Ben Jos Walbeehm - 904,100 (November 30, 2001)

[ChrisP]

If there hadn't been the hot, juicy drama between and , and the shenanigans from , , etc. that helped to make the drama what it was, then the movie wouldn't have been set around the DK record chase at all. They would have followed Doris, or Abdner, or one of their other possible storylines.

Throw Ben Jos into the mix (let's say he goes to Funspot in 2000 and gets 950K+) and maybe events unfold such that none of that drama ends up happening. No drama, no movie! Or the movie is "Queen of Q*Bert" instead...

[ripper]

Yea, no KOK and the DK record probably still belongs to  .   Heck, no  and the DK WR may still be under 1 million as the interest may not be there to reach out and hit a million. 

As for Ben putting up 950K, I'm not sure he could have done that with the method of his game play at the time.  Hitting 900K back then was a major deal but it was unknown about point pressing the barrels back then or grouping them right next to DK.  So gaining another 50K without using the bottom hammer would have been tough.

I would still like to see other movies like KOK but over a different game title.  Not just another documentary ABOUT video games but something in the same manner as Donkey Kong and a couple people (or more) battling over the world record on a certain title. 

There is actually a replay of Ben's score now.    http://www.twitch.tv/xelnia_games

[LMDAVE]

No one gives Mike Thompson (Wiebe's friend) the credit for KoK. Because if it wasn't for Mike hearing the stories from Steve about what happen to him during his DK record attempts he wouldn't have been blown away enough to contact his documentary friends to start the ball rolling.

If Ben Jos would have been the person it happened to, chances are Ben Jos wouldn't have had someone take in his story and make a documentary out of it, he just would have had to deal with it....like most of us would have.

KoK was Steve's story and originated through his friend Mike, so it would have never been created for Billy vs. any one else, including Tim S.

[NightRider]

Even though there's no excuse for so many inaccuracies in TKoK, it isn't surprising. Here's something interesting that I read from Michael Crichton that rings true to my personal experience with various forms of the media and journalism:

Media carries with it a credibility that is totally undeserved. You have all experienced this, in what I call the Murray Gell-Mann Amnesia effect. (I call it by this name because I once discussed it with Murray Gell-Mann, and by dropping a famous name I imply greater importance to myself, and to the effect, than it would otherwise have.)

Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect works as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray’s case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward-reversing cause and effect. I call these the “wet streets cause rain” stories. Paper’s full of them.

In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story-and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read with renewed interest as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about far-off Palestine than it was about the story you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.

That is the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect. I’d point out it does not operate in other arenas of life. In ordinary life, if somebody consistently exaggerates or lies to you, you soon discount everything they say. In court, there is the legal doctrine of falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus, which means untruthful in one part, untruthful in all.

But when it comes to the media, we believe against evidence that it is probably worth our time to read other parts of the paper. When, in fact, it almost certainly isn’t. The only possible explanation for our behavior is amnesia.

[xelnia]

So, this is a very old thread, but I feel it needs to resurface. JD informed us today that Ben Jos passed away in February 2013. It's amazing that none of us knew about this. While looking through this thread I noticed that Graham's highlights of the 904,100 game are no longer available. I restreamed this game on the DKF Twitch channel, added the highlight to the High Score List, and created a stats chart (attached below).

Ben Jos outplayed both Billy Mitchell and Tim Sczerby at the turn of the century, and by all accounts was rewarded with nothing but grief for it. I highly recommend that everyone watch this game. Watch it for its historical value, watch it to see how far ahead of the game Ben Jos really was (Staal patterns, wall jumps, elevator stage "Stella jumps", etc.), watch it to see how far the game has come in 14 years. But most of all, watch it to pay respect to a great gamer who can no longer share his talents with us.

[ripper]

I didn't know the guy died.  I wonder what happened.  He was the Steve Wiebe before DK really took off.  He just did it by breaking 900K before anyone else did.

[jdllama]

Incoming rant.

I'm sorry to have spread the word like this. QRS had let me know that BenJos passed back in March '13, but I thought it was common knowledge and never tried to let people know.

BenJos...BenJos was an inspiration. Not only did he put up with the BS that happened in the late 90's / early 2000's with everything Donkey Kong related (THERE'S NO WAY ANYONE CAN EVER BREAK 900K!), but he was someone that tried to get me on the right path.

Back in the 2000's, I was some teenager who thought he was top dog and was just hot shit. BenJos helped instill some civility and humility into me without embarrassing me or being a jack ass.

He actually helped sway me to the opinion that it's hard to find an absolute terrible game. He said he programmed some Barbie game back in the 80's, and that while it was a job, he still put a lot of love into it, and that taught me that games need some love too.

Sorry. I had gotten over his passing back when QRS first told me, but xelnia's post on this brought up some old feelings (and some tears) that needed to be discussed.

This is cheesy as hell, but it seems appropriate:

The world was a better place when BenJos was alive, even if he was just being a father and husband.

And since he is no longer with us, that means he is, by definition, in a better place.

RIP.

[tudose]

ben jos is a king <3

[lakeman421]

I enjoyed watching this Jry.  This was a lot of fun seeing how the best player played during that era.  He seemed very efficient on all the non barrel boards.  8100 average on pies considering he almost never grabbed the hammer (Not sure if he even did).  6100 on elevators considering he didn't go for prizes shows how quickly he could get to the top.  Back then it seemed like players would spend a lot of time waiting for the longest spring possible before going up, but Ben seemed to decide a lot quicker when to go.  The 7200 on rivets was also pretty good considering he never leeched Kong's foot, and I still wonder if he even knew about that point pressing technique.  It's crazy to think about if he was still around and got back into DK what he would be capable of knowing the information we know now.  Respect.

[hooch66]

This is great this post is here. These stories need to be told for posterity if nothing else. May BenJos live on and be credited with being one of the best of his era.

[ripper]

If I remember correctly, his game was Crazy Kong as he never seen DK until MAME came out.

[stella_blue]

Ben Jos' game summary was also posted in the  DK Data Library of Memorable Games  back in October 2013.

[xelnia]

Ben Jos' game summary was also posted in the  DK Data Library of Memorable Games  back in October 2013.

Sorry I missed this one, sir. 

[francoisadt]

Ben Jos' game summary was also posted in the  DK Data Library of Memorable Games  back in October 2013.

Sorry I missed this one, sir. 

Thanks for sharing.