perry, Brian and Steve had a friendly game of DK while visiting, and took photos of each other playing and having a good time. The only way that Brian or Perry could have taken inside shots of Steve's DK machine was when Steve unlocked the game and allowed them so they could take their photos, no mention of this was in the TKOK movie, why doesn't that surprise me. But let’s remember we have to keep the image of the underdog, we wouldn't want anyone to know how things really went down.

(6a) "The Walk Behind"
There is another segment in the latter part of the movie where Billy is walking with his wife behind Steve W while Steve is playing DK, the statement that Billy makes is " There are certain people that I don't want to spend too much time with" at the "1:08:43 mark" the part that the film people left out was the segment where Billy actually engaged in a short conversation with Steve behind him while Steve was playing HS DK game. Billy says something to this effect" Hello Steve, how is your game going, its good to see that your going for the record" Billy didn't want to speak too long with Steve for the fact of not wanting to disturb Steve's game play and also for the simple fact of Steve crying that Billy stood behind him too long while he was playing his DK game to steal his patterns. Which from a gamers stand point I can understand this same situation as Brian Kuh stood behind one of my Super Pac-Man games and I intentionally killed off my extra lives around 400K just so he couldn’t see my patterns after stage 36 because Brian is also a serious Sup-Pacman contender. Talk about throwing your money out the window for someone else to reap the benefits.

(7a) "Billy's infamous video tape submission"
In there is a segment where Billy is talking to Doris Self about the DK tape, he clearly says "its for only for fun" this of course is before the time frame of Billy knowing that Steve W would be attending the FunSpot event. The thing that no one knew other then Walter Day and the film crew, notice I say OTHER then Walter & the film crew, was that Steve W was attending the FunSpot event. But in the movie it suggested that the video tape was intended to take lime light away from Steve's performance intentionally while Steve is playing DK.

(7b) "The Million Point Screen Distortion"
It is perceived that the Million point mark that there was an intentional splice or doctored segment that looked like Billy had played a game of DK and sliced it with another start over, but when you look at the footage in the movie there are numerous takes on this segment.
(7c) #1 A close up of the distortion at"0:47:52" with a start score of 998,500 and after the distortion a score of 000,000 you can clearly see that the score rolled,
(7d) #2 Then there is another splice that shows a marginal distortion 0:50:08 with a start score of 15,800 and after the distortion a score of 16,000 on the screen,
(7e) #3 Yet another shows a little distortion at 0:50:19 with a start score of 26,300 and after the distortion a score of 28,600
(7f) #4 and yet another has a close up with minimal distortion at 0:50:30 with a start score of the 998,500 and after the distortion a score of 000,000,
(7g) #5 Toward the end of the movie at 1:09:23 yet another attempt at sabotaging Billy’s credibility, where again the start score is at 998,500 and a very small distortion and then the score of 000,000. Again suggesting that all of the above were the same distortion and implying that Billy faked his game.

Of course on Billy’s master copy there is no distortion I have seen that too, but after viewing the tape that was shown in the movie personally LIVE at the event among 20 or so other gamers it wasn't as bad as the movie had shown, I noticed a little bit of a tracking line but nothing to convince me that there was any tampering with a game splice or that a fraudulent score was made.

( "The mysterious phone call"
There is a segment where Steve W is in his garage and supposedly talking to Billy, but in this segment at "0:59:15" you can clearly see that there have been 3 edit splices where Steve was talking into the phone, but yet you hear no Billy on the other side, so tell me this why is it in most of the film, the film makers always bugged the phone to get both sides of a supposed conversation, but in this one particular scene there is only a one sided conversation. You would think that if Steve was really talking to Billy that they certainly would want to have that conversation on tape.....or is it like this that maybe ....just maybe... Steve was talking to Billy and that Billy only had good things to say to Steve about the upcoming competition and event and that the film makers didn't want the viewing public to hear how Billy really was.....maybe a nice guy...

(9) "The Drop off scene"
In this scene at 1:01:06 we have Billy dropping off Steve S with Walter at the front door to the event in Pompano asking Steve S was that Billy driving, and Steve replies yes that was Billy. Then there is this pause and screen shot from inside the building alluding to that Billy doesn’t want to appear in person at the event, continued with Walter welcoming Steve S to the event. The REAL reason why Billy couldn't attend right at that moment was that he had to pick up his wife and kids that were at another location, but not one mention of this was hinted in this clip.

