34 years after its debut, a teenager from Oklahoma made history as the first person to win the iconic video game Tetris from Nintendo. When he reached level 157, the game crashed, as captured in a video that Willis Gibson uploaded to his YouTube channel. His time to beat the game was only 38 minutes. Unbelievably, players thought they could only play up to level 29 until a few years ago.
In a technical sense, Willis, who plays the game as Blue Scuti on YouTube, reached what players refer to as a “kill screen,” which is a location where a code error causes the game to crash. To those who believe that only high scores matter, that may not seem like much of a victory, but in the world of video games, where records require pushing the boundaries of hardware and software, it’s a highly sought-after accomplishment.
Using a method known as hyper tapping, in which a player vibrates their fingers in a way that moves the controller faster than the in-game speed, professional competitive gamer Thor Aackerlund reached level 30 in 2011. In an attempt to see how far they could go, other players began using hyper-tapping (a pro move of hitting the d-pad with lots of quick presses, resulting in faster movement) and other strategies. However, as of last month, only AI had managed to reach the game’s actual kill screen.
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After a 38-minute run, Willis’s screen crashes, and the blocks stop falling as he “wins” the game, causing the young boy to joyously panic; “I’m going to pass out, I can’t feel my fingers!” the 13-year-old said as he collapsed backward into his chair.
“It’s never been done by a human before.” according to Vince Clemente, the president of the Classic Tetris World Championship, “Basically, until a few years ago, everyone believed it to be impossible.“
One mainstream broadcaster, however, garnered attention because of the way its host seemed to downplay Gibson’s impressive accomplishment. Jayne Secker, a 51-year-old journalist for Sky News, covered the Tetris story live last Thursday. Secker seemed to deviate from the plan at the end of the segment, saying, “As a mother, I would just say step away from the screen, go outside, and get some fresh air. A life goal is not to beat Tetris.” as she chuckles; impressed with herself for demoralizing a young boy’s several-time world-record feat.
It should come as no surprise that several prominent figures in the video game industry criticized the footage from the Sky News broadcast. Game company RARE’s Becky Frost commented: “’Beating Tetris is not a life goal’ ..How many world records had YOU set at 13 years old? What a small-minded, smug & horrible way to belittle this kid’s achievement.”
Numerous users pointed out that Gibson’s mother, a teacher, had previously made public remarks endorsing her son’s competitive Tetris career. “To be honest, I don’t mind at all,” she told the New York Times. “It really wasn’t all that hard to say “Okay,” because he doesn’t just play Tetris. Finding an old CRT TV was more difficult than deciding to give it a try for a short while.“
Even a mainstream “journalist” trying to promote memories of her bygone days fading away shouldn’t be able to crush a young man’s dreams of greatness. He posted on his YouTube channel, “When I started playing this game, I never expected to crash the game, or beat it.” A notable achievement is one that more and more people are attempting to match or surpass, and Willis’ victory in the game, inspires others to strive for greater things.
What do you think? Was this is a waste of time for the young man? Is there a game you think you could get a world record on? Let us know in the comments!
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Impressive feat.
Young men have to learn that they don’t need to justify their interests to smarmy women who can’t appreciate their accomplishments.
Women who belittle boys’ successes at conquering struggles they (the women) think are minor don’t understand the importance of learning to savor the struggle before celebrating the victory in everyday things. So what if she doesn’t think it’s a lifetime achievement? It matters to him. Its importance & value are not her call.
This is one of the reasons for the gender-imbalance we hear feminists complaining about in regard to important, prestigious, and lucrative jobs… boys grow up learning to conquer tasks in order to psyche themselves up to do them well, and girls don’t. When applied in the workplace, guys gamify their work in a lot of ways and it helps them through aspects of it that aren’t otherwise captivating or compelling. Women often get bored, annoyed, tired, or intimidated by the struggle, because they never learned to savor it on the way to the victory they want to celebrate.