Relax 15
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Editorial
* EDITORIAL *
------------------------------------------------------------
The R3L4X M4G4Z1N3* in February '96 was [http://www.research-service.com/custom-research-paper.html research papers] brought
to you, as you used to know it in the previous year,
by PHUTURE, your favourite disk-magazine releasing
game label.
... introduction ...
--------------
Again we have returned to present another fine edi-
tion containing the latest happenings from all over
the world. This time it is our 15th "anniversary" but
we decided not to bore you with any celebration text,
something we could have done with issue 13 aswell, as
it was our 6 YEARS anniversary, a period which co-
vered the golden main, when the CBM 64 was one of
the most attractive machines, until now, where almost
no one else but the genuine CBM 64 scene population
still dares to touch it and present his very own com-
puter system proudly in a world counting instead of
KB now at a configuration starting at 8 MB.
It was Mr. MICROSOFT, no one else but Bill Gates, who
once said: "640 KB should be enough for everyone!",
and it is the same person offering software working
efficient at PENTIUM processors with min. 8 MB of
RAM only.
At THE PARTY V in Denmark the PC users, having ma-
chines with 8 MB, quadro (or even more) CD ROM dri-
ves, Windows 95 and all other facilities to survive in
todays computer world, were stunning while watching
the CBM 64 competition, as the CBM 64 demo groups
have shown what on this old breadcase almost NO-
THING is impossible, ofcourse on a more limited basis
what reason can be found in the hardware, as our
little 64 KB calculator can't be compared with a up-
graded PC with 8 MB Ram as standart and a lot of
extra memory added with graphic and sound cards.
Surely the CBM 64 can be upgraded with Ram Expan-
sion Units, Harddisks, Accelerator Cards and many
more "useless" expansions in order to come closer
to PC or Amiga machines. But to be honest, the feeling
won't be the same anymore, would it?
Six years in review, and expect for any minor chan-
ges on the SID and VIC chip the machine remained the
same, and the quality of the demo productions, tools
and standart in general increased while the quality
of the games decreased what is a fact of commercial-
ism and people who want to play games do it usually
on consoles and Amiga/PC these days.
Anyway there is one ideal other systems can't STEAL
us, it is OUR scene, the scene which was the model
origin of all other scenes, and to be honest, no copy
can compete with the ORIGINAL, not in the previous
years, not today, and probably not in the future.
Keep it always in mind, as NO ONE can remove it from
our REMEMBRANCE, not even the few new "prophets"
who think they can reform our society and the uni-
que system which worked well all over the years. We
have seen them arriving and we have seen them ALL
disappearing to nowhere, where they have started.
... critism ...
---------
Lately we could see one of these overrated "FUN"
magazines complaining about SERIOUS scene journa-
lism. Their most impressive ARGUMENT was saying if
they are interested in reading SERIOUS texts they
would buy a NEWSPAPER. This is for sure very CLE-
VER because if we want to read some funny texts we
CAN'T buy a COMIC BOOK, can we? ;) We are for sure
IMPRESSED now.
People started to COMPLAIN about the actual text
amount we offer at the the moment. They claim it could
be higher when we would split the discussions of our
Editorial into different chapters. The result would be
more BUT shorter chapters while the text amount re-
mains the same. We feel quite comfortable with the ac-
tual text amount, nevertheless TWO new chapters will
hit your screen in the next edition, chapters fitting
perfectly into our magazine concept.
... experiments with another innovative idea ...
------------------------------------------------------------
After our standart votesheet got spread across the
land a new, interesting plan got realised, even if it is
still on an experimental basis, the DIGITAL votesheet
launched the mail folder of the CBM 64 users active
on the Internet.
This digital votesheet can be used for our very own
BOARD CHARTS, what makes voting here much more
comfortable, on the other hand it is possible to use it
to contribute when it comes up to the MAIL CHARTS,
too, by marking the charts system at the beginning on
our "sheet". After releasing the version 1.0 many
people contributed with useful tips how to improve it
in order to get it more user-friendly, so meanwhile
we updated it up to version 1.4 which is actually the
nonplusultra, as long as your text- or e-mail editor
can display minimum 65 characters per line. It is defi-
nately not necessary to select OVERWRITE mode any-
more, as it should work fine on all systems in INSERT
mode, too.
