FROM DAVID RACE. PLEASE READ.......

[maximumsteve]

On September 10, 2019 I first heard of what is currently going on with respect to Billy Mitchell and TG/Guinness. On September 12, 2019 I came across an article on Ars Technica, which linked to a source pointing out that MTV had conducted a segment where they were interviewing Robert Mruczek in early 2006. There were some video clips where the 1,047,200 game was playing in the background. In a few instances, one can see the transition from one board to another. One of these transitions displays the “3-girder” with “finger”.

Here are those clips:

http://www.mtv.com/video-cli…/al7vzf/saving-the-game-forever
http://www.mtv.com/video-clips/q9uio0/increasing-the-stakes
http://www.mtv.com/video-cl…/7wual3/outdoing-george-costanza
http://www.mtv.com/video-…/4l1hdw/preparing-for-the-big-race
http://www.mtv.com/…/smashing-apart-the-donkey-kong-world-r…

This is the first time I heard of this MTV segment. I was simply unaware that this footage of the 1,047,200 game existed. Needless to say, this changes my assessment concerning frame manipulation or digital alteration of transitions. I now believe this takes that option off the table.

Keep in mind that Funspot, when the 1,047,200 tape was initially viewed and portions captured by the “King of Kong” film crew, was just months earlier. The “King of Kong” was not even released until over a year later. To my knowledge, this MTV footage is the earliest record of video excerpts from the 1,047,200 game.

Chronologically, the next footage from either the 1,047,200 or the 1,050,200 games comes from the “King of Kong”(2007) and Youtube(2016). Sometime in that interim, Dwayne Richard had apparently uploaded these games to the internet, in parts. I am unaware of when this was done. In one of his videos, he said he got the 1,050,200 tape from Todd Rogers. I tried to get clarification on this, but Dwayne would not respond to any of the questions or requests I presented to him.

My understanding, based on what I have found online, is that Dwayne and others didn’t have access to copies of the 1,047,200 tape until after the MTV interview referenced above. This means that the disputed “3 girder” with “finger” was on the original tape sent to Robert Mruczek, presumably from Billy Mitchell.

It should be kept in mind, based on the actions and statements of Dwayne Richard that digital frame alteration remained a real possibility in my mind until I came across this latest piece of evidence. Changing a little over 600 frames of a 2.5 hour video(270,000 frames) is nothing if you have the right software and/or video editing suite.

Based on this information I would like to offer my apologies to Dwayne with respect to the idea he may have been responsible for perpetrating a hoax by altering frames of the 1,047,200 and 1,050,200 games. Dwayne, I'm sorry.

In my Q&A with Josh Harmon I said, “The whole transition and girder issue is assumed to be what is found on the original tapes. That has yet to be demonstrated. Until one can present video footage from the Fun Spot unveiling or during the private cabin screening, this will remain an open question. Make no mistake, there are no transitions shown during the main body of the ‘King of Kong’ film and I could only find one in the extras, and that was at the beginning of the elevator board comparison. As I said above, I do not think this approach (trying to replicate something which has not been shown to exist on the original tapes) is fruitful. It involves basing an entire case on an, as of yet, unproven assumption.”

After coming across this new evidence I think the transition and girder issue has been demonstrated and is no longer an open question. Seeking to replicate this on arcade is definitely something that Billy Mitchell, Rob Childs and anyone else claiming the recordings came from the original DK boardset that was certified by Nintendo, NEED to do. It is incumbent on THEM, not others. Carlos and I were unable to replicate these transition elements, despite the orientation that was used.

I was then asked, “What is your current best guess as to why the direct feed footage of Billy's gameplay displays non-arcade transition rendering patterns? Does it seem more likely to you that there would be a technical explanation yet to be discovered or that the tapes themselves are forgeries of some kind from a malicious third party? Why?”

I responded with, “The question assumes that the original footage, which no one seems to possess, does not display arcade transitions. This dogmatic assertion comes from assuming that the uploaded youtube videos from Dwayne Richard are the original tapes. It should be kept in mind that Richard had previously sought help from at least two individuals in order to fake a Donkey Kong score to submit to TG. This is a serious problem that many dismiss or discount, but Richard has been shown to be an untrustworthy source in the past and that, coupled with his utter disdain for Billy Mitchell, should warrant far greater scrutiny and skepticism with regards to any claims he has made with respect to his videos. There are more problems and differences with these recordings in comparison to the VHS playback conducted by Jace Hall, as well as the two digital copies which were uploaded to the dispute thread. All materials, including physical copies of the tapes in possession of TG and Dwayne, need to be surrendered so an independent and thorough examination can be made. As of this moment, this has not been done. There may be technical explanations or further testing which may eliminate or establish a particular theory as true, but as of right now it is up in the air.”