(10) "The friend of Steve W Mike Thompson"
A smug cocky guy looking like a fat toad with a cigarette in his mouth as some would mention, who says in the movie that if ANYONE who makes 1 million pts on DK in public "1:18:34 Mark" that he will pay $10,000.00 to, so far nothing has been paid out to Billy after he made his new 1mil+ HS in public, hey here is a thought, maybe I should get a vig for authenticating his score???? I guess Mike was all talk hyping the public just like the movie did in hyping the public to hate a truly talented gamer in Billy. Mike mentions that there is all this talk about Billy’s performances and talk about these video taped submissions and no one has seen Billy play in person, but let me ask Mike this question - when the HELL was he at any live events recently- yeah like I thought NO response just sit on that couch and stuff your face and your head with empty thoughts about some more bogus films that you want to help make.



I think that the Picture House people think that we the pubic are as impressionable as the students that Steve W teaches in his classroom, and yet to think that they think we wouldn't find anything wrong with a lop-sided slanted movie.......I mean some will buy into the whole good vs bad thing, but for those of us who really know what went into this production it really was good vs good or gamer vs gamer. There wasn't any bad feelings going on when the movie was filmed, it was just that in certain times and certain places segments were carefully pieced together to make what you see on the screen.
The producers of TKOK did an incredible job at conveying what they wanted you to see, I’ve told Ed Cunningham personally "Hey Great movie, from a public view point, it really gets the crowd going" and it was done well enough to gain so much attention, but on the other hand I also told Ed that "That there were a lot of things taken out of context in that movie that needed to be changed".

Well after all I'm not the producer or director or even the camera guy for that matter, If we had a movie depicting the life and times of Todd Rogers, who would want to see it, I mean most everyone who knows who I am already on this forum and is aware of what I have done now and in the past and that a movie of me would have a minimal selling point of people wanting to see someone making high scores over and over again, yeah even I would say that would be a boring movie.

But when you put the into the plot, someone who is supposedly not recognized for his gaming skills and another who supposedly controls everything, there you have an entirely different scenario, especially when there is a lot of controversy and when people tell you ....ahhh don't go and see it, that its a bunch of crap, well heck then everyone wants to see what they aren’t suppose to see or maybe they see what they really want to see.....Who knows....all I know is that I hope that I have a little more exposure in the other documentary "Chasing Ghosts Beyond The Arcade"

I mean all of us that were filmed by both film crews were under the impression that both movies would capture the nature and the passion behind every gaming champion and every gaming enthusiast that can relate to what we all go thru as gamers being competitive, but what happened along the way, just look at those two movies and see what happened along the way, we were all dooped with the promises that these documentaries would show off the best side of the gaming world. But instead TKOK went into a different direction, above all and beyond I guess we all want to entertained and thats what Hollywood is for and now TKOK is a part of that world.

So let's Keep on gaming
-Todd Rogers

http://www.digitpress.com/ - go to Forums, Classic Gaming, then the thread called "Billy Mitchell reclaims Donkey Kong world record"

[agn]

I believe pretty much everything in this post, but to be honest it comes off as though Todd is upset that an unknown like Steve is portrayed as a classic gaming hero when Todd has 2000 records and is just a blip in the film.

That said, Billy did himself no favors with the arrogant condescending attitude he displayed when he talked to the camera. Unless we're to believe the words were spliced together like a ransom note, Billy is an arrogant guy who along with the rest of the TG crew, continues to call Steve by the wrong last name which IMO is a microcosm of the bigger issue which is Twin Galaxies' credibility.

[Blackwolf]

Not only do they still call him "Weeb", I even noticed that the placecards on top of the machine cut off the last E of his name with Billy's card.

I saw it last night. Thoroughly entertaining. The little-over-half-full theater cheered when Steve took the final score at the very end.

I just find it strange that even though Steve went to Funspot and other places and played live in front of people on standard kits that they still claim that he can only play well in Donkey Kong on an altered board.

And what I read from elsewhere, two people in TG went into the premiere in Texas and actually interrupted the movie by shouting things. That's fine if you disagree, but to be an ass and shout during the movie and disrupt the viewing for others seems really desperate and only legitimizes what the movie is saying, which you claim to be untrue. I'm glad none of them were in the showing I went to.

I was told that if I grew my beard out and learned to stare, I could pass as a fat Billy Mitchell for Halloween. Hmm...

