My guest this week is Steve Wiebe, star of the new documentary King of Kong. The film tracks Steve's quest to set the Donkey Kong world record.

We were lucky enough to see King of Kong last week, and I can't recommend it enough. It's a fantastic movie, even if you don't like video games.


King of Kong is already playing in New York, LA, Seattle, and Austin. Today it expands to San Francisco, Berkeley, Chicago, Minneapolis, Washington DC, Boston and Portland. If you don't live in one of those cities, move. This movie is not to be missed.

This week, I got to go to a Nintendo press event to preview some of Nintendo's upcoming games. I went with Dan Hopper of A Week of Kindness and BestWeekEver.tv.

TALKING POINT: What's Mario Galaxy like?

Jeff: After only a few minutes, it was obvious that Mario Galaxy is already a classic game three months before it comes out. Look for this thing to bring world peace, like at the end of Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. It looks completely new, but it's unmistakably a Mario game.

Dan: It's a little like Mario 64, but with planets instead of paintings. And bees.

Jeff: The planets were interesting. The whole game takes place on spheres of various sizes. It's not nearly as nauseating as it sounds, though Toad puked.

Dan: Toad always pukes.

Jeff: The game has an odd control scheme. You control Mario with a joystick, while the remote controls an on-screen cursor you use to throw stars. It's not like Mario is throwing the stars, it's like you are throwing them from your living room. This is the first Mario game to break the fourth wall.

Dan: The pat-your-belly-while-scratching-your-head controls felt surprisingly natural. The game never explains the controls very throughly, because they don't need to. It just works. Another new feature: a friend can play along with the second controller to shoot enemies, or mess with Mario.

Jeff: It's like one-and-a-half players. It's comparable to how you can take the second controller in Duck Hunt and control the ducks. Technically you are controlling something on the screen, but you're not really playing.

Dan: Mario Galaxy is definitely one of those "uh oh, I think I'm going to have to buy this system now" kind of games, which is something Bonk was never able to accomplish.