http://chasingghoststhemovie.com/

As a big fan of King of Kong, I was wondering about the release date of this doc. Is there any word about Chasing Ghosts coming to theaters or DVD?

And, 4 years later, a reply...

I streamed this in HD off Netflix last night. Absolutely essential viewing for anyone who enjoyed King of Kong. Where that film was mostly centered on Mitchell and Weibe's rivalry over the titular game, this one delves deeper into the lives of the gamers featured in the Life magazine photo spread from 1982.

And, man, are some of them living sad, pathetic lives. It was jarring to see how some of these guys felt like they were the kings of the world during a very brief period in '82... only to see everything come crashing down less than 2 years later. One dude, Tony (or Mr. Activision, one of his many monikers), now lives on the floor of his parents trailer home with 200 spiders and every video game system known to man hooked up to a 17" tube TV.

Billy Mitchell is still the fucking man, though.

Well worth watching, as it manages to capture the spirit of those days (which I never really experienced seeing as how I was born in '81) without coming off as hokey or condescending.

I was born in '68, so I was smack in the middle of that time. It was definitely sad to see how a couple of those guys weren't able to let it go and still define their lives by a video game score they made 30 years ago.

By the way, the old man who plays Berzerk is now doing 20 years for a lifetime of child molestation.

Had never heard of the movie until this thread. Was a huge King of Kong so I enjoyed getting a closer look at several of the characters more closely.

I thought Walter Day came off very well in KOK, I recall the scene where they go into his interest in TM and I thought to myself, "Well at least this guy has interests outside of video games, he seems like he's got his act together." But in Chasing Ghosts they made him look unhinged, especially when they harped on his musical ambitions.

I loved the scene of Billy playing Pacman, and explaining the pattern that keeps the ghosts in the maze. That's the kind of stuff I found really interesting. I wish the movie had included more scenes like that of these guys playing. Do any of them still have the stuff?

Thanks for the bump and the short review.

Streamed this last night and enjoyed it almost as much as KoK. Great (and at time depressing) cautionary tale that should be required viewing by every teen boy obsessed with gaming. (Even more relevant now when there is absolutely zero payout for prestiging a gazillion times on Call of Duty.)

The highlight for me was the scene with the guy who wrote the letter to Twin Galaxies about his 300,000+ score on Q-Bert, only to learn later that the world record was something like 7,000,000. Followed by a sustained and very awkward nerd-laugh.

And loved the final few minutes with the reunion and the Smithsonian title card. Really highlighted how far removed from reality some of the guys still are.

It had what seemed to be a much darker (read: look at these losers) style than King of Kong. And it really made Walter out to be delusional...

This was definitely a great companion to King of Kong (sorry, the KoK acronym makes me think of something other than the movie). It makes me sad how delusional many of the people were (or are), but I think it was cool to see a different angle on some of these guys.

I just read this Onion AV Club interview with Billy Mitchell and the creators of King of Kong that I found very interesting. It's a few years old now but worth it if you haven't check it out yet:
http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-k...mp-billy,2159/

I found this movie on the internet but would really love a dvd copy. Unfortunately, it looks like it's not going to come out.

Good luck with that music career Walter