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| − | <pre>
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| − |
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| − |
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| − | +__________________________________ __+
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| − | | XX IN REVIEW: premium #2 |
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| − | | XX IN REVIEW: premium #2 |
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| − | | __________ |
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| − | | |
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| − | | _ released by: AXICON |
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| − | | _ releasedate: 99-07-03 |
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| − | | _ runs under : YES |
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| − | | emulator? |
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| − | +________________________________ __+
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| − |
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| − |
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| − |
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| − | </pre>
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| − | <pre>
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| − | - AXICON suprised everyone with the
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| − | release of their first issue of PREMIUM
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| − | released in May, which brought more than
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| − | just fresh wind into our magazine scene!
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| − | Now without any further delays they
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| − | kicked out issue number two.
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| − | Time to take a closer look at this new
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| − | magazine!
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| − | ........................................
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| − |
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| − | _ TECHNICAL REMARKS
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| − | ___________________
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| − | The magsystem features a build in
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| − | software speeder which (according to
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| − | FIREFOX/AXICON) may cause problems in
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| − | connection with some C64-Emulators.
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| − | </pre>
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| − | <pre>
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| − | Under CCS64 the loader worked perfectly
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| − | without any crashes or something like
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| − | that.
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| − |
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| − | Cartridges and other expansions are no
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| − | problem, so you needn't turn off
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| − | anything :).
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| − |
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| − |
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| − | _ THE INTRO
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| − | ___________
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| − | It comes up with an "AXICON" fullscreen
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| − | logo pixeled in different blue shapes
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| − | by BRAINSMASHER/CIVITAS/AXICON in his
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| − | typical dark and groovy style. I like
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| − | it. Second item is a 1x1 sinus scroller
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| − | </pre>
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| − | <pre>
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| − | containing greetings, credits and these
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| − | things. Everything is underlined by one
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| − | of SIDEWINDER/TMD's stylish groove
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| − | tracks creating just the right
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| − | atmospheare. Code is by CHECKY/AXICON/
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| − | ROLE/CENTRIC/PANIC.
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| − | All in all this intro is certainly
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| − | nothing special, but nice to see
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| − | anyway.
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| − |
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| − | _ THE INTERFACE
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| − | _______________
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| − | This time the crew went away from the
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| − | lowres outfit in the main menu,
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| − | replacing it by a graffiti styled multi-
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| − | colour logo at the top and some moving
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| − | </pre>
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| − | <pre>
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| − | "axicon!" sprites at the bottom of the
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| − | screen, both made by BRAINSMASHER.
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| − | The borders are kept in dark gray,
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| − | background and chars are still left
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| − | in lightgray on black.
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| − | I personally would have prefered to
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| − | leave the borders in black colour, too,
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| − | but on the other hand this fits quite
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| − | well the colours of the logo which are
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| − | light gray, gray and orange, while the
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| − | sprites are kept in gray scales.
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| − | Sumed up I would say that the annount
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| − | of used colours is maybe a bit too low
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| − | with too many gray coloured parts in
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| − | it, but realization and style on the
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| − | other hand realization and style are
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| − | </pre>
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| − | <pre>
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| − | really well done.
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| − | The selection bar makes sure you'll
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| − | always catch the right chapter without
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| − | getting into any trouble with either
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| − | too slow or much too fast joy pointers
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| − | as it is still the case in some other
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| − | mags.
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| − |
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| − | There is a nice fading effect displayed
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| − | afer having chosen a chapter which
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| − | reminds a bit of good old TIMENOTER.
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| − | The blue shaped 2x2 multicolor font of
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| − | the jumping "LOADING" Message looks a
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| − | bit funny, reminding me a bit of some of
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| − | my old logos :).
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| − |
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| − | </pre>
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| − | <pre>
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| − | The Textviewer is working pagewise,
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| − | looking a bit like OCTANOTER or the
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| − | textviewer in good old UNPLUGGED
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| − | magazine by U-TURN (still remember this
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| − | one?), but works a lot of quicker than
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| − | that one :).
