22 replies to this topic

[jboypacman]

Looks like Mister Day has decided to pursue that music career he has been wanting....

http://feeds.gawker....founder-retires

[Cebus Capucinis]

I have a feeling this will start a downward decline of Twin Galaxies, unfortunately.

[jboypacman]

Cebus Capucinis, on Mon Mar 8, 2010 10:12 AM, said:

I have a feeling this will start a downward decline of Twin Galaxies, unfortunately.

Could very well be CC.

[rmaerz]

There's a link on TG's site containing a video interview of the announcement.

I can't see Walter abandoning classic gaming entirely. You know he's going to be in Ottumwa for the Video Game Hall of Fame extravaganza. I wouldn't be surprised if he turned up at various events but just not affiliated with Twin Galaxies.

I'm curious as to what you folks see as being a downward decline in Twin Galaxies? In what ways?

[Cebus Capucinis]

Well, I feel like Walter was really the person who was the honest inspiration for Twin Galaxies. I think his leadership, and even when he stepped back, his presence was really what kept the 'feel' alive -- focusing on video games and the wonder about the world. Multiple interviews speak to how passionate he was about video games.

My concern is that some of the bad attitudes and underhanded dealings (aka the scandal with unproven scores being purposely added and the big ego "rock star" mentalities) will only get worse without Walter Day there, at least in spirit, to keep the true meaning of what Twin Galaxies was about in check. I worry that the Billy Mitchells and co. will turn it into something entirely different without Mr. Day around.

[Atarian7]

I see they finally cleared up that 2b skiing time on the VCS. Next is that 3b time of 27.51. That's bogus too. A bounty of $100 was offered to the first person who could get 27.80. No one has come close and .29 in skiing is an eternity.

Edited by Atarian7, Mon Mar 8, 2010 11:18 AM.

[Cebus Capucinis]

Actually at the end of King of Kong didn't the interview with Walter Day sort of allude to that? He didn't outright say it but it seemed he was implying that things would probably change (for the better or worse is up to opinion) as soon as he stepped down. I don't remember completely though so I could be wrong.

[Shawn Sr.]

Wow, this is like the king stepping down with no change of gaurd and just allowing martial law.

[rmaerz]

Shawn Sr., on Mon Mar 8, 2010 3:09 PM, said:

Wow, this is like the king stepping down with no change of gaurd and just allowing martial law.

Billy Mitchell's got it under control...

[Cebus Capucinis]

rmaerz, on Mon Mar 8, 2010 3:29 PM, said:

Shawn Sr., on Mon Mar 8, 2010 3:09 PM, said:

Wow, this is like the king stepping down with no change of gaurd and just allowing martial law.

Billy Mitchell's got it under control...

Hence my 'downward' comment in post #2 . It's just personal opinion, though. I think Mitchell is overall an arrogant ass who cares only about his own image and not truly about video games in the way Mr. Day did. I am worried it will just turn even more so into the 'Cool Kid Club' that Mitchell seems to want it to be, which to me is a very sad thing for video games as a whole.

[BDW]

Shawn Sr., on Mon Mar 8, 2010 3:09 PM, said:

Wow, this is like the king stepping down with no change of gaurd and just allowing martial law.

My sentiments exactly.

[Crazy Climber]

I don't think much will change, how involved do you really think Walter Day has been the last few years? Probably not as much as he used to be...

[save2600]

Cebus Capucinis, on Mon Mar 8, 2010 3:02 PM, said:

Actually at the end of King of Kong didn't the interview with Walter Day sort of allude to that? He didn't outright say it but it seemed he was implying that things would probably change (for the better or worse is up to opinion) as soon as he stepped down. I don't remember completely though so I could be wrong.

After watching the two or three movies, I felt Walter kowtowed to Silly Billy more than maintaining a neutral stance. Wouldn't be surprised if Billy intimidated Day on a level at all and didn't he change the rules to accommodate Billy's DK score too? Yes, yes he did. He allowed Billy to submit a video of his score, whereas Steve Wiebe had to be under the scrutiny of a live "referee" at all times. Not to mention the way he was treated by everyone at Twin Galaxies the first time he submitted a high. Seemed like Weibe really got the shaft with that whole debacle. I dunno... hate to say it, but the concept of "official high scores" in pinball or video gaming seems a little absurd to me and the ego's that go along with it are even more ridiculous. I don't know why! </robin leach voice>

-edit- thanks Rmaerz!

Edited by save2600, Wed Mar 10, 2010 2:28 PM.

[rmaerz]

save2600, on Wed Mar 10, 2010 1:53 PM, said:

Seemed like the other guy (forget his name),

Steve Wiebe

[HatNJ]

save2600, on Wed Mar 10, 2010 1:53 PM, said:

Cebus Capucinis, on Mon Mar 8, 2010 3:02 PM, said:

Actually at the end of King of Kong didn't the interview with Walter Day sort of allude to that? He didn't outright say it but it seemed he was implying that things would probably change (for the better or worse is up to opinion) as soon as he stepped down. I don't remember completely though so I could be wrong.

