STRIDE gives Steve Wiebe some honor, gum and quarters

STRIDE Gum will honor Steve Wiebe’s valiant effort to conquer Donkey Kong at E3 2009, despite the fact that he failed to beat Billy Mitchell’s highscore. As the old folks say “close is only good enough for horsehoes and hand grenades.” While he was unable to break the Donkey Kong world record at E3, the makers of Stride Gum, want to reward Wiebe for his valiant efforts. Stride gum had originally offered to give Steve Wiebe 40,004 quarters ($10,001) and a year’s supply of their newest flavor Uber Bubble if he broke the Donkey Kong world record at E3 2009.

To honor his latest attempt and dedication to a classic tradition of arcade gaming, Stride gum will give Wiebe $2,500.25 (10,001 quarters in total) and a year’s supply of Uber Bubble gum, more than enough to see him through to his next attempt. Stride will also keep the offer open through E3 2010, so whenever Wiebe makes a public attempt at the Donkey Kong world record, Stride gum will be ready to reward him with $10,001 in quarters if and when he breaks it (at a public-facing, Twin Galaxies-approved event from now until E3 2010).

While the world record of 1,050,200 points remains intact, Wiebe still impressed everyone that watched with a kill screen at 989,400, and other impressive scores of 923,400 and 653,700 at E3.

Ottumwa Wants Video Game Hall of Fame

Ottumwa, Iowa wants to be known for more than the hometown of ficitonal M.A.S.H. character Walter “Radar” O’Reilly and actor Tom Arnold. The city wants to be known as the home of Donkey Kong … and any other famous video game icon you can conjure up. According to the Cincinatti Enquirer, city officials want to open a Video Game Hall of Fame and have already officially dubbed the city the “Video Game Capital of the World.” The ground work such a venue is already underway. I know when I think of Video Games my mind automatically registers Ottumwa as the center of the video game universe.

“We have produced some great folks like Tom Arnold, but the more we can do to brand our community and bring in visitors who will spend money here, the greater of a place it will be,” said Terry McNitt, head of the Ottumwa Area Chamber of Commerce.

Really? Tom Arnold name dropping? Okay, fine. The proposed venue will showcase 35 years of video game history and host world-record contests. Ottumwa leaders had resisted lobbying by Twin Galaxies front man Walter Day until earlier this year - after the a documentary about the 1982 video game contest called “The King of Kong” brought national publicity to the tiny city. Day owned the arcade where Mitchell set the record for Donkey Kong - Mitchell recently took the high score on Donkey Kong Jr. - in case you missed the news last week.

Mitchell said video games could do for Ottumwa what baseball has done for the sleepy town of Cooperstown, N.Y., home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum. “It had to seem like a silly idea to most anybody who heard about it, but it was something that absolutely memorialized Cooperstown,” said Mitchell, 43, of Hollywood, Fla. “Ottumwa is on the edge of that.”

We wish Ottumwa good luck in its plans. Hell, maybe this will give people a reason to visit, besides a clairvoyant army clerk and a guy that once that had to sleep with Rosanne Barr (*shudder*) to get ahead.

Steve Wiebe Takes Donkey Kong Jr. World Record

Steve Wiebe has claimed the Donkey Kong Junior World Record with an impressive score of 1,139,800, according to Twin Galaxies. The new World Record mark was accomplished on March 14 and verified by Twin Galaxies Chief Referee David Nelson. Steve’s new World Record mark of 1,139,800 points takes the Donkey Kong Junior crown from fellow Washington state native Ike Hall, who was crowned the DKJ World Champ in August 2008 with a score of 1,033,000, taking the crown that Billy Mitchell had held on the game since 1985.Former Donkey Kong Jr. record holder Ike Hall plans to try to beat the new score, but acknowledges that it will be difficult.

This win is a precursor to Wiebe attempting to reclaim his title as the record holder of Donkey Kong at E3. that event will be televised live on June 2nd via G4 TV.