User:TSA@legacy41957738


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Mike Damiani, also known as TSA, is former Zelda fan site webmaster. His work includes contributions at Zelda Headquarters (1998-2000), ZHQ2 (2003-2005), and The Hylia (2005-2007). He has also participated in special programs conducted by Nintendo of America, including the Nintendo Kids Panel (1997) and Wii Ambassador (2006) program. He is also the creator of the GANNON-BANNED internet meme.

TSA first ventured online in the mid 1990s as a fan of Nintendo Power Source. After failing to establish his own online club for video games, he turned to other fan sites for inspiration. He then tried his hand at running a fan site, but was once again unsuccessful. In 1997, after winning a regional Diddy Kong Racing contest sponsored by Nintendo of America, he was selected to participate in the Nintendo Kids Panel. Despite the rocky start, it eventually proved fruitful, allowing him early access to both preview and review code of Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color products.

The experience motivated TSA to get back into covering video games, prompting him to freelance for the fan site Zelda Headquarters (1998-1999). It was during this time he became fond of The Legend of Zelda series. After the site closed, he provided freelance coverage on other sites until settling down with the Zelda Classic project. Working with the user creation tool, he authored several custom quests based on The Legend of Zelda game engine. Though mostly a productive member, he eventually had a falling out and left the community in 2003.

The departure afforded him time to work on his side project. TSA had expressed interest in re-launching the fan site Zelda Headquarters for some time, and finally made an attempt to do so. The decision was short lived after it stirred up controversy with the site's previous owner, so he re-purposed the site once more. It would undergo several revisions until he finally settled on a completely different site, The Hylia, in 2005. During this period, he also launched two other Zelda related sites; the obscure RPG forum Realms of Hyrule, and a site known as GANNON-BANNED. While the former never achieved more than moderate success, GANNON-BANNED exploded in popularity and eventually became an internet meme.

At E3 2006, he provided on-site coverage, focusing primarily on Twilight Princess. His work was noticed by Nintendo of America, who then invited him to become a member of the Wii Ambassador program. The program allowed him to get hands-on with the final version of Twilight Princess at two preview events before the launch of the Wii console. Nintendo also sent him a Wii console with various titles, including the retail code for Twilight Princess, a week in advance of the North American launch date, allowing him to provide one of the first professional reviews of the title.

The program culminated with TSA being invited to demonstrate The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass at Nintendo's E3 2007 media briefing in Santa Monica, California. This granted him early access to Nintendo's presentation, as well as playable titles for the show, and he was able to spend time with Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto and series director Eiji Aonuma. He had previously met with the gentleman, including composer Koji Kondo, a few months earlier at the Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco, Calfornia.

TSA left The Hylia in late 2007 to start up a new Nintendo enthusiast site called Zentendo, but left the site after a brieft stint to pursue a career with GameTrailers.com.