Donkey Kong world record broken

This is a big deal, folks. The world record high score in Donkey Kong is such a hotly contested title that there's even been a documentary made on it (the excellent The King of Kong, which we recommend you make a plan to watch ASAP if you haven't already it's excellent). After the title exchanged hands a number of times last year, former record holder Hank Chien has reclaimed the top spot.

On his second attempt of the day, Chien spent almost three hours racking up the 1,068,000 points for the new record, which was then verified by three officials from Twin Galaxies (recognised as the official authority of video game records and achievements) . This just edges out Steve Wiebe's record of 1,064,500, which in turn had just beaten Billy Mitchell's 1,062,800.
 

Record holder Hank Chien in front of the machine in question. This image shamelessly stolen from Twin Galaxies, who have a great interview with Chien up at http://twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=27&

id=2343. According to a Twin Galaxies PR email that GoNintendo posted on their site, the record may not last long as Wiebe is set to try and reclaim the top spot once again at a live event in Chicago this weekend. The big three of Wiebe, Mitchell and Chien are then off to New Jersey in March for a Donkey Kong challenge event where one of these top guns may just pip Chien's current record. Twin Galaxies have posted a great interview with Chien which you can read here.