As a general rule (which I’ve broken before), I try to keep this blog from being just a series of quick news updates, as opposed to deeper dives getting into the nitty-gritty of these topics. But today’s news is too awesome not to share right away. That’s right, notorious video game cheater Billy Mitchell has just lost another lawsuit.
This time, we’re talking about Billy’s frivolous lawsuit against Pac-Man champion David Race. I haven’t done a full breakdown of this lawsuit before now, relying on brief updates here and there. Ostensibly, this case was about phone calls David recorded while David was in Ohio, where it’s perfectly legal to record one’s own calls without the consent or knowledge of the other party. You may recall, David was previously a member of “Team Billy”, and assisted with Billy’s defense against the cheating allegations before David realized what a massive liar Billy had been all along. This ultimately led to David releasing some of his saved phone recordings, including the one exposing Billy’s wacky plot to present fake evidence for one of his contested Donkey Kong scores. Of course, when I said this case was “ostensibly” about phone recordings, what I mean is that this was really about Billy seeking revenge against David for switching sides and providing evidence for Twin Galaxies, with the matter of recording law being Billy’s opportunity to subject David to litigious harassment.
The judge at the lower level ruled in favor of Billy, allowing the case to proceed under Florida’s jurisdiction. In other words, Billy could sue David in Florida for allegedly violating Florida law while being in and residing in Ohio. This opened up a number of possibilities, including full discovery and depositions and such. But that process was halted by an appeal, which David won. The appeals court ruled Florida did not have jurisdiction to try David in Florida for his actions out of state. But of course, it didn’t end there. Billy appealed that ruling to the Florida State Supreme Court, leaving us waiting for another court decision for over a year.
This morning, that decision finally came down. You can read the whole ruling for yourself at the above link. There seems to have been a legal snafu in the way the case was brought to the Florida Supreme Court, where the circuit court presented an argument about one issue, but the appeals court settled something different. I’ll do my best to break all that down later. But the important passages are these:
We initially accepted jurisdiction to review the decision of the Fourth District Court of Appeal in Race v. Mitchell, 357 So. 3d 720 (Fla. 4th DCA 2023), based on a certified conflict. See art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const.; see also Fla. R. App. P. 9.030(a)(2)(A)(vi). After further consideration, and for the reasons that follow, we conclude that jurisdiction was improvidently granted. We therefore exercise our discretion, discharge jurisdiction, and dismiss this proceeding.
After describing the particulars of these legal conflicts, the author (along with concurrence of the rest of the court) reiterated their order to dismiss Billy’s lawsuit:
In the end, while this case presents many interesting issues, we conclude those issues are largely academic in the context of the unique procedural history of this case. As a result, we exercise our discretion, discharge jurisdiction, and dismiss this proceeding. It is so ordered.
Oh, and don’t miss this little bit at the end:
NO MOTION FOR REHEARING WILL BE ALLOWED.
In other words, no court in Florida is going to save Billy on this one.
I can’t tell you at this particular moment what options Billy may or may not have to appeal this ruling to an even higher court (assuming Billy could even afford such an appeal financially), but such a court would have to be on the federal level. Since federal law recognizes David’s right to record his phone calls without Billy’s consent, it seems highly unlikely Billy will get any more traction on this case.
And as if this wasn’t bad enough for Team Billy, we got this sweet, succinct ruling on Billy’s request for attorney fees as well:
Petitioner’s motion for attorney’s fees is hereby denied.
Again, I’ll do a full post-mortem on this case front to back, as soon as I feel like that would be more fun than catching up on Mega Man, lol. No seriously though, I will, but since I have the option to get this immediate news out right away, I’ll take the time to do that complete overview right. And I’ll attempt to tease apart the legal minutiae behind this ruling as best I can.
Either way, this is fantastic news. And this means Billy’s lawsuit against Karl Jobst in Australia is the final Billy Mitchell lawsuit on the current docket. There may actually be an end to this nonsense. We can hope.
Again, thanks very much for providing these updates ersatz! Look forward to the detailed breakdown.
I suppose I should ask the million dollar question; given that David was called to the stand as a witness and provided testimony for Karl’s proceedings, do you believe the outcome of this ruling of dismissal, in a jurisdiction on the other side of the world, will have an effect on Judge Barlow’s ruling?
“I can’t tell you at this particular moment what options Billy may or may not have to appeal this ruling to an even higher court (assuming Billy could even afford such an appeal financially), but such a court would have to be on the federal level. Since federal law recognizes David’s right to record his phone calls without Billy’s consent, it seems highly unlikely Billy will get any more traction on this case.”
Just to clarify because you’re a little off here.
Any appeal at this point would have to be to the US Supreme Court, and that appeal would have to be on the grounds that the state of Florida violated Billy’s constitutional rights in their decision.
There really isn’t anything here that he can appeal on. Due process would be the closest, but the reality is that Billy’s case here is DoA. Its done. Finito.
He can argue that the Florida courts misinterpreted International Shoe Co. v. Washington (the original SCOTUS case that gave us this “minimum contacts” rule to begin with), which theoretically would give him a basis for being in federal court. That is, unfortunately, a very complicated legal issue with a lot of weird and hard to interpret case law, so it is not at all obvious to me if Billy would be correct to make such an argument.
But the Supreme Court rejects over 90% of all appeals, so he probably loses anyway.
Scotus only hears about 100 of the 10,000 requests a year. They only grant certorari closer to about 1% of the cases. Scotus would likely not hear it.
Even if they did, Billy would lose. To reach minimum contacts in the local jurisdiction, Scotus case law requires the forum to test whether there was a “systematic and continuous” conduct toward a state (general jurisdiction) or “purposeful availment” towards the state out of limited conducts, and a lawsuit in the forum was foreseeable (specific jurisdiction). Race definitely wouldn’t qualify for general jurisdiction, and would likely not qualify for a foreseeable lawsuit in Florida.
The second probe of Due Process requires “fair play and substantial justice”. See my post below.
Great News! I literally brought this up to Robert M the other day.
“This morning, that decision finally came down. You can read the whole ruling for yourself at the above link. There seems to have been a legal snafu in the way the case was brought to the Florida Supreme Court, where the circuit court presented an argument about one issue, but the appeals court settled something different. I’ll do my best to break all that down later. But the important passages are these:”
Also to summarize it for you or anyone else who is reading, it basically goes like this.
The question of this case is based on whether or not Race is subject to personal jurisdiction. Basically, Race recorded the call in his state (where it is legal) but the call came from Florida (where it is not). The question then becomes, can Race be sued in Florida. In order to sue in Florida you need to establish Personal Jurisdiction, that the state of Florida has the right to sue someone for something done outside that state.
The test to determine this requires two things:
1. Do they fall under Florida’s Long-Arm Statute. For this, the person needs to have done one of a number of things, such as engaging in business, owning real estate, having a kid or in this case committing a tort.
2. Does the person have minimum contact with Florida. This is nebulous but basically, do you have enough connection to Florida that it is reasonable to drag your ass to Florida.
At the initial trial, both parties agreed ‘eh, lets agree on section 2 for the sake of argument’ and focused on whether or not it was a tort. They did not hold an evidentiary hearing on whether or not section 2 was met, they just ignored it at that point.
On appeal, Race then argued that “Okay, well even if it is a tort, you don’t have personal jurisdiction”. The fourth appeals court found that “Yeah, that is reasonable” and told Billy to kick rocks. However, in Florida they have what is called ‘Conflict Certified’ which is where one district decides a thing and at the end goes “Oh, and we disagree with district (x) on this matter” where district (x) has made an opposite ruling. It is a way for lawyers to look at the case and argue that the two are in conflict.
Notably, on appeal the fourth district never actually addressed point #1, whether or not it was a tort. This is important, because it is where Billy gets into trouble.
In this case Billy appeals and it goes to the Supreme Court of Florida. They look at it and go “Oh, this is in conflict with the second district, specifically a case called France v France, we should figure this shit out.”
But once they look at it, they realize, there isn’t actually a conflict, despite the cases being very similar.