[rtm]

Hi Blackwolf:

You said "And what I read from elsewhere, two people in TG went into the premiere in Texas and actually interrupted the movie by shouting things."

Here's what happened.

Dwayne Richard and Brian Kuh attended the event in Alamo. Brian was spotted by the owner of the theatre when he entered and was then invited to participate in a head-to-head with Steve after the movie was shown. After all, Brian is number four, so what's the threat, right ?

Turns out that this did not happen. For "reasons unknown", Steve was not allowed to play head to head with Brian afterwards. In fact, he was present with a kind of handler from I guess Picturehouse, and was largely prevented from speaking with Steve.

Dwayne was the person who interrupted a Q&A session aftewards, but interrupted is not a perfect word to use. The opportunity came to ask the Picturehouse and KoK people in attendance what about Bill getting the $10L that Mike Thompson promised in the movie to anyone who could get a million points on DK in public. For THAT question Dwayne was told that he would be ejected for causing trouble, and he was told that by Picturehouse and KoK people and NOT Alamo security.

In other words, they blocked the audience from hearing any financial commitment to honour the terms of what is physically stated and heard in the film.

After that altercation, Brian attempted once again to speak with Steve who was literally pushed out of the theatre by that same handler/representative. Dwayne shouted as they were leaving "What about Bill's $10K" to which the handler, over his shoulder as they went towards their waiting vehicle, said "Yeah, I'll take care of it" or something to that effect. So much for that, as nothing was taken care of since.

So there was no interruption of the film itself, just an attempt to get a valid answer out of the KoK Q&A session afterwards.

I hope that answers your question on the Alamo incident.

Now, as for Steve playing well on only Funspot boards or allegations that he used doctored boards.

As the referee who previously watched all of Steve's performances, here is what I found...

947,200 (tape) - his original submission which he admitted on the forums was a Double DK boardset. I have to give him the benefit of the doubt on this because it was only after his 1.006M submission that TG became aware of the Double DK boardset conversion kit

985K (tape) - this one was deemd inconclusive when it was received early 2004. He started the performance with multiple credits in the machine and as a direct result the splash screen was not visible, thus it was impossible to determine if this was the proper ROMset which would display on the splashscreen 1981 Nintendo of America Inc.

This is important as some ROMsets, and there are several for this classic title, say something different and allow, for example, the ladders to be used defensively when barrels roll over you as you are on the ladder, making the game easier a-la "Crazy Kong".

999.5K (tape) - I received this one approx 6/29-6/30 of 2005 and Steve announced within 2-5 days of this that he had broken 1M with 1.006M. This tape was watched but never posted as the anticipated 1.006M was scheduled to arrive in the mail.

1.006M (tape) - this tape was announced approx 7/02/05 and received shortly thereafter. The tape was watched and a large 29-30 page Microsoft WORD document was prepared announcing Steve's 1.006M and Bill Mitchell's submitted 1.014M score. I still have the article if anyone is interested in reading it or seeing the supporting EXCEL schedule statistics.

Both scores appeared valid, and this time Steve's splash was clearly visible. It looked good to me, but the DDK purchase evidence was presented to TG two (2) days before the article was set to post with the associated worldwide press release. I had already sent prelim copies to both Steve and Bill for their review. I'm actually quite proud of the article as it was by far the longest I had ever written on behalf of TG.

When the DDK boardset was made known to us, we had to put the announcement on the back-burner until the proper boarset could be substantiated per performance. Proof of the original sale of the boardset associated with the 947.2K was made available to TG. As a matter of caution, we had to consider the possibility that one or more of the subsequent performances may have also been DDK. Additionally, the post-947K submission by Steve on DOnkey Kong Junior of 1.004M was also likely to be a DDK boardset since it was achieved during roughly the same period as the DK score was (within a few months of it).

During the period of Aug/04-Nov/04, on the forums, I had extended to Steve a personal offer to fly out to his home in Washington at my own expense, with a TG-verified boardset for DK in-hand that he could keep, and would remain for the entire day for as many attempts at a live performance in front of TG's chief referee, my position at the time (I have since left TG), and whatever he did would be immediately deemed valid without question from Walter, Bill or anyone else. In short, if I saw him get 998K, then that would be unquestionable, same if he achieved 1.010M or any score for that matter.

As it turned out, Steve opted not to take me up on this offer which was, to date, the only time I ever volunteered to travel that far to meet ANY gamer for a live verification, my farthest other trip to date for a live verification on behalf of TG was only to Philly, for the record.

