Twin Galaxies is the official supplier of video game scores to the Guinness World Records books.
Twin Galaxies is the world authority on player rankings, gaming statistics and championship tournaments, with pinball statistics dating from the 1930s and video game statistics from the early 1970s.
OUR HISTORY
In 1951, Sir Hugh Beaver, then the managing director of the Guinness Brewery, realised that a book supplying the answers to this sort of question might prove popular. He was right!
Kong on the Strip - The Result
If you happened to be in Las Vegas last week and were out hunting for some glitzy Vegas-style video game world record-breaking action, The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino on March 5th between 6:00pm and 10:00pm was the place to be.
The game was Donkey Kong, and the challenge was for The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters star, Steve Wiebe, to beat 1,050,200 points achieved by legendary gamer and fellow King of Kong star Billy Mitchell.
Playing in front of a fluctuating crowd of 1,900 party attendees in the Venetian’s TAO Nightclub, Steve Wiebe made two attempts at the record, first scoring 929,800 points and reaching the "Kill Screen" and then 579,300 points on the second try. According to Twin Galaxies records, this is the sixth time someone has reached the "Kill Screen" during a public gaming performance (3 times by Billy Mitchell and 3 times by Steve Wiebe). During this run, Steve slowly fell off the pace for a world record score as Walter Day continually compared Steve's mounting score to the pace maintained by Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell during past games that reached or exceeded 1-million-points.
The second game saw Steve maintaining a higher scoring pace, ‘point-pressing’ at a rate that would have come close to a 1-million-point score. However, Steve's game lasted only until level 13-6, scoring 579,300 points. In Steve's first game, he held onto his first man until the 453,400-point-mark. In the second game, he first died at 326,000 points.
Steve performed under the watchful eye of Twin Galaxies Walter Day, who noted: "Possibly the biggest challenges Steve had to overcome were the loud nightclub music, the chaotic environment and the late hours."
This was an official, formal attempt at the Donkey Kong World Record and was hosted by MIX08, Microsoft's annual technology event. This year's Microsoft theme was titled "The Next Web."
Billy Mitchell, Steve Wiebe's rival for the world Donkey Kong title, demonstrated his professional support for Steve's daring attempt by producing a limited edition hot sauce bottle with the phrase: "Steve Wiebe Attempts Donkey Kong World Record." These bottles were given as gifts to the attendees during the event.
During Steve's gameplay, both games were videotaped in their entirety by Freeman AV and the gameplay was telecast throughout the entire nightclub on four 40" flat screen monitors. The ROMsets for the Donkey Kong game were verified by Jeffrey Kulcwycki, the creator of Donkey Kong II. The machine's functioning was completely checked out to ensure that the four-way joystick and jump button were working perfectly.
In the aftermath of this attempt, the two Donkey Kong stars still stand at 1,050,200 (Billy) and 1,049,100 (Steve), with only 1,100 points separating them. Neither player has yet revealed their next step.
Walter Day, Twin Galaxies
11th March 2008