See, in France v France the decision went sort of backward. France (the husband) was recorded by France (the wife) and sued. But when it went to court the trial court decided ‘No, doing this isn’t a tort’. So when they sued it to the 2nd circuit the question on offer wasn’t ‘do they have personal jurisdiction’ it was ‘is this a tort for the purposes of the long-arm statute’. The appeals court decided that yes it was.
That *feels* like it should be in conflict, because both have nearly identical circumstances and came to contrary conclusions, but because France was technically about the Tort part and Race was technically about jurisdiction, there is no actual conflict.
So when the Supreme Court finally sat down to look at the cases they realized “Wait, these two cases don’t actually conflict. They look like they conflict, but they actually both agree that it was a tort. They differ on whether personal jurisdiction was established, but since there isn’t enough of a record for us to decide, we’re just going to ignore this”
And on those grounds, they told Mr. Mitchell to pound sand.
The funny thing is, based on France v France, Billy probably should have won this. The precedent is there, he just lives in the wrong district. This is very, very funny to me.
Essentially the “act” itself was not committed within the state of Florida. It’s not just minimum contacts though. “Fair play and substantial justice” has a lot to do with it.
“The court reasoned:
Where a defendant legally records a phone conversation in his home state, and has no other significant contacts with Florida, it offends traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice to require him to appear in Florida to defend against a lawsuit for an alleged violation of the Florida Security of Communications Act.”
The state would violate Due Process if they provided jurisdictional authority over a person in Ohio. The State of Florida has no interest in gathering out of state evidence and defendants in another jurisdiction. Both the venue and jurisdiction would not be proper. Billy should have filed in a US District Court, but he would have lost. The “act” is not even a violation under U.S. Code.
Thank you tremendously for this summary!
Not a problem. One thing I forgot to mention is forum shopping. Forum shopping is the practice of choosing a court that will provide the most favorable outcome for the plaintiff when there may be concurrent jurisdictions. The courts (including the US Supreme Court) really dislike forum shopping.
Dating back to the origins of the U.S. Constitution under Article 3, section 2, two citizens of different states were meant to meet in a federal court (U.S. District Court today) under diversity jurisdiction. The act of recording a call without permission is not a tortuous act in Federal courts or Ohio’s courts. Knowing this, Billy arguably made a forum shopping decision to file in Florida courts.
This is why state long-arm statutes are not always a good idea. Yes, concurrent jurisdictions exist, but in reality it’s just another fight between federal and state powers. The Commerce Clause and 10th Amendment are other good examples of that. A battle between Congress’ legislation and state legislation, but I digress.
Absolutely, thank you. If you look up the filings in Billy’s lawsuit against Cartoon Network, forum shopping was a big topic of discussion there. Billy filed the suit in New Jersey, and had basically no justification for why it shouldn’t be his home state of Florida or CN’s home jurisdiction of California.
No problemo, figured it’d keep your readers entertained till you get around to it. 🙂
lmao Sorry, I missed that the continued summary was from someone other than who wrote the first part. Thank you both!
Wow, this is wonderful news indeed !! And I can only imagine how relieved that David Race must be feeling right about now.
Thanks for the update…this made my day !!
LET’S GO!!!
Oh yeah, GET FUCKED BILLY.
Note that the decision was unanimous among all seven Supreme Justices.
He seriously ought to countersue.
I’m happy for Mr Race, this is great news for him 👍
Now let’s just hope he loses to Karl too!
hello you tremendous gentlemen, I hope Birr Mitchel lose all his case.
thanks for watching you gentlemen and I will see you in next video
What I found most astonishing about GBF’s “defamation” lawsuit was the in-your-face fact that he said what he did about intentionally trying to blow one past TG…and that because it was the trio of GBF, Chris Ayra and Brian Kuh who advised decades back that TG not announce/accept Wiebe’s 1.006M performance (2004) because of ROY’S promise/threat to blow one past TG !!
So, in effect, that was like the proverbial pot calling the kettle black.
Too bad that Wiebe did not sue back in the day. Sure, I’d have been part of that, but the decision to NOT recognize the score was insisted upon by fellow Board of Directors member GBF, and subsequently Walter when he heard the arguments as to why.
And that was not the only time that GBF tried to unduly influence TG to not recognize a WR, the other being the “Ms Pacman” WR by Abdner Ashman, something I documented multiple times on the TG forum in the past.
GBF rushes to sue or to discredit people to protect either his own so-called “legacy” or that of his close gaming buddy, Chris Ayra. But at least Chris’ legacy of achievements is not tainted.
Thanks for all your updates
Case update… any news on BM ?
Only just seen this.
Great news.
Robert T Mruczek you need to get yourself a YouTube channel and just go into story’s you have of early days of arcade records, TG story’s or on ppl in the classic arcade scene.
Every time you comment I enjoy seeing you add extra little bits of the inner workings and behind the scene stuff and I want to know more haha.
Obviously bill finna win in SUPREME court cause hes the SUPREME player and david “human wiretap” race is ignorant of the SUPREME laws of the land….Sad!…he will loose this race!…then he finna have to slave his little fingers to the bone at billys hot sauce plant!…..Tragic!….he will smell like pepers!!!..…..DUMB “david” wilp be humbled by big coney barret, and kentaji jackson cause they know billy is a winner!!!….then u got 2 stir the sour sauce of shame for eternity david boy!!! Like a santas ELF hahaha
“human wiretap”? Do we normally wiretap other non-human things?
Why do you keep placing several ellipsis in your sentences? Are you omitting your own material facts? Some ellipsis have more than three dots too.
“finna”? “loose”? “pepers”? “Wilp”? “coney”? Are they enjoying hot dogs in court? Judging by your general grasp of the English language, I am going to guess you are not familiar with ANY legal proceedings or caselaw.
Did Billy Mitchell even file for certiorari? Do you know something we don’t? How can he win in the U.S. Supreme Court if it was never applied for the appeal?
This reads a lot like someone that was banned from this website previously.
I’m gonna leave it, but I don’t think they realize (at least as I understand it) Billy’s case is dead, dead, dead.
Your message should be deleted for the abhorrent use of “finna” 🙄
Please understand, when using English as a language, I and many others are going to look down on you for using that slang.
Going to, or gonna, are completely acceptable words in the English vocabulary. Please use them instead of that ghetto slang that makes you look like an inbred.
I’m not a “content provider”, but I’ll share these tidbits relevant to my last post in this thread.
DK – when Wiebe submitted the 1.006M way back in July of 2004, GBF threw a fit. I was gearing up (as TG chief referee) for announcing that the world’s 1st TG-approved 1M score was received, verified and accomplished when GBF contacted Walter and I to claim that he had already contacted Wiebe informing him that he did a 1M performance first, a year earlier. But GBF never turned it in, so Walter and I were not going to listen to him.
The problem is that incident at Wiebe’s home where Kuh and former “Galaxian” WR holder, Perry Rodgers, showed up and discovered the boxes mailed to Wiebe from Roy Shildt in Wiebe’s garage.
Shildt swore years earlier that his goal was to “blow one past TG”…which is ironic because GBF tried to do JUST that many years later in that conversation that he had with David Race (which was the crux of the recently dismissed lawsuit).
Also, GBF, his childhood buddy from FL, Chris Ayra, and his “protoge” Brian Kuh, contacted me RE Wiebe’s boardset in his garage that he used for the 1.006M and mentioned that there was a “gummy subtstance” on it which they explained to me was placed in “just the right spot” to have “an impact” on clockspeed in such a manner that could be advantageous to the gamer.
Coupled with the Shildt-sent boardsets, Wiebe’s score announcement went into hiatus mode. As did GBF’s since-submitted 1.014M by then.
But that did NOT prevent GBF from running his ass off to NYC and announcing it at a Lincoln Center-based event as the world’s first 1M DK score…a testament to his massive ego not allowing Wiebe to be the recognized first player to achieve 1M.
