Gone off or what?

by Phil Day

Those were the days.

Recently (last weekend in fact) I was in New Jersey at Richie Knucklez video game arcade for the first, and what sounds like will be, the annual Kong Off. An incentive put together by Richie Knucklez and Billy ‘Video Game Player of the Century’ Mitchell. Together they invited the top Donkey Kong players in North America to compete against each other on Donkey Kong. For those who like classic arcade games I’m confident they would have enjoyed this event immensely. I know I did, but I was disappointed by one thing. I was really hoping someone would bury Donkey Kong. Probably a bit naïve of me, now that I have a better sense of the difficulty of this game, Donkey Kong simply refuses to lay down and die.

The weekend played out in an order of event that seemed equally as random as the barrel board. The first Kill Screen was reached by Eric Howard, not Hank Chien, Steve Wiebe, or Billy Mitchell. I say this not to put these three champs down, I’m simply pointing out how surprising this game can be. For example, Wiebe was on about 600,000 points and hadn’t lost a man. Then, he lost all four men on the same stage, he still managed the second highest score at the Kong Off – Hank Chien finished first. No one passed a million points, but I remember seeing many score over the 800,000 mark (or very close to it). Which got me thinking: not that long ago, wasn’t 800,000 a really high score on Donkey Kong? Of course it still is, but seemingly not anymore when it comes to the top ten players in North America (which in the case of Donkey Kong means the whole world). So I thought I’d visit The Twin Galaxies International Scoreboard to have a look-see at how high some players have climbed over the last five or so years – mistake right there. The Twin Galaxies web site has been changed. I clicked on ‘scoreboard’, then I was asked to ‘browse by letter’ so I clicked on ‘D’. I now could see 1 to 14 titles beginning with the letter ‘D’, but there were another 4516 titles. So I clicked ‘O’ thinking I might have to spell it out. … nothing … nothing … still, nothing. Finally, the site delivers ‘O’Riley’s Mine’ or some such game. What happened? Is this an improvement on the score-board? I'd have more luck navigating through the barrel board. I gave up. Thus ends this article. Game Over. 

Cooee teaser

‘Cooee’ is a shout used in Australia to attract attention. It is often used to find people lost in the bush, and the lost person in the bush to indicate their location often uses it. ‘Cooee’ is originally an Australian Aboriginal word meaning ‘come here’. 

So, if you are involved in gaming in anyway, we at BONUSLIFE: EXTENDED PLAY would love to hear what you have to say, and possibly organize an interview with you for our documentary that has already begun production.

Know anyone who has devoted a good chunk of their life to the betterment of Video Game culture?

By Phil Day

Walter Day

With the Oscars over members of the public are now invited to nominate video game related people to the International Video Game Hall of Fame (IVGHOF) selection committee for the Class of 2011. The Class of 2010 included the Xbox Design Team, Masaya Nakamura (founded Namco), Shigeru Miyamoto (the Creator of Donkey Kong), and a string of top gamers: Paul Dean, Ken House, Andrew Laidlaw, Steve Wiebe, Perry Rodgers, Johnathan ‘Fatal1ty’ Wendel, just to name a few. I didn’t submit any nominations last year, but I have submitted my nominations for the Class of 2011. There are five categories: Gamers, Games, Contributions to the Industry, The Industry Designers, and the Lifetime Achievement Award

The Life Time Achievement Award caught my attention the most. Last year it deservingly went to Walter Day. Can’t imagine anyone would argue that he couldn’t have been more fitting. So who’s going to get it this year? I spoke to the Liz Bolinger, IVGHOF Board member and Secretary of the Board (and Just Dance and Just Dance 2 World Champion) how the panel selects who deserves to be honored the most.

“The IVGHOF voting panel is made up of volunteers, about eight previous inductees, and about 15 journalists, basically people who don’t have a conflict of interest. There are already over 250 nominations the selection panel have to look through which is made up of a good mix of classic arcade gamers and a lot of early console gamers, but not so much newer consoles, and not so many PC gamers so far. The selection panel will be looking for gamers who are trying to do something good with video games so future generations of gamers will have role models with good tendencies. Billy Mitchell is good example. He has used his success as a gamer to give back. He has spent a lot of time and money to help with many gaming events, granted it promotes his sauce, but it also promotes video gaming.”

