127 replies to this topic

[VectorGamer]

https://www.twingala...4048#post964048

[Shawn]

[glazball]

Douchebags gonna douche...

 

I'd like to say "good riddance" but I have the sinking suspicion that this drama is just the next plot twist in an upcoming King of Kong 2 movie.

[Flojomojo]

That's two this year. Wow. 

 

I guess he just liked the attention it brought him? I may never understand the motivation to cheat at a video game high score contest. 

[Great Hierophant]

At least he can still claim this, for now : http://www.guinnessw...ore-for-pac-man

 

He should have bought Twin Galaxies from his friend Walter Day back when Walter was looking to sell it.

Edited by Great Hierophant, Thu Apr 12, 2018 10:06 AM.

[glazball]

Actually, the big KoK-smoker himself can't even honestly claim the first perfect Pac-Man.

 

Bill Bastable did it (more than once) in the 80s.  The reason Billy got credit was because he broke a "gentleman's agreement" among the top Pac-Man players to compete for that honor live, but Billy jumped ahead and did it earlier.  In addition, Billy gets credit because the settings were changed from factory (3 lives) to max (5 lives), allowing him to eke out those few extra points.  That way, no one could possibly outscore him (unless someone finds a way past the kill screen).

 

Watch Dwayne Richard's half-assed documentary on YT called The Perfect Fraudman which includes interviews with Bill Bastable, Rick Fothergill and others.  Very eye-opening, even though it is low budget and has low production values.

[Cynicaster]

I've been following the TG dispute thread for several weeks now.  I don't know why... I guess it's just the "trainwreck syndrome" where you can't help but check in to see what's happening.

 

It's clear that Billy Mitchell is an asshole... I can't believe how badly he has manipulated so many people.  

 

The absolute most cringe-worthy moment in that 300+ page thread was when Billy Mitchell crony Joel West (of Chasing Ghosts weirdo fame, quote: "You can teach a monkey to play a certain number of rooms, but you can't teach a man to play Berzerk.") swooped in at the 11th hour with a pathetic, long-winded word salad laced with misrepresented facts, insults, and even threats of legal action against TG and the community for defamation of Billy's character.  Seriously dude, you're like 70 years old... step away from the arcade boys' club and channel that passion toward spending time with your grandkids or something.  

[Lauren Tyler]

I was initially surprised, but now hearing more about Billy Mitchell, I have to say this was definitely deserved.

[Dauber]

Bill Bastable did it (more than once) in the 80s.  The reason Billy got credit was because he broke a "gentleman's agreement" among the top Pac-Man players to compete for that honor live, but Billy jumped ahead and did it earlier.  In addition, Billy gets credit because the settings were changed from factory (3 lives) to max (5 lives), allowing him to eke out those few extra points.  That way, no one could possibly outscore him (unless someone finds a way past the kill screen).

Did Bill B. do it with factory defaults, or 5 lives + extra?

And I find it interesting that TG currently doesn't track default settings on Pac-Man. I'll have to see if I have enough points to create a new track.

[Greg2600]

The entire competitive genre is ugly.  The old Twin Galaxies website was a total mess.  They had 600,000 categories, with like 1 score a piece.  You had that crackpot with hundreds of VHS tapes he had to watch night and day.  Then you had competing, competing scoreboards.  This was like 10+ years ago, and I was like, what in the hell is this????  I wanted nothing to do with this. 

 

Then I saw King of Kong, Chasing Ghosts, High Score, and other docs (stretch I know), and found the personalities and the travails, and whatnot interesting.  I said, hmmm, these guys are all insane, but this is entertaining.  Again, to a man, few of them had any credibility to me, but again, I found them entertaining.  Shortly after that, you had the cavalcade of You Tube videos featuring other nutcases complaining, bitching, and dispelling the films.  To me, these figures seemed like UFO chasers, just crazy. 

 

Again, I find little interest in the genre.  Standing at an arcade machine for 24, 36, 48 hours, is not compelling at all.  It's insane and ridiculous.  To argue over chipsets on a board, emulation, number of lives, all this other craziness is simply mindboggling.  Games were made to have fun with, and this isn't fun.  These players are not having fun.  Some have complained that their genre should be lumped in with e-sports.  While I'm not a fan of e-sports either, at least those are true competitions, like other sports.  Or even like the old Nintendo World's.  The marathon playing to me, plain bonkers.  But at least Billy found a way to make some $ at it, surely can't call him crazy for that.