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| − |
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| − | Sumed up, a solid and perfect working
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| − | interface with a nearly 100% no crash-
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| − | guarantee (check this out X-Dome Staff!)
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| − | and this gives it a rating of 11/15.
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| − |
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| − | _ THE CHAPTERS
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| − | ______________
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| − | As every good discmag also Premium heats
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| − | things up with the Editorial.
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| − | </pre>
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| − | <pre>
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| − | Nextby to general Information about this
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| − | issues FIREFOX gives the latest news on
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| − | improvements in the magsystem and the
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| − | latest happenings in the staff.
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| − | Another important point is that AXICON
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| − | is still in the need of more members,
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| − | namely composers, graphicians and of
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| − | course mageditors. Firefox is sending
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| − | out this message espcially to members
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| − | of inactive or even dying groups.
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| − | Well, maybe it will work...
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| − | Of course the Editorial also features
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| − | the standard stuff like credits and last
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| − | but not least infos on how to contact
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| − | the staff.
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| − |
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| − | </pre>
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| − | <pre>
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| − | All in all a solid informatic editorial
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| − | containing all the information the
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| − | reader needs.
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| − |
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| − | News & Rumours has undergone some
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| − | important changes so far. It's now much
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| − | better sorted and also the quality of
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| − | news could be improved, thanks to the
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| − | help of MAC GYVER/DMAGIC, their new
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| − | news supplier. However there are also
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| − | some false rumors and outdated stuff to
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| − | be found here, but fortinately that does
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| − | not concern the entire part.
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| − |
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| − | Quite a lot of Reactions from different
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| − | sceneguys made their way into this issue
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| − | </pre>
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| − | <pre>
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| − | and FIREFOX really did his best in
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| − | answering everybody on his questions
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| − | and/or suggestions in detail. It's good
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| − | to see somebody moving away from this
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| − | "Thanx for your reaction & So long!"
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| − | style other mageditors still have in
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| − | mind.
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| − |
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| − | Next are some infos on Radwar Party 2000
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| − | by MWS/RADWAR, fetched from the Internet
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| − | followed by an Interview RHOBA Q/AXICON
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| − | led with his pal TSD/ANUBIS, a cracker
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| − | from Poland. Hm, I have already read
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| − | lots of different interviews during my
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| − | scene career for sure, but somehow
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| − | never one like this.
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| − | </pre>
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| − | <pre>
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| − | Unfortinately this is not ment in a
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| − | posetive way! First of all any order in
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| − | this text is missing, all text is simply
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| − | written in one flash without leaving any
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| − | space between the different passages
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| − | or at least some outlets. A bit more
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| − | of survey and maybe a "little bit" less
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| − | craptalk during the whole interview
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| − | would have been nice. Sure the interview
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| − | does contain some interesting thoughts
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| − | and aspects but also lots of stuff which
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| − | is maybe interesting for polish scene
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| − | dudes but not for the entirely scene!
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| − |
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| − | BARACUDA/SMASH tells the readers about
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| − | The Stock History.
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| − | </pre>
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| − | <pre>
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| − | For the ones who still do not know,
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| − | "The Stock" is a software service build
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| − | up by him and some of his friends.
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| − | The article starts with the latest news
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| − | updates concerning The Stock and then
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| − | continues with the groups history,
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| − | connected with BARACUDA's own scene
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| − | career story. The article is really
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| − | full of interesting facts not only on
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| − | The Stock and their founder himself but
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| − | also on the entire scene in the old
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| − | days, so it's more than worth reading.
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| − | In some passages BARACUDA maybe gets a
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| − | bit too much into detail however, but
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| − | without making the article becoming too
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| − | boring in any way.
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| − | </pre>
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| − | <pre>
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| − | The next chapter is called Red Rose
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| − | (full name "Not a normal Red Rose").