Fatal1ty fragging me with his IVGHOF trophy

But I had to ask Liz that surely a person's merit as a gamer or game developer was more important to the IVGHOF than whether or not they went to church or gave money to charities.

“Of course their affect on the gaming world will be looked at more than their behavior in the gaming community, but the IVGHOF’s is taking the similar approach to National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Take Pete Rose betting against his own team. His conduct is deserving of him never to be inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame. The IVGHOF want to induct those for having done something really good in gaming, not liars and cheats.”

I have to admit I like this. It doesn’t mean that a gamer who is brilliant won’t be recognized for their skill – they’ll still get their recognition through world records and the like, but if they are dubious in character they simply won’t make it into the IVGHOF.

I had to ask who Liz hoped would make it into the Class of 2011.

Liz Bolinger playing Just Dance

“I really want to see Tim McVey get inducted as a gamer. Obviously he’s known for his Nibbler score, but he’s played plenty of other games, and he’s kept up with gaming, he kept playing games. He’s one of the reasons why I started going for world records. And I’d like the Life Time Achievement Award to go to Ralph Bear for inventing the home console Magnavox Odyssey.  There’s so many people out there who are deserving that will be overlooked because the selection panel don’t’ know about them, or they weren’t nominated. So it’s important that people nominate.”

By the way, Liz is not on the selection committee. But if the IVGHOF selection panel is made up of people like Liz, I’m confident we’ll see a Class of 2011 just as deserving as the Class of 2010.

Nominations close March 15, 2011, the IVGHOF will stop accepting nominations:

http://www.ivghof.com/bigbang/page.php?id=14

Okay, having asked Liz, I better give my nomination for the Life Time Achievement Award for the IVGHOF Class of 2011. I’d give it to James Rolfe AKA The Angry Video Game Nerd. Born in 1980, Rolfe started doing game reviews as a child in the late 80’s, in 2006 his game reviews (often angry rants about poor quality games) were posted on YouTube. Many of his post have a million plus views, some as high as 2.5 million views with thousands of comments. Rolfe’s short shows are entreating, often filled with pretend violence (just like video games), but always filled with swearing (just like video games, not so much in the game, but by the frustration of the player. I haven’t known a gamer who hasn’t swore from frustration with a video game), not that I’m nominating Rolfe for punching and swearing. No, I’m nominating for his insightful dissection of video games. Rolfe consistently addresses at the science and aesthetics of video gaming. He discusses how clumsy programming can hinder what would other wise be an enjoyable game, and equally he addresses the music and graphics and how they play an all too important role that shouldn’t be neglected. I can’t imagine that any game developer would dismiss his criticisms as naïve or ill-informed. Rolfe is a gamer and journalist who has studied video games in depth, and he has done so his entire life. But more importantly than anything else, his positive reviews, like his review of Super Castlevania IV (episode Angry Video Game Nerd: Castlevania Part III):

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/angry-video-screwattack/58496

James Rolfe AKA Angry Video Game Nerd

 The aforementioned episode was first published on 5th November 2009 since then this review has had over 1.1 million views and over 2000 comments, it is exactly the type of journalism that will continue to preserve and protect the posterity of video games for the future – exactly what the IVGHOF is also doing. Of those 1.1 million views, and 2000 comments, some one must have went and bought themselves a secondhand copy of Super Castlevania IV, and in doing so, they too, are keeping gaming of the past alive.

Father & Son Joust WR: Both-Up

By Phil Day

I first saw Joust when I was a little boy. I liked it then, and I like it now. It’s one of those rare video games that you really struggle with. It doesn’t have the easy response of Pac-Man where you press left on the joystick your Pac-Man will moved left, and if you need to suddenly change direction, you simply change direction, Pac-Man will respond. Pac-man is like running on dry grass, whereas the ostrich you steer in Joust is more like running on ice. You can’t simply stop and turn around. Your body weight wants to keep moving along the trajectory it’s going, for those who only play computer games, think Lunar Lander or Asteroids. But unlike like Lunar Lander, in Joust there are enemies, and unlike Asteroids, in Joust the enemy isn’t simply oscillating objects floating about aimlessly - the enemy targets you. Anyway, it’s a hard game. So it’s no surprise to say it’s a Williams game. Regardless, it has a new World Champion for Joust, and it’s not Donald Hayes, Perry Rodgers, John McAllister, or Pat Laffaye. These are the guys who have been topped by this new comer.