MS PAC – Abdner Ashman came on the scene with some amazing gameplay prowess on both Junior Pac and Ms Pac, and eventually submitted an MP score which eclipsed the long-standing recognized WR score by GBF’s buddy, Chris Ayra. This was before the Nov/05 trip to ACAM.
Apparently, Abdner had an 8-kill screen game…in fact he had three in a row (!!)…while GBF and Chris Ayra argued that along with Canadian player Rick Fothergill they collectively achieved only 7 or 8 eight-kill screen games over the past 20+ years leading up to that moment. PLUS, Abdner played with something like an AC/DC converter.
So, Walter, my then-fellow TG Board of Director member and TG CTO Brien King and I met with Abdner face-to-face at Sun Valley during my Nov/05 ACAM vacation…OR it could be before the May/05 ACAM event, I forget which as it has been so very long. IN any event the three of us met with both Abdner Ashman and fellow MP player Darren Harris in their cabin at Sun Valley.
We agreed that TG (actually myself, as it turned out) would pay to have Abdner’s boardset tested by a recognized industry expert…”Spike” from “Lupine Systems” who, much like Tanner, could run circles around a total QUACK like Zyda. And so, at my own expense, I packed up and shipped both Adbner’s MP boardset as well as that of his buddy, Darren Harris, a friend of mine, to have “Spike” thoroughly test each.
Weeks later they came back and the report clearly indicated that there was NO problem with the boardset of Abdner AND, in “Spike’s” opinion, that Abdner’s AC/DC connection setup had NO impact on gameplay, RNG, clock speed or any other game-changing element of a performance.
The results were first shared with Abdner/Darren and then Walter/Brien, and finally with GBF/Chris Ayra, who then STILL were balking to the high heavens about Abdner’s score, again citing the 3 consecutive 8-kill screen games. Of course unlike them (GBF, Chris and Rick) Abdner at that time was playing 3-4 kill screen games PER DAY !! Statistically speaking he would inevitably surpass Chris’ WR score especially consider that, like Chris, Abdner was fully capable of getting all the blue-time points.
SO…in a nutshell, GBF tried TWICE as recapped above to block another gamer’s score which jeopardized either his own WR or that of a buddy of his from retaining WR status with TG. And that’s GBF attempting to throw his weight around as a TG Board Member and to undermine decisions made the the two top scorekeepers of TG at the time.
There was a third time, less-documented, involving Fred Pastore’s breaking the “Crash” (arcade “Dodge’em”) WR previously held by Chris Ayra as well of approx 300K, but there was far less pushback by GBF and Chris on that one.
Hope these recaps were of interest !!
I had always wondered about that gummy substance bit in the movie. Like “wtf is this dude talking about lol, putting a glob of something on a chip that slow isn’t going to do anything to it”, guess it was just the usual straw-grasping from Billy and co.
How come the Szerby score set in 2000 was not contested or disputed? Hell, Billy even called and congratulated Tim. Tim’s score stood on the board for three years without a peep from Billy or anyone else. You can even see it listed on the board in that faux documentary if you look close at a certain scene.
Very interesting that Szerbys record breaking score became disputed as soon as there was marketable interest expressed in that same topic matter.
Pretty lousy way to run an official scoreboard and even more lousy way to make a documentary film featuring this very same subject matter when it was known Sczerby did in fact beat Mitchell original score and was the Twin Galaxies official record holder on the title at the time prior to filming.
No doubt Twin Galaxies and the film makers lied about Szerbys score to cover it up. This makes me wonder what else did they lie about? Intentionally covering up the Szerby score and related history behind it really blows the credibility of the entire documentary.
In reponse to “mycophobia” – it was GBF, Chris Ayra and Briak Kuh who stated to me as a matter of fact that the “gummy substance” was problematic with respect to the clock speed of the chip. They coined that term. Being that I was hardly tech-savvy, I relied on their expertise as recognized experts at the title.
In response to “Curious Historian” – if you read some of the older posts on the TG site, someone at TG had removed the Tim Szcerby score at some point before the Steve Wiebe 947K. If you read my original write-up posted to TG announcing that score, I wrote that Steve beat Bill as Tim’s score was gone by that point.
I never found out exactly who removed the score and when, but considering how few TG staffers there were at that point in time with admin privileges, it had to be Walter. But the big question remains…why. At this point we can only speculate.
You are dead wrong on the Szerby score Robert. Tim’s score was listed on the board and never removed. Tim’s score can even be seen registered on the board at about the 52:17 minute mark into the film. You have to be quick to see it and know what to look for.
I would say you guys at Twin Galaxies and the film makers involved were damn lucky not to be sued for defamation, false light and fraud 15 years ago. Twin Galaxies and the film makers really dodged a bullet there I can assure you. As a person with some experience in this field of law, I can honestly say Twin Galaxies and the film makers would have flat out lost such a defamation case if Tim pursued the matter considering Tim’s proof to the alleged documentary’s narrative.
The Szerby score also proves conclusively that the alleged documentary’s sub plot involving Roy Shildt helping Steve to take down Billy’s 1982 score was pure fiction, completely fabricated out of thin air and never actually happened because Tim already beat Billy’s 1982 arcade world record by the time the film was conceived and executed. In reality, contrary to the actual events involving the subject matter featured, the entire documentary was fabricated out of thin air and a premeditated fraud.
Again very shocked you guys at Twin Galaxies were never sued over this matter years ago.
How much Did Billy and Walter make for using their score board to promote a fraud documentary?
I have a feeling that the makers of King of Kong aren’t liable for defamation for the fact that Tim Sczerby isn’t mentioned at all, nor are they liable for fraud for doing what basically any reality show does.
Facts don’t care about your feelings.
Tim is in fact mentioned in the film by name at precisely 52:17. Tim’s name appears on the scoreboard predating Steve with a score of 879,200 which was higher than the Billy Mitchell 1982 score that was deceptively featured as the undefeated 20+ year old world record. Tim predates Steve to breaking this record, thus making the continuity of events featured in the entire documentary, such as it is, a complete and calculated work of both fraud and fiction.
There are only so many creative liberties a documentary can take regarding any recorded subject material. There are boundaries. Twin Galaxies and the film makers stepped far beyond those boundaries in to a realm of deception, fraud, defamation, and false light, which would be simplicity itself to prove in any courtroom regardless of the motivation behind such imputations.
We are not talking about a reality show, we are taking about a documentary film. There is a world of difference between the two. Even if you were to classify the film into another genre, the fact remains that the featured content is still directly based on an achievement Tim is having documentation and proof to having performed prior to filming. Both Twin Galaxies and the film makers were obviously aware of Tim prior to filming.
If the film makers were trying to tell there version of events for creative reasons, then why did they and Twin Galaxies lie about Tim’s score in a calculated effort to down play and dismiss its relevance? I would have to say Twin Galaxies and the film makers must have been in full panic mode when Tim provided a copy to the performance in question and proving its validity.
Twin Galaxies main function was to preserve and protect these historical milestones and the people responsible for achieving them, not to collude with film makers in an effort to negate and cover them up when the exploitation of the topic material was politically and financially expedient for a select group of pay to play insiders. If Twin Galaxies lawyer was trying to press a RICO charge against Billy Mitchell and Walter Day, he would have had a far better chance of pursuing the circumstances that led to the creation of the alleged documentary to begin with.
Speaking from experience, if Tim had pushed a defamation, liable and false light case against Twin Galaxies and the film makers, he would have easily have won such a case in court considering the facts and proof involved.
Tim’s name merely incidentally being in a single shot in some easily missed text hardly merits the designation “mention”. I think he would have a hard time claiming defamation by omission here as well simply because of the false premise “Steve Wiebe is attempting to beat Billy Mitchell’s world record Donkey Kong score set in 1982”, as neglecting to mention that Tim at one point several years prior to the movie had broken that record, but in the years since Billy had beaten Tim’s score and Steve had beaten Billy’s, and Steve is actually competing against himself for the first half of the story doesn’t really do anything to specifically harm Tim’s reputation.