We take care about the persons marking their votes
to be used for the board charts being a part of the
board scene in order to prevent any manipulation
which could falsify them, otherwise there would not be
a need for board charts.
Next to your votes we have prepared space for your
advertisement, for news, memberstatus and boards/
FTP-sites and homepages in order to present the
activity of your group and to support it simply with
spreading it in one of the most actual board magazi-
nes around, being steady present on the elite boards
aswell as on the Internet (channel # c-64) and of-
course in the mail scene, covering the bright mass
of CBM 64 users and scene related persons world-
wide on both, PAL and NTSC systems.
If your mail folder has not been filled with the digital
votesheet and you are interested in participating in
this revolutionary voting system please do us a spe-
cial favour and contact us using the Internet contact
addresses mentioned later (see: WHERE TO ORDER
THE DIGITAL VOTESHEET?) in this chapter. Thanks a
lot in advance.
... cracking scene in deep trouble ...
------------------------------
For sure it is no secret anymore that the game in-
stry decreased their activity all over the years. Ne-
vertheless the groups are still capable to release a
lot of NEW warez month by month. How does it work?
There are for sure many tricks people might not
even dare to dream about, tricks which support the
neverending flood of new games for this system in
order to keep the cracking groups competive in to-
days competition.
In the very beginning it were the legendary crackers
and cracking groups who made this machine to be-
come the most popular 8-bit home computer ever in
computer history.
It was the challenge man versus machine, cracker
against the protection and underground versus com-
mercialism responsible for the glory and admiration
the circle of software PIRATES earned from the ever
growing CBM 64 scene. Unfortunately the situation
changed all over the years and it is totally different
these days. Today it is NOT the challenge under-
ground versus commercialism. Now it is cracking
group versus software developers what means scene
related persons backstabbing themselves to be the
lightening star in the dark universe.
We observed the market and present some of the
MOST popular tricks in order to keep you informed,
without telling any names here.
One of the most popular tricks of cracking groups is
to hide behind a game label or company, to contact
game creators with UTOPICAL promises containing
income and amount of copies they expect to sale.
Most times the author will recognize to be trapped
after receiving the "cracked" version of his produc-
tion, but nothing else what is coming up. No money, no
copies sold. When the author requests the facts he
just gets the answer that the "company" is not inte-
rested in the game anymore because it doesn't come
up to their expectations.
Another interesting trick is to release self-made ga-
mes. On the one hand there is the chance to recruit a
demo section responsible to supply these produc-
tions without any other jobs, or that any members
create games to earn some money and give them later
on to their group in order to keep it capable to com-
pete.
It seems to be a fashion to update old games with new
graphics and fresh sounds, some do not even think
about any updates and release it in its original ver-
sion, just changing the dates. It is very entertaining
to see that some can't even manage this.
The latest fashion is to use SEUCK or the legendary
GAME MAKER to create games, fixing the code, re-
moving all what could lead in the attention into some
kind of construction kit, installing musics and adding
self-made intros with nice graphics and musics. What
is left? CAMOUFLAGED Constructing Kit games, and
what is more sad to see, all these so-called experts
do not even recognize it. The situation is quite poor!
Nevertheless will DO appreciate the effort people put
into the challenge to entertain the entire CBM 64
scene with new games, and to be honest, without tho-
se fakes we would not enjoy the scene in the way we
do these days, would we?
... votesheet spreaders and news suppliers ...
------------------------------------------------------------
We have to express your respect to ZAPOTEK (both,
mail and digital votesheet!), Shuze, INTRUDER and last
but not least Starlight for spreading and collecting
our votesheets. In the near future some more names
will appear here, starting when we have received the
first sheet from them as it would be useless to name
persons here who have not done anything yet.