[ColecoGamer]

With this ruling Twin Galaxies can no longer recognize Billy Mitchell as the 1st million point Donkey Kong record holder. According to our findings, Steve Wiebe would be the official 1st million point record holder.

[Uncle Duke]

Twin Galaxies is a goofy, self obsessed organisation. All their weirdo cronies trying to dig up dirt on Wiebe never bothered to investigate their chode poster boy.

By the way there's a Donkey Kong kill screen coming up. 

[Greg2600]

Best way I can liken it was when WWE tried to sheepishly erase Hulk Hogan from it's own history.  It's embarrassing.  Like the NCAA taking away wins from 10 years ago. 

[Uncle Duke]

Best way I can liken it was when WWE tried to sheepishly erase Hulk Hogan from it's own history.  It's embarrassing.  Like the NCAA taking away wins from 10 years ago. 

 

I would say the key difference here is Hulk Hogan never cheated (because its staged entertainment) and his controversies weren't related to the WWE. As Mitchell is more than likely a fraud on most counts, I'd say it's pretty wise to assume that few to none of his high scores that weren't publicly witnessed can be trusted. My issue with Twin Galaxies is it's too little too late, they're already a shifty operation. 

[H.E.R.O.]

Ironic TG doing this when they covered his ass for decades

[VectorGamer]

[VectorGamer]

Ironic TG doing this when they covered his ass for decades

 

Different ownership. Different adjudication process.

[Greg2600]

 

Richie, Billy, and Walter Day promoting live Midwest Gaming Expo appearance.  LOL

[RockyRaccoon]

Douchebags gonna douche...

 

I'd like to say "good riddance" but I have the sinking suspicion that this drama is just the next plot twist in an upcoming King of Kong 2 movie.

 

King of Kong 2: KONG HARDER.

 

More seriously, wow. The higher you are the harder you fall, and fall and fall. :-/.

Edited by RockyRaccoon, Thu Apr 12, 2018 2:23 PM.

[atari181]

Nothing makes me happier, I have been following this and figured TG would do nothing. I am very surprised and happy to see they did the right thing. Billy is a cheating dick. His hot sauce sucks too.

[Jin]

Outside of the fact that some of his scores may have been achieved in MAME rather than on an original arcade PCB was there any evidence of actual cheating found? As in the game running faster or slower than normal, extra points being awarded, etc.?

[atari181]

Outside of the fact that some of his scores may have been achieved in MAME rather than on an original arcade PCB was there any evidence of actual cheating found? As in the game running faster or slower than normal, extra points being awarded, etc.?

seeing how you can stop and save your progress in MAME, yes there is proof he cheated . That is why MAKE has its own category. The fact that he used MAME and continually said he was using real hardware proves he is a piece of shit and knew exactly what he had done.

Is he a gaming legend? Yes, of course. Can you trust any of his scores as being legit? Hell No!

[DZ-Jay]

seeing how you can stop and save your progress in MAME, yes there is proof he cheated . That is why MAKE has its own category. The fact that he used MAME and continually said he was using real hardware proves he is a piece of shit and knew exactly what he had done.

Is he a gaming legend? Yes, of course. Can you trust any of his scores as being legit? Hell No!

 

But didn't he achieve some of those live, with witnesses?  Surely at least those deserve to remain...

[DZ-Jay]

On another note, I really expected this being AtariAge, a retro-gaming forum and all that, I was expecting this thread to be 25 pages by now.  Instead, it's the second thread I find on the topic with barely a handful of posts.

 

Where's the gaming nerd-rage?  Where's the self-righteous umbrage?  

[Jin]

seeing how you can stop and save your progress in MAME, yes there is proof he cheated . That is why MAKE has its own category. The fact that he used MAME and continually said he was using real hardware proves he is a piece of shit and knew exactly what he had done.
Is he a gaming legend? Yes, of course. Can you trust any of his scores as being legit? Hell No!

But weren't all the scores in question performed in front of live audiences and/or video taped? That kind of negates the ability to stop and save your progress.