When King of Kong director Seth Gordon was approached to direct a new Vince Vaughn comedy for Newline Cinemas, he couldn't help but include a small appearance by everybody's favorite underdog Donkey Kong legend. That's right, school teacher turned DK record-breaker Steve Wiebe will have a small walk-on role in Gordon's upcoming film Four Christmases.

The role is uncredited by IMDB, but a representative from Newline reports that Wiebe will have a cameo appearance as Jim, Reese Witherspoon's character's brother, and brother-in-law to Vince Vaughn's character. No word yet if Wiebe's character will allude to Donkey Kong, record-breaking, or his unexplainable disdain for hot sauce.

[Thanks, Edog]

Much like getting a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, we're not sure if being transmogrified into a monster truck means that a icon has "finally arrived" or has leapt headfirst into the inky blackness of cultural irrelevance. For better or for worse, Donkey Kong, noted primate, kart racer and plumber antagonist, has just made the fateful jump.

Just as informative of the images of the Monster Jam truck (which actually bears a striking resemblance to DK) are the (plentiful) reactions of children at the ape's automotive debut, all of who attempt to describe how "cool" and "awesome" the truck is, but seem to be incapable of capturing the grandeur with mere words. Luckily, the camera pans away before they result to guttural grunts and screeching.

[Thanks, Shawn]

Do people exist somewhere that don't own this system? If the Japanese sales charts are to be believed, then there have been enough Nintendo DS systems sold so that every man, woman, child, and dog on the planet could have one of these. And a spare.

However, if you are DS-less and have a hankering to get onboard with the action, and you have some rudimentary photochopping skills, then try your hand at the Nintendo DS/DK contest at SmugMug. All you have to do is paste the little guy climbing to the top of pretty much anything, and then submit it. Keep in mind though, images must be under 12 mb in size (good gawd).

It's a pretty easy contest to enter, and the swag is well worth the time, so why not whip something up and get in? We made one in just a few seconds (hint, it's the image for this post) so you should trump our skillz easily and submit it to them.

Check out the rules on their site. Also, the comment on the first (and only) entry that's up so far is ... priceless. Ahh, the internets.

We know we probably sound like a broken record with our repeated praise-singing for the fabulous King of Kong, but with good game-based movies being rarer than a perfect game of Pac-Man, we feel this effort needs all the support it can get. The movie opens in eight more cities today, including major metro areas like Chicago, San Francisco, Boston and Washington, DC.

King of Kong's limited five-screen opening last weekend brought in a respectable $10,000 per screen, just slightly less than box office leader Superbad. Sure, Superbad was on roughly 590 times as many screens, but still, it's tailing Superbad!

The movie is currently holding at an incredible 98 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and a respectable 83 out of 100 on MetaCritic. What more do you need? Get some tickets already!

King of Kong hit theaters -- a handful, at least -- today, so if you're in one of the few selected cities we recommend you sacrifice your other Friday not plans and check it out. Even BioShock can wait, for those few lucky enough to grab an early copy. (Image credit) Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
Joystiq hands-on: MySims
Reminder: Win BioShock, play it tomorrow morning!
Reminder: Win a BioShock Xbox 360 faceplate & T-shirt
Today's most first-person-waggle video: Metroid Prime 3

News
BioShock PC demo gets unconfirmed
PlayStation Network store gets a DiRTy update
Sega bringing Shinobi III, Landstalker to Virtual Console
Cruelty-free web gaming with PETA's Super Chick Sisters
Meet Ellen and Keats in new Folklore trailer
Game Crazy owner facing massive financial problems
King of Kong opens in four cities today
Wii production expansion delayed
EA gives no mea culpa on Wiki controversy
Recent 360 and Live buyers get two free XBLA games
GRAW developer: PS3 not harder to code for than 360
Soul Calibur IV keeps laying on the sexuality
God of War composer creates Jericho soundtrack
Hoor-EA! Mac games hit Apple store today
BioShock soundtrack CD features Moby, Oscar the Punk and 'eerie aesthetic'
In2Games to unveil Wii-like PS2 peripherals

Culture & Community
G4 makes Red Ring of Death metal music video

Supporters of game-based movies have had to suffer through a lot in recent months. Dead or Alive, Postal and the DVD release of Game Box 1.0 have all assaulted our senses and our sensibilities since the start of the year. Now, finally, a good game-based movie has come along and, unfortunately, it's only viewable in five theaters nationwide.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters opens today in New York (two theaters), LA, Seattle and Austin, Texas. The movie's limited release extends to seven more cities next week and four more the week after on its way to eventual release in 25 total cities.

Reviews of the film continue to be overwhelmingly positive, with only one bad review among the 25 currently listed on Rotten Tomatoes (not quite 100% fresh anymore, but still close). If you want to encourage quality, non-fiction video game film-making and you're lucky enough to live in one of the above cities, vote with your wallets and buy tickets for the opening weekend. You'll be glad you did.