The news were delivered and confirmed by CBA,
Warp, Scroll, ICEBALL, Jazzcat, DUKE, Tao, CROSS-
FIRE, Newscopy and many more who have cooperated
and contributed in any way like ZARDAX with his bril-
liant soundtrack called RETROGRAD or METAL for the
interesting interview just to name a few of them all.
Many thanks for your contributions.
For sure we would like greet all who FILLED IN and
RETURNED our paper votesheets, and ofcourse to
the people who did the same with the DIGITAL vote-
sheet and made this experiment rather successfull
until now.
This edition's content looks like this:
------------------------------------------------------------
The GLOBAL REPORT covers the most interesting
facts from the board and mail scene, covering the
period between January 1st, 1996 until the actual
spreaddate what is for sure the correct defination
for the RELEASE CHARTS, too, with the single excep-
tion what the subject of this chapter are for sure
the releases from the few software pirates left on
this planet. The chapters BOARD CHARTS and MAIL
CHARTS surely do not need an introduction as it is
the place to find the CBM 64 scene charts here. The
INTERVIEW this time will feature no one else but Metal
of our alltime favourite Vibrants answering all our
questions, what is for sure another highlight in our
interview series. Our PARTY RADAR will focus on the
X96 party in Holland this time and contains for sure
all important facts and information you need to know.
ADVERTISMENTS features addresses, phone numbers
and E-mail addresses, all you need in order to con-
tact people in any way. The DEMO REVIEWS will cover
productions from Profik and Antic this time.
* Credits for the February edition *
------------------------------------------------------------
PROGRAMMING FUBEN/OXYRON
SOUNDTRACK ZARDAX/ORIGO DREAMLINE
BITMAP GRAPHICS RRR/OXYRON
CHARACTERSET SKID ROW/ALPHA FLIGHT 1970
ADDITIONAL THE IGNORANCE/ALPHA FLIGHT 1970
The introduction picture got inspirated by the im-
pressing Amiga IFF-picture called THE DRYADS made
by ARCHMAGE/Andromeda.
------------------------------------------------------------
* How to contact the Relax Magazine staff? *
------------------------------------------------------------
Snail mail: XXXX XXXXXXXXX
-------- XXXXXXXXXXXX XXX. XX
XXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXX
Internet: xxxxx@xxxxx.xxx
-------
Boards: leave mail for Marc/AFL at HOLIDAY
------ INN CAMBODIA, THE EVIL ISLAND and
THE ESCAPADE
------------------------------------------------------------
* Where to download the Relax Magazine? *
------------------------------------------------------------
HOLIDAY INN CAMBODIA ++X/XXX/XXX-XXXX
THE EVIL ISLAND ++X/XXX/XXX-XXXX
THE ESCAPADE ++XX/XXXX-XXXXXX
THE DIGITAL DUNGEON Utopia.Hacktic.NL
------------------------------------------------------------
* Where to order the DIGITAL VOTESHEET? *
------------------------------------------------------------
RRR/Oxyron xxxxx@xxxxx.xxx
Zapotek/Alpha Flight 1970 xxxxx@xxxxx.xxx
------------------------------------------------------------
* The Relax Magazine staff consists of *
------------------------------------------------------------
MAIN EDITOR MARC/ALPHA FLIGHT 1970
MAIN EDITOR MAX/ALPHA FLIGHT 1970
MAIN EDITOR RRR/OXYRON
CO-EDITOR FUBEN/OXYRON
CO-EDITOR PRI/TIA/OXYRON
------------------------------------------------------------
Best regards in the name of the entire staff,
RRR/Oxyron
----------
* R3L4X M4G4Z1N3*
3XPL0S1V3 3V3R, 1MPULS1V3 N3V3R!
February 25th, 1996
-----------------
Global Report
* GLOBAL REPORT *
------------------------------------------------------------
Our Global Report is the host for the MOST inte-
resting happenings in the CBM 64 SCENE SOCIETY.
As you used to know it in the PREVIOUS years we are
for sure prepared in 1996 to PROVIDE you with the
LATEST and most ACTUAL information available in the
gazine scene, too.
