Tim/NBA-Live.com mentioned in Dime Magazine

[EGarrett]

Anybody read the new DIME magazine yet? In their video game preview, there's a short profile of Tim, and it mentions NBA-Live.com for a paragraph or two.

If this was already mentioned...my fault.

[Steve [The Spiderman]]

Can you scan the article?

[Null17]

cool. I actually got an episode of Player Nation from NBA TV and I saw a short interview with Tim in there. cool

[iG®]

Who's Tim?

[shadowgrin]

Who's Tim?

Tiny Tim Duncan.

Tim Tirschner (is it spelled correctly?). Member of the NBA Live Team and one of the founders of the NLSC.
Used to run the site before an evil fascist dictator codenamed "Andrew" brought the admins down and took over the site.

[Jowe]

I heard it was an alcohol filled night, a little too much...

I guess thats how EA recruit.

[Jing]

hm, i think you can find a profile of him on dotorg

[killer_cr0ss0ver]

Who's Tim?

i think .org have some tribute site for him.. try to look for it at .org

[Andrew]

Sounds cool. Hopefully it's complimentary.

[Cloudy]

lol, not really a site. I think a retired jersey.

[EGarrett]

"About the same time that a young seven-foot German named Dirk Nowitzki was starting to create a buzz in the international hoops world, a young German computer and hoop junky named Tim Tschirner was unknowingly beginning to carve out his own basketball future.

In 1995, Electronic Arts launched the first NBA LIVE. Once he discovered the game, Tim couldn't stay away. Basketball? Computers? Video GAmes? The game was too good to be true, and Tim wanted more. So he did what any 24-year-old university student would do. As Tim neatly puts it, he "cracked EA's file formats and developed roster updates and tools for the game." Which, in layman's terms, means taht he somehow was able to anipulate the game to a point where he was enhancing game play for himself and others.

"I started posting my first patches on a web site I put together in late '95, early '96," he says. "I had a university URL at the time or something. I had no idea what I was getting myself into."

What Tim got himself into was a little more than a hobby. Tim graduated from a university URL and bought the domain www.nba-live.com. There, he continued cracking EA's file formats and started posting tools for others to download and add to their own LIVE. PC users everywhere were enjoying enhanced graphics, roster updates, and other LIVE nuances thanks to Tim.

Then, in 1999, he received "the call."

"We were sitting there finalizing NBA LIVE 2000 and look for the latest online buzz," says Wil Mozell the former Associate Producer of LIVE. "Of course, that meant we would come across the biggest NBA LIVE fan site in the world--run by Mr. Tschirner himself. A few of the guys on the team started to chat about Tim and his passion for NBA LIVE. I said 'If this guy is doing all this for free, why not pay him to help make the game better? Let's hire him.'"

"I came home and checked my answering machine," Tim recalls. "I had a message from this guy Wil Mozell. He leaves his number and says that they were all impressed with the website and what I've done, and would I be interested in coming to Canada to possibly work for them. I listened to the message at least four times to make sure it was real."

Two weeks later, Tim was on a flight to Canada. He'd spend a week at EA's beautiful Canada campus, right outside of Vancouver, but all he really needed was about 30 seconds to know that he was taking the job. Actually, forget 30 seconds; he knew before he got on the plane.

"Leaving my friends and family was hard," he says. "I knew nobody in Canada, but chances like that, chances to do what you love to do for a living, they don't come around often. I wasn't going to pass it up."

Ironically, Tim's first day at EA was on Valentine's Day of 2000. He began at EA as an Assistant Producer but he learned the ropes quickly. Soon he'd be an Associate Producer and then Line Producer for LIVE 2005, using his overall vision for the game as its focus.

Then came the second call.

Tim was told he'd be the Line Producer on the next generation of NBA LIVE for the Xbox 360. He'd gone from a video game junky in an apartment in Bonn, Germany to having the keys to the game's future handed to him.

In Tim's former online community, he's still a legend. Nba-live.com is still running, although the reigns have of course been handed down. Tim's early programs and patches are still on the site and there is plenty of homage to him on there as well. The PC LIVE community is still strong and Tim's story has become something to admire. Even Tim occassionally can't believe it's true. "Sometimes I still can't believe this is my life," he says. "This truly is my rock star story."

[Jackal]

That's quite a nice piece.

Thanks for taking the time to type it out Garrett.

[Riot]

I can't believe they didn't mention me in the article.

[BOSS]

I can't believe they didn't mention me in the article.

Ye I know man, YOU outta all people. Would of been cool

[J@3]

Oh jesus, mass advertising. Time for the retard infestation to explode.

[shadowgrin]

Great story for Tim.
Too bad, Live 06 still sucked (for me).

[Cloudy]

So, he was the one who made Live 06 for XBOX 360 have no dynasty mode?

[Jackal_]

OMG dat Timz So CooL and uM like WHoaAA! I WisHHH I WuZ liKe HimzzzZZ

[Andreas Dahl]

Very nice article

It was a little bad that they constantly said Tim was 'the' guy; but what about Lutz and Brien...

[cyanide]

Ironically, Tim's first day at EA was on Valentine's Day of 2000. He began at EA as an Assistant Producer but he learned the ropes quickly. Soon he'd be an Associate Producer and then Line Producer for LIVE 2005, using his overall vision for the game as its focus.

Ironically, Tim's overall vision for the game hasn't been getting anywhere. I expected more out of somebody who's climbing the ladder so quickly, because this game is nowhere near as good as it was in 2000.

[The X]

yep, it was bad timing that he came on just after the release of Live 2000, which was arguably the best Live ever, and was around for Live 2001, which was the worst Live ever....

[shadowgrin]

I sense an angry mob of NLSC posters wanting Tim's head on a platter.

[cklitsie]

Why have they been he making patching so hard then in the latest editions?

[J@3]

[Tim in EA dictator mode mixed with Comic Book Guy] No! Only I match patch the NBA Live series! Be gone! [/All that]

[Jackal_]

[Tim in EA dictator mode mixed with Comic Book Guy] No! Only I match patch the NBA Live series! Be gone! [/All that]

I think they purposely leave room for improvement so they can have something to produce every year.. imo. I dont agree with Cyanide on this one.. the game has improved tremendously since 2000.. maybe not the graphics but the gameplay sure has.