Nintendo and Sony united for a holy cause, picture provided to us by Joystiq reader Norm Wilson. Check out the highlights for the weekend:

Joystiquery
Joystiq interview: Hal Milton, lead designer, The Agency
Today's full of stuff video: Beautiful Katamari
Today's which-one-is-evil comparison: Skate versus Tony Hawk
Today's please-play-play-better-in-person video: DK Bongo Blast
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup: criminal comic edition

News
Harry Potter website unleashes a little magic
GTA IV episodes confirmed Xbox 360 exclusives
Gamespot: Beautiful Katamari coming to Xbox Live Arcade
Independent Games Festival submission open call
Church of England thanks Sony for apology, it's not enough
A valiant attempt to get Xbox 360 failure rate answers
Watch the exclusive Red vs. Blue content without a Zune
Tomb Raider: Anniversary episodes hitting Xbox 360 in September
Blockbuster stores boast for Blu-ray
Sony not talking about rumble
Virtual Console Monday celebrates gentlemanly sport
Halo 3 viral marketing begins, countdowns and flyers galore
Dead or Alive movie dead on arrival
Take-Two chair talks Wii and DS focus
Legendary Pictures producing Diablo film
This Wednesday: Band of Bugs crawls onto XBLA (ick!)
Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 kicking this fall
New games this week: DiRT edition
3D Realms claims Earth No More
Take Two got $50M for GTAIV episodic content
McFarlane working on Halo 3 action figures
Microsoft sues Immersion over alleged breach of contract
PSP's Earthworm Jim gets the bird, goes 'on hold'
Tiltboard for Xbox 360 shipping next week for $40
Big Daddy's final look for BioShock limited edition
Marathon: Durandal runs away from German ratings board
80GB PS3 launches in Korea
EA reorganizes business into four labels
Soul Calibur IV's bountiful bouncing breasts bulge bigger
Afro Samurai going the way of the video game

Rumors & Speculation
GameStop: Wii Blaster due on June 27
Rumorang: Halo DS exhumed by IGN

Culture & Community
Indie gaming blog Gibbage turns into a portal
Fan crafts unofficial Super Mario Galaxy box art
The Guile to show SSFIITHDROMG
BlizzCon sold out, let the scalping begin
Gaming magazines influence boys' self-image
Father-son event at Nintendo world store
Nintendo Museum tour video, with 8 bit music
Drown your 360 sorrows with Ring of Fire parody song
Circuit City offers free copies of Shadowrun to Halo 2 Vista buyers
GameSpite gets teary-eyed with Chrono Trigger

Is the Wii doomed to half-baked waggle games, or will developers harness the awesome power of apples gestures? For a game from Nintendo, Donkey Kong Bongo Blast doesn't give us a lot of hope, at least in video form. Watch the spastic drum-roll gesture to start Donkey Kong racing in addition to other control ... um ... schemes. (And we were sick of the drum roll after Rayman Rabbids, even with the reward of kicking a bunny or launching one off a train cart.)

Oh, waggle, prove us wrong.

See the video after the break.

Billy "Video Game Player of the Century" Mitchell has broken his silence, speaking out against the documentary The King of Kong, which casts the former Donkey Kong high score holder as the film's villain. "I guess they paint me as a son of a gun," reflects Mitchell, who hasn't seen the movie. He guesses right.

Mitchell and cohorts recently spoke to MTV about Seth Gordon's reality-based film. Gordon and crew whittled away more than 300 hours of footage to forge a playful drama detailing Donkey Konger Steve Wiebe's journey to the top of the record books -- all, of course, at the expense of Mitchell's image. And, according to former Twin Galaxies referee Robert Mruczek, The King of Kong is also "full of holes." For example, Mitchell and Wiebe had rubbed shoulders back in 2004 (before the documentary was filmed), during the Classic Gaming Expo -- they even played Donkey Kong! Whereas, the film implies that Mitchell has avoided almost all public interaction with Wiebe and has shied away from playing Donkey Kong in his rival's presence. More surprising is that Billy Mitchell wasn't even the Donkey King high score holder at the time shooting for the movie began. That honor had belonged to no-name Tim Sczerby, who is conspicuously absent from Gordon's film.

It's easy to confuse documentary filmmaking with fact-based accounts. But don't be fooled, these cost-effective movies can be just as contrived as VH1's next B-list reality gimmick. Unfortunately, the "actors" can end up being the victims. But maybe Mitchell should heed a friend's advice and cash in on his new reputation. America loves its villains ( ...and loves to pay to see 'em villainate).

Announced just over a year ago at Nintendo's pre-E3 conference, several new screenshots from the swingtastic DK: Jungle Climber have just been released.