I have since come to the conclusion that the 1,047,200 , and, by extension, the 1,050,200 tapes posted on youtube, although perhaps 2nd or 3rd generation copies, do replicate elements I now believe to exist on the originals that I have not been able to verify as normative arcade transitions. This is why Billy Mitchell and company NEED to have an expert test every piece of an original DK boardset and see if any change to frequency, CPU emulation, clock speed, VRAM, will affect video output. Tests could also be conducted on any other converters to see if the video signal is altered in the process of conversion to either NTSC or digital capture. I do not have the resources or expertise to conduct such an extensive line of tests.

So what does this all mean?

Does this automatically mean that MAME was used? Not necessarily. Does this automatically mean that arcade was not used? Once again, not necessarily. As I have said in my “Initial Assessment”, “Some other process or processes would have to be involved in order to produce an orientation that is 180° opposite of what the actual boardset normally produces. The Two-Bit Converter with this boardset does not produce what we see. The color and stability of my recordings do not match the copies as closely as one should expect if their signals were directly run through a Two-Bit Converter to a VCR. . . . At best, the results indicate the recordings were not made in the way that was claimed for them.” Remember that I was told nothing had been done to the original boardset and it was the same one which had been certified by Nintendo. If the Two-Bit converter and the actual boardset cannot produce what is seen on the tapes, what else is left? The flipped orientation and the disputed transition elements would have to be the product of the video from the boardset being run through different hardware (i.e. unknown converter, signal processor, computer i/o), software(i.e. video editor), or the product of a different boardset altogether, or the product of a completely separate setup (i.e. hard drive, emulation software). As I stated in the opening of my “Initial Assessment”, “The only ones who can answer how the games were originally recorded are the ones claiming responsibility for their production.”

If what I have been told is true, that nothing was changed on the original DK boardset used for both the earlier games, then testing should be done on any hardware or converters which may be used to interface with the arcade. If it is subsequently claimed that another boardset was used, then the testing I mentioned above should be conducted on that boardset. This, however, would mean that both Carlos and I were lied to.

If it was a different boardset and no amount of testing can produce the transition elements seen in the earlier games, then the third option is a setup completely detached from original arcade hardware, but which emulates the code using different hardware. MAME and other emulators would fall under this category.

What is certain is that this is an evolving story, where certainty gives way to unknowns. This is not acceptable. We were all told the process involved in producing Billy’s games by Rob Childs on February 11, 2018. I reference this in my “Initial Assessment”, but didn’t quote or link to it.

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/…

Here is what we were told:
“The following is a LAYMAN’S explanation of the hook-up used for each of Billy Mitchell’s scores”

“In Billy’s video recording, he did not use MAME. Billy used a RGB to NTSC Video Converter Board to record his footage.”

“The way the video converter board works is that it TRANSLATES the entirety of the RGB type signal, which is what originates from the DK video game board, into NTSC when that signal is run through the converter. The NTSC signal is what VCRs and TVs of all types used back in the day.”

“The converter signal is sent solely to the VCR.”

“The Converter hook-up works like this:
The video converter is connected directly to the video output of the DK inverter board. The inverter receives the video from the DK board itself NOT the Sanyo monitor that the player sees from his view. The converter board does its job translating RGB to NTSC which goes to the VCR and is recorded as the finalized media“

“The TRANSLATION of RGB to NTSC changes the video’s appearance and characteristics of the signal (as in a CGA monitor) to a ‘more MAME looking signal output’.”

“THE FACT REMAINS that the hook-up described here produces these results and that alone is enough to prove, along with Billy’s ability in other high scores, that cheating was not involved.”

“$5000 CHALLENGE
If ANYONE can disprove what I have stated within this explanation, not in opinion, but in ACTUAL proof I will donate $5000 in their name to the charity of their choice . We also will test/prove any discrepancies in opinion in my shop on video. A contract will be provided if this option is sought.”

“That TG member wrongly concludes that due to the rotation of the image and its alignment to the left instead of the right, that MAME must have been used. However his argument is weak for he either leaves out nor considers that the Sanyo monitor used is known to have capacitor problems in the vertical circuit (namely c407 (10uF, 160v) which often causes a fold to the bottom half of a Horizontally mounted monitor.
Nor does he consider other plausible explanations such that the majority of these games from that era were notorious for image burn on the face of picture tubes and that most likely the picture tube was changed and the donor tube’s yoke was either installed 180 degrees the wrong way and the header connector was flipped to correct the orientation, or the yoke may not have been wedged in correctly and the picture was off center, or that the yoke was that of the donor monitor and was close enough to work with that monitor chassis.”

“Direct feed was a viable option. It's a very simple process to wire and does not take much skill. To wire a DK machine to an external display you would use an RGB to composite signal converter.
In the very early 2000s, Two Bit Score (a company that sold coin op video accessories), sold such a device. It cost $199.00. This was a simple device where you took standard positive digital TTL RGB video signal and a composite negative sync from a standard 15.7 kHz video game and converted them to a composite low level analog video signal that a TV or VCR could display.”