Unlike other publications these days WE check our
NEWS, if necessary even a second or third time di-
rectly by requesting the facts at the adress of the
involved groups, in order to avoid spreading rumours
here. Instead of receiving our "news" from three
months old votesheets we get them directly from the
major boards and the Internet, what should be a
proof for the RELIABILITY of the content presented
here.
* ALPHA FLIGHT 1970 *
------------------------------------------------------------
All in all it was quite a silent period for the flight. Ne-
vertheless they have managed it put out a steady
amount of releases and added some more members in
order to become stronger than ever in the future.
Alpha Flight hit the Internet with their bot Commodore
what can be found on channel # c-64 in the popular
IRC, set up by Chotaire. Zapotek is already working
on his homepage so a trend into direction INTERNET
was detected in the endless flight, too.
Memberwise the flighters proudly announced the
comeback of their former pilot SKID ROW, who has re-
started his activities as cracker, fixer, programmer
and graphic artist. Furthermore a polish section has
been reborn with ARCHANGEL/Vermes, followed by
FLASH who got recruited as programmer and graphic
artist. Another comeback has been made by RICK/ex-
Paramount, who will serve as a mail trader in the fu-
ture.
Current Alpha Flight memberstatus looks like (= 19):
Ancient Mariner, Archangel, Calypso, Chotaire, Cryo-
nic, Flash, Ignorance, Marc, Max, Mercenary, Pol Pot,
Ream, Rick, Shuze, Skid Row, Skinhead, Styx, Xenox
and Zapotek
Alpha Flight worldheadquarter(s)/board(s):
HOLDIAY INN CAMBODIA ++X/XXX/XXX-XXXX
THE EVIL ISLAND ++X/XXX/XXX-XXXX
THE ESCAPADE ++XX/XXXX-XXXXXX
* AVANTGARDE *
------------------------------------------------------------
The breeze of 1996 brought some DARK CLOUDS on
the BLUE SKY of the Avantgarde clan. Let's wait to
see if the success story continues like in the pre-
vious years.
At first SUICIDE, Avantgarde's main fixer, explained
to LEAVE the scene, followed by the fact that their
mail-traders have dropped a lot of contacts. DERBY-
SHIRE RAM was removed 60 names from his contact
list while INTRUDER shorted his one by 50 entries,
refering to the fact that his heading for a MASTER'S
DEGREE does not leave that much sparetime to con-
tinue swapping on his former level.
Current Avantgarde memberstatus looks like (= 18):
Astaroth, Chameleon, Cupid, Cyborg, Deff, Derbyshire
Ram, Druid, Eliminator, Jack Alien, Jack Daniels, Metal
Rage, Renegade, Skywolf, Thorn, Tricom, Trimone and
Weasel
Avantgarde worldheadquarter(s)/board(s):
DREAMPARK ++X/XXX/XXX-XXXX
* CHROMANCE *
------------------------------------------------------------
Many months AGO the fleet of Chromance was in a
really bad condition with a lot of KNOWN members
leaving for new shores. Meanwhile the fleet is refitted
again and back in FULL effect, proving that they still
belong to the BEST pirates on the oceans.
Chromance finally got their hands on another US
board called BASS PLANET, sysop is SCRATCHER.
This is ofcourse NOT Scratcher/ex-PARAMOUNT so
we believe in a pure random that he has choosen this
handle to operate in the CBM 64 scene.
Another new sailor here in HEDGEHOG, who is said to
be an OLD polish scener, increased his activity level
and signed up.
Current Chromance memberstatus looks like (= 27):
Alias Medron, AMC, Bolee, Deviant, Fusion, Griff, Im-
mortal, Janee, Jaydee, Jazzy D, Lion, Lotus, McByte,
Motion, Mr. Wax, Rough, Rug Rat, Sage, Skud, Skull,
Spermbird, Syco, Techno, The Unholy, Will, XXL and
Zeyex.