The game works in the same manner as its GBA predecessor DK: King of Swing: using the L and R buttons you climb up stages by grabbing, swinging, and releasing from pegs placed in the background. New moves and minigames will be featured in the DS version along with four person multiplayer mode.

Another week of releases on the Virtual Console. From platformer to beat-em-up to shmup, this week's VC installment defies genre and platform boundaries and instead opts to snuggle up together, a matted pile of monkey fur, rollerblades and ... lazers?

• Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points): Because Donkey Kong didn't appeal to the kids anymore, here comes Diddy Kong! He's young, he's edgy, he's a monkey (take that you big gorilla!). This sequel to Rare's mega-hit was well received by critics and fans of monkeys in red caps alike, which camp were you in?
  
• Streets of Rage 2 (Sega Genesis, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points): SoR2 introduced one innovative new element to the beat-em-up genre ... a kid on rollerblades. It took a room full of doctoral students twelve months to top that idea for Streets of Rage 3: a boxing kangaroo. Be patient, we're sure it's coming.
• Blazing Lazers (TurboGrafx16, 1 player, 600 Wii Points): Marketing misspellings have never been so kool. Clamber into that Gunhed Star Fighter, collect powur-uhps, and chute the bad guise invading Urth.
  

Truth is stranger than fiction. And while it needs to be threaded by a capable hand, even Donkey Kong can be woven into a compelling canvas that examines the comically-profound idiosyncrasies that drive human competition. The King of Kong, director Seth Gordon's first feature, is a remarkable film that documents the little-seen niche of competitive gaming, as waged on '80s-era, coin-op arcade machines.

"That ape is very, very cunning, and he will do what he needs to, to stop you," warns a Funspot regular, squeezed into a t-shirt emblazoned with a geeky kung fu joke. The same could be said of Billy Mitchell, the film's antagonist, a blown-dry Machismo americanus and heir to the Rickey's World Famous [Hot] Sauce empire. Mitchell (above), whose 3-letter high score handle (typically one's initials) is U-S-A (notice the Liberty tie?), is stiff and threatening, at least to the mild-mannered circle he maintains a firm grip on. He regards his "Video Game Player of the [20th] Century" title as a symbol of patriotic heroism. Speaking of symbols, Mitchell's wife's cleavage is paraded on screen like a tangible manifestation of his ballooned ego, which is predictably deflated by Gordon's touching narrative of the first true challenger of the Donkey Kong high score; a score set by Mitchell more than two decades ago.

We enjoyed everything about the series of Donkey Kong-based bongo games on the GameCube with one small exception: That darn bongo controller. Now, thanks to the announcement of Donkey Kong Bongo Blast on the Wii you can enjoy all the bongo action without putting your poor hands and wrists through the stress of actually having to play the bongos.

Details on the game, which was originally revealed a year ago for the 'Cube, were found in Famitsu scans by The Wiire. (The only thing worse than bongos: Titles created specifically for the Wii.) The new bongo title is a racing game where you'll shake the Wiimote and Nunchuk to accelerate, shake one harder than the other to turn and lift both to jump. Now, doesn't that sound a lot more fun than playing with some dumb old bongos? There's a four-person multiplayer mode, so you can spare your friends the palm soreness too! There's no mention of the game supporting the GameCube's bongo controller and we sure hope it stays that way when the game's released in Japan on June 28. We don't know if there will be a U.S. release yet, but we'll keep our reddened, bongo-battered fingers crossed.

Some extremely inventive and intrepid students at UC Santa Cruz decided to recreate a scene from Donkey Kong on the side of their E2 building on campus, using nothing but colored Post-It notes. The result is a comparitive study in awesomeness and the power of procrastination. We can only imagine that this was spawned during some late-night "we should be working on that paper ..." session.

The finished product is fairly impressive. Check out more pictures here, and the Livejournal entry with even more pictures here. As one LJ commenter summed up nicely, "Pretty rad especially considering they were either in diapers or not even born when this game was popular." We're waiting on the inevitable YouTube video showing the construction of this thing, sped up and set to some popular alternative song.

As noted earlier, a list published by UK newspaper The Independent reveals what many already assume; Nintendo's Mario is the best-selling franchise of all time. Coupled with the second best-selling franchise Pokémon (also a Nintendo property), the two series, which have sold a combined 348 million games worldwide, account for nearly 34% of the total sales of the top-twenty best-selling franchises; which include two additional Nintendo IPs ranked in the top ten, Donkey Kong and Zelda. So what's Nintendo's secret?

Cross-culture appeal, spin-offs (e.g., racers, sports titles, puzzlers), brand saturation (e.g., apparel, card games, TV shows), and E-ratings all appear part of a profitable formula built for the long haul.