Anyway, the Funspot competition came about in May/Jun of 2005. The issue of Steve's score was still unresolved. We were debating at the time whether it would behoove us to open a new category for the DDK conversion kit. That possibility was admittedly met with great resistence from a number of TG staffers AND gamers, as traditionally TG made it a policy never to accept a conversion kit boardset unless by default the game was only available in that format, such as Atari's "Empire Strikes Back".

Steve showed up at FS and scored a very impressive 985.6K, nearly a million. I might add that he died twice in that performance prior to the kill screen, thus if he had the good fortune to have taken those two extra lives to stage 115 he could have leeched off (point-pressing is allowed on that title) another approx 7.5-9.5K per life and would have been the first live million point score on DK in TG history, but that didn't happen. Still, the 985K was an awesome score and was accepted by all his peers.

However, the issue of the taped 1.006M was still ongoing and unresolved.

1.049M - Bill had revealed at Funspot 2005 a performance of 1.047M, exactly 100K beyond STeve's initial submission. Steve contacted me approx 8/29/06 with his submission of 1.049M, a new world mark once verified. I received the tape approx 9/05/06 or so. Here's what happened next.

Steve's tape starts with him manually installing the boardset into the back of his machine. So far so good. Now the problem.

His camera was pointed the entire time of the installation at the back of the machine. When fully installed, the taping immediately cut to the front of the machine, with a credit already inserted. In other words, the CMOS refresh did not occur with a power up that was caught on tape. Not a very bright thing to do when you have a hot button title you are submitting on.

I watched the entire performance. Based on my level of DK expertise, which was far from STeve's or Bill's, I am quoted as stating that the performance looked "solid" to me. In fact in all my previous write-up articles I was very kind to Steve in the words that I used to praise his DK skills.

When the performance ended, Steve zoomed the camera in on the top left quadrant of the game screen, wgere the score is. He then did something he should not have done as it tainted the continuity of the performance from a submission standpoint, a valid concern of mine as an authorized TG referee in charge of the arcade platform. He left the camera pointed at that area and then went to the back of the machine, off-camera, to open the back of the game and get the board inside ready for viewing. This procedure, all off camera, took approx 25 seconds.

He then took the camera to the back to show the boardset inside the machine.

Thus, while to me the performance looked good, the taping continuity failed the TG standards for submission and the verification was on hold as the matter was discussed.

A copy of the tape was eventually sent to Walter Day for dissemination to several key TG senior staffers and authenticators...NONE of which was Bill Mitchell or his friend Chris Ayra, by the way...and at that time I had already departed TG as a staff member.

Currently, headway was made into identifying what appeared to be significant problems with the 1.049M performance of a nature that my own level of DK-expertise would never have caught. Dwayne Richard and Brian Kuh combined their knowledge and believe that they had identified several problems with the performance that warranted a second look.

So, at the Funspot 2007 even held this past May/June in New Hampshire, the 1.049M tape was reviewed by a panel of 23 peers familiar with the title. We evaluated the many points that both Dwayne and Brian made. Here's what happened next.

In all fairness, I was anxious to see what they had found, but of their multiple points made, only two stuck out in my mind as potentially a problem. The rest were deemed "do-able" by the group under normal circumstances even though some of the issues they pointed out were a matter of being ill-advised based on practicality. Still, two points warranted further attention.

One was a specific jump where, with no other nearby barrels close to Steve's controlled Mario character, his jump basically landed Mario deep inside the barrel's sprite, so deep that on video it was extremely difficult to determine if the hit-box area was compromised, even for all of us taking a frame-by-frame look, so that issue was indexed for additional review.

The other issue discovered was of far greater consequence. During a scene where Steve's Mario character is climbing a ladder in a rivet stage, you were able to hear multiple clicks of the joystick as his character was still on the ladder climbing upward. THAT is a problem indeed.

DK is a 4-way joystick. There is no "upper right" or "lower left" and so forth, just UDLR as directions. In DK when you are on a ladder, especially a longer one for sake of illustration, you generally push upwards to climb. While pushing upwards, if you push the joystick left or right that has no effect. If you push down, well, you go downward. And you are already moving up so you can't really press up again, not without coming to a halt momentarily, at least that is what would make sense (read more later).

Steve's Mario character was continually moving upwards even with these multiple clicks. So this was deemed to be a major problem and also indexed for further investigation and experimentation.

