6. Festival success

Despite a compelling subject matter, Gordon's finished film faced the usual challenges foisted on to documentaries that lack hefty studio backing.

Two things helped matters - one, the crew had kept costs to a minimum and two, the director was an old hand at touting films of this sort around - he'd worked on several, including New York Doll - before, so Kong quickly hit the festival circuit, originally premiering at Sundance spin-off Slamdance in 2007.

From there, it was off to various film events around the US, including the Aspen Comedy Festival and the Fantasia Film Fest.

"In a bizarre turn of events that has entirely to do with the appetite in the cultural zeitgeist for retro nostalgia, we toured the festival circuit with another gaming related doc (Chasing Ghosts, above)," says Gordon.

"The fact that two films covered roughly similar worlds greatly influenced the distribution and acquisition process.  Other than that, our biggest challenges were simply getting reps and festivals to watch our film. We’re grateful someone did."

The movie also had a presence at the 2007 Comic-Con, drumming up interest by bringing Wiebe along to play games live.

It didn't hurt that the likes of Eli Roth and Kevin Smith added their voices to the praise being heaped on the film.

Which all helped, finally, in snagging the film a distributor across the pond.

Picturehouse gave it a limited release in the US, before it hit DVD.

Next: Release