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June 5, 2009
I’m with you, I also love wireless controllers! I
still need to buy some for my PS2. I still need to buy many
things.
When did you start playing Nibbler again? Was that sometime
around Video Game Summit last year?
So, the filmmakers are filming Dwayne as well for your
documentary? I did not know that. I thought it would only be
about you. Pretty cool though. Oh, is that the whole “Tim
vs. Dwayne” thing? I think you told me about that. Well, I
sure hope the project goes somewhere. I am sure it will. It
seems this stuff is quite popular today. ESPN was even at
Funspot this year. And then during Steve’s Donkey Kong world
record attempt I noticed many young kids in the chat rooms.
That was nutty! No admin's, so it was insane! I can tell you
this, they sure hate Billy. Poor Billy. That King of Kong
movie really showed him in a different light. I met him at
Midwest Gaming Classic a few years back and he was very nice
towards me. Even giving me pointers on playing Donkey Kong.
That year I placed 2nd in Donkey Kong Jr. I still have my
certificate from that.
Talk about your Tim McVey Day. What is that all about?
TIM: The ride back from VGS was
what got Nibbler rolling again…A lot of “what if” talk
between Walter and I…VGS was *supposed* to be the end of the
documentary, filming me getting my certificate and poster
after all these years…
One thing led to another, 2 days
after getting home, I sent Walter and Billy an e-mail
requesting they locate and acquire a Nibbler for my next
attempt…2 days after that Andrew Seklir e-mailed me, telling
me about an auction on eBay…Turns out one of the programmers
had put his machine up for sale, wanted it out of his
storage unit…Long story short, Andy and Tim bought it,
arranged to fly in to Denver to package it for shipping to
me, and interview the programmer. Turns out he was still in
touch with the original main programmer, so he flew in from
Chicago, and they interviewed them both…
The machine didn’t arrive here
until early October. It was driving me nuts. They wanted to
wait until they could arrange for a film crew to be at my
house when it arrived etc…They delivered it to EZ Sales &
Rentals, a good friend works there, and they arranged with
them to deliver at a set time and date…
It took me 3 days to get to wave
99 and be able to marathon again…
After that I kept
practicing…What I had originally wanted was to do it in
Ottumwa on January 15th, the 25th Anniversary of the first
billion point game…Not sure of the exact details, but
between Walter and TG, and Andy and Tim, things weren’t
happening fast enough, no location was being found…So Andy
and Tim set out on their own. Somebody they knew that worked
somewhere etc…pointed them to MAGFest…and it seemed perfect,
the dates, the hours, was the best we could do…Well I’m sure
you read my LONG story on that debacle…
Dwayne ended up breaking my
record in February. I had already set my last vacation days
aside for Easter, hoping to make one more run and set a new
record before the documentary was done…Of course we all know
how that turned out…When they asked me if it was OK for
Dwayne to play at MAGFest, I was all for it. I didn’t think
anybody could beat me. I still think I am the best Nibbler
player in the world. And I have every intention of proving
it again some time in the future. I hope that doesn’t sound
arrogant, it’s not meant that way.
If for some reason I never play
again, or can never break the existing record, I’m truly
happy Dwayne has it. I know it was something he really
wanted to do, and I’m happy he achieved it. I know how I
felt when I finally did a quarter of a century earlier…Like
Walter always stressed back in the day, if you do it FIRST,
that can never be taken away, and only ONE player can ever
be the FIRST in history to score a billion. He made that so
magical, so legendary sounding…He constantly compared it to
the first 4 minute mile…
So Dwayne has a big part in the
documentary I am sure, he’s earned it. I was truly upset TG
didn’t put anything up or make a fuss about him breaking my
record. I was sad to see it broken, but happy if it had to
fall, that it was him. I thought he got shafted, and myself
to a lesser degree as well, by Twin Galaxies. I mean they
literally said nothing about him breaking the record, not
even putting it into the database until literally right
before I tried to break it over Easter. They had some stuff
up about me trying to take it back etc…but nothing over
Dwayne setting it. I felt slighted. That record had been on
the books as long as Gorf and some of the other 25 year old
records that have recently fallen…Sad to not see Dwayne get
the accolades he deserved.
Tim McVey Day…
Another Walter Day brain storm!