Like yeah, it sucks for Tim that that’s the premise they went with for dramatic purposes, I really do feel for him, but I think defamation by omission requires a pretty high burden of proof that would be very difficult to satisfy with the events portrayed in the film.
Back in 2003 when Wiebe’s 947K score was submitted the Szcerby score was removed from the TG database at that time. I never found out exactly who removed it.
At some point subsequent to that, someone re-instated the score. I never found out who exactly did that either.
Before you accuse me of lying why don’t you research what TG’s database looked like AT_THE_TIME that Wiebe submitted the 947K score.
Robert, the clock PCB you are viewing at 29:29 into the film is not from a 2 board set but from a 4 board set. Any gummy substance detected on this particular PCB would not be of any concern seeing as Steve was not using that PCB to begin with.
At 28:25 where Steve is reading his lines of scripted dialog explaining Roy’s fabricated involvement in the scenario, Steve mentions that Roy gave him a pcb so Steve could beat Billy’s world record set in 1982. In reality, it was documented and known that this same score was already beat by Tim Szerby prior to filming! The fact Tim was known to have already beat Billy’s 1982 world record before filming began completely reduces what ever legitimacy the documentary had down to a cartoon level of fiction.
At 29:17 when Roy is reciting his fabricated and rehearsed dialog stating that there would be no proof of him monkeying with the board and people would not have any evidence, the next scene at 29: 20 clearly shows Steve displaying 2 sets of pcb’s. The one that Roy gave him is not a even 1981 Donkey Kong pcb and clearly sports a BRAZE technologies aftermarket add on PCB! No proof!?
The King of Kong, as a documentary film, is absolutely worthless from an informative and educational stand point which is the sole purpose of a documentary to begin with. Here I am, a viewer, interested in the history involving the topic matter and what happens? I and the entire viewing audience are deceived and intentionally lied to regarding the actual documented facts events then told what amounts to a fictional story in its place.
I nor anyone else is either informed nor educated on the history of the matter contained in the alleged documentary. Instead, the film makers took advantage of my and others lack of knowledge on the subject matter and told us what was known to be a fictional story in its place.
I will state again , it is nothing short of a miracle that Twin Galaxies and the film makers were not sued over this matter years ago. They would have lost.
As far as “Twin Galaxies” involvement in KoK that was limited to Walter and GBF. Everyone else not only was uncompensated but as we were being filmed we were not even that it would be for what ended up being KoK…we were disinformed as to the purpose of why we were being filmed.
Can’t say the same for Walter and GBF as they were both compensated.
So basically Robert, you and others were used as unwitting supporting material during the entire course of filming? Its hard to believe that Twin Galaxies would validate and list Tim’s score then remove it, only to put it back again during the course of filming? This makes no sense.
In response to Mycopobia’s statement, “Tim’s name merely incidentally being in a single shot in some easily missed text hardly merits the designation “mention”. You are provably wrong with this statement.
Whether Tim’s name is easily detectable or not isn’t the issue, the issue is that Tim’s name is mentioned and detectable. The fact of the matter is that Tim is mentioned and his name does appear which completely contradicts the entire series of events depicted in the entire documentary.
In many jurisdictions, lying by omission is indeed considered an act of fraud, especially if withholding certain information results in deceit or financial harm. Fraud generally involves a willful misrepresentation or concealment of a material fact, which leads someone to act in a way that causes them harm or loss. This can be proven without fail in Tim’s case. Billy and Walter were most certainly aware of Tim’s placement in the chronology of events prior to filming. This can also be proven.
Billy set the score in 1982, Tim beat this score in 2000, not Steve, this is not debatable and easily provable, yet the alleged documentary depicts a completely different time line contrary to the actual documented historic data Twin Galaxies themselves were entrusted to preserve. There is no rationalizing otherwise. There is a chronological order to any series of events, so the rest of Mycopobia’s argument trying to justify, rationalize and normalize the the cover up and premeditated fraud involved would easily be defeated if I were to litigate the matter in court.
To prove Billy Mitchell cheated is easy. What is cheating? Cheating is not relegated to video game chicanery alone. Cheating also refers to acting dishonestly or unfairly in order to gain an advantage or benefit. Cheating includes acts like copying someone else’s work, using unauthorized resources, or plagiarizing.
In business, cheating would involve unethical practices like lying, (lying by omission) and fraud. I’m neither impressed nor amused with the witless buffoonery that passed for research, discovery and legal representation against Mitchell these past few years.
I just did in 5 minutes what a large group of people could not do in 5 years and prove with no doubt what so ever that Billy Mitchell did in fact cheat.
Why do you keep missing the ‘h’ in my name, Tim? 🙁
“Why do you keep missing the ‘h’ in my name, Tim? 🙁
Why do you not allow me to reply directly to your comment?
My name is not Tim and don’t act like you know who I am by casting false aspersions assuming that you do in an effort to convince others your false aspersions are correct.
A pot shot making false aspersions as to my identity is the best you can do?
You guys really are a deceitful and stupid bunch.
Believe what you want. When the original filming took place there were three (3) sets of filmmakers at Funspot originally. The team of Seth and Ed (which later turned out to be KoK). Then someone named Josh or Ross Tuttle. I forget the third.
In all cases we…both the TG staffers in attendance that event, and some gamers who were filmed…were NOT told anything of what would become KoK. In all cases, regardless of filmmaker, it was about the gamers of yesteryear, their recollections of BITD as well as what gaming is in the here and now, what they have been doing, etc. Combinations of the above in spirit but some of them were still making their minds up as to what to do with their “project” as far as the direction/final product.
Approx November of 2005, before KoK was released, Walter called up anyone that the filmmakers of what would be KoK and told them that they “had to sign” a release form ASAP. We were still at that point not told it was for KoK by any means either in name or in “plot”, nor were we told that Roy Shildt had also been filmed in conjunction with what he was asking us to sign.
I can tell you for a fact that had we known RE the Roy inclusion a good number of us would not have signed that form.
Tim, “curious historian”, everyone knows it’s you. Masquerading as anonymous supporters is sad and pathetic, and will not be allowed here.
Anyone who seriously believes the King of Kong filmmakers would be liable for defamation for not mentioning you in their film is huffing exhaust fumes.
Finally. The purported conflict not actually existing is a surprising twist to cap off the lawsuit. This is the same lawyer Billy hired to sue Ben, though I have a feeling that he is only a vessel for Jr. to argue in these lawsuits (contrary to his claims of simply “reviewing” the complaints). Too many red flags for any sort of real, competent lawyer. For instance, the whole “minimum contacts” aspect was not even argued properly. All Mitchell said was that “he met with me over a decade ago so that’s minimum contacts” and then “he knows my friends too so that counts as minimum contacts” all while willfully ignoring the actual definition and misrepresenting case law in their efforts to establish that they somehow have jurisdiction over Race.
This was frivolous from the very start, and it bothers me that the courts are not allowed to have any sort of personal review. If a judge is allowed to exercise their own case law behind their decisions, then they should have the right to be able to dismiss cases that have absolutely no legal standing before they even reach the defendant.
I also want to throw out that I believe the motion for attorney’s fees is nothing more than pure malice. I’m not sure on the exact motives, but I can pinpoint it to either trying to drain Karl’s fund or being a last-ditch effort to get some sort of money out of the lawsuit, It’s hilarious enough that he and other detractors have said what Karl did just a scam, but it also reinforces the longstanding rumor that Mitchell doesn’t actually pay his lawyers.
On GBF “not paying his lawyers”…I do not know this for an absolute fact, but I THINK that some of the legal team he chose might work on contingency fees or however that goes where they are banking on a victory that results in a positive settlement for their client (i.e. no money up front/paid unless the case is won).
Suffice it to say that is a risk that the law firm assumes, but if they did their research…same for ANY reputable law firm…they might not take the case. After all, a probable loss could tarnish their Win/Loss reputation with respect to defamation cases.
GBF has told some whoppers thus far in his testimony, so you would think that the legal team might be worried, but apparently not. Either that or they are seeing this thru to the end otherwise the endeavour is a total loss of both time and money.