As it turns out, it is not fair to gauge one tight sprite collission as proof positive as there are so many throughout the course of the game, so I decided (and I was not even a referee at the time), for my own edification to wait and see what the TG experts came up with on the matter of the multiple joystick pressings during the ladder climb sequence. Here's what they found out. Due to the configuration and behaviour of the joystick, such IS possible, though serves no benefit. It's kind of like pressing the jump button while you are climbing, though in this case if the switch from U-to-D-to-U is quick enough, it will have no noticeable affect on the continuity of the climb.

In my mind, that was the last of the obstacles, and I would throw my weight behind the performance, but there was one more matter that was being explored post-Funspot 2007 and this one, I believe, has the strongest weight of all...if proven to be correct. As I am no longer a TG referee, I will have to wait on this one just as everyone else will, but from what little I know, it is a strong argument thus far.

I know from my perspective that Steve is a very talented gamer...we all know that as 985K which he did live is nothing to sneeze at. I just wish that, from my perspective, his earlier 1.049M submission did not have that break in continuity as if it were not for that, I would have given that one a green light in my former position as senior TG refereree in charge of that platform (arcade). And that's the truth as I am on record on the TG forums as stating that I thought Steve's 1.049M performance, based on my personal experrtise at that title, was "solid". But the continuity in my mind was a technical DQ that had to be bumped up the chain of command at TG for further evaluations, which it was.

And then I retired from TG as a staffer, and Walter continued the verification process after my departure, as did the continuation of the investigation by other interested gamers such as Dwayne Richard and Brian Kuh.

Steve was always given more than a fair chance at TG with his submissions, regardless of what the film and what certain people would lead you to believe.

Robert

[gk128]

There is no doubt that the movie has a bias for Steve, but Billy does a good job coming off as a douche on his own.

I thought that Walter, Robert, and Twin Galaxies weren't shown in a bad light at all, but rather Billy's association was more then a little sketchy. I felt they were trying to show that Twin Galaxies isn't bad. It goes back to the fact that Billy is directly connected, and things were a little sketchy.

I mean it was kind of convenient that Billy was given special treatment over Steve, but the fact that cameras caught it all like that didn't seem natural. I don't doubt some selling of the other way.

I think the biggest player is the total uproar Mr. Awesome caused. If not for that box none of this would have really happened Mr. Awesome is a whole different topic with it's own sides, but I feel that had Steve not have been associated with him everything would have been a little more then fine.

The biggest outrage though, and no amount of editing can convince me that this didn't happen is when Billy flat out avoided the gaming convention in his own home town. Then when he finally did show up he walks past Steve and goes "Don't want to associate with certain people too much". In my opinion that shows who Billy really is. You can say he has a busy schedule and what not, but it was pretty low.

All in all I thought the movie was very good. Sure it was biased, but Steve is a likable guy. Billy comes off as a douche bag, and I don't think it's totally from editing.

[Blackwolf]

I'm not sure if I should be honored that Robert spent that much time crafting a response to my little throwaway comment or not.

But, I want to share this little quote from my favorite TV show Babylon 5. It's uttered by Kosh, a Vorlon who speaks very little but always says something "wise".

"Understanding is a three edged sword: my side, your side, and the truth in between."

[hoyle1911]

Walter Day did come out in recent interviews that the documentary King of Kong slanted a few of the details to make it a dramatic battle between Steve and Billy. The record Steve won at the end of the film was actually against Timothy S., not Billy Mitchell, since Billy didn't hold the record in Donkey Kong. Billy's famous 957,300 score was in DK Jr, which is a different game. The KOK documentary mixed around a few of the details to make it appear less complicated.

Things that can't be ignored however is Billy not showing up to play when Steve flew across the country to meet Billy on his own turf. It was also a lack of class and sportsmanship for Billy to ignore Steve's greeting and tell his wife "there are certain people I'd rather not talk to" instead of saying hello and shaking the man's hand. Even going so far as missing a luncheon at his restaurant in order to dodge Steve is retarded. Why such childish antics, when the scoreboard should be the battlefield, and not petty gestures such as these?

Either way, I think the drama is worth it. Billy Mitchell did go on to beat Steve's video submission with a live score, so the battle is hardly over. It also shows both men are in their prime for nailing high scores.

http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.as...&gi=3852&vi=22

http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=22&p=28206

[rtm]

Hi Hoyle1911:

I can provide substantiated answers to two of your inquiries as I do have direct contact with Bill just about every day or so, plus he is quoted extensively in the recent issue of "Gameroom Magazine" and explains much of this on his own. But I'll cut to the chase and respond as best I can on his behalf.