Tom Asaki had come to Ottumwa attempting to be the first
person to get a billion, the summer of 1983…After several
failed attempts for Tom, I had finally gotten good enough to
give it a shot myself…Walter had arranged with Rock-Ola to
give the first billion point score player a free Nibbler
machine, so the race was on…Not sure where the Tim McVey Day
thing came from, but it was pure Walter…He talked the City
into proclaiming the day in my honor, I got a key to the
city, and Rock-Ola officials were there to give me the keys
to my Nibbler, which was in fact the machine I set the
record on at TG…My actual machine didn’t arrive until a few
weeks later…It was CRAZY! Beyond that I don’t remember it in
great detail, I was all about getting out of there and
riding my BMX bike…yeah even in January!!! I was never one
to stand and talk in front of a crowd of people…
They (Andy and Tim) tried really
hard to locate the local news crew footage of the actual
score roller, but never found it, they DID however find the
footage from the Tim McVey Day ceremony, and that footage
*should* make it into the documentary…
I know they came out and
interviewed me in January, Mark Hoff a former Twin Galaxies
employee and one of my best friends, came up and they
interviewed him as well. This was on the Saturday before the
Super Bowl, in 2008. They went to Fairfield and interviewed
Walter the next day. Then Tim flew in for VGS and filmed
that, and that was originally the end of the
documentary…Then they filmed the programmers in Denver, had
a film crew here to film the delivery of the game…Came out
for 3 days in November to record some *training* footage…MAGFest…Tim
was here over Easter, and then they spent a weekend up in
Canada with Dwayne…Tim also went to Fairfield and
interviewed Walter when he was here for Easter…
So they have like 150+ hours of
footage…So yeah I’m really interested in how it all turns
out!
June 6, 2009
Yeah, that was a really great moment at VGS last year
when Walter gave you your poster and certificate. I am so
happy you guys were there and that I was there to witness
it. What an amazing moment! Thank you so much for coming! I
will never forget it! Same goes to Walter and Todd. So, you
never had your poster and certificate before? That is nuts!
Not you, TG. You really deserved those back in 1984. Did TG
have certificates back then? I know they made posters.
So, you got the programmer’s machine?! That is awesome! Did
he sign it or anything? Anything special about it besides it
being the programmer’s machine? Did you ever meet the
programmer? Yeah, I did not know Rock-Ola was located in
Chicago. I never heard of them back in the day. I love their
name!
Did you stop playing Nibbler for good after you made your
world record?
Tell us about MAGfest. Yeah, I know some things. Doesn’t
have to be a long story. You beat Dwayne there, right? What
went wrong?
Of course you are the best Nibbler player in the world.
“Nibbler is Tim McVey’s Game!” ;)
Yeah, I noticed that TG didn’t put anything up about Dwayne
getting the Nibbler world record. I could not believe it!
And then all of a sudden they added it to the scoreboard a
day before your attempt?! That sounds really fishy. I hear
they had his tape for a very long time. It reminds me of
Billy’s tape in King of Kong.
So, tell us what happened during your Nibbler attempt in
1984. I know you have some stories about that. I am sure
people are dying to know how did you eat and go to the
bathroom? Sleep is a whole different thing. ;) Did anyone
else stay at Twin Galaxies the whole time with you? Did
Walter? Was Billy there?
Hopefully I will be able to see that Tim McVey Day ceremony
footage. That would be excellent to see video of you back
then! Yeah, I am also really excited to see the film. Have
you seen any footage of it yet? Anything?!
TIM: TG never had certificates
back in 1984. They did give me a big poster type thing, it
had two documents signed by Ottumwa City officials etc…and a
Tim McVey Day poster…But over the years that didn’t hold up
well, in the mid 90’s I was living in Ottumwa with a
girlfriend…The plastic lamination was peeling, and she
thought it would be a good idea to peel it all off and frame
it…When she did, it separated the documents, like pulling a
sticker apart trying to take it off something…totally ruined
it, and we threw it away.
