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As a casual follower of speed running / high score community and HN frequenter, I'd say everyone who doesn't follow would be surprised how much detail goes into
by nyjah 6y ago
As a casual follower of speed running / high score community and HN frequenter, I'd say everyone who doesn't follow would be surprised how much detail goes into mastering some of these old games. These guys decipher everything, and find tricks that depend on "subpixel" perfect timing to shave off mere milliseconds. And they have thousands and thousands of attempts. The community at large thinks Billy Mitchell is a piece of shit, so tells me enough. Here's some channels if you want to learn more.
https://www.youtube.com/user/RWhiteGoose https://www.youtube.com/user/RWhiteGoose
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3ltptWa0xfrDweghW94Acg https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3ltptWa0xfrDweghW94Acg
- cainxinth 6y agoI don't know anything about Mitchell beyond what I saw in "The King of Kong," but he and his lackey come off as scheming, haughty jerks in that film.
- JKCalhoun 6y agoWearing your patriotism on your sleeve ... or around your neck ... tells me all I need to know. No, seriously, I have never been wrong yet about a person's character by observing things like that. I know a view as unscientific as that will not go over well with the HN crowd, but perhaps some of us do find merit in body language, and other external "tells". To be sure, not saying he is not an impressive, and maybe even the best Donkey Kong player — just making an observation about his general trustworthiness in my view.
- Covzire 6y agoI'm not sure if he's so much wearing/celebrating his patriotism as he is cloaking himself with it. He's extremely litigious from all accounts I've seen and it seems to be part and parcel of a carefully crafted and intimidating persona. Billy himself has no credibility to a lot of people, so why not throw a symbol front and center that holds weight for people. Just my opinion, don't sue me Billy.
- jgalt212 6y agoBIRG https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basking_in_reflected_glory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basking_in_reflected_glory
- marketingPro 6y agoThank you. This was a fascinating read.
- gowld 6y agoAnyone who creates a persona around their association with something else casts suspicion on anything they do outside of that something else.
- Talanes 6y agoEven within that something else. There's more incentive to cheat if you've tied your public identity into being good at something.
- dylan604 6y agoThe tie is what gives you that impression? Not the mullet?
- codezero 6y agoYep, Joe Dirt had a mullet, and I think that’s all I need to say. Life’s a garden, dig it.
- ponker 6y agoMany athletic all-time greats have been haughty jerks. I wouldn’t say that’s any evidence for or against the high score being authentic.
- m463 6y agoYet I read Lance Armstrong's book before it all came out...
- lhorie 6y agoI've seen videos about this case on and off. Some of the things that seem particularly problematic for Billy's case are the conflict of interest in the fact that moderators were able to post records, the shady record trail for the DK run (only "seen" by one said moderator, who later was found to cheat, and the proof tape subsequently "disappearing"), and a claim that a run was done in real hardware despite video proof showing glitches that only happen in MAME (an emulator). He made claims that said video was adulterated after the fact without his knowledge, but hasn't provided any evidence for that claim (nor is it particularly believable that anyone would go through the trouble to do so). There's also some surrounding circumstantial videos where Billy originally claims to change an arcade machine circuit board to a different game board in a very theatrical video, but then is called out for merely putting the same board back in (one can verify by looking at the circuit boards and cross-referencing with verified images of each alleged board), casting doubts into his motivations and general credibility. There are also cracks in his main line of argument (decks and decks of "signed testimonials" from people who allegedly witnessed him doing the runs). Some of those witnesses have later come out claiming to having misrepresented, and would likely testify to that effect if ever called to stand. Personally, I agree with the sentiment of the vast majority of the community that Billy is likely a cheat and that he sees this whole thing as "defamation" merely because it is a threat to his income model of milking sponsorships etc through his fame. I don't particularly see this as a good use of the courts' time, especially given how "productive to society" the monetary impact is here, but alas, he does have a right to pursue whatever crazy suit he wants if a judge hasn't thrown out his case.
- m463 6y agoMy take when watching the show was that it was intentional documentary drama. I wonder if that sort of figures into the whole equation. Did he get typecast or was he really that type of person? I watched "The Talented Mr Ripley" and I couldn't see Matt Damon as a hero type character in any role afterwards.
