October 4th, 2012 - Competitive gaming fans were stunned today upon visiting the Twin Galaxies website to discover perhaps the biggest bombshell in the organization's 31-year history.
Sometime during the mid-afternoon of October 3rd, hits to the TwinGalaxies.com homepage began redirecting to a subdirectory of "the-1up.com"—homepage of Denver, Colorado's The 1Up bar/arcade, which will be hosting the upcoming Kong Off II.
Visitors were met with a statement informing them that the site was moving and would return "in 5-7 days."
Beginning early the following day, however, the message was updated:
Former Twin Galaxies staff member Patrick Scott Patterson fielded a few questions about the situation on his Facebook page, but divulged very little of the already very little that is generally known at this time.
There is, however, some highly-legible "writing on the wall:"
- The redirect to the-1up.com evinces an obvious relationship between the two parties. Whether the redirect is a temporary favor on the part of The 1up, or something bigger, is yet to be known.
- The admission that the organization is in the process of a physical move to Denver, Colorado—the location of The 1up—is strong evidence of exactly what that "something bigger" might be.
One thing is for sure: with only two weeks remaining before the deadline to qualify for the Kong Off 2 (a Twin Galaxies-verified million points or better on Donkey Kong), and with at least two players that I know of burning the midnight joystick-oil in an attempt to squeak through, this development couldn't have come at a worse time!
In the larger picture, however, the news may be very happy indeed.
There has existed for many years (in fact, probably beginning within days of Twin Galaxies' very first verified scores) a group of individuals with an axe to grind against the organization.
Nobody ever accused competitive video gamers of being easygoing, and the constant supply of high drama on display in social networks, forums, and films such as Chasing Ghosts and The King of Kong will bear this out.
Everybody seems to have their own personal tale of struggle against the Evil Empire of Videogame Scorekeeping, or at the very least a blood feud with someone who is or was on the inside.
Within the past year and a half, though (in the wake of a previous change of ownership), we have moved beyond the standard baseline level of indignant Twin Galaxies hatred and escalated to a widespread, brimming fury—whether over referee judgments, management decisions, or the horrifically retooled official website.
Even the most casual outsider will be able to catch a strong whiff of victory just from the above placeholder message, not unlike the way coalition forces in Iraq probably felt after the deposition of Saddam Hussein.
A transfer to new ownership may be the dawn of a new era, a chance for all to put old grudges behind and move into the future.
I wouldn't bet on it lasting for very long, since it may only be a matter of days before somebody starts an argument over dipswitch settings that metastasizes into a bitter, 27-year-long saga, but here's hoping for the best!
Updated: Twin Galaxies has been acquired by Jordan Adler (owner of the 1up) and "The King of Arcades" Richie Knucklez. No surprises here, but if this situation had a "Like" button, I would click it.
See:
PSP's report
Empire Arcadia: "Twin Galaxies Third Empire"
13 comments:
Did you just compare Twin Galaxies to the Iraq war?
I go where my muse takes me.
Richie Knucklez and Jourdan Adler have bought it, everyone on the inside knows...
Ditto on the metaphor. It undermines yourself to talk about the high drama and whining but then compare TG to the Iraq war and invoke Saddam Hussein. I love gaming as much as most of us but this is not actual war.
Well I meant the hyperbole itself as a joke with regard to the overall point I was making about gaming being serious business to gamers, but having slept on it, you're probably right that I shouldn't have put it that way! Oh well, there it is.
Good luck to both the previous and new owners. I am hopeful that the new ownership will be able to provide timely and more reliable service to the 'obsolete' platforms that are near and dear to my heart so that I may finally hold the record for the game instances for which I excel.
Perhaps a 'corporatization' is in the future for the former 'homebrew' stylings of TG. I have no issue with this as long as the service is provided at a reasonable cost.
Everyone on the "inside" knew already? lol. Everybody knew because Richie couldn't wait to tell anyone. He can't keep a secret. lol.
Every day the record books are down. The more people will lose interest. Its just a sad deal.Most people won't give a crap,about high scores. If this isn't up and running SOON.
The real players don't have to boast their scores.
We madmen keep it between our selves.
Oh, and you beat a game by beating the score, not the development.
The new owners suck at keeping scores up. Quit fucking it up " king of arcade " I never even heard of this guy. Conning folks out ok 40 k for a movie!
Dude you've had what like 20 years? Why don't you just recapture your score on the fast setting? If they don't care what the setting is then make it easy on yourself and ramp up a high score. Your energy is so misdirected. I see you grevience but the scores are mized together. Just get a new high score. If you want revenge get the high score. What is the problem. Crying for 20 years is getting you no where. Think about it.
Or put it another way. No one cares. Except you. Therefore, you'll never win. Because no body cares. Get a high score and everyone will say you were right and your the best ever.
SDA > TG anyways.
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