Both programmers signed the
machine…but one signature is almost gone, they signed it in
a REALLY BAD place right where my fingers rest on my left
hand when I am playing. I didn’t realize that my hand was on
the signatures the day it was delivered…they wanted to get
some footage of me playing, and I was sweating from running
in and out, and redoing the delivery for multiple film
angles etc…so I started wiping one of the signatures off
before I had even realized my hand was on them. It wasn’t a
new machine from Rock-Ola. From the little info I
got…Apparently the programmer that had it, was friends with
somebody that collected cabs…they started talking and at
some point in time Nibbler was mentioned…the programmer was
like “I was one of the programmers”…the collector said he
had a Nibbler…and at some later point, gave it to the
programmer. It has a few burn marks on it from cigarettes,
nothing terrible, so I’m sure it was in an arcade somewhere,
at least that’s my guess…
I pretty much stopped playing
Nibbler after the record. I did try one more marathon, was
going to try for time…I wanted to try for 100 hours…Not sure
what the date was of that attempt, but sometime between the
record in January, and TG closing in March…I had rolled up
to 800+ million and was on cruise control…Not the least bit
tired, still 100+ lives…it was the middle of the night, and
Walter had went home to sleep. The joystick stopped
moving…Down I believe it was…There was nothing I could do
but sit there and watch my lives die. Can’t play when you
can only go 3 directions…Since Walter was gone, we had no
keys to open it…It was sooooo frustrating! That was my last
marathon until this year. I would of shattered my record
that game, by at least 100 or 200 million I think…
MAGFest condensed…
Dwayne started before me, and
was around 16 million ahead for about 14 hours. As I started
catching him, he started hitting his machine every once in a
while when he died. At 498 million he locked up, I was 4
million ahead at that point…I played another 6 hours, but
just fell apart. My chasing Dwayne took its toll on me. I
played his pace not mine…Once he was out, I had no rabbit to
chase…I lost all sense of time and pace, and just never
recovered…Finally quitting at 648 million and around 50
lives left…I wasn’t going to get near the record, and I knew
it, so there was no point playing any longer…I won. But it
was a truly hollow “victory”. If I could ever talk Dwayne
into it, I’d love to do it again, and see who won if the
machines didn’t fail…
1984…Most of the stories about
1984, are really about 1983, and my prior attempts leading
up to the billion point game. I’m not going to rehash all
that, it’s well documented on TG’s web site. They have scans
of the magazine articles up. Eating is easy…Nibbler awards
an extra life every 4 waves, when you are playing you get up
to 128 lives, if you go over that, when you die, it comes up
for you to enter your initials, your game is over. It can’t
count over 128 lives, so you have 0 and your game ends…And
yeah we tried going farther…I played up to the point I
should have had 135 lives, same thing, game over…So you
really have to kill lives off. I like to stay between 100
and 126. Killing 26 lives by walking away gives you’re a
10-15 minute break. Plenty of time to eat, or use the
restroom…
Bill Mitchell and especially
Chris Ayra, were the two I remember being there the most
during my billion point game. It really helps when you have
somebody around to kind of keep an eye on you, make sure you
are awake, remind you of if you are getting close to 128
lives…bring you food or beverages…etc…I couldn’t of done it
by myself I don’t think. It would have been a LOT harder for
sure…
I don’t remember eating or
drinking a lot honestly. A few Cokes. A few slices of
Pizza…You don’t want to over do it, and make more restroom
breaks than need be…Plus when you are REALLY into a game, a
game as fast as Nibbler in particular, you aren’t really
thinking about eating…Nobody stayed the entire time, nobody
wants to watch Nibbler THAT long, or stay awake THAT long
unless they are playing…But there was always somebody there,
people slept at different times. I don’t ever recall being
completely alone at any time…
I’ve NEVER seen the Tim McVey
Day footage, I missed it on TV, this was before VCR’s and
DVR’s etc…I have not seen any of the new footage. All I know
about for sure, is what I’ve been in. So I’m just as
interested as you to see how it turns out.
June 7, 2009
Well, that is too bad about your original poster. Glad
to know that you have a copy again. Walter must have some
poster collection! I love how he brought a bunch to VGS last
year. I love those retro TG posters! I grabbed a few. No Tim
McVey Day poster though.
Why would the programmers even sign it near the joystick?! I
thought they would sign the cabinet/marquee or something. I
noticed at MGC that is where Billy signed Dan’s Ms. Pac-Man
machine.