At THIS stage of the game (no pun intended) his point of losing out on potential appearance fee (honorarium) income is a joke. Nobody gives a *** about “Donkey Kong” anymore !! The “Kong Off” events are not as hyped up as was the early ones, and I’m not even sure when the last one took place. The WR rarely changes hands now as it is too high, so interest has severely waned in the game itself never mind a former champion who hasn’t been the WR record holder for a great many years.
Couple that with the COVID impact both during the pandemic and in the aftermath, and a substantial loss of income was inevitable. After all…it’s not like he’s the “Tetris” world champion or the “Halo” or “Call of Duty” world champion !!
Additionally, he’s my age or close to it, and inevitably no one is going to want a near-senior citizen appearing just because 10-20 years ago they were champion at a video game that came out 40+ years ago. Think of the film “Rocky IV” when “Apollo Creed” told “Rocky” that he no longer is getting the same level of fan attention anymore. It happens…and GBF’s massive ego just can’t deal with it…and I doubt that he ever will.
Cheers Robert, always a pleasure to read your comments.
I also always wondered what the gummy substance was and how it would impacted game play.
Like you said you were trusting ppl who have more knowledge and at time no reason to believe any ill intent from those ppl.
If you read this Robert do you still hold any records currently? If so for what or how many.
Hi FR:
Glad to have shared the true origin of the “gummy substance” comment as this tidbit is not included within KoK (no surprise there !!).
Here’s another tidbit from the filming during the ACAM 2005 event that is ALSO not included in KoK, and I think you will find this of GREAT interest.
One day of the event in the morning, it was discovered that WITHOUT the permission of senior Funspot management (i.e. the Lawton family), one or more of the film makers put signs up at every entrance into the arcade area informing any who entered that they WOULD be captured on film and if they did not want to then to not venture into the area during filming…something to that extent.
WELL…that did not sit well with management once it had been discovered, and I heard from a very good source that those film makers were read the riot act !! And that’s in addition to those notices being taken down.
I found out about this post-event. and informed Walter that since it was impossible to know what was captured WHILE these signs without permission were still up, then it would be impossible to know what video footage was ILLEGALLY obtained without management permission, and SOOO…if push came to shove, that was what was needed to have an injunction against the film given by a judge.
Walter did NOTHNG even after he found out, and that’s around when I started to realize that both he and GBF were “in on it” meaning the entre KoK sham.
Another tidbit MOSTLY not included in KoK…
There is a scene of me discussing that “gummy substance” sitting at a desk…that segment was part of what Josh (or Ross) Tuttle filmed for his film product. That was NOT filmed by Seth/Ed. You will see however that in the end credits Mr Tuttle is credited. That’s why…Ed bought his footage.
Last tidbit not fully covered in KoK and once I explain you will understand why.
That segment where I am in the Funspot redemption area (outside of the “Braggin’ Dragon”) and talk about “sending in the pros”…that is an incomplete segment. They left out the before and after.
The discussion was about what TG did when we had a difficult submission which we could not explain and I mentioned how Steve Wiebe’s 985K on VHS (the first 985K from May-Jun of 2004 and NOT the one from May/Jun 2005 ACAM event). I explained how since no one at TG had ever seen a score that high we had to rely on “the pros”, and in this case it was Chris Ayra as I could not very well have GBF review the tape since he was a direct competitor. So now you have some more context about that part of the film.
OK, as for records. I have some, but they are mostly either console or MAME. I still have the “Star Wars” (1983) classic arcade marathon record (even though I nearly lost it to Brandon Erickson back in 2005), the top spot on “Lock On” which is another yoke-based title, and I MIGHT still have the record on “Pandora’s Palace” (marathon) but that’s about it as far as arcade records go.
Gotta love that the controlling case on personal jurisdiction in Florida is called “Venetian Salami”. Take that, International SHoe.
Eratz_cats,
The filmmakers clearly stated that the initial reason for my ommission was that my score was constantly disputed and impossible to verify therefore merritred no inclusion in the film.
I proved this was a premeditated lie by the film makers by providing a video copy of that very performance. Are you stating this is not a a provable case of lible directed toward me by the film makers?
My name is also mentioned in the film at the 52:17 mark as is my score from 2000 is clearly listed by name on the scoreboard but yet is ommited on the other scoreboards shown in the film.
Ersatz_cats are you saying this is not a provable case of lible or defimation on the part of the film makers? I’m huffing hot chocolate, what are you huffing? 😋
If you have the courage ersatz_cats there is a small youtube channel called 8 out of 10 cats that would more than love to have both you or anyone else on for a live debate against me on the matter.
You controll too much of the narrative here and it’s a disservice to your viewers. Also the previous comment’s made in my support were not made by me and your wrong, I do have supporters.
The fact you will not publish this response only illustrates that you are afraid of the truth that goes beyond a narrative you do not controll.
Tim, let it go. Let. It. Go. It’s just sad at this point. The filmmakers didn’t have to acknowledge you, they didn’t have to include you in their film, you were never going to get fame or money from their project, and omitting you wasn’t tantamount to defamation lmao. It may have been impolite of them to suggest your score couldn’t be verified, but they never said it was illegitimate or cheated, and Mruczek himself recalls your score being absent from the scoreboard for a time, so Seth and Ed are off the hook anyway. You do yourself a disservice by fixating on this one thing that you’re never going to get. Also, the constant sockpuppetry (and lying about the sockpuppetry) certainly doesn’t endear you to anyone. Get a life.
Hi Tim:
I can affirm that as of the moment when I wrote the Wiebe 947K article your score was not in the TG database. I’m not sure when it was, when it was removed, who removed it…nor do I remember when it was re-entered as well as who re-entered it.
As for what “narrative” and information was provided by Walter/GBF to the filmmakers, Seth and Ed, is another matter, as it is clear that both of them were aware of your pre-existing score.
Your score, whenever TG first received it, was validated by someone within TG other than myself. In all likelihood that would have been Walter. But do I know this for a fact…no.
Additionally, at the time that the score was removed from the database, again in all likelihood that would have been an action performed by Walter. But do I know this for a fact…no.
No doubt, this situation sucked when KoK released, never mind as it was being produced. Fact is, when I submitted my Wiebe 947K article to Walter for review/approval before it was posted to the TG site, he had to have known at that moment that the article was flawed in that it attributed the now-beaten TG WR to GBF, but he approved the article nonetheless. Fact is at the time the article was written your score had already been removed from the TG database and was kept under the radar from then-existing TG staffers…so this was a coverup of some sort. It leads to the speculation that pre-knowledge of the filming of what would turn out to be KoK occurred much earlier than anyone thought and that your score removal was orchestrated as part of some larger behind-the-scenes narrative, one that both Walter and GBF were both in on and part of.
Hi Robert,
Thanks for your input.
It seems odd that they would list my score, remove it, then put it back during filming as it can bee seen on the real Twin Galaxies scoreboard as #3 at this time. To those with critical thinking skills, they can easily see that prior to filming, my score would be #1, not Billy Mitchells or GBF as you refer and I agree with that reference. However on the faux, so-called “official” scoreboard seen in the film, my placement and score are clearly omitted.
To the average person, arguing over video game scores may seem silly, and it would be if not for the fact that there were life rights contracts and a feature film based on this very subject matter to which I had established. The issue now goes far beyond that of just a video game score at this point.
The way I was omitted and prevented from participating in a documentary based on subject material I had established is blatant fraud. I’m not Beats, ersatz_cats, or anybody else’s enemy here, but the issue has always been a hot button topic for me. For anyone to state I had absolutely no legal case against TG and/or the film makers considering the facts of the matter is just ignorant.
BTW, when I state that Twin Galaxies is mainly responsible for the KoK fraud I’m not referring to yourself or Dwayne I;m referring to Walter and Billy or GBF as you refer and rightly so.
