On a blustery winter morning in early 2007, Nathan Parkinson broke the world record for the fastest completion of the classic video game Super Mario Bros. I watched him do it.*
We were in Rexburg, Idaho, a college town of 25,000 people, and Nate was definitely supposed to be in class. I emerged from my bedroom that morning, backpack in hand, to the usual sight. Blinds closed. Lights off. The unnatural glow from our 20-inch television in the corner. And Nate, about a foot away from the screen.
He would sit cross-legged, glasses fixed atop his nose, thin blond hair standing on end, held straight by weeks of oil buildup. His best friend and backseat driver, Tommy, would perch scrawny and shirtless on the ...
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