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| − | Heheh, this one is really fun!
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| − | It deals with girls and disappointed
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| − | love. The author JONNY VAGO really sees
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| − | parallels between his own experiences
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| − | in this field and certain structures
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| − | in our c64 scene. Quite an interesting
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| − | comparision... Vago also critizises the
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| − | media which are, in his opinion,
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| − | painting a wrong picture of toays
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| − | computer scene in some ways.
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| − | Sometimes it's a bit hard to follow his
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| − | thoughts, sometimes he gets a bit too
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| − | emotional.
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| − | The comparision between Love and the
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| − | </pre>
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| − | <pre>
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| − | modern Wrestling Industrie maybe does
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| − | not fit into a c64 magazine, but is on
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| − | the other hand quite an excellent one.
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| − |
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| − | In C64 & Internet JONNY VAGO introduces
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| − | different possibilities the net offers
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| − | also to c64 sceners in brief. Vago's
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| − | conclusion that c64 scene cannot leave
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| − | the Internet completely behind (although
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| − | some dudes seemingly want to...) is
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| − | surely right. Well, time will show...
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| − | Anyway, this article gives Internet
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| − | newcomers some interesting hints on how
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| − | to spend their time in the net.
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| − | But be careful with your phone bills,
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| − | heheh!
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| − | </pre>
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| − | <pre>
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| − | Euroenglish is another article taken
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| − | from the Internet and rewritten by
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| − | RHOBA Q. It's a satire on the European
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| − | Community and the English language.
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| − | Just check out for yourself and enjoy!
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| − |
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| − | FIREFOX has some information For Cable
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| − | Guys, here he shows the readers how to
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| − | copy games originals via parallel copy,
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| − | featuring lots of copy parameters for
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| − | various games for use with the Burst
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| − | Nibbler. Quite helpful for people with
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| − | a huge games collection for sure.
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| − | It's good to see at least one mag still
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| − | dealing with the games sector.
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| − |
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| − | </pre>
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| − | <pre>
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| − | In Homepages and Emails CHECKY
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| − | introduces the coders homepage
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| − | "The Fridge" by presenting all the
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| − | different possibilities this page is
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| − | offering to coders, each section is
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| − | described in brief. So why not taking
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| − | a look at sss.{{l2.|yg/{rbleq?
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| − | The FTP-List (featuring short
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| − | decriptions of each) as well as EMail
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| − | Adresses by quite a large variety of
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| − | sceners are included here, too.
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| − | Well, this chapter really derves its
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| − | name, differing from the mass of crappy
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| − | so-called "Email" Chapters in certain
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| − | other publications...
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| − |
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| − | </pre>
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| − | <pre>
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| − | No let's jump into the Active Mailscene.
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| − | This list contains the handles of
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| − | various scners and their status of
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| − | activity in swapping business.
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| − | Hm, there must be some misprints in
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| − | this list, e.g. I don't think MANIK/EX-
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| − | REM is a "fast" swapper any more!
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| − | OK, of course it's hard to keep such a
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| − | list 100% objective, because what are
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| − | terms like "fast" or "slow" swap anwyay?
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| − | FIREFOX complains the support by the
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| − | readers for this list still being on a
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| − | low level. Maybe the majority of their
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| − | readers do not need such a list?
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| − | Time will show...
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| − |
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| − | </pre>
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| − | <pre>
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| − | Sceners Voice is supposed to be some
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| − | kind of communication forum for sceners,
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| − | according to the staff there are no
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| − | rules for this chapter, everything will
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| − | be published. In a mag released on a
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| − | weekly or monrhly basis such a chapter
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| − | surely would make sense, but Premium
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| − | "only" gets released every second month,
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| − | so the danger of having outdated mails
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| − | here is rather high.
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| − | This times chapter is not that big, but
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| − | of course this may differ from issue to
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| − | issue. Scner's Voice is quite practical
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| − | if you wanna buy or sell hardware, for
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| − | for Lost Contacts and stuff like this.