I thought I would mention that there was a half hearted retraction given by the film makers and it went on to state that the film makers were not responsible for my omission because TG people failed to inform them of my existence and they stated your name as one of them. Do I blame you? No, but I thought I’d mention that in an effort to cover their ass, they put the blame squarely on TG staffers and mentioned you by name as one of them.
Again, I do not hold you responsible in any way. This retraction was an obvious and pathetic attempt by the film makers to cover their asses from the fraud they committed and threw TG staffers such as yourself under the buss to do so.
On a lighter note, we are playing Odyssey 2 (vintage original hardware with original controllers) this holiday season and I remember you have the record for Pick-Axe-Pete. I believe its 132x something? Could you clarify? My current best is 1157. Its tough to break 1000 on that game. What default setting did you use? I am starting with the “Zero” default.
I also have 25xxx on KC Munchkin, again using the zero default. What is the record for that game? I believe it was in the 5k range?
Hi Tim:
DANG !! 25K on KC would be the WR for sure. My own PR is close to 3K. I know others have done higher, past and present, but never THAT high…I am mightily impressed 🙂
My “Pete” PR on game 1 is just a tad over 1900 points. I never broke the 2K mark. I did, however, submit to TG 1000+ on all the other gamers BUT had the misfortune of sending to Ron Corcoran just a few weeks before all hell broke loose. My loss. I do have one PR from years back that I am quite proud of. In “Game 1” the first stage I managed to score something in the 712-722 range after leaving (surviving) the stage. That was perhaps my hardest fought PR on that title.
I heard people boasting about staying at the top left and reaching 10K on the game clearing most or all of the board save for the central column though I’ve never seen a video or even a snapshot of that.
As for your score on TG, I can’t explain why this happened. When I wrote the article the score was taken down already AND I did not even know it was there beforehand…I always thought it was Billy’s 874K from the mid 1980’s. The fact that Walter did not point this out when authorizing my article is another curious note as he had editorial control over all major articles. And Billy, Chris Ayra, even Brian Kuh…none of them mentioned your score to me.
In retrospect it seems like the removal prior to that point in time was intentional, but I not only cannot prove this, I have no idea as to the why behind its removal.
To my best recollection, Walter never gave a valid or even plausible explanation as to why the score was mysteriously removed and then, at some point, re-instated. And at this late date, more than twenty years later, I doubt that he ever will. Same for Billy who would prefer, if at all possible, to allow all who do not know otherwise that his was the WR at TG from the 1980’s thru the posting of Steve’s 947K. After all…that’s part of the bread and butter of his massive ego and he would not likely want to diminish the false narrative of what he wants people to believe. After all, just look at the whole “fact vs fiction” anecdote of his “Player of the Century” anecdote.
There’s no doubt that the situation sucks for you. You /do/ deserve some sympathy for having your record silently retracted, but your behavior makes it impossible feel bad for you, especially when one takes in all the other circumstances that make what you say was robbed of you to be far less than what’s realistic, like Ersatz has pointed out. Talking with you has proven to be a futile effort as your blind rage has shown: all you do is bring others down with you. You attack innocent people who have nothing to do with Billy and relish in the fact you makes enemies out of them too. There’s nothing anybody can do to make you happy, but that doesn’t stop you from baiting others to try.
Now you thinks Ersatz is the enemy too? BOY! Those mentally-deranged rants stayed on here, TG, YouTube, everywhere, without ANY sort of censorship or intervention for YEARS. If your comments are getting blocked /now/, that’s on YOU. The fact Ersatz finally stepped in speaks volumes to how far this has gotten. You’ve been repeating the same narrative, hardly being constructive if not going around missing points. NOBODY should have to condone destructive behavior like what has been displayed no matter where Ersatz posts. If it’s not about you, you find a way to make it about you. It makes you look just as bad as Mitchell at this point.
Taking a look at all this introspectively, I’ve come to realize that George Harrison was right: “it’s all within yourself, no one else can make you change.” TIM is the reason nobody likes him, TIM is the reason nobody takes him seriously, TIM is the reason nobody wants to talk to him, TIM is the reason he became so irrelevant that he resorts to lies to make himself /appear/ relevant. TIM is the reason he can’t seem to enjoy life anymore. Anyone involved with KoK did NOTHING to him past that incident. Yes it created deep scars, but TIM is the reason they never healed. Clearly you’ve kept picking at them, preventing time from healing them.
What TG did to you was OVER 15 YEARS AGO! You’ve let them live in your head rent-free, exacerbating your loss piece by piece in the web of lies you nestled yourself into. It’s okay to be mad over what happened, but it has reached the point where it has led to obsessive and maladaptive conduct. Like I said earlier, looking at Tim Sczerby side-by-side against Billy Mitchell, he really is no better than the person we’re all supposed to be standing against together.
Thank you for trying, Beat. I know, I agree, it’s futile with him. This is just what Tim does everywhere. He must enjoy it, because there’s no way he could be doing this this obsessively while loathing it the whole time.
What’s futile? That I don’t succumb to peer pressure, go against my principles and supporting facts so as appease some Jim Jones like cult of video game heads by caving into peer pressure and excepting their ignorance as my own? If this is what you mean as futile then you are sooooooooo right!
On the contrary ersatz, there’s nothing I like more than to debate the issue and I enjoy it more than playing the games themselves. I only wish the statute of limitations have not run out then I could take my case to court and litigate against some real lawyers, not these ambulance chasing clowns from some “slip ‘n fall” law firm like I’ve seen the last few years. No challenge there.
I’m more than familiar with Tim’s behavior, and you summed up what I previously brought up in your first response to him here quite well.
I know there’s freedom of expression and everyone is allowed to defend themselves, but Tim never should have had the privilege to use your platform as his own for this long. He’s trying to insert himself into a narrative that doesn’t involve him. What I find hilarious is that he first replied to me, and not yours nor RTM’s comments days prior. I guess he couldn’t refute either of you but wanted to try ripping my points apart through his transformations instead of addressing what I actually meant. I’m bothering anymore, no matter how much he tries to call me out here
BTW, I’m 90% certain curious historian is also Tim. The probability that everyone who supposedly talked to him to learn about him all display similar behavior and word patterns is about one yoctopercent, if any. Pretty much nobody talks about Tim except Tim.
lol Funny you should mention it. Obviously I have access to administrative tools and can see more than what’s available publicly. I’m not gonna go into specifics, because I don’t want to give Tim any ideas, but I can say without any doubt whatsoever that “curious historian” is indeed Tim Sczerby. In fact, without me trying at all, one of Tim’s recent replies (which you all can’t see), where he used his actual name and email address, got swept up in the auto-moderation filter I added to block “curious historian” lmaoooooooooo.
Tim always thinks he’s so clever. He believes that because we don’t physically see him behind the keyboard typing the words that he can pass off a lie that “curious historian” and “Mary McManus” and whoever else are all different people. It’s literally just like Billy Mitchell thinking that because we didn’t physically watch him splice up a MAME run that he can lie and insist it was VCR dirt or atomic rays of some shit, and that it’s his word versus ours. At this point, I’m sure Tim would look you in the eyes and say this “anonymous fan” (or whatever he calls his alter egos) still isn’t him, despite them being in the same house, using his same device, offering the same expressions and mannerisms and conclusions, and obsessing over Tim’s role in King of Kong to the same degree.
It’s just sad. And while I’ve deferred toward less moderation, I do agree nothing constructive will come from Tim’s participation here.
So this is your “Perry Mason” moment ersatz_cats? Its not always me typing, however, I would expect the same anonymity you afford other people. BTW, curious historian was NOT me typing.
Yes, I am clever and unlike the combined efforts of the community these last several years, I can prove with absolute undeniable certainty Billy Mitchell cheated. I did this some 16 years ago, but you guys were to busy thinking a fantasy fiction movie was real to notice and look where it has gotten some people …….INTO A LOT OF TROUBLE!
Hint, Billy’s cheating has nothing to do with his game play. We offered solid proof and argument supporting that my legal issues with The King of Kong were founded and legitimate but the best response you have is thinking you know who “curious historian” is? I would have expected a better argument considering your talent journalism.