Chromance worldheadquarter(s)/board(s):
EDGE OF MIDNIGHT (still down) ++X/XXX/XXX-XXXX
FINAL GENOCIDE ++X/XXX/XXX-XXXX
COUNTRY JAIL ++XX/(X)XX-XXXXXX
OVERDOSE ++XX/(X)XX-XXXXXX
* EQUINOXE *
------------------------------------------------------------
After many days and months of silence passed Equi-
noxe seems to be back in business with Warp (former
Mr. Warp) returning and taking over the command of
the steerless ship.
Actually Warp is trying to get structures back to the
group, reforming the organisation to get things well
working like in former times. At first they started to
enlarge their activities in the mail front with the new
swedish mail trading talent MacX who will remain in his
group Ambush, Punisher, aswell a member of Ambush,
and last but not least Caledonian who seems to be
quite new in the scene. Equinoxe is interested in ta-
lented programmers, graphic artists and music com-
posers to join forces and aswell in an independent
polish section like in the past.
Ofcourse Equinoxe already invaded the Internet and
runs an own homepage including guest book, scene
news and online votesheets for SHOUT!. A FTP-site,
maintained by Warp, is already "online", featuring le-
gal warez only. It's name is THE GRIDPOINT.
SHOUT! will be back in a few weeks. Fact it that it
won't be released under the cooperation Equinoxe &
Fairlight anymore, a cooperation which only covered
the production of the magazine. Actually SHOUT! is
looking for competent editors, covering all subjects
of the scene and even more, who are interested in
in contributing on a steady basis.
Current Equinoxe memberstatus looks like (= 13):
Agnus Dei, Antifan, Bitbreaker, Caledonian, Droopy,
Goat, MacX, Mav, Nucleus, Punisher, Suck, Warp and
Wile Coyote
Equinoxe worldheadquarter(s)/board(s):
FTP: GRIDPOINT rsls6.sprachlit.uni-regensburg.de
HTTP://rphc1.physik.uni-regensburg.de/&pem03049/
eqn/
* FANTASTIC 4 CRACKING GROUP *
------------------------------------------------------------
The fantastics increase their effort in the SNES
scene. Nevertheless they are still active on the CBM
64, putting out a solid amount of quality warez, most
times in cooperation with Avantgarde.
F4CG's demo section has got a member with ZYRON
who got recruited in order to serve as composer and
coder. Unlike OTHER SOURCES reported, MOLOCH is
STILL a member of this group.
PROPAGANDA is delayed because of the fact that
DEFF can't call out, what make him unable to finish the
list, atleast this is the official statement we received
directly via Internet. In the near future there will ap-
pear a sister magazine, called PROPAGANDA MUSIC,
covering the aspects of SID music. Sixx is the editor
of the magazine, being steadily under observation.
GEGGIN and SLAYGON, both CENSOR, work on PRO-
PAGANDA SNES and will cooperate with F4CG in the
future there, too.
DECODER and KING got booted out of the group, rea-
sons leading to this step were UNINTEREST and UN-
ACTIVY from both persons.
Current F4CG memberstatus looks like (= 25):
Antitrack, Aristo, Bitman, Chash, Cybersurfer, Cy-
borg, Decoder, Devil, Draz, Fen 1, Hain, King, Maja,
Morris, Motley, Mr. Alpha, Neotec, Newscopy, Playboy,
Smasher, Sneaper, Solar, Total Chaos, Walker and
Worm
F4CG worldheadquarter(s)/board(s):
DREAMPARK ++X/XXX/XXX-XXXX
FTP: INTERPARK bbs.cc.uniud.it
HTTP: //www.algonet.se/motley/propa.htm
* HITMEN *
------------------------------------------------------------
Hitmen is well known for their FIXES. This period they
released a lot of fine wares not "only" as the fixing
part. Furthermore HITMEN alwalys belongs to the few
groups these days being capable to call out.
DODGER has been removed from the memberstatus as
his deeds and behaviour did not COOPERATE with the
official group policy.
