Steve Wiebe

Steven J. "Steve" Wiebe (/ˈwiːbi/; born January 3, 1969) is an American two-time world champion of the video game Donkey Kong, most recently holding the title from September 20, 2010 to January 10, 2011 with a high score of 1,064,500 points.^[1] Wiebe was the first person to achieve over a million points in a public game, with a score of 1,006,600 on July 4, 2004. He is one of the primary subjects of the 2007 documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.^[2][3][4]

Personal life

Wiebe was born in Seattle to Ryan and Sandy Wiebe, and has a brother, Ryan Wiebe, and sister, Cathy Lowell. He attended Newport High School in Bellevue, Washington and played for the school's basketball and baseball teams; Wiebe also played the drums for the school's symphonic and jazz bands. Wiebe graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington in 1991. From 1996 to 1999, he worked at Boeing as a testing and analysis engineer; and from 1999 to 2001, he worked at the BSquare Corporation in Bellevue as a software testing engineer. In 2004, Wiebe earned a Master of Education degree at City University of Seattle.^[5]

Wiebe lives in Redmond, Washington with his wife Nicole, and has a daughter, Jillian, and son, Derek. In addition to his competitive gaming pursuits, Wiebe currently teaches math at Redmond High School, is a committed Christian, and has been interested in music from an early age.^[5][6]

Media appearances

Wiebe was interviewed about the documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters on the The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson^[7] and on G4's Attack of the Show.^[8] He also voiced his own cartoon character on Code Monkeys in the episode "The Great Recession". He also appeared as "Jim" in the film Four Christmases, which was directed by Seth Gordon, the director of The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. In 2011 Wiebe made a cameo appearance in Gordon's film Horrible Bosses as Thomas, Head of Security.

Like his Donkey Kong rival Billy Mitchell, Wiebe was also put in a TOPPS Allen & Ginter baseball set, which is featured in the 2009 edition of the baseball product.^[9][10][11]

Timeline of Wiebe's and the Donkey Kong high score record

• On August 19, 2007, at the Alamo Draft House in Austin, Texas, Wiebe scored 695,500 points while Twin Galaxies Founder Walter Day served as the official referee.^[12]

• On March 6, 2008, in Las Vegas, Wiebe played in front of a fluctuating crowd of 1,900 party attendees in the TAO Nightclub in the Venetian Casino during Microsoft's MIX08 event. During that attempt, Wiebe achieved two scores: first scoring 929,800 points and reaching the "kill screen" and then 579,300 points on the second try. According to Twin Galaxies records, this is the sixth time someone had reached the "Kill Screen" during a public gaming performance (He and Billy Mitchell each did this three times). Again, Wiebe performed under the supervision of Twin Galaxies Founder Walter Day, who noted: "Possibly the biggest challenges Wiebe had to overcome were the loud nightclub music, the chaotic environment and the late hours."^[13]

• On July 17, 2008, Wiebe made his third attempt to break the Donkey Kong high score at the Twiistup 4 event in Santa Monica, but was unsuccessful on two consecutive attempts, scoring 340,500 and 466,100 points.^[14]

• In October 2008, at the 2008 E for All Expo, he scored 1,000,200 in front of a large crowd. This was only the third time a 1 million point score had been achieved in public.

• On April 24, 2009, Wiebe temporarily took command of the Donkey Kong Jr. title, eclipsing both Mitchell and previous record holder Icarus Hall with a score of 1,139,800 points. This was later passed by Mark L. Kiehl with a score of 1,147,800.^[15]

• On June 2, 2009, Wiebe reached a score of 923,400 points at E3 2009 during his first attempt that day. On his second attempt, he reached 653,700. A third attempt was interrupted by a brief power failure. After power was restored, Wiebe made a fourth attempt in which he reached 989,400 points before the kill screen ended his final attempt. These attempts were broadcast online via G4TV.^[16]

• On February 17, 2010, Wiebe recaptured the Donkey Kong Jr. high score title with a verified 1,190,400 points, beating out previous record holder Mark Kiehl. Twin Galaxies Founder Walter Day served as the official referee.^[17] On April 19, 2010, Mark Kiehl again recaptured the Donkey Kong Jr. high score with a verified 1,253,000 points.^[18]

• On September 20, 2010, Wiebe regained the title of Donkey Kong champion, verified by Twin Galaxies through a DVD recording of play on August 30, 2010 with a score of 1,064,500 points.^[19]

• On January 10, 2011, Wiebe lost the title of world record holder when his previous high score of 1,064,500 points on Donkey Kong was beaten by plastic surgeon Hank Chien's 1,068,000 point high score. The attempt took two hours and forty five minutes.^[20]

Other work

He released a Contemporary Christian album titled The King of Song in December 2009.^[21]

References

External links

• Steve Wiebe's Official Website
• Steve Wiebe at the Internet Movie Database
• Steve Wiebe tells movie goers not to talk trailer at YouTube
• Behind the scenes at one of Steve's record-breaking attempts at M Swanson's Blog
• Video of his E3 2009 record-breaking attempts