I have a scoop for you ersatz, your not going to be LOL’ing or LMAO’ing …WHEN… Karl looses this case so you better start preparing your yellow journalism now to spin this inevitable outcome into something its not just like you did with your last reply.
These lawsuits defending against Billy Mitchell have unraveled like substandard cloth because the evidence was garbage, mine was not. Just remember I tried to help.
There you go, Tim. You got your last word. Hope it was worth it.
BEAT,
Before I set you straight on your ill informed rant, would you, ersatz_cats or anybody else be so kind as to tell me what part of Steve Webies life involved him breaking Billys 1982 world record score that he should be paid a life rights contract for it?
Let’s begin here.
BTW BEAT,
To liken me to Billy Mitchell is just ignorant and further illustrates your lack of understanding on the matter.
I have never abused my authority to cheat and swindle fellow competitors out of their achievements and resulting financial renumeration.
I am not here to be member of some Jim Jones Kool-aid drinking cult, I am defending my rightfull position on the matter and am not concerned with who dislikes me for it.
My facts don’t care about your feelings.
Tell me BEAT, why do movies have disclaimers such as …..”The persons and events depicted in this motion picture have no relation to persons living or dead”
Think about that one for a moment.
Ersats_cats thought I was lauaghbly wrong when he stated I was not entitled to compensation for the theft and unauthorized use of my stolen subject matter as a central event featured in a documentary film. I proved he was wrong and he didn’t like it.
If you guys spent a fraction of the time researching entertainment law and how it applies to my situation you would have a solid understanding of the matter and I wouldn’t be irritated by people’s naive idiocy and have to correct them on a regular basis.
As for The King of Kong, I will forever be a ghost in that machine. A ghost that will forever prevent its perpetrators from ver exploiting the subject matter further.
I have nothing more to say to you, Tim. All that text is just a waste of your time.
What could you say? You argument was beat. You were finished.
Might want to consulte with a lawyer in the field of entertainment law like I did and see what they tell you. He too would like to know what part of Steves life ever involved him Beating Billy’s 1982 score that he should be paid a liferights contract for it.
He’s got some questions for Walter and Billy too and they don’t involve stupid crap like joy stick color, non existant plaques or MAME. Everybody knows dirty VCR heads cause MAME signatures to appear on VHS tape, just ask Dr. Zyda. 😀
I’m certainly not going to be accused of huffing exhaust fumes when I state I would be entitled to compensation as a result of the film when in fact I most certainly would have.
I would have won such a case against the film makers and/ or Twin Galaxies easily if I was not stone walled until the statute of limitations ran out.
Also. why did the film makers mention they had Twin Galaxies assisted attempts to track me down if they had no intention of recognizing me to begin with?
Why did their story keep changing when I proved they were lying?
I would look forward with heavy anticipation and gleefull joy to face Walter, Billy and the film makers in court over the matter tomorrow morning If I could. 😀
Gosh Tim, perhaps you could educate me, if your grievances were such slam-dunk can’t-miss wins, then why oh why did no lawyers (including whoever you spoke to) take your case? Are you gonna tell me lawyers don’t like free money?
Sure erstaz, I will be more than happy to take you and anyone else to school on the matter.
I was informed my case was excellent, BUT by the time i realized that Walter and Billy were just bullshit con-artists and had lied to me, the statute of limitations for me to act accordingly had expired.
The statute of limitations vary from one to three years depending on location.
I was not formally notified of the film until august 17th 2007 (what ever day the film opened) by both Walter and Billy who contacted me over the phone. I was also told by Walter that I was ” sitting on something very big” This was obviously an attempt to placate and stonewall me long enough from taking any action.
Funny how the film makers with their “Twin Galaxies assisted attempts” during the course of filming couldn’t track me down, but yet Walter and Billy have no problem finding me the day the film opened.
This begs the question, if the film makers never intended to include me from the very beginning, then why would they make efforts to “track me down” prior to filming?
So much you don’t know ersatz_cats.
> Ersats_cats thought I was lauaghbly wrong when he stated I was not entitled to compensation for the theft and unauthorized use of my stolen subject matter as a central event featured in a documentary film. I proved he was wrong and he didn’t like it.
lmaooooooo Bro, you’re living in Narnia. You don’t own Donkey Kong. It’s not “stolen subject matter”, and if someone wants to do a film about another top DK player and leave you out of it, that’s 100% within their right, even if they’re paying that other player to participate. They didn’t have to pay any DK player besides Hank Chien to make “Doctor Kong”.
And yes, Wiebe did beat Billy’s score, and he beat yours. That’s literally what he did. Having a 15+ year tantrum ain’t gonna change that.
Steve Webie NEVER beat Billy Mitchells 1982 world record score because at the time Steve entered, Billys 1982 score was not the world record, my 2000 score was.
No, I’m living in reality ersatz, you should try it sometime. The subject matter I was obviously referring to is my documented world record score performance from 2000 that broke Billy’s 1982 arcade world record as well as the related history behind it. I mentioned nothing about owing the rights to the game itself as you are deceptively implying.
No, its not within the film makers right to steal from me a historic subject matter that I went through the trouble to establish and proper channels to document whenever it suits
their creative whimsy.
It was Twin Galaxies job as custodians of such historical record to preserve my achievement as my own and not to sell it out from under me at my expense when it was was financially and politically expedient for them to do so.
Sure, the film makers can make a movie about the Donkey Kong competition and leave me out, but to do so would also mean they would have to leave out any subject matter I have established and directly attached to as well. It does NOT mean they can leave me out, but keep my contributions and related subject material, lie to discredit me from then while at the same time award documentary credit and financial remunerations for my contributions and use of documentary subject matter I established to others which is what happened with King of Kong production.
I will say again, what part of Steve Webies life story ever involved him beating Billy Mitchells 1982 arcade world record as depicted in the documentary that he should be paid for it? The answer is NO part of Steve’s life ever involved beating Billy’s 1982 arcade world record because Billy Mitchells 1982 score was NOT the world record at the time began playing, mine was. The only person who can prove they were the first to beat Billy Mitchells 1982 arcade world record is me. That subject matter is a part of MY life story and not Steves or anyone else’s.
Checking in rather late here Walter – thanks for another great (and this time at least, heartening) read!
Always fascinating to hear RTM chime in on these matters as well!
It’s a bit of a pity the recent comments have been dominated by the risible, embarrassing, broken-record legal fantasies of the biggest cry-baby in classic arcade game history…
…but publish on the internet, and you’ll be damned.
Great news for David Race, and for all of us.
Yeah. It really is a shame. I still stand by the fact that this person shouldn’t have been able to use this platform as his own, but I get that there is freedom of speech and protection against censorship, even though this behavior is far from innocuous.
Good to see you, QAOP! Thanks for the kind words.
Yeah, as soon as the blog gained traction, the Tim Sczerby / Philip Blackburn type nonsense was inevitable. But you put it very well.
The only “fantasy”” involved in the scenario is The King of Kong so-called “documentary” film.
The legal issues I brought up against it are certainly very real and quite valid I assure you.
Here Tim, as a general reply for the public record, I’ll break this down into its constituent elements.
As you know, in 1982, Billy was credited with a DK score of 874,300. I’m not going to swear as to the validity of this score at this time. It would help if Billy’s only identified witness, Steve Sanders, would acknowledge the blatant fact of Billy’s later scores being cheated. Sanders’ failure to acknowledge that minimally obvious circumstance demonstrates a personal deference to Billy, casting doubt on his other personal assertions in Billy’s favor. But whatever. Let’s assume, as most do, that that score was accurate.
In August 2001, Wiebe achieved a score of 885,900, submitted to TG the following year.
https://donkeykongforum.net/index.php?topic=2798.0
Ergo, ipso facto, Steve Wiebe beat Billy’s old score. He did it again when he achieved 1,006,600 in July 2004 (disqualified by TG, as seen in the movie), and again with 985,600 live at Funspot, and yet again with 1,049,100 (accepted, as seen at the end of the movie). That’s four times Wiebe beat Billy’s 1982 score! Not to mention all the times Wiebe submitted higher scores during that time (like the ones leading up to a million), or all the times he and others have beaten Billy’s 1982 score since then.