Rob stated that the converter signal is sent solely to the VCR. Both Carlos Pineiro and I have tested Billy’s boardset and running the converter signal solely to a VCR will NOT produce an orientation that is 180° flipped, nor does it produce the screen elements found during the transition sequences.

He then says, “The inverter receives the video from the DK board itself NOT the Sanyo monitor that the player sees from his view. The converter board does its job translating RGB to NTSC which goes to the VCR and is recorded as the finalized media“, but goes on to appeal to changes in the yoke or header connector associated with the monitor/tube in order to explain why the orientation was wrong.

The signal sent directly to a VCR will be unaffected by anything done to the monitor. When I was doing my testing, something happened to the DK monitor where the entire screen turned blue and was very difficult to see. The output from the inverter through the Two-Bit converter to the VCR, however, was unaffected. As far as screen adjustment is concerned, these can be made by the two pots on the arcade Video board. The picture can be moved up and down or left and right so that’s not really an issue.

He said, “the hook-up described here produces these results”, when it clearly does not.

He also issued a “$5000 CHALLENGE”. I don’t know if anyone has taken him up on this, but I feel I can say with certainty that his explanation has been disproven by the testing both Carlos and I have conducted.

There is a reason why I feel the need to address this now. In the publicly accessible evidence package, there are signed statements by Rob Childs which say he provided little to no information about the equipment involved with the two earlier games, but did say that he created the recording set-up for the 1,062,800 game, but doesn’t remember the exact recording set-up since it happened nine years ago. In his statement, it is claimed that people made assumptions and twisted his words. These people were said to be malicious. Does this mean that I am malicious because I can read exactly what Rob Childs had written for all to see? There was no question about the “Converter hook-up” when he decided to post his rather lengthy technical analysis, and to grandstand, he offered $5000.00 to the charity of choice if anyone could disprove it. That is not something someone does who is ignorant about how things were setup.

I was also taken aback when I saw a signed statement by Carlos Pineiro which said, “I have been presented with Billy Mitchell's evidence. After seeing the evidence, I retract my conclusions from the dispute case. Billy Mitchell did not cheat." This would be akin to Carlos saying that everything he did and all the time he devoted to this was completely in vain and didn’t mean a thing.

Today I watched a video Carlos published on Youtube explaining the whole situation and to emphasize that he DOES stand by his conclusions and that they were based solely on his technical analysis. I would suggest watching it in its entirety in order to hear his side of things.

https://m.youtube.com/watch…

I certainly cannot call into question the statements of all the witnesses presented in the evidence package, but I certainly question the statement of Rob Childs. Carlos Pineiro has responded to questions about his statement, which seemed to have been the product of undue influence in my opinion.

I was asked to look over and sign a couple statements but declined. I said that I would answer questions in an interview format.

I stand by everything I have written, based on the information I had at the time. I cannot go back and rewrite history because I discovered something new, but I can change my assessment.

I still believe the tapes and recordings need to be examined as outlined in my “Initial Assessment”. This is for the benefit of both sides of this dispute. Comparing them to control recordings and subjecting them to signal analysis may go some way to bringing this to a more definitive conclusion. This is something that should be done by an independent expert in the field.

I suggested that a polygraph test be conducted for Billy Mitchell and Rob Childs, because Rob said that he and Billy would be willing to take one. It has been over a year since I submitted this to the IVGHOF and I have heard nothing. I provided a link with a list of test locations to Jerry Byrum, president of the IVGHOF.

Here is that link: http://www.polytest.org/lie-detector-test-locations.asp…

Billy Mitchell has been accused of many things. The onus of proof still lies with his accusers.

However, if a claim is made that Billy Mitchell recorded all of his games on original arcade hardware, it is not unreasonable to ask Billy Mitchell and Rob Childs to find the techs or employees, which are said to have worked on the machines to record the games, and have them duplicate the process, because we now know that it wasn’t the product of a simple Two-Bit Converter.

I don’t like being lied to. I don’t like having my time wasted, and I certainly don’t like it when someone tries to gaslight me or others. Rob Childs was more than certain about his analysis, and now we are supposed to believe that he never really said or explained the setup, that it was all a figment of our imagination. Rob can’t remember all that was involved in the recording of the 1,062,800 game? Both Carlos and I just started testing Two-Bit Converters on a whim? We’re testing Gigaware capture devices into laptops because we just felt like it? Sorry, that nonsense doesn’t fly with me.