Current Hitmen memberstatus looks like (= 16):
Curlin, Groepaz, Hi-Lite, Jayce, Jihad, Jinx, Lawnmo-
verman, Marcus, Moby, Peacemaker, Racoon, Raze,
Sabotage, Tranziie, Tyron and Vortex
Hitmen worldheadquarter(s)/board(s):
THE DUNGEON online again on March 15th, 1996
MYSTICAL PARADIZE ++XX/XXXX-XXXXX
WAREZ AQUARIUM ++XX/XX-XXXXX
* MEGASTYLE PRODUCTIONS *
------------------------------------------------------------
As we already reported in the November 1995 edition
Megastyle WON'T release a major demo production in
1996. Rumours pretending the opposite are definately
WRONG.
SCROLL explained that the productivy level of MSP in
1996 will remain LOW due to the fact that he restarts
working in April. However, there might exist the
chance to see small tools/utilities and perhaps some
SMALL demoes which are supposed to run on PAL/
NTSC as Scroll finally received his long-awaited
NTSC chip.
Actually MSP concentrates their activity on the
cracking label LURID and TRICYCLE, having the policy
to remove the protections from golden oldies only.
Finally Scroll has set up an HOMEPAGE on the Inter-
net, proving that the group is still activity on a NOT
detectable leve for the masses in the scene.
Current Megastyle memberstatus looks like (= 9):
Brooz, Cycleburner, Lizard, Rage, Scroll, Shok'Ray,
Space Roy and Sur-Price
Megastyle worldheadquarter(s)/board(s):
HTTP: //www.nordnett.no/&scroll
* MOTIV 8 *
------------------------------------------------------------
After a long and dark period Motiv 8 finally was able
to be present on the american boards again. Fur-
thermore they are currently recruiting a competive
DEMO SECTION in order to enlarge their activity in
this part of the scene, too, so things are looking
promising for them at the moment.
We can report about a new US headquarter called
Galaxy, runned by Galactus who left Hardcore to join
the danish pride, but later on both agreed to DIVIDE
the partnership. The Internet activities have been
enlarged by sharing the new SCS&TRC site "Mount
Tokay", nevertheless Crossfire explained that they'll
continue supporting "Interpark" aswell, supporting
both FTP-sites on a similar level.
The Fresh Prince has returned to the active part of
the danish group again, serving them as mail trader
in their distribution front, which got enlarged by the
dutch swapper Nuke, who will remain in the commer-
cial group XL.C.US Software as second group. Nuke
is no one else but Peter Staaks of EAGLEWARE IN-
TERNATIONAL PRODUCTIONS, creator of a lot of com-
puter games in the past few years.
Lyon/Feniks (author of the TRACKPLAYER) teamed
up as programmer for the demo section lead by Ice-
ball and Greenfrog. MHD did NOT leave Motiv 8 for the
cooperation of Acrise & Excess, but joined them to
be a member of Motiv 8, Acrise & Excess and Feniks
right now.
Current Motiv 8 memberstatus looks like (= 19):
BinJinx, Bird, Clive, Crossfire, Eddie, Galactus,
Greenfrog, Grego, Ibanez, Iceball, Larry, Mason, Mer-
lin, MHD, Nuke, Spider, Stone, The Fresh Prince and
TMG
Motiv 8 worldheadquarter(s)/board(s):
IN LIVING COLOUR ++X/XXX/XXX-XXXX
MOUNT OLYMPUS ++XX/XXXX/XXXX
FTP: INTERPARK bbs.cc.uniud.it
FTP: MOUNT TOKAY woland.iit.uni-miskolc.hu
HTTP: //www.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de/&grfrog/
* ONSLAUGHT *
------------------------------------------------------------
After many months being the group with the HIGHEST
fluctuation ever in scene history and a lot of contro-
versial situations Onslaught managed to SOLVE their
START problems. They already GROWN UP and belong
to the leading cracking groups these days.