Did they allow smoking in arcades back then?! I honestly
don’t remember. Obviously the bars/restaurants/bowling
alleys had smoking, which might be where they had the
Nibbler machine. I just wonder if the true arcades had
smoking?
Wow, that sucks about the Nibbler time attempt! Really too
bad no one was there to help you. Too bad you couldn’t call
Walter. Do you know how long you played for? Probably around
20 hrs? Damn, if that did not happen then you would probably
still have the record today! During Steve’s recent Donkey
Kong attempt the power went out on his machine. Stuff like
that really sucks. Anything can happen at anytime. Hopefully
nothing like that will happen during my Phoenix attempt.
Only thing I am worried about is maybe the UStream/Justin.tv
not working at the event. But, even if that happens I am
still going to record my game for TG.
I can’t believe at MAGfest Dwayne started 14 hrs before
you!! That really sounds unfair. Was the match about who can
get the world record first or who can just get a world
record? If it was who will be first, then yeah, that really
sucks. So awesome that you caught up with him and passed
him!! That is so impressive Tim! Too bad Dwayne’s machine
failed. It sounds like these Nibbler machines are delicate.
So, how did you feel when you first got more than 128 lives
and your game ended? Did you think something was wrong with
the machine? How long does it take to get 128 lives? It
probably really sucked when you thought you had a great game
going and then all of a sudden it just ends. I guess it is a
“kill screen,” right?
I wonder what Chris is doing today? Do you know if he still
plays games/competes? I am sure they were talking to you as
well. Do you like that when people talk to you while going
for a world record or marathoning? I am fine with it, but
sometimes it makes me lose concentration. Well, besides
Billy and Chris you also had those other 2 players playing
their games at the same time as well, right? Did you guys
talk to each other? I totally agree with you, when you are
playing a game, deep into the game, you really don’t want to
eat, drink, sleep or do anything except to play the game. I
can do that with Phoenix since it is such a fun game to
play. I think some people hate it, but I really enjoy it.
So, did you make any TV appearances back in the day? Did you
ever make Starcade or That’s Incredible? Were you part of
the Electronic Circus or U.S. National Video Game Team?
TIM: There were 3 arcades in
Ottumwa, one, The Hole, allowed smoking for sure…It was up
to the particular arcade I guess…800 Million would have been
around 32 hours, I wish I could do it in 20!!! They signed
the cabinet, on the left side, just below the control panel.
But I always put my left hand on the very edge of the
cabinet, and my fingers rest right where they signed
it…ANYWHERE else, and I’d never of touched it…
Sorry for the confusion, Dwayne
was 16 million points ahead of me, and was ahead of me for
around 14 hours…he only started about 30 minutes ahead of
me…It was about who ended up with the highest score period.
But I wanted to be the first to break my record, if it was
to be broken…that meant I HAD to catch and pass Dwayne in
order to do that…Dwayne was playing on some sort of Williams
cab, I was using a Frogger cab. They were both re-wired with
JAMMA harnesses, and our boards used a JAMMA adapter, and
were just laying inside the cabs, vertically, against the
side…I had no idea the boards were unsecured until AFTER our
games, I had never looked…
I knew about the 128 life thing
from Tom Asaki. He came to TG, to chase a billion, that’s
how it all started…One of his attempts, he rolled the lives,
that’s how we found out. From the start it takes roughly 4
hours more or less to get 128. I guess in a manner of
speaking it’s a kill screen, but not in a traditional sense.
Games with *kill screens* end, there is no possible way to
avoid the kill screen, and thus the ending of the game.
Nibbler can easily be avoided, just don’t stockpile too many
lives...
Yeah Billy and Chris were there.
Steve Harris was playing Popeye…Mike Klug was playing Pole
Position…remember this was Coronation Day weekend, everybody
was there…But as for marathons…Tom Gault was on my left
playing Q-Bert, and Chris Emery on my right playing Joust…I
think Chris lasted for like 22 hours, and Tom around 28 or
30…It’s been 25 years, I forget the exact details of their
games…But yeah we talked. I learned one valuable
lesson…Never, and I mean NEVER marathon next to a Q-Bert
game! Wow I don’t know how those guys do that! That game
KILLS your eyes!!!