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| − |
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| − | </pre>
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| − | <pre>
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| − | For coummunication with other sceners
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| − | you should better use standard ways
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| − | (Email, phone, etc.).
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| − |
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| − | Guess what The Charts are about? This
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| − | time twice as much sheets as for the
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| − | first issue could be evaluated, this
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| − | makes 40 sheets. OK, still no hammer,
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| − | but anway spreaders and fillers seem to
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| − | be on the right way...:).
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| − | Also the layout has been improved by
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| − | adding more postions and a better order.
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| − |
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| − | You're looking for the Adresspart?
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| − | Well, then you'd better check out the
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| − | Mediation Office.
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| − | </pre>
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| − | <pre>
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| − | The annount of addies has been, in
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| − | contrast to the last issue, improved a
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| − | lot, this surely depends of the larger
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| − | annount of votesheets this time.
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| − | The addies are clearly arranged, so you
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| − | don't need a magnifying glass for
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| − | reading through.
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| − |
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| − | The Music Corner features tunes by MOOG,
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| − | ECO, DRAX, SYNDROM and ECLIPSE, but
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| − | unfortinately no exclusive ones.
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| − |
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| − | OK, let's sum it up. The only chapter
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| − | which is really distubring the posetive
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| − | impression of the chapters is surely the
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| − | TSD-Interview, but everything else can
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| − | </pre>
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| − | <pre>
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| − | only be rated as good quality scene
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| − | journalism. Maybe "Sceners Voice" and
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| − | "Active Mailscene" are a bit discussable
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| − | but tastes are different, aren't they?
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| − | Good quality journalism gets a good
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| − | quality rating of 11/15.
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| − |
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| − | _ TEXT LAYOUT
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| − | _____________
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| − | The magsystem just features one 1x1
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| − | magfont, made by CODE18/ONSLAUGHT.
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| − | Some may claim that some of the quite
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| − | small chars are a bit hard to read at
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| − | least on TV sets. I personally had no
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| − | problems in reading everything properly
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| − | on my SHARP TV monitor, but this may be
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| − | </pre>
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| − | <pre>
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| − | different on others.
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| − | Of course using just one font does not
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| − | give you loads of possibilities of
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| − | creative layouting, but on the other
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| − | hand the danger of making any stupid
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| − | mistakes in layout gets reduced to a
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| − | minimum.
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| − | Apart from some typing errors, e.g. in
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| − | "Red Rose" and that badly arranged
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| − | Interview there is nothing to complain
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| − | concerning the layout, nearly all
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| − | chapters feature a good general view
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| − | and that's what makes reading
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| − | comfortable.
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| − | The staff made the best of on what the
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| − | magsys offers, so 09/15 should be it.
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| − | </pre>
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| − | <pre>
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| − | _ SO WHAT...?
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| − | _____________
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| − | Premium#1 was followed by many posetive
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| − | reactions from the scene and with issue
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| − | two it will be the same. AXICON are
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| − | really on the right way to establish
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| − | their magazine as one you don't wanna
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| − | miss any more in the magazine scene.
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| − | The regular two months releasing basis
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| − | is probably their best weapon which will
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| − | hopefully stay loaded in the future.
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| − | The lack of support by the readers in
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| − | some ways may be still a problem, but
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| − | this seems to be just a question of
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| − | time! "We'll never give up!", that's
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| − | what FIREFOX said again and again.
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| − | </pre>
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| − | <pre>
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| − | _ FINAL RATING
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| − | ______________
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| − | Intro..............................07/15
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| − | Interface..........................11/15
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| − | Chapters...........................11/15
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| − | Text Layout........................09/15
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| − | OVERALL............................10/15
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| − | ========================================
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| − |
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| − |
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| − |
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| − |
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| − |
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| − |
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| − |
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| − | _______________________________SCORPE___
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| − | </pre>
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