This is a blog that focuses on winners, though it is usually reserved for the dedicated warriors who do battle in the cage, but today I wanted to share the story of another winner:
On Feburary 26, 2010, a new king of Donkey Kong was crowned when 35-year-old plastic surgeon Hank Chien from Queens, NY, scored 1,061,700 points in a two-and-a-half hour session.
The Donkey Kong record is the most coveted record in video games after the release of the 2007 "documentary" "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters."
The movie, more "inspired by the true life events" than a real documentary, focused on the battle for Donkey Kong supremacy between long-time gamer Billy Mitchell and everyman Steve Wiebe.
In the movie, Wiebe sets out to defeat Mitchell's 21-year-old Donkey Kong record to help pass the time while working on getting a masters degree after being laid of by Boeing.
Eventually he beats Mitchell's record, but controversy ensues when it is discovered that the electronics for Wiebe's machine were supplied by Roy "Mr. Awesome" Shildt, long-time nemesis of Billy Mitchell, who some believe may have tampered with the machine to embarrass Mitchell.
Wiebe's score is disqualified, and in response, he tours the country trying to set up a head-to-head public battle with Mitchell, who ducks him at every turn. Wiebe travels to Laconia, NH at one point to replicate his feat in public, and sets a new scored of 985,000, but that very night, Mitchell sends in a videotape of himself achieving a score over 1 million points, in direct contrast to his statements that records should only count if they are achieved in public, and raining on Wiebe's celebration.
In the end, Wiebe is able to overcome Mitchell as the documentary is wrapping up, achieving a score of 1,049,100, but Mitchell has since battled back, and he beat the record in 2007.
