Vidiots Collide
Early one Sunday morning in November of 1982, eighteen of the world's best video game players were invited to the Twin Galaxies Arcade in Ottumwa, Iowa to compete in the world's first documented video game tournament and to pose alongside the Ottumwa High cheerleaders for Life Magazine's 1982 edition of Year in Pictures. Not only did these champions succeed in preserving this historic occasion for posterity, but they also managed to set longstanding world records during the event. Of particular note, video game icon Billy Mitchell, who later went on to achieve a perfect score in Pac-Man and to head Rickey's World Famous Hot Sauce, was in attendance and reached Donkey Kong's infamous "kill screen" on level 22. Other attendees also went on achieve studendous heights: Leo Daniels later made a website with an actual roaring lion and pictures of his 2001 Chrysler LHS Sport; Eric Ginner and Mark Robichek teamed up to form the highly lucrative Actual Entertainment Company and create Gubble, a video game that no one has ever heard of.
Alas, all is not well in the world of video game record holders. Twin Galaxies is still the official electronic gaming record keeper that is largely funded by Billy Mitchell and all his hot sauce money. Some record holders are apparently getting the shaft because of Mr. Mitchell's personal vendettas. In particular, Roy Shildt, a.k.a. Mr. Awesome, the world record holder of Missle Command and Paul Dean , the record holder for Spy Hunter, have both had their titles stripped because of this nefarious institution. The sordid affair is laid out in agonizing detail.
i still play defender at least once a week
Does this mean that I am not the rightful holder of the title Mr. Awesome?
Posted by:
samuelad on August 26, 2004 09:25 AM
if any of the music swap people would like to be able to play any of these games, and many more, let me know and i will include on my 'bonus disc' everything u need to play them on ur computer.
Apparently, we just can't get enough of this stuff.
Posted by:
melissa on August 26, 2004 06:45 PM
Doh! I missed that one. I feel like such a heel.
Posted by:
jimoto on August 26, 2004 10:56 PM
Upon further review I am convinced that I need to buy the The Comic Book Life of Mr. Awesome. This looks like it could rival one of those David McCullough bios.
Posted by:
samuelad on August 26, 2004 11:34 PM
D'oh! Now I feel like a heel for making you feel like a heel! It's not like your post was indentical to the other one - in fact, it was completely different. The two posts together make for damn fine posting!
I am slowly but surely making my way through your last link (the bulletin boards about Mr. Awesome and Paul Dean's titles being stripped). Good stuff.
Posted by:
melissa on August 27, 2004 10:15 AM
D'oh! Now I spelled "d'oh" wrong. Not only am I a hack that can't spell, I'm a plagiarizing hack that can't spell. I got in too big a hurry to give y'all something lighthearted because my last post was such a downer.
Posted by:
jimoto on August 27, 2004 12:22 PM
Here's a brief HTML Primer