After watching the two or three movies, I felt Walter kowtowed to Silly Billy more than maintaining a neutral stance. Wouldn't be surprised if Billy intimidated Day on a level at all and didn't he change the rules to accommodate Billy's DK score too? Yes, yes he did. He allowed Billy to submit a video of his score, whereas Steve Wiebe had to be under the scrutiny of a live "referee" at all times. Not to mention the way he was treated by everyone at Twin Galaxies the first time he submitted a high. Seemed like Weibe really got the shaft with that whole debacle. I dunno... hate to say it, but the concept of "official high scores" in pinball or video gaming seems a little absurd to me and the ego's that go along with it are even more ridiculous. I don't know why! </robin leach voice>

-edit- thanks Rmaerz!

http://forums.twinga...9bcce9315da78e5

Do I believe all of it? unsure but does shed some light on things
as for the Mr.Awesome(Roy Shildt) deal The truth will probably be never known

[save2600]

HatNJ, on Wed Mar 10, 2010 4:20 PM, said:

http://forums.twinga...9bcce9315da78e5

Do I believe all of it? unsure but does shed some light on things
as for the Mr.Awesome(Roy Shildt) deal The truth will probably be never known

That was really, really interesting. Thanks for posting! Hopefully the bits about Day taking down the score within 48 hours was true - but the damage was done and the movie was already released... which sounds strange that they couldn't have edited in the facts or edited out the poor decision to accept a video taped high score scenario. I remember there being a blurb at the very end of one of the movies about *something* that happened last minute, but I don't think that was it. Still, that segment of the movie should have been totally re-worked. They shat on Steve Wiebe is the bottom line and what a typical political ass-kissing tango it was.

Edited by save2600, Wed Mar 10, 2010 4:43 PM.

[rmaerz]

HatNJ, on Wed Mar 10, 2010 4:20 PM, said:

http://forums.twinga...9bcce9315da78e5

Do I believe all of it? unsure but does shed some light on things
as for the Mr.Awesome(Roy Shildt) deal The truth will probably be never known

I didn't read all of Walter's posts yet but I assume you're talking about the board Schildt gave to Wiebe.

I had a 45 minute phone conversation with Mr. Shildt only a week and a half ago. I asked him numerous questions about the King of Kong controversy and the Missile Command score. There wasn't anything shocking or revealing.

I asked about the "gummy substance" on the board and Roy didn't stray from anything he said in King of Kong. He cracked a joke about what it was and I won't repeat it . Basically he felt they were looking for something to be wrong with the board.

As you may know, the board that was used was a Double Donkey Kong board, which Robert Mruczek later stated that they did not know existed at the time of Wiebe's record breaking video tape submission.

Between the King of Kong movie and Chasing Ghosts, Mruczek comments that he knows all these classic games like the back of his hand. If you look at his Twin Galaxies rankings, he has close to 40 pages worth of scores recorded.

But, I asked Shildt and maybe it was a rhetorical question, so what about the gummy substance - what does that mean? If Mruczek knows these games like the back of his hand, why didn't he see something in the video tape that displayed anomalies that would improve Wiebe's score? Shildt responded that the producers of King of Kong wanted to dumb down that whole issue for the audience and not get into technicals of what modifications could have been done to the board.

Maybe so but with that being the focal point of the controversy, they should have had those questions answered.

[rmaerz]

rmaerz, on Wed Mar 10, 2010 6:40 PM, said:

HatNJ, on Wed Mar 10, 2010 4:20 PM, said:

http://forums.twinga...9bcce9315da78e5

Do I believe all of it? unsure but does shed some light on things
as for the Mr.Awesome(Roy Shildt) deal The truth will probably be never known

I didn't read all of Walter's posts yet but I assume you're talking about the board Schildt gave to Wiebe.

I read some of Walter's post and skimmed others.

I think a lot of what he says is believable. These guys producing King of Kong will do whatever to sensationalize the story and can manipulate the timing of events, factual omissions etc. cuz they have something to lose otherwise. And they did a good job because it's a great flick.

But, reading Walter's "Restaurant" post: in the movie Steve Sanders is on the phone with Billy Mitchell (paraphrasing) "Oh my God, Steve and Mark just arrived - I don't know how that happened." So, in Walter's post he states that Steve was never treated as if he were uninvited but then how do you explain Sanders' comments to Mitchell on the cell phone upon his arrival?

There's other comments I have about Walter's posts that I'll post later...