Isaiah Sanders was born in the early nineties; he’s about 18. Joust was released in 1982; ten years before Isaiah Sanders was born. The aforementioned champs have had a ten year start on Isaiah, and he plans to go further, and I believe he will. He has an excellent coach, his dad – Steve Sanders. It was together they set a new World record on Joust Doubles (the game allows you to play together as a team to obtain the highest score), but before you let the Diogenes of your mind get the better of you, let me explain. Steve’s score was over 400,000 points, Isaiah scored over 300,000 points. The total score 745,000. I’d like to add that Isaiah was still active in the game when the previous world record was beaten; a contentious point with many Joust enthusiasts, many believing the Joust Doubles score should end when one player has lost all their lives. Mark Sellers, classic arcade game enthusiast and owner of Stella’s Lounge and Arcade and ranked 6th best player in the world on Joust Marathon with a score of over 83 million, made the following remark on the Classic Arcade Gaming forum:


“Joust is more difficult with two players than it is with one. That's why it would be advantageous for a great player to have his partner die quickly. It then becomes a one-player game.”


I probably agree with Sellers. So may of these old games have been exploited and need the rules adjusted to keep competitive play alive (however, I’m fast learning that the politics of adjusting old rules to new game play is riddled with sour points), also, I’m not familiar enough with Joust to really comment.  What interests me more is Sellers remark “Joust is more difficult with two players."

Steve's score (SGS: 439,750) & Isaiah's score (ISS 305,250)

I spoke to both Isaiah and Steve about this. Isaiah doesn’t play much singles Joust, and Steve thought they were much the same, he is currently ranked 3rd on Joust Tournament with a score of 800,500 points, and he shares the previous world record on Joust Doubles with Donald Hayes with a combined score of 600,750 points (Hayes currently has the world record for Joust Tournament with a score of 1.4 million).  Sellers may be right about doubles Joust being more difficult than singles Joust. But he may also be wrong that it becomes easier if you let one player die and allow the other to continue. If this were the case, why is it that the doubles score is less than either of Steve Sanders or Hayes’s Joust Single tournament scores? Let me try and explain using chess theory.


In chess there is a tactic known as a ‘fork’, it’s when one piece threatens two opposing pieces at the same time, but the threatening piece is not under threat itself. Therefore the opponent can only save one of the two pieces. In chess we say the player is ‘forked’ (one of those rare moments where life imitates art). A similar tactic, from my understanding, takes place in Joust. In singles Joust the enemy tracks you, where you go they chase. But in doubles Joust this is somewhat scrambled. The enemy goes where you go, but because there are two of you on the screen the enemies can appear to be tracking one and suddenly be tracking another. Each enemy is like a train travelling on two potential tracks. Think of it this way. Imagine trying to group ghosts in Pac-Man if there were two Pac-Mans (or is that Pac-Man men?) on the screen. Each Pac-Man would be a force on the ghosts causing them to be pulled one way then another. Anyone who has ever tried to muster cattle, or round up sheep, or even catch a chook in a hen house, will know that the last thing you want in the paddock or hen house is someone who has no idea what they are doing. The livestock becomes completely confused, and worse still, the person who knows what they are doing becomes increasingly more frustrated. But this doesn’t explain whether the game returns to an easier behavior when one player is game over-ed. This is why Joust Doubles excites me. It’s an exciting thing for classic gaming. Exciting because so many of these old games seem to offer little new tactics, or have been exploited to the extreme. Here is a great title, a truly great classic game that the verdict isn’t out on yet. And what’s more, it is begging for an answer, but also, you need two skilled Joust players, and the Sanders Father & Son team is just that. Steve and Isaiah are hoping to reach the million well before the end of this year. I hope they do it, and I hope when they do it generates a bit more press, and in doing so stir up some Joust players hungry to prove a point.

Steve and Isaiah world champions on Doubles Joust

But before I congratulate Steve and Isaiah on their score, I’d like to point out that not many young players like Isaiah are setting world records on classic games in the age of Internet gaming. Those of us who are interested in such scores need to realize that it is the fresh younger players that the posterity of gaming has a future. To Isaiah, the classic video gaming world welcomes you with great thanks for your enthusiasm and terrific score, and to Steve, thanks again. Congratulations to you both.