- pchristensen 6y agoThis video about the 3 minute Mario 3 speed run was the most impressive technical thing I’ve watched this year - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24456247 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24456247
- TehCorwiz 6y agoKarl Jobst has some great in-depth explorations of the techniques and effort put into some amazing speedruns. He also has some good videos that go into how various communities have moderated themselves regarding techniques that verge on "cheating". Edit: grammar + spelling.
- aYsY4dDQ2NrcNzA 6y agoAgreed, his YouTube channel is excellent. Also, I enjoy being called an “absolute legend” each time I watch one.
- TehCorwiz 6y agoHow awesome is it that we're all absolute legends? Right?
- manaskarekar 6y agoI'd recommend checking out Mario Grand Poo World related record runs and the history of those mods. It's crazy how much effort goes into it. Run from the namesake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwYt3QxJv34 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwYt3QxJv34
- bonestamp2 6y agoWow, that is way more in depth than I was expecting. Thank you for the link!
- viraptor 6y agoIf you want to see the other side of creation, Barb is working on Grand poo world 3 now, some of it is in public on twitch. http://www.twitch.tv/barbarousking/v/785940513?sr=a&t=1135s http://www.twitch.tv/barbarousking/v/785940513?sr=a&t=1135s
- vga805 6y agoBarb is one of my favorite streamers, it's nice to see him getting a shout out here. And yes, watching him create Grand Poo World 3 has been a ton of fun, I love those streams.
- vga805 6y agoGrand Poo Bear is a great streamer! Barbarous King, the creator of Grand Poo World 1 + 2 released this video montage of other streamers playing his Grand Poo World 2 for the first time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anhKrWAT0Oc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anhKrWAT0Oc
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y agoThe speedrunner Summoning Salt has documentary-style videos on his channel regarding the history of various speed runs for anyone interested in that sort of thing: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtUbO6rBht0daVIOGML3c8w https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtUbO6rBht0daVIOGML3c8w
- Balgair 6y agoTo point one video out there: Blindfolded Mike Tyson's Punchout is an amazing niche documentary. To repeat, a blind speedrun of a very old boxing game. The level of skill and dedication that those runners have is just astonishing. In some strange way, it really makes you reevaluate the limits we humans have, and how they aren't anywhere close to where you think they actually are. It's a heck of an achievement. All that from a game with Mike Tyson on the headliner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZT6JEOC3D8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZT6JEOC3D8
- flobosg 6y agoI recommend this insane 2-player, 1-controller blindfolded run of Punch-Out!! at AGDQ 2020, a live speedrunning event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4HnZ4-_HzI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4HnZ4-_HzI
- sarah180 6y agoSomething to know about RWhiteGoose: https://imgur.com/a/X7qLRXa https://imgur.com/a/X7qLRXa And his response: https://mobile.twitter.com/RWhiteGoose/status/1067707564689776642 https://mobile.twitter.com/RWhiteGoose/status/10677075646897... How these are weighed against one another in evaluating his character is left as an exercise to the reader.
- gameswithgo 6y agoan usually good apology at least!
- trsohmers 6y agoI don't know how a person in a matter of weeks can go from at the very least accepting (if not advocating) of the idea of genocide as an "answer" to that "question" could do a complete 180. When people are that deranged they are very willing to publicly recant views that they realize are not publicly acceptable while still believing it in private.
- slumpt_ 6y agoI think it's pretty unlikely. More likely that he's simply trying to salvage his brand.
- matuszeg 6y agothe first thing he said in that imgur link was that he thinks its okay to "hide your power level" . he is clearly okay with and willing to hide his real beliefs
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- rtkwe 6y agoYeah especially when the comments include talk about 'hiding your power level' which is explicitly about lying about your views to blend in and stealthily introduce fash/antisemetic/alt-right talking points to people without immediately turning them away or getting banned.
- gentleman11 6y ago> The community at large thinks Billy Mitchell is a piece of shit That is partially the crux of the matter: on the one hand, popularity and like ability is not evidence for or against him, and second, community contempt is the consequence of invalidating his scores and making him seem like a cheater. Maybe he’s a cheater, but evidence is the important thing
- disown 6y agoFor those who grew up playing quake as a kid... A bit of history, speedrun and nostalgia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43d8fICz6gM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43d8fICz6gM
- danmur 6y agoI only know about him from the king of Kong (like many people probably) and I'm always wary of how those things can create a bias in editing, but man does he come across as a world class jerk in that.