[HatNJ]

rmaerz, on Wed Mar 10, 2010 7:38 PM, said:

rmaerz, on Wed Mar 10, 2010 6:40 PM, said:

HatNJ, on Wed Mar 10, 2010 4:20 PM, said:

http://forums.twinga...9bcce9315da78e5

Do I believe all of it? unsure but does shed some light on things
as for the Mr.Awesome(Roy Shildt) deal The truth will probably be never known

I didn't read all of Walter's posts yet but I assume you're talking about the board Schildt gave to Wiebe.

I read some of Walter's post and skimmed others.

I think a lot of what he says is believable. These guys producing King of Kong will do whatever to sensationalize the story and can manipulate the timing of events, factual omissions etc. cuz they have something to lose otherwise. And they did a good job because it's a great flick.

But, reading Walter's "Restaurant" post: in the movie Steve Sanders is on the phone with Billy Mitchell (paraphrasing) "Oh my God, Steve and Mark just arrived - I don't know how that happened." So, in Walter's post he states that Steve was never treated as if he were uninvited but then how do you explain Sanders' comments to Mitchell on the cell phone upon his arrival?

There's other comments I have about Walter's posts that I'll post later...

I have to agree about the restaurant scene as I really feel those comments reinforced that they did not want him at their little gathering (I do not think Walter Day felt that way)

And I think Steve Sanders is a little bit of an ass too He is the one WAY BACK who submitted the 3 Million plus score for Donkey Kong and got busted on it and he has the arrogance to say and act like he did in that scene. I will give him credit tho at the end of the movie he did give kudos to Steve Wiebe

[rmaerz]

HatNJ, on Wed Mar 10, 2010 8:17 PM, said:

rmaerz, on Wed Mar 10, 2010 7:38 PM, said:

But, reading Walter's "Restaurant" post: in the movie Steve Sanders is on the phone with Billy Mitchell (paraphrasing) "Oh my God, Steve and Mark just arrived - I don't know how that happened." So, in Walter's post he states that Steve was never treated as if he were uninvited but then how do you explain Sanders' comments to Mitchell on the cell phone upon his arrival?

I have to agree about the restaurant scene as I really feel those comments reinforced that they did not want him at their little gathering (I do not think Walter Day felt that way)

And I think Steve Sanders is a little bit of an ass too He is the one WAY BACK who submitted the 3 Million plus score for Donkey Kong and got busted on it and he has the arrogance to say and act like he did in that scene. I will give him credit tho at the end of the movie he did give kudos to Steve Wiebe

First, I don't want to mislead anyone into thinking that I have some kind of inside slant on this whole debacle. I'm just a guy like most of you folks here on AtariAge that have watched King of Kong, Chasing Ghosts and have followed this story through Twin Galaxies et al.

I spoke to Roy Shildt about some of these issues and within the context of this controversy you could say that this was only for a brief period of time. There are a lot of comments he made I wish he would have elaborated on but he said that he is going to send me an email answering my questions in detail. I don't expect this anytime soon as weeks have gone by until I receive email replies or calls returned to me.

I will be meeting Mark Alpiger at the Classic Arcade Gaming (dot com) Tournament next week. The King of Kong topic will have to be a topic initiated by someone else as I'm not going to be like "hi, my name's Rob can you talk about King of Kong?" He may be sick of talking about it but he did mention in an email to me that he did not get paid or even receive a DVD from the producers of King of Kong. He had to go out and buy the DVD. Granted the thing probably costs $15 - $30 but that's just "red."

About Steve Sanders: granted he was a kid when he lied about the Donkey Kong score and he wasn't the only one that lied about their scores when Twin Galaxies was accepting them based on "the honor system." Heck, Todd Rodgers could have lied about his scores that he submitted to Activision if he happened to roll the score. Was it 3,500,000 or 4,500,000 if the screen only reads e.g. 500,000? I couldn't stand that guy when I was a kid because his mug was in every Activisions newsletter on the high score table. That was just jealousy on my part because I wanted to be just as good or better.

To me, Steve Sanders comes off as playing both sides of the fence. He's one of "Billy's disciples" as Wiebe called Brian Kuh. The only side he doesn't take is Roy Shildt's but that may be because he has the support of Billy Mitchell and the other members of that clique.

This is not to say that you can't be friends with both Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe at the same time. But, if you're sitting in Billy's restaurant and when Wiebe walks in you say the things Sanders said to Mitchell over the cell phone it doesn't give me a warm fuzzy about the guy.

Should we move this to another thread?

[rmaerz]

I created a new thread regarding the King of Kong discussion:

http://www.atariage....e-king-of-kong/

[Bountybob]

I don't know how anybody could be bothered watching cassette recordings of video game high scores all day.
There must be a better way of verifying high scores maybe a software solution ?

[rmaerz]

Bountybob, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 12:29 PM, said:

I don't know how anybody could be bothered watching cassette recordings of video game high scores all day.
There must be a better way of verifying high scores maybe a software solution ?

I couldn't do it. I'd play the first minute or so and fast forward to the end. That's why I wouldn't be a good ref!