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Billy Mitchell ain't no 'son of a gun,' ex-champ speaks on King of Kong
Billy "Video Game Player of the Century" Mitchell has broken his silence, speaking out against the documentary The King of Kong, which casts the former Donkey Kong high score holder as the film's villain. "I guess they paint me as a son of a gun," reflects Mitchell, who hasn't seen the movie. He guesses right.Mitchell and cohorts recently spoke to MTV about Seth Gordon's reality-based film. Gordon and crew whittled away more than 300 hours of footage to forge a playful drama detailing Donkey Konger Steve Wiebe's journey to the top of the record books -- all, of course, at the expense of Mitchell's image. And, according to former Twin Galaxies referee Robert Mruczek, The King of Kong is also "full of holes." For example, Mitchell and Wiebe had rubbed shoulders back in 2004 (before the documentary was filmed), during the Classic Gaming Expo -- they even played Donkey Kong! Whereas, the film implies that Mitchell has avoided almost all public interaction with Wiebe and has shied away from playing Donkey Kong in his rival's presence. More surprising is that Billy Mitchell wasn't even the Donkey King high score holder at the time shooting for the movie began. That honor had belonged to no-name Tim Sczerby, who is conspicuously absent from Gordon's film.It's easy to confuse documentary filmmaking with fact-based accounts. But don't be fooled, these cost-effective movies can be just as contrived as VH1's next B-list reality gimmick. Unfortunately, the "actors" can end up being the victims. But maybe Mitchell should heed a friend's advice and cash in on his new reputation. America loves its villains ( ...and loves to pay to see 'em villainate).
He's finally back to kick some tail
DK! Donkey Kong! DK! Donkey Kong is here! Sorry, we can't think about Donkey Kong anymore without the DK Rap blaring in our heads. Much like how Rare permanently left their mark on DK through his character design, the rap has been irrevocably stuck to the character. Having the horrifying song stuck in our heads is the price we pay for playing Donkey Kong 64 or Super Smash Bros. Melee. Luckily, scanned images don't have audio tracks, so we can live without fear of coconut guns that can fire in spurts.Jeux-France has some magazine scans of Donkey Kong Jungle Climber, the sequel to the GBA's King of Swing, and it looks as good as any game that features a giant talking banana as a character, which is to say it looks excellent. And they kept the shoulder-button control scheme instead of tacking on a touch-screen system! Good Nintendo.%Gallery-3481%
Dragon Quest, Super Mario, Boy and Girl in Itadaki Street DS
Itadaki Street DS apparently didn't have enough characters to choose from-- the entire Mario and Dragon Quest casts are just too limiting, you know? Besides, nobody can relate to wacky characters like a plumber and a plumber's brother, who is also a plumber. Square Enix has nicely included some characters who will do less to draw players' attention away from the serious business of strategic board game play: "Boy" and "Girl." They look just like we would if we were three feet tall and didn't have noses!We've got some screens of Boy and Girl, and of Itadaki Street in general, after the break. And check the link for character art and a few board layouts.
Joystiq review: The King of Kong (film)
Truth is stranger than fiction. And while it needs to be threaded by a capable hand, even Donkey Kong can be woven into a compelling canvas that examines the comically-profound idiosyncrasies that drive human competition. The King of Kong, director Seth Gordon's first feature, is a remarkable film that documents the little-seen niche of competitive gaming, as waged on '80s-era, coin-op arcade machines. "That ape is very, very cunning, and he will do what he needs to, to stop you," warns a Funspot regular, squeezed into a t-shirt emblazoned with a geeky kung fu joke. The same could be said of Billy Mitchell, the film's antagonist, a blown-dry Machismo americanus and heir to the Rickey's World Famous [Hot] Sauce empire. Mitchell (above), whose 3-letter high score handle (typically one's initials) is U-S-A (notice the Liberty tie?), is stiff and threatening, at least to the mild-mannered circle he maintains a firm grip on. He regards his "Video Game Player of the [20th] Century" title as a symbol of patriotic heroism. Speaking of symbols, Mitchell's wife's cleavage is paraded on screen like a tangible manifestation of his ballooned ego, which is predictably deflated by Gordon's touching narrative of the first true challenger of the Donkey Kong high score; a score set by Mitchell more than two decades ago.
'The big three' ARE coming in 2007 (to Japan)
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Nintendo confirmed that they do in fact plan to release Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3 Corruption, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl by the end of this year, as well as pretty much every Nintendo game announced for the Wii. This corroborates an IGN report to the same effect, and is also totally, totally rad. Here's the full list of Nintendo's planned 2007 releases. Donkey Kong Taru Jet Race is slated for June 28, and the rest are all "2007": Donkey Kong Taru Jet Race Wii Health Pack Disaster: Day of Crisis Mario Party 8 Project H.A.M.M.E.R. Wii Music Super Mario Galaxy Super Smash Bros. Brawl Battalion Wars II Forever Blue Mario Strikers Charged Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games Keep checking with us for news of the inevitable delays of about half of these. Seriously, that's a lot of first-party Nintendo games for just half a year or so. Aw, we just made ourselves sad with our own skepticism. Still, if half of this stuff does get released in Japan this year, it'll be great news and do a pretty good job of ending any drought that may or may not be happening.Update: fixed some italics and formatting.