The fact that you also beat Billy’s score, with 870,200 achieved in August 2000, does not change that fact. And yes, you beat Billy’s score before Wiebe did. In fact, if we limit ourselves to original arcade equipment, you were the first to beat Billy’s old score. Congratulations, here’s your prize. But again, literally none of that changes the fact that Wiebe beat Billy’s old 1982 score. You moaning like a bawling pissbaby every time anyone anywhere on any forum discussing any topic merely mentions the fact that Steve Wiebe beat Billy’s 1982 score does not change the fact that Steve Wiebe beat Billy’s 1982 score. Wiebe beat that score. It’s plain English, dude.
I know, I know, next you’re going to piss and moan about Wiebe’s “Double Donkey Kong” (or “DDK”) board. As you know, those boards are fully legal by today’s DKF standards:
https://donkeykongforum.net/index.php?topic=365.0
Their prohibition at TG back in the King of Kong days was only invented after the fact to deny Wiebe’s challenge to Billy. And Wiebe did switch over to real hardware, and did beat Billy’s 1982 score again, so it’s all moot as to the point at hand. Nobody cares.
But here’s the real kicker about it all. Here’s what you refuse to all hell to acknowledge in any way shape or form.
It was still Billy Mitchell – and not you – who was the recognized Donkey Kong world record holder during the entirety of King of Kong filming.
Allow me to explain. (Of course you already know all this, but you’re pretending not to, thus putting me in the position of having to spell it out.) You see, there was this event in May 2004 called the Midwest Gaming Classic. And at that event, so it was said, Billy Mitchell achieved a live DK score of 933,900. That was actually his highest known score prior to the cheated tapes, and was the score DKF reverted to when they disqualified his bogus MAME scores. And since DKF has chosen not to recognize any of Billy’s post-cheating claims, it still stands as Billy’s highest recognized score on their leaderboard today:
https://donkeykongforum.net/index.php?topic=366.0
As with the 1982 score, I’m not going to certify this claimed score as valid. Dwayne reportedly attested to it, but he unfortunately has made stuff up in other matters to support his friends and impugn his rivals. And Dwayne and Billy were good friends at the time. So I could see a universe where the score was bogus, and Dwayne went along with it, but today’s Dwayne would rather stick with his original story than admit he lied, even if doing so now helps Billy or whatever. I’m not making a conclusion either way at this time, I’m just throwing it out there that it could go either way.
The point is, the 933k score claim was asserted and recognized at the time. You can see it on this archive of the TG scoreboard from early 2005:
https://web.archive.org/web/20050325090453/https://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=22&pi=2&gi=3852&vi=22
Walter Day also acknowledges it in his post-KoK statements:
https://web.archive.org/web/20080703124534/http://www.twingalaxies.com:80/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10930
So the filmmakers had every reason to believe it as an accurate score, which it may very well have been.
Oh, and that score can also be seen in your favorite moment in King of Kong, at about the 52-minute mark, when the filmmakers show the current TG DK scoreboard at that point in time. You know, the shot of the scoreboard including your name and 879k score. And look at that! The scoreboard in the movie looks just like that archive linked above. Both Wiebe and Billy are ahead of you, prior to Walter Day entering Billy’s 1.047m tape. How could that be? It’s because both of them had surpassed you, justifying the movie as a competition between the top two players in the world. Hey, this must be why people in the movie kept referring to Billy as Wiebe’s top DK contender in an era when your 2000 score had previously surpassed Billy’s 1982 score. Look at that, it all makes sense!! Sure, Billy’s 933k score doesn’t show up on those silly scoreboard graphics conjured for the movie, which only showed Billy’s 1982 score, but as you are well aware, the filmmakers just mocked those up for the movie, emphasizing the core narrative they wanted to tell.
What’s important is that all of this was prior to the filming of King of Kong. It was months before Wiebe and Billy met at Classic Gaming Expo in August 2004, and that happened shortly before Brian Kuh and Perry Rodgers visited Wiebe’s home (the so-called “break in”), all of which preceded Seth’s and Ed’s involvement. Whereas later events were all filmed first-hand, the material covering the “break-in” was filmed way after the fact – “This is what happened,” “Here’s where they were standing,” etc.
What this means is, Billy was the recognized world record holder for the entire duration of King of Kong’s filming. Ergo, ipso facto, Wiebe in the movie was competing against Billy Mitchell – not you – for the Donkey Kong crown. Yes, the filmmakers fudged some details along the way, and yes, they excluded you from their narrative. But the core story they were telling was ultimately accurate. It was Wiebe versus the standing record holder, the big guy with connections, and in the end Wiebe won out. They just glossed over a bit of prior historical background, which documentaries do allllll the time.
The movie had nothing to do with you, it wasn’t “built on your material” or whatever other rhetorical contortion you feel like trotting out to insert yourself into other people’s stories. They weren’t required to mention you, no more than you’re required to mention the late great Ben Jos Walbeehm, who on MAME had already beaten your 2000 score before you even achieved it:
https://donkeykongforum.net/index.php?topic=810.0
At the risk of sounding hurtful, the filmmakers were correct to exclude you. A movie with you as the central character would have been a miserable failure. You’re just not movie material, man. Sorry. Nobody would have cared, nobody would have watched it. Indeed, your own actions in the intervening years have only attested to Gordon’s and Cunningham’s wisdom in this matter. And no, they don’t have to cut you a fucking check in order to talk about someone else’s rise in competitive Donkey Kong. Thinking that they are required to pay you life rights for being good at the video game they’re discussing – which at a fundamental level is what you’re arguing – is pants-on-head lunacy.
Sadly, it seems you did at some point understand that you weren’t going to be included in the movie, and that it wasn’t something to get worked up over.
> I’ve been overlooked for important, meaningful ideas and contributions on the job and in life in general for most of my 35 years, so one more time wasn’t going to make a difference.
http://web.archive.org/web/20080220142504/http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=43&id=1498
But you’ve decided to let the cynicism you warned about get the better of you. Whether it’s dollar signs or jealousy of Wiebe which changed your mind, or a mixture of the two, I couldn’t say. But I can say you and the rest of the DK community would all be much better off if you just let this one go, and go live your life without worrying about the thing (movie money, movie fame, whatever) that was never in any universe going to be yours anyway.
Oh, and Tim, there’s nothing I have to learn from you on this Donkey Kong stuff. Nothing. I could be conciliatory and say you could school me on Dragon’s Lair or some other adjacent thing, but I can’t even say that at this point. Your obsessive bias and demonstrated tendency toward unrelenting misrepresentation, blind self-service, and semantic obstinance has discredited anything you have to say. (And that’s to say nothing of your weird sockpuppetry, and constant lying about said sockpuppetry.) Even your literal personal recollections I can’t take at face value. Such is the price for being a dishonest, self-absorbed douche, I suppose.
I don’t believe it’s fair for me to dunk on you this badly while also denying you the ability to respond in the same forum. But if you’re just going to keep spewing dishonest and manipulative nonsense, at some point, one of these bullshit word salad missives of yours will be your last word here.
Karl Jobst just uploaded a video about this case (David Race’s).
ersatz cats you aren’t “dunking” on anyone. You just wrote a ten page autistic screed trying to win points in the comment section of a blog post. It’s crazy how valueless your life and time are.
You are one of the most hilariously pathetic people on the internet right now. What a worthless pile of shit your life is.
The rest of us are absolutely fucking laughing at you on Discord. Holy fuck, you are a dumb, self-aggrandizing twat. Hahahaha. Keep posting, buddy! You’re the alpha here! “B-b-b-b-but SOCK PUPPETS!!!” AHAHahhahaAhhaaaaahaahahahaha
Fucking loser.
“AHAHahhahaAhhaaaaahaahahahaha” – someone who is absolutely NOT mad, because see how much they’re laughing? not mad