Tim McVey joins me to talk about how he became the first billion point player in gaming and how his achievement won him more fame than could have been expected for a teenager from Ottumwa, Iowa.
His journey has been documented by the documentary Man VS Snake: The Long and Twisted Tale of Nibbler, which is available to watch on Netflix.
In today’s episode, Tim shares how a single quarter changed his life.
I’m not going to lie. I’m a bit of a sucker for documentaries. Doubly so if gaming is involved. And this one does not disappoint.
A fact to note about the production of Man vs. Snake: It was kickstarted by Andrew Seklir (Editor: Battlestar Galactica, Fargo, Westworld) & Tim Kinzy (Editor: Battlestar Galactica) which, in my opinion, explains the fantastic way in which the doc tells the story with little to no footage of Tim’s past.
Tim breaks down what it was like to cut his teeth on arcade gaming in Twin Galaxies and with Walter Day, sharing how the atmosphere Walter created shaped the way in which Twin Galaxies was viewed as a record-scoring mecca that people traveled to from all over the country.
The documentary, Tim notes, was supposed to be titled Man vs. Snake: The Tim McVey Story and he advocated heavily to change that. The original direction of the doc was turned upside down when they learned in production of the score achieved by Enrico Zanetti, but, as Tim shares, we learn how the documentary took a life of its own as they continued production.
Tim is a current member of the U.S. National Video Game Team.
You can find him streaming online on Twitch, as well as on Twitter @sprinter461
I’ve got some extra content courtesy of Tim available for patrons! Tim shared some personal photos and scans from the public relations storm that was his world record and time on the U.S. National Video Game Team!
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