Thursday, September 25, 2008

Denton gamer aims to break world record for high scores

By Addley Fannin of North Texas Daily

Photo not provided by North Texas Daily

When 6-year-old Patrick Scott Patterson's mother set him down next to the arcade game in their local laundromat, she couldn't have known the kind of impact the machine would have on her son's life.

"I looked up and saw the cartoon characters on it, but I didn't know what Pac-Man was," Patterson said. "I got up and looked at it, asked for some money to give it a try, and that was the start of it."

Now Patterson, 33, is aiming to reach his 300th world record video game score, according to the "Guinness Book of World Records."

"I'm at 298 as of this morning," Patterson said on Tuesday. "It's getting really close. Cracking that top 10 is going to be a bit of a challenge, but it's worth it."

Though Patterson spends most of his time repairing older gaming systems, he has reached this level of competition only seven months after he first began playing video games competitively.

"I saw that movie, King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, about two guys chasing the world record on Donkey Kong," Patterson said. "And I got to thinking, man, I've been fixing up games for all these years, but I haven't been playing video games. I used to rack up high scores, and if these guys can do it, then I want a piece of that, too."

Patterson tracks his scores through Twin Galaxies, an organization dedicated to compiling and tracking top video game scores the world over.

"At first, I just thought it was an excuse to play games along with a little publicity," Patterson said. "But the way that Twin Galaxies promotes competitive gaming and all, that just sucked me in. Twin Galaxies is a very positive organization. They promote things in a very positive light."

Coincidentally, Twin Galaxies was founded in 1981, the same year that Patterson played his first video game. The gaming group was founded by Walter Day of Iowa, who realized that, despite the national craze for arcade gaming, no one was keeping track of high scores.

"They contribute to Guinness and the Guinness Gamers' edition," Patterson said.

"Guinness went to them because they are the authority."

In order to submit scores for Twin Galaxies' ranking, players must record their entire game from start to finish, then send the video in with their score submission.

"With arcade games, they use a video camera to record their performance, setting up with the full view of the screen," Twin Galaxies referee Terrance O'Neill said.

"Even before that, they have to open up the machine and show the whole circuit board to see that it matches up. They can have doctored board to make the settings easier, so they have to show every little detail before they even start the machine."

The scores are judged for eligibility by referees like O'Neill, who review video tapes made of the players' games to make sure that all of the organization's pre-established rules are followed.

"Individual games will have rules set up for each individual games," O'Neill said. "There are basic rules, like 'no turbo controllers' and stuff. And then, each game has the rules set up for them. If they break them, the games get disqualified."

O'Neill also said that most gamers who break the rules do so unintentionally, but the rules also serve to keep some of the less honest players from cheating their way to glory.

"The refs are very specific," Patterson said. "They're not going to accept a partial game or let players put in codes. They have to go through a very careful verification process, because a lot of people are going to lie and cheat and try to get into the record book in the bad way."

In following these rules through every one of his record-breaking games, Patterson hopes to lead the way in a competitive atmosphere that he thinks is only starting to grow.

"This is the very beginning," Patterson said. "If ESPN can air competitive poker, then competitive video gaming is going to gain popularity in a few years from now."

In May, Patterson will premiere in his first live competitive tournament, representing Twin Galaxies at the 11th Annual Classic Arcade Tournament, held at Funspot Arcade in New Hampshire, listed in Guinness as the largest arcade in the country.

"Every time he sends a tape out, it's 15, 20 or more records," O'Neill said of Patterson. "He's out to be No. 1, and he's very determined, and the sky's the limit with him."

Pegasus News content partner - North Texas Daily

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