Never made a TV “appearance”
beyond the local news cast carrying the rollover, and the
Tim McVey Day ceremony footage…
I was one of the original 5
members of the U.S. National Video Game team.
Bill Mitchell
Steve Harris
Ben Gold
Jay Kim
Tim McVey
We were the 5 original members.
We went on tour in 1983, it’s often referred to as the bus
trip from hell tour…Walter documents it in his books…Not
sure why Walter added me as an original member. I was only
second on Nibbler at the time with a score of 716 million,
to Tom Asaki’s 838 million…I guess he felt sorry for me or
something…That bus trip was in the summer of 1983, I didn’t
set my record until around 6 months or more later…
June 8, 2009
Oops! Yeah, I meant 30 hrs. I knew that.
Oh, I understand where they signed it. Amazing that is the
exact spot where you put your hand.
No problem about the Dwayne confusion. Pretty amazing that
he started 30 minutes before you and was able to go 14 hours
ahead of you!! Even more amazing that you caught up with
him!
So, MAGfest couldn’t find original Nibbler machines for the
contest? That kind of sucks.
Are you still in touch with Tom Asaki? I wonder if he wants
to get the Nibbler score?
So, Q-Bert’s too colorful for you? Is that why it killed
your eyes? I wonder if the other game’s sounds also bothered
you? I know during my Phoenix game at MGC the pinball
machines really bothered me. Especially the interference
they made on my TV screen.
Yeah, I thought you were one of the original team members.
Just did not know for sure. That is so cool! What exactly
was that all about? I always thought you guys played the
Olympics or something. Did you just travel to arcades and
have competitions? Ever make it to Chicago? Are you still in
touch with any of your team members? Probably Billy. Is the
team still going on today? I really don’t know much about
it. I would love to join a Chicago team. What did it take to
make the team? Obviously you did not have to be the best in
the world. Maybe just a good player and willing to travel on
a bus around the country? Did the team travel around the
country? Where did you guys go? Did you guys go
international?
TIM: Still not sure if you are
getting Dwayne at MAGFest…He wasn’t 14 hours ahead of me…he
was between 10 and 15 million points ahead of me for around
14 hours…I started chasing him down, by eliminating my
breaks, and intentionally killing guys with one dot left on
the screen, so I could clear the one dot on the next guy and
get a bigger bonus…I’d knock about 2 million off his lead,
then take a break to kill guys, and he’d gain 3 million
while I was on break…And it was driving me nuts. Remember
there weren’t a ton of Nibbler’s made, I never thought I’d
own one, or even see one again before the documentary…
I haven’t seen or spoken to Tom
Asaki since 1983. He went to the Johnny Z Iron Man Contest
in 1985, and played Nibbler, I think I was told he rolled
his lives again? Not sure I couldn’t afford to go, it was a
real bummer for me…
For Q-Bert it’s the cubes, not
the colors…well maybe it’s both. After 20+ hours of seeing
that screen, I swear Q-Bert was on the sides, or the bottoms
of the cubes…the 3D look of the cubes with the colors used,
and the changing of the colors jumping around, just wrecks
your eyes!
Walter greatly details the U.S.
National Video Game Team, and the bus trip in his books, and
on the web site, so I won’t rehash what is already out
there, and make this interview a million times longer than
it needs to be. I’ll give you a short short version…We went
to Dayton, Ohio, Odessa, Michigan (I think that was the town
there), drove thru the bad side of Detroit at night, that
was SCARY…Made it to Chicago…The bus was a disaster, 1953
GMC I believe…and it broke down near Portage, Wisconsin…When
we returned to Ottumwa, I stayed home, had enough…The “Tour”
was to raise money, if I recall correctly it was for Cystic
Fibrosis? I’d have to read Walter’s books…Been a LONG time,
and I tried to forget that trip! LOL
We were supposed to deliver a
challenge to the Japanese or Italian Embassy in Washington,
D.C. to end our trip…That part happened, of course I wasn’t
there…but the challenge was delivered, but nothing ever came
of it that I am aware…The team, was another one of Walter’s
unrealized projects. It could have been so much more, he had
great vision, it just never was followed thru on, or
materialized in quite the manner he had anticipated.
As for making the team, and what
it was for…You’d really have to ask Walter that.
