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The King of Kong: A new record may be set at Microsoft's Conference!

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At this very moment I am watching the final minutes of the movie “The King of Kong, A Fistful of Quarters.” I have heard good things about this movie for several months. I have seen ads on TV, reviews on websites, and now the movie has even been placed on the Xbox Live Video Marketplace. Major Nelson even mentioned it in a podcast a few weeks ago.

Why is this important? What does this have to do with the Xbox 360? Twenty four hours from now, at Microsoft’s MIX08 Conference, in Las Vegas, Steve Wiebe (one of the guys in the movie) will be attempting to set yet another world record. Rather than attending a multi day venue, he intends to attempt this new record in a four hour period. That gives him, technically, less time than 2 play-throughs of Donkey Kong would take.

The following information (and the picture above) is from the Twin Galaxies website:

Steve Wiebe Attempts Donkey Kong Record
Walter Day to referee High-Score Attempt at Microsoft’s MIX08 in Las Vegas
3/4/2008
March 3, 2008 — Las Vegas, NV — Noted Donkey Kong competitor, Steve Wiebe, of Redmond, Washington, rolls up his sleeves at The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas on the night of March 5th and tries to make history by taking back the highly-coveted Donkey Kong Crown.

Right now, Steve and the equally-as-famous Billy Mitchell, are running neck-and-neck on the high-score circuit, with Billy currently in the lead with 1,050,200 points to Steve’s 1,049,100 points. With only 1,100 points separating them, Steve poses a serious threat to take back the world title.

And, in the referee’s outfit, performing Master of Ceremonies duties, is Walter Day, Twin Galaxies’ Chief Evangelist, who will monitor Steve’s record-breaking attempt while ensuring that the strictest Twin Galaxies Tournament Settings are enforced.

The event takes place during Microsoft’s TAO NIGHTCLUB PARTY from 6:00pm to10:00pm in The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino. Hosted by Microsoft, the high-score challenge is one of the cultural highlights of this year’s MIX08 gathering, an annual techological smorgasbord titled MIX08: THE NEXT WEB NOW.

The Mix08 conference will also play host to a one of a kind Rock Band tournament this weekend. But, really, who cares when there’s a world record at stake!?

To step back a bit, I have heard people think that this movie is good, and others that think it’s horrible. Maybe it’ll just make you feel good that you have a little more substance to your life. Maybe it will make you question the motives of men retiring at age 30, without a girlfriend, so that they can spend time playing 1980’s arcade games, maybe it’ll make you wonder how Billy Mitchell fits in those jeans, or if Steve Wiebe really should wear a purple shirt when he teaches junior high science classes… who knows. But the thing I want to make you think right now is… maybe I should go watch this! Screenings at MIX08, downloadable on Xbox Live Video Marketplace, and generally just something every true gamer should see just once. Get to it!

Halo 3 Championship Tournament to begin March 11th…

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It looks like Bungie has concocted a way to compete with all of the top of the line games coming out over the next two months. A tournament of unparalleled scope. Open to players in the U.S. (except Vermont and Maryland, for some reason??), the tourment details can all be found on Xbox.com.

The following information is from the website:
Register via Xbox LIVE Marketplace by downloading the free Halo 3 US Championship Gamer Picture before March 17. To download the Gamer Picture:
Sign in to Xbox LIVE Marketplace
Select Game Store
Select Themes and Gamer Pictures
Select All Gamer Pictures
Select U.S. Army & Halo 3
Select Halo 3 U.S. Championship Gamer Picture and select Confirm Download

The tourney will be comprised of three rounds, culminating in an 8 man. The top eight players from the semi-finals round will meet on or around May 3, 2008, to compete in the Championship Round of the Tournament on-site in New York City.

Put down that Grand Theft Auto IV, soldier… there’s Halo 3 to be played, prizes to be won, and celebrity status to be established! At least, that’s what Bungie wants you to think!

[update 1] Best Buy and others drop HD-DVD drive to $50: 3 more days, 5 free movies!

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I bought mine. How about you?

Best Buy – $50.
KMart – $50.
Amazon.com – officially holding @ $65, but the “used and new” category has them for $50.
Circuit City still quotes $129.99, but the in store manager on duty has the power to price match, as long as you can show that it isn’t a “sale” price by the competitor (i.e. Best Buy), but a new low price.

What are you waiting for? There are pleanty of good HD-DVD’s, and it’s not like they’ll suddenly stop working – they’ll just end up in the bargain bin soon! 😉

[Update 1]: Special thanks to DeaconBlade 360 for pointing this link out to me. If your purchase receipt is dated between October 1, 2007 and February 28, 2008, you qualify for 5 free HD-DVD’s, as long as you send in the paperwork by March 31st, 2008. That’s 3 more days to make up your mind if you think this is a good deal.

I also intend to test the PC compatability of the HD-DVD add on. I hear it works in Windows!

Slow in the wake of GDC? Let's catch up…

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I admit, my posting has been a bit lacking after GDC. I have been crushed with work, and various technical problems with hardware at home (seems like everything from my laptop to my cell phone turned on me this week!). But that’s no reason for you to suffer, is it? This post is going to be a bit more editorial in fashion, just trying to cover a broad range of topics.

X3F: Misguided April Fool’s looks foolish?
So, after this weeks fiasco of Ask X3F (Xbox 360 Fanboy), there has been a small community backlash. It seems it’s a bit early for April Foolery. Many people found humor in the moment, but a lot of others were disgusted when Dustin hijacked the segment and intentionally tainted the image of many X3F’ers. “My Ask X3F hijacking is going to be rude, crude and so very un-helpful (is that even a word?),” he wrote. A user by the name of Graham even commented “X3F lost a lot of credibility when David Dreger left.” His comment was voted down, but I can’t help but think that, no matter how light and humorous the intention was, that a “professional blog” (if there is such a thing?) such as one under the umbrella of Joystiq should never intetionally “ruffle feathers” like this.

Gears of War 2: Where’ve you been all my life?
People have been suggesting that Gears 2 feels “rushed.” Well, fear not. Much like the first Gears, portions of the game are being “contracted out” to partner developer teams (certain multiplayer game types, map designs, etc… [side note: man I wish Psyonix would get a better webmaster!]).

CliffyB’s announcement that the first game was “a set up” to introduce you to the Gears universe is quite believable. While Gears 2 may feel rushed, if it were planned quite a while ahead, it could potentially live up to all things expected of it. Remember, the engine may have changed, and they may update a few textures and what have you, but for the most part, the game is built. It’s running on the same hardware, which they’ve already pushed the limits of once, expecting them to do so again is maybe expecting too much. Still, with some fine tuned mechanics and an even more involved story line, we are entitled to expect a lot from Gears 2!

LucasArts: Thank you.
Yes, we all know about Force Unleashed, but I would like to bring to your attention another LucasArts game that was recently announced and completely overlooked, Fracture. The story line is a little rough, but should prove to entertain. The game has the graphics and the setting that makes you feel like you are early in the history of the Mass Effect universe. And with their new “terrain deformation” mechanic, I think this game is going to be extremely entertaining. Oh, and incase there isn’t enough linkage today, here’s just one more for Fracture.