Homemade Donkey Kong clock
Idle hands are the Devil's playthings ... or they end up making some pretty neat crafts. In this case, Will D'Angelo of TheWiicast.com, made a pretty nifty homage to Donkey Kong with this clock. The timepiece combines images easily found using a Google search -- in this case Donkey Kong and Big Mario from Super Paper Mario -- with some basic materials from a craft store. D'Angelo says you need, with approximate costs: Clock kit from Michaels craft store ($8) The vintage sign kit, which includes a shallow frame and plywood backing ($1) Tube of acrylic black paint ($1.75) Replacement hands for clock kit ($3) Clear matte spray ($5) The most expensive part of the project is probably purchasing the glossy photo-quality paper to print out the images, which D'Angelo already had around. He was thinking his next attempt would be a Centipede style clock. Now that he's done it once he has a recommendation for other people attempting the same style clock, "I would suggest to make it easier to pick up one of those cheapy wallpaper rollers for the air bubbles so that you don't touch it with your hands." A nice gamer craft project with lots of image possibilities.
DK Bongo Blast's bothersome controls
It was obvious that Donkey Kong Bongo Blast would abandon the bongo peripheral when it migrated from the GameCube to the Wii, but details on how the racing game will use the Wii remote weren't revealed until late last week. Players will shake their remotes and nunchucks at the same time to accelerate, rattle one of the controllers when steering to the left or right, and lift both pieces to jump. This modified control setup makes a lot of sense, but does it sound fun? In our opinion, this seems like it would have been better left on the GameCube. It'd be appreciated if developer Paon would give us the choice to use our old bongos, but with no mention of the option yet for the, it's doubtful.
Rare on Banjo VC: "It's possible"
In a response to a young Rare fan's letter posted in their Scribes column, Rare discussed the possibility of some of their franchises coming over to the Virtual Console. The Donkey Kong Country sequels are likely, because Donkey Kong is a Nintendo-owned property. But games starring Diddy Kong, the Rare-created pal of DK, are not as clear-cut.The main focus of the letter was Banjo-Kazooie, which is a Rare-owned property. The Rare "scribe" diplomatically said that "it's possible" for Banjo games to appear either on the VC or on the Xbox 360 Live Arcade. Our advice? Don't wait for any N64 games to come to VC, because they are slow in arriving.[Via Play-Nintendo]
Nintendo holds key to franchise longevity, profitability
As noted earlier, a list published by UK newspaper The Independent reveals what many already assume; Nintendo's Mario is the best-selling franchise of all time. Coupled with the second best-selling franchise Pokémon (also a Nintendo property), the two series, which have sold a combined 348 million games worldwide, account for nearly 34% of the total sales of the top-twenty best-selling franchises; which include two additional Nintendo IPs ranked in the top ten, Donkey Kong and Zelda. So what's Nintendo's secret?Cross-culture appeal, spin-offs (e.g., racers, sports titles, puzzlers), brand saturation (e.g., apparel, card games, TV shows), and E-ratings all appear part of a profitable formula built for the long haul.
8-bit graphic goodness for your desktop
Freaky Fonts has a collection of retro-gaming wallpaper images up on their site which prove that simplicity can still kick butt. These work really well because they aren't so busy that your icons get lost in the background, plus they look snazzy to boot. When's the last time you had an image from H.E.R.O. on your computer? What about Super Zaxxon? Dang, time to fire up MAME for some gaming.Check out the whole set of eleven here, and decorate your desktop to your heart's content. Got a favorite video game desktop image? Tell us about it.
Joystiq on the Video Game Awards yellow carpet
Warning: video is NSFW Joystiq attended Spike TV's 2006 Video Game Awards last week, and here's the video to prove it. We literally had to shove our way into our designated spot at the press line and jockey for position with other outlets like Hustler and The Greater Cuyahoga News-Press. Once we were set, we asked the hard-hitting questions that have been on gamers' minds for some time. Some highlights: Joe Rogan literally going insane on camera talking about virtual reality Mark Ecko talking about Britney Spears' underwear allergy Samuel L. Jackson not popping us in the face One word of warning, the video isn't safe for work by a long shot. Joe Rogan uses some very colorful language near the end that has to be seen to be believed ... then again, maybe not. It is Joe Rogan after all. The 2006 Video Game Awards air tonight on Spike TV. Tune in if you want to see Sam Jackson drop some F-bombs, Stewie Griffin insult Sam, and Sarah Silverman insult every gamer in the world. The best thing about it is the Burning Crusade opening cinematic that premieres during the show. That and the skits about the motion-capture guy. Nothing is funnier than jokes about balls, right? Alternatively, you could also go back and start beating Gears of War on insane. The night is yours!