June 9, 2009
Gotcha about Dwayne.
I’m sure you have nightmares about Q-Bert. Would you play
that game today?
Yeah, Walter has great ideas.
So, are you excited for VGS, even though you will not be
there in “physical form?” If the internet works for
everything, I think it should be a fun, unique experience.
TIM: Yes I am looking forward to VGS! I’d rather be there of course, but if we can do
something new and out of the ordinary, I’m happy to
participate. Not sure if anybody is really going to be
excited to play against me or whatever, but I am looking
forward to it. Last year was memorable, and I hope to see
VGS grow. I’m happy to support the event in some manner.
I was never a Q-Bert player,
played it a few times, just didn’t do much for me. Different
people are attracted to different games for different
reasons I guess. I’ve always liked speed. So Nibbler and
Robotron tripped my trigger the most back in the day.
All I really remember about
Detroit…We saw Tiger Stadium, that was the first major
league stadium I saw, for any sport…from the outside only of
course, but it was cool all the same! Just that, and praying
the bus didn’t break down!
June 10, 2009
Well, even if no one plays you, I will for sure play
you. I do know some are excited to play you though. As you
know, it will be Wii online games. So far we both have Dr.
Mario Online Rx and Guitar Hero Aerosmith. Bomberman Blast
will be added soon. Want to give the players/readers any
hints about these games that they should expect before
playing you? For example, which do you enjoy the most? Well,
you don’t have Bomberman Blast yet, but I bet you enjoy GH
Aerosmith. Which do you think you are better at between GH
Aerosmith and Dr. Mario? You are going to really enjoy
Bomberman Blast. There are tons of different options in the
game and it is all about battle mode.
Thanks for the support Tim! If you didn’t come along with
Walter last year I would have never met you. You are a great
guy and I am very happy we are friends. Now I just need to
try to get Walter and Todd back to the show as well.
Since we need to “cut” this early, might as well end it on a
nice even number. ;)
So, for the final question, is there anything you want to
tell the retro gaming players/readers about yourself that
you don’t think we covered in this interview or that you
don’t think they know about you?
Any future events that you might be going to? Any world
records you want to try to get in the future? When do you
think you will marathon Nibbler again, if you ever do?
Pretty much what are your gaming and non-gaming plans in the
future?
Have any clue when we should look for your movie? Does it
even have a title yet?
Anything else you want to plug?
TIM: I guess maybe the only
things we didn’t cover…Family. I have a beautiful wife, and
two step daughters. Her daughters unfortunately live with
their father, but we hope to change that in the not too
distant future…We are hoping to get them here for the
summer, they live in Indiana. Jade and Gabrielle.
We have 3 cats and 3 dogs. And
YES one of them, the biggest dog, is a Jack Russell Terrier
named “Parker”. I’ve had to disguise him to take him on
walks, I think he still has a price on his head from the
ending of my Nibbler marathon…The other two dogs are from
the same litter, Cookie and LT.
All 3 dogs were named before we
acquired them. From a baby names book, Parker means: The
watcher of the park. It suits him well! He LOVES looking out
the window…until the mail carrier shows up…He broke our
front window trying to get at him one day, we got a nasty
letter from the post office. So he has to stay in the
basement when we are at work now…Cookie is all black except
a white spot on his chest. He was named Oreo Cookie, and we
just call him Cookie…LT has one back paw that has a little
do-claw, that is just hanging by skin, it’s not attached,
but I wouldn’t want to remove it either…So he was named
“Little Toe” and goes by LT for short…Their parents were a
fox terrier and a rat terrier. Cookie looks more like the
fox terrier, and LT more like the rat terrier…
Our 3 cats are named Callie, she
is a 14 year old calico, we are her 3rd owner. She’s a hissy
old cat, but my wife loves her to death. Our second cat is
named Nala. My wife and I got her from a pet store, and my
wife loves Disney…so Nala was her name. Our newest family
member is Elle. Her name started as a joke, because I was
ripped that Heroes killed off Kristen Belle’s character
named Elle…And we just never came up with a better name, so
it stuck…
My wife and I met on the
internet. She was living in New Port Richey, Florida. We
were both using a chat program called mIRC, and were channel
operators, or Ops in the #new2mIRC channel on the DALnet
network. We became friends first. Then things just
happened…Neither one were in pick up channels, or looking
for anybody. We just met, became friends, then fell in love.
