King of Kong

just saw this a few minutes ago....awesome quirky documentary about the high stakes arcade gaming world....some dudes competing over Donkey Kong high scores....so many awesome characters in this movie....and including Billy Mitchell , who I was aware of but never really read about, with his crazy hair styles, american ties and his own line of hot sauce.

check this out, its an awesome movie.

yeah its a really obscure movie how'd you find it

i liked it a lot , that south park episode about the biggest crap seemed to be an homage to King of Kong.

epic doc

teared up

I need to find a torrent of it or something. I wanted to see it in the theatre when it came out, but no one else was interested...

i think i heard about it in passing while watching G4...i think/?? maybe it was mtv...anyway, brief commercial on it, and it sounded awesome so i queued it up on netflix.

funny thing is apparently there are a lot of disputes from Mitchell's camp concerning how he was portrayed in the movie...he was sorta made out to be a villain in it.

Saw his movie about a yr ago on a recommendation from someone here. It is indeed a good one

has anyone seen the Chasing Ghosts documentary? (the one about videogaming "Where are they now" superstars or whatever)

goddamn, i love all the nostalgic shows/docs about gaming.

so has anybody seen the worlds biggest crap south park episode and king of kong?

my theory is that Bono = Mitchell and Webie = Randy

the whole part where Bono sends in a photograph if his biggest crap to beat Randy's record seemed total King of Kong style

One of these days they'll do one about Halo. The amount of money and level of competition is just amazing.

i have these fantasies sometimes about new style pop documentaries like King of Kong being made a bout things from my childhood, like how Mortal Kombat 2 created a resurgence in arcade patrons or how kids would redistribute/sell taboo candies that adults didn't like such as Neon Bandits and Tongue Splashes to other students. One of these days i'm going to do a mockumentary on kids competing on Mortal Kombat 2 but it's going to be totally serious not a comedy, what genre would that be?

the south park comparison seems correct...someone posted that on wikipedia saying the same thing.

makes sense if they both came out at the same time.

i also didnt realize this movie was up for a ton of top 10 lists.

it was also #1 reviewed movie on rotten tomatoes for like 2-3 months, thats how i heard of it

the only criticism i have to offer about King of Kong is it may be a little too heavy handed in the heart warming emotional department

  On 8/7/2009 at 3:06 AM, Braintree said:

One of these days they'll do one about Halo. The amount of money and level of competition is just amazing.

Starcraft first. The pro gamer circuit (as it currently stands) was probably built on Starcraft.

its a sad film

  On 8/7/2009 at 3:11 AM, chenGOD said:

  On 8/7/2009 at 3:06 AM, Braintree said:

One of these days they'll do one about Halo. The amount of money and level of competition is just amazing.

 

Starcraft first. The pro gamer circuit (as it currently stands) was probably built on Starcraft.

In Korea, yeah. They have Starcraft houses. Fucking intense.

sad? how so?

also, anyone ever seen American Movie? thats a fucking amazingly hilarious and also endearing documentary about some sad sacks in the middle of nowhere.....

gotta love the inspirational ha-ha movies.

  On 8/7/2009 at 3:11 AM, chenGOD said:

  On 8/7/2009 at 3:06 AM, Braintree said:

One of these days they'll do one about Halo. The amount of money and level of competition is just amazing.

 

Starcraft first. The pro gamer circuit (as it currently stands) was probably built on Starcraft.

wasn't it really Warcraft II, i remember back in the day when my friend was getting paid $50 an hour to give WC2 lessons. i wasn't a gamer though so i could be wrong but i remember back then hearing about large scale Korean competitions before Starcraft was out

haven't seen American movie, only bits of it. That's the one about the guys trying to make a zombie movie or is that Home movie?

I still intend on seeing Heavy MEtal Parking lot which definitely seems to fit in the same genre of 'sad people' documentaries

  On 8/7/2009 at 3:13 AM, Braintree said:

  On 8/7/2009 at 3:11 AM, chenGOD said:

  On 8/7/2009 at 3:06 AM, Braintree said:

One of these days they'll do one about Halo. The amount of money and level of competition is just amazing.