H1911 (1) - "Things that can't be ignored however is Billy not showing up to play when Steve flew across the country to meet Billy on his own turf."

RTM REPLY (1) - According to Bill, and this is confirmed many a time on the TG forums and can also be confirmed by Funspot operations manager Gary Vincent, Bill has not attended a Funspot event since 2002. There was no chance he was going to attend the 2005 event.

He is on film in "King of Kong" handing a videotape to an elderly woman, the late Doris Self, one of the world's top "Q*Bert" players. He was treating her to a trip to Funspot to try to reclaim her record on the game, and as such charged her with taking a tape of his to show the gamers at the event.

Logically as this was captured on film by the KoK film crew two (2) days prior to the event they had ample opportunity to confirm as opposed to just informing Steve that Bill was not likely to attend. Additionally, Steve is shown calling Bill immediately before he leaves for the event. Who is kidding who here ? The filmmakers could have easily informed Steve. I cannot say whether they did or did not...no way to know. However, it was no surprise to anyone who attended the event that Bill was not going to show.

H1911 (2) - "It was also a lack of class and sportsmanship for Billy to ignore Steve's greeting and tell his wife "there are certain people I'd rather not talk to" instead of saying hello and shaking the man's hand."

RTM REPLY (2) - Dwayne Richard said somewhere on the TG forum why Bill said what he said, and I think Bill himself did in various recent interviews and possibly in the "Gameroom Magazine" interview as well, so don't just take my word for this, but here goes.

According to Bill, who thus gar up to that point had never seen one of Steve's performances...I ought to know as I had all the video tapes from Steve up to that point and the only gamer other than myself who saw Steve's performances was his taped 985K from approx May/04 which I sent to Chris Ayra in Florida for co-verification. Note that while Chris is a friend of Bill he never showed Bill the tape, but he did discuss with us over the phone that it was significant that the performance began with credits in the machine which blocked the splash screen from appearing. Otherwise the run looked good.

Back to the point I was trying to make. Bill did not want to change the fact that he had never seen Steve's performances so if ever asked he could say this without missing a beat. While I cannot say that the choice of words was the best he could have made at that moment in time, his intent was to avoid watching Steve play or be seen watching Steve play.

After that event in the restaurant, contrary to what the film suggests, everyone was in Bill's restaurant in Florida and Bill brought his entire family out to meet Steve. This is ON VIDEOTAPE, by the way...not exactly the actions of someone trying to avoid Steve at all costs.

In conclusion, while I cannot say that everything Bill says or does is the best choice, he is free to make his own actions and his actions must speak for themselves. However as Bill never posts on the forums, and as I happen to have inside knowledge of what transpired, I am posting my rendition here for your consideration.

As "Blackwolf" said, there are three sides to the truth, and truth be told, I was not there. But Bill's on tape with his entire family meeting and greeting Steve at the restaurant, and that speaks volumes.

All I ask to to give the man a fair chance to be heard for his side of the story, and he has given enough interviews recently within which he explains moments like this that occur within the film. I've seen the KoK film, met both Bill and Steve, dealt with them extensively over the phone, and watched both their various performances, and I have kept pace with the many forum posts and interviews over the past several months. I consider myself well informed on the subject matter. Nothing of course is as good as hearing them speak for themselves, so do what I did and perform some research into Bill's recent interviews and judge for yourself rather than making assessments on just this film.

I agree that Billy the gamer can come off as being arrogant at times...it's part of his personae. This is not unlike an NBA trash talker. But Bill the person, I've dealt with that personae as well. They differ, and you can judge for yourself through his words and if you ever happen to meet him.

Robert

[dhopkins]

Instead of all of these 'go betweens' wouldn't it be better for Billy Mitchell to be interviewed on AGI? As far as I know, it's the only show that has given ample air time to all sides and since it's live, no editing can take place.

D

[rtm]

Well, considering the anything but impartial interview that Walter and I had earlier this year with Roy and the "impartial" moderator, I don't think Bill will be granting AGI an interview anytime soon, but that's his decision, of course. At the very least, he has fiven interviews in print format to many periodicals recently including if I am not mistaken MSN. At least the printed interview transcripts are obtainable from the sources. That's the next best thing unless he has reason to change his mind and grant AGI an interview.