Playing Nintendo's Donkey Kong on Sony's PS3
Since Nintendo's Virtual Console service isn't live, we decided to do the next best thing: fire up a Flash version of Donkey Kong inside the PlayStation 3's web browser. Sites like everyvideogame.com require Java, so we had to settle for a Flash implementation. Even though the PS3 browser's Flash implementation churns though YouTube video like butter, it has some difficulty with most of the web games we tried. Take this version of Donkey Kong, where our poor Jumpman has managed to get himself stuck in the first ten seconds of gameplay. We'll wait for the VC version, thanks.
LEGO + CGI + stop motion animation + Donkey Kong
There are few certainties in life, but we're confidant that one of them is that the combination of LEGOs, CGI, stop motion animation, and Donkey Kong will always result in wonder and joy. BitFlicks is a newly formed repository of like-minded videos, released weekly, all following the same basic recipe, replacing Donkey Kong with Mario (not Jumpman, see), Space Invaders, or a funny conversation about the relative merits of the PlayStation 3 and the Wii.We bet you're wondering exactly how these are made. Mr. BitFlicks isn't about to reveal the man behind the curtain, but he has thrown us this bone: they're "a mix of stop motion animation, LEGO and CGI. We start with an effect or an idea and then determine what approach will yield the best result, so the exact method used to create individual animations will differ." We understand, secret sauce and all that.
Happy Birthday Mario!
September 13 is the 'birthday' of everyone's favorite plumber, and Nintendo's not letting September pass without a little recognition. Two new DS games this month feature Mario and company: the highly anticipated Mario Hoops 3 on 3 and the offbeat Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis. Salut! And many happy returns.Mario Hoops is scheduled for release next week, and March of the Minis follows two weeks later. If only every month could be September.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 site
A miniature marching army that reminds us of the ballet, The Nutcracker (insert random, silly joke here), combined with Mario himself to get temper tantrum throwing Donkey Kong off his high horse sounds like a boat load of fun to us. We can't wait to get our hands on Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Mini's and to hold us over is a web site. The site doesn't have much to it other than a trailer and a slide show of pic's but that'll do for now. Take a look for yourself and rev-up to help out Mario. [Via DS-x2]
Real life Kong: Oh, if only it were true
Over in Brooklyn, New York, there's a particular park that is situated beside the über-hipster area Williamsburg. The park, called McCarren Park, has seen some construction sprout up around it and some people ain't too pleased (you see, they want to remain low-key in their hipster ways). So in response, some lovely man, Steve Ingkavet to be more specific, has created this photo based on the construction that looms. But really, all this does for us is beg the question: How awesome would it be to be taking your daily stroll through the park and see Donkey Kong about to lay down the law on Mario with a barrel full of punishment?
80s instructional LP for conquering games
The antecedent to all those tips and tricks magazines can be found in this obscure LP from the 80s: Conquer the Video Craze: How to Beat the Hottest Games. In it, "Atari Champion finalist" Curtis Hoard reads off -- in a stultifyingly slow monotone -- the techniques he's used to earn him that honorific. Sluggo at Dinosaur Gardens has not only found this retro artifact, but he's converted it into MP3 for our enjoyment edification. Learn strategies for: Centipede, Defender, Stargate, Dig Dug, Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Tempest. Wait, Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man? [Via Boing Boing]
Donkey Kong Bongo Blast release notes
What? A brand new Donkey Kong bongo game for the Nintendo Gamecube shows up, and Nintendo doesn't even bother to show it off on their show floor? We realize that the Gamecube is on its way out, but robbing us of the opportunity to play another DK bongo game is downright criminal. The new game features aerial racing, with DK and the crew tilting and turning in response to your brutal bongo bashing. It's no Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat 2 (Wii version, please), but we'll take it. From the official fact sheet:"Donkey Kong and his pals have gotten their mitts on some high-powered Barrel Jets – incredible engines that boost when struck by a pilot. By beating on the DK Bongos controller, players can make their character swoop up, bank side to side and launch attacks on rivals."Check out the video here.
The History of Gaming at E3
Kentia Hall is showcasing the history of gaming with classic arcade booths that attendees can try for free. Click below to check out our collection of photos from the display.
Nintendo-themed Goldberg contraption
A college kid created this animation for a class project and submitted it to Professor Joystiq. We give the young man a gentleman's C for incomplete physics modeling, but an A for conceptual development. Very clever opening and closing sounds, especially. First response to list all of the games in this video wins glory for the duration of this post's existence on the internet. (While we're on the subject of Goldbergian machinima, be sure to check out this oldie but goodie.)