 

Starcraft first. The pro gamer circuit (as it currently stands) was probably built on Starcraft.

 

In Korea, yeah. They have Starcraft houses. Fucking intense.

But you could probably make a case for Korea leading the way in modern pro gaming, couldn't you?

Korea set up those World Cyber Games back in 2000 (I know that there are other competitive gaming events that offer more prize money, but I think the WCG eclipse them in terms of size and recognizability). And the 3 or 4 TV stations dedicated to pro gaming?

But I'm not a serious gamer, so I could definitely be barking up the wrong tree.

Saw an ad for a Super Smash Bros doc that was similar. Mostly college age guys but they were just as intense about their obsession and playoff leagues, like fantasy football or the like.

  On 8/7/2009 at 5:48 AM, chenGOD said:

  On 8/7/2009 at 3:13 AM, Braintree said:

  On 8/7/2009 at 3:11 AM, chenGOD said:

  On 8/7/2009 at 3:06 AM, Braintree said:

One of these days they'll do one about Halo. The amount of money and level of competition is just amazing.

 

Starcraft first. The pro gamer circuit (as it currently stands) was probably built on Starcraft.

 

In Korea, yeah. They have Starcraft houses. Fucking intense.

 

But you could probably make a case for Korea leading the way in modern pro gaming, couldn't you?

Korea set up those World Cyber Games back in 2000 (I know that there are other competitive gaming events that offer more prize money, but I think the WCG eclipse them in terms of size and recognizability). And the 3 or 4 TV stations dedicated to pro gaming?

 

But I'm not a serious gamer, so I could definitely be barking up the wrong tree.

They definitely lead the way for Starcraft, but the way pro gaming works is game by game. There are tons of pro gamers that play the circuit for Halo that won't know a thing about Street Fighter, which also has a huge following. And once the genre is switched, so does the format. Major League Gaming was one of the first event organizers for major Halo tournaments, which differs heavily from other FPS tournaments that have happened over the years. You basically get a bunch of tv's and consoles together. At that point, most FPS tournaments were done online, as they started doing for Halo 2 and 3, but it's still maintained as a touring circuit [held in different cities]. When you have huge gaming tournaments, they usually stick to one game and have a couple more on the side. It's not a ton of different games.

I think this makes Halo pretty special since in order to compete, you have to actually travel long distances and interact in person. Also, the same people that started winning huge tournaments early on are still out there competing for thousands of dollars.

Don't get me wrong, Starcraft has a lot more hardcore players than Halo does by far, but I don't think the format they have in Korea really translates over to the US. I mean, I was there in the beginning days when we would throw tournaments in basements.

I watched this movie the other night after reading this thread. Certainly worth the watch. I was surprised at the lack of respect the billy guy gave to steve and to the video game organization. He was obviously afraid he might not be able to back up his skills. Great watch though, I felt bad for the steve guy who was solid through and through, and kept being given the run around/lack of respect. It also made me have a higher level of appreciation for classic arcade games, which I cannot bare to play, so I applaud anyone that can get down with that and not destroy the game with a baseball bat every time they lost a game.

  On 8/7/2009 at 2:27 AM, Smettingham Rutherford IV said:

just saw this a few minutes ago....awesome quirky documentary about the high stakes arcade gaming world....some dudes competing over Donkey Kong high scores....so many awesome characters in this movie....and including Billy Mitchell , who I was aware of but never really read about, with his crazy hair styles, american ties and his own line of hot sauce.

 

 

check this out, its an awesome movie.

the whole movie makes you just fucking loathe billy mitchell. i mean take a look at the guy:

oh wait a second... i take it back cuz that guy looks familiar... who does he remind me of?!@ fucking shit

HE'S THE GREATEST MUSICIAN EVER YOU N00BS@#$%@#r$#@

It's a good movie, the guy who plays Crystal Castles with his feet is hardcore, and wears the best shirts

  On 8/7/2009 at 3:03 AM, Smettingham Rutherford IV said:

has anyone seen the Chasing Ghosts documentary? (the one about videogaming "Where are they now" superstars or whatever)

 

goddamn, i love all the nostalgic shows/docs about gaming.

yes, wasn't bad at all.