An ode to gaming: 3 gaming legend stories

Image: maiak.info on Flickr

With it being the 15th anniversary of Gary Kasparov getting beaten by an IBM computer aka ‘Deep Blue’, I thought I would look back to the legendary event in gaming history along with two others in an ode to gaming just for Nerd Insider…

3 gaming legend stories that you have to know about…

1.   Gary Kasparov vs Computer

It all starts with this month marking the 15th anniversary of Gary Kasparov getting beaten by an IBM computer. A legendary gaming story  at the forefront of my mind when looking at gaming and how far it has come.

The Plusnet community blog recently blogged about improving your chess game even with cheap broadband, Kasparov and his battle against the infamous IBM computer that would be known as Deep Blue.

“Kasparov’s match with Deep Blue is the probably the most famous human vs. computer chess match in history – but it wasn’t the first time that the Russian Grand Master had tested his skills against a machine. He had beaten a computer known as Deep Thought – named after the computer in Douglas Adam’s ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ books – easily in 1989.

Kasparov first played against Deep Blue, which had been designed by the same team of scientists as Deep Thought, in Philadelphia in February 1996. Deep Blue won the first of the 6 games, but Kasparov went on to win the match.

In May 1997, a rematch took place. Deep Blue had been heavily upgraded and had been given the nickname ‘Deeper Blue’ as a result. Twice as fast as the original version, it could now calculate more than 200 million positions per second – and, although Kasparov won the first of the six games, Deep Blue took the match, winning the second and sixth games. The third, fourth and fifth games of the match were draws.”

- Kasparov and Deep Blue 15 years on … and how to improve your chess game

Image: Phantom Leap on Flickr

2.   Donkey Kong

When it comes to old school video games, the battle of Hank Chien vs Donkey Kong has to have a place on this list.

To set the scene… a plastic surgeon takes on Donkey Cong and several ruthless competitors to keep his title as Kong champion. He battled for his title as the world’s Donkey Kong champion against videogame legends such as Steve Wiebe in a weekend competition in March 2011.

Chien known as “Dr. Kong”  beat 16 competitors at The Kong Off in Flemington, New Jersey. Wired.com said:

“Fighting for the title at Richie Knucklez Arcade Games, Chien reached the Donkey Kong kill screen — when the game has run out of boards and starts over — with a winning score of 994,400, edging out Wiebe’s second-place effort of 986,900 points and capturing the grand prize of $1,000. Mitchell finished 7th with 821,200 points.”- Wired.com

Image: Moggs Oceanlane on Flickr

3.   Jang Jae Ho

In case you don’t know, Jang Jae Joe is known as the best Night Elf player in the world. This 26 year old South Korean is also big on the records for real time strategy games such as StarCraft and WarCraft.

He makes the list for being a 5 time world champion for the notoriously strategic game of WarCraft 3.

Watch the video below where ‘Moon’, as he’s known in the underbelly of the gaming world, takes on Grubby in the WCG 2008 Grand Final:

Tell us about your gaming legend story in the comment section below!

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