Thank you

David Race

[dwayne]

This nonsense of me being untrustworthy is a bias.  No one has the timeframe right.  It was after kok came out and all the referees were fired by walter I realized that because of new technology of mame made it possible for people to submit bogus scores.  My whole point was to generate a mame score to see if the new tg staff could pick it up.  I never would have allowed it to stay it was to make a point. 

This idea I mentioned to 5 other people at a dinner.  That is true uf this was a big conspiracy why would I tell people.  I dont know anything about mame.  Richie was at the dinner that is true so was gary Vincent his wife and 3 other people I cannot remember.

I was concerned someone was going to use this technology in the dk race.  So unwanted to draw attention to it.  Not being on tg staff anymore I could not address it directly.  I talked to rick fothergill if he would help me put a save state recording together he said no.  I asked him again a second time and he said no and that was the end of that. 

It was hank chein who helped me see it had already been done. He did a PowerPoint presentation the weekend he broke the wr at funspot to show the problems and game play of certain tapes.  Dave Nelson  ignored his findings.  And since hank took the wr never to have the hypocrites from kok to achieve the score again it became a mute point till someone else picked up the torch.

I never made a digital copy contrary to misinformation I am no technician  I'm a hack who replaces parts like a monkey.  I dont play mame to train I use original games to play on. Because of my tactile memory in my hands I dont want to miss that up play on different joysticks. 

I really dont know why it got so outta control.  Bogus scores have been part of our history that we have had to debunk.  I'm sorry we had to create this kangaroo court to address these issues.  The level of insanity people are possessed by is outra control as well.  Hank asked me not to say anything and I didn't till he told me I should defend myself against the lies coming out.

The irony us I had to go thru the difficulty of being accused of cheatk g on nibbler which is insane. Who the fu ck would cheat in nibbler.  I knew the code on my boards was good.  The timing is so subtle both tim and I could not recognize it at first site..

My friend from Florida is the only one who will never apologize.  He is too invested in his lies and delusion.  It will take divine intervention to humble that man. 

I have not had the chance to answer questions just be accused. 

The tide is turning ...

[ersatz_cats]

I'm not going to lie, I've had my things to say about David Race's contributions to the TG dispute thread in the past (though back during last year's dispute I was appreciative that at least someone was going there, attempting to present a case for Billy). But I have to stand up and show appreciation for anyone who has the stones to say, in front of everyone, "Look, I was wrong. And here, specifically, are the things I was wrong about." That's a type of accountability you don't see enough of these days.

I would also like to point out, for the record, I believe this to be the first public apology Dwayne Richard has received in any of this MAME tape stuff.

Bravo, David Race!!

[Bounty Bob]

Wow, didn't expect this. Takes a big man to step up and say so publicly that he was wrong. Respect to you, David.

[ijmorgan]

This nonsense of me being untrustworthy is a bias.  No one has the timeframe right.  It was after kok came out and all the referees were fired by walter I realized that because of new technology of mame made it possible for people to submit bogus scores.  My whole point was to generate a mame score to see if the new tg staff could pick it up.  I never would have allowed it to stay it was to make a point. 

This idea I mentioned to 5 other people at a dinner.  That is true uf this was a big conspiracy why would I tell people.  I dont know anything about mame.  Richie was at the dinner that is true so was gary Vincent his wife and 3 other people I cannot remember.

I was concerned someone was going to use this technology in the dk race.  So unwanted to draw attention to it.  Not being on tg staff anymore I could not address it directly.  I talked to rick fothergill if he would help me put a save state recording together he said no.  I asked him again a second time and he said no and that was the end of that. 

It was hank chein who helped me see it had already been done. He did a PowerPoint presentation the weekend he broke the wr at funspot to show the problems and game play of certain tapes.  Dave Nelson  ignored his findings.  And since hank took the wr never to have the hypocrites from kok to achieve the score again it became a mute point till someone else picked up the torch.

I never made a digital copy contrary to misinformation I am no technician  I'm a hack who replaces parts like a monkey.  I dont play mame to train I use original games to play on. Because of my tactile memory in my hands I dont want to miss that up play on different joysticks. 

I really dont know why it got so outta control.  Bogus scores have been part of our history that we have had to debunk.  I'm sorry we had to create this kangaroo court to address these issues.  The level of insanity people are possessed by is outra control as well.  Hank asked me not to say anything and I didn't till he told me I should defend myself against the lies coming out.

The irony us I had to go thru the difficulty of being accused of cheatk g on nibbler which is insane. Who the fu ck would cheat in nibbler.  I knew the code on my boards was good.  The timing is so subtle both tim and I could not recognize it at first site..

My friend from Florida is the only one who will never apologize.  He is too invested in his lies and delusion.  It will take divine intervention to humble that man. 

I have not had the chance to answer questions just be accused. 

The tide is turning ...

Don't suppose anyone has a copy of said PP presentation as it's been brought up a few times and iv'e never managed to find anything?

Cheers
Ian