We’ve been together almost 9 years now, married almost 4
years. Her name is Tina.
As for gaming…
I play almost entirely for fun.
Nibbler is still fun, but obviously I only really play it
while chasing the record now…I play occasional games…I need
to start recording some 5 man runs, so I can submit the
inaugural score for Twin Galaxies tournament settings…I plan
on marathoning again, just not sure when. It’s a priority as
for gaming, but in the overall place in my life, it’s not at
the top. Work is right up there. I like my job and hope to
be there for a long time. Need to pay bills, the house,
etc…But Nibbler is definitely something on my “to do”
list…Just need to wait, no vacation time left this year…
As for other records…
Nibbler is the only game I ever
decided to get good at, just to chase the record. But along
the way, I really fell in love with the game. If I didn’t
like it, I couldn’t keep playing it. Chasing records usually
consists of people getting a record on something because
they were just a natural on the title. That was Nibbler for
me. It’s not like I can say…hmmm I’m gonna beat Bill
Mitchell on Donkey Kong, and then run out and buy a DK cab
and start playing…I guess if I ever get any other records,
it will happen naturally. I’ll find a game for whatever
reason I just enjoy playing, and am really good at it…
I love playing a lot of games,
I’m just not THAT good at them to chase records on…Guitar
Hero is my favorite series of games. I’ve played that series
more than anything else for the past 3 years, nothing else
even comes close…But I go to a web site called ScoreHero.com
and I KNOW I am not good enough to come close to any serious
records. For me, that means playing on expert, and not
missing any notes. I am not there…Yet…I AM playing on expert
finally, and I can 100% a few songs…just not the hard ones
yet…
No events that I know I am
attending right now. But then again I never knew I was
attending the 3 I’ve hit in the past year, until right
beforehand…looking forward to what we have potentially
planned for VGS…Guitar Hero is my best game I think, but it
depends, if VGS has some expert players show up, I might get
thumped. If they play on hard or lower, I can definitely
hold my own...Dr. Mario and Bomberman…Back in the 90’s, when
I had a NES and SNES, I was nearly unbeatable on both
titles. I KNOW that is no longer true, thanks to Dr Mario on
WiFi and Bomberman on XBL. But I’d like to think I am at
least above average…
No idea when the movie will be
finished, and there is no working title as of yet, not that
I am aware of right now. Last I knew they hoped to have it
mostly completed by Memorial Day weekend, so they could
start submitting to the upcoming film festivals. That’s the
last I’ve spoken with the guys doing the doc…
Non gaming plans…
Guitar Hero got me so back into
music, like when I was a teenager…I finally bought something
I had been wanting since the early 80’s…A Jackson Randy
Rhoads model guitar. I got a beautiful Ivory with Black
Pinstripes, and Gold hardware RR3 model. It was as close of
a replica of Randy’s original Jackson that I will likely
ever be able to afford…Randy Rhoads was MY Guitar Hero! I
wasn’t old enough for my parents to let me go see Ozzy in
Des Moines, Iowa in 1981…I was DEVASTATED when Randy died a
few short months later…
So I bought a Jackson RR3 model,
and have a used Crate 50 watt amp with dual 10” speakers.
Not bad for a beginner. I LOVE the guitar, if I never learn
to play, I’ll be just as happy with it hanging on my wall,
it’s a piece of art! But yeah my major non gaming goal is to
learn to actually play it. The ULTIMATE goal, is to be able
to play “Crazy Train” note for note…That song got me into
metal, that song cemented Randy as my hero. That song STILL
gives me goose bumps listening to his playing when it’s
cranked up…
That’s about it. I hope this
maybe answers some questions people might have about me, I
don’t mind answering questions, I’m just not the kind of
person that can sit and talk about themselves…I’ve never
liked being the center of attention, I’d rather blend in,
and move along…Tim
Thanks Tim for your time!! I know you wanted to keep
going and so did I (the plan was 1 question a day during the
month), but maybe we can do this again after you get your
Nibbler score back or after your movie comes out?
Tim, from video game players everywhere, we salute you!! |