In order to expand their fixing activities THE UNHOLY
of Demonix, who'll ofcourse REMAIN in Demonix as 1st
group, has signed up. From their former cooperation
partner Hardcore RAMIREZ and SHOCKER joined for-
ces. Many people expected that Ramirez has left the
scene months ago after the problems around the or-
ganisation in Hardcore, but now it seems he is back
to become more active again. Shocker will serve as
mail trader.
Bizarre got CAUGHT for abusing a german VMB. He is
supposed to PAY a PENALTY FEE around $20.000!
Current Onslaught memberstatus looks like (= 31):
ASV, Bizarre, Code 18, Deekay, Digahole, Donar, Doom
Gop, Grafee, Grize, Hardsequencer, Heavyhead,
Jazzcat, Jolz, Kinley, Meff, Morbid, Morrisey, Mr.
Brain, Ramirez, Ram Jam, Rap, Shades, Shocker,
Sphere, The Twins, The Unholy, TMM, Trobule, Venge-
ance and Witty
Onslaught worldheadquarter(s)/board(s):
DOWN BY LAW ++X/XXX/XXX-XXXX
DEADZONE ++X/XXX-XXX-XXXX
WESTPOINT ++XX/XXXX-XXXX
* SHAPE *
------------------------------------------------------------
After 5 years of silence the norwegian legend finally
has returned to impress the audience again with
stunning performances to show that they are still
able to compete with today's demo groups.
Next to their lately released demo BLUE FOREST
another important information put the group in the
spotlight of the public interest. DUKE, former member
of Regina and the man behind the success of The Pul-
se Magazine, decided to accept their offer and found
a new home for The Pulse. In the future Shape will
take care about new magazine outfits what was an
important factor for Duke's decision.
Certain members of Shape have found SHAPE SOFT-
WARE, a new game label with fully independence from
the basis group Shape.
Current Shape memberstatus looks like (= 14):
Andreas, Duke, Eivind, Glenn Rune, Haakon, Hans Pet-
ter, Kjell, Kristian, Morten, Richard, Rolf Runar,
Snorre and Sveining
Shape worldheadquarter(s)/board(s):
DRUGSTORE ++XX/XXXX-XXXX
* SUCCESS & THE RULING COMPANY *
------------------------------------------------------------
New year, new aims. The dutch cooperation made a
major clean up in order to prove the efficiency of the
remaining team.
As the Internet is getting more and more scenewise
the successors set up a second FTP-site in Hungary
called "Mount Tokay". Maintainer is ofcourse STAKE
who decided to share the site with Motiv 8, a group
being very active on the Internet.
As promised starting with the new year the dutch co-
operation removed a lot of inactive members in order
to reduce their memberstatus. Victims of the clean up
have been the following persons in a-z order:
Case, Cavron, Cruze, Dannie, Guzzler, Jity, JRC, Mr.
Disk, Mistri and Sailor. Their actual fate is not known
to us.
Blaze confused the scene again and continued were
he stopped in the previous edition. After joining the
cooperation he LEFT the scene due to school pro-
blems in order to return just a few days later to stay
independent for a while. Time will tell what will happen
in the next days.
Unlike other sources reported Scatman has NEVER
joined the ruling cooperation!
THE DUNGEON will be online again on March 15th, 1996
as ALCHEMIST moved houses.
Current SCS&TRC memberstatus looks like (= 21):
Action Jackson, Alchemist, Allitaice, Bacillus, Burglar,
CBA, Count Zero, Credo, H-Bloxx, Lord Crucifier,
Micron, Moren, Nightshade, Replay, Sliver, Spectator,
Splatterhead, Stake, Titanic, Trax and Tristan
SCS&TRC worldheadquarter(s)/board(s):
THE DUNGEON online again on March 15th, 1996
FTP: THE DIGITAL DUNGEON utopia.hacktic.nl
FTP: MOUNT TOKAY woland.iit.uni-miskolc.hu
* SINGLE NEWS AND RUMOURS *
------------------------------------------------------------
* VIRTUAL LIGHT (++XX/XXX-XXXXX) is a new swedish
board destinated to be a Triad BBS and the Driven
Magazine EHQ.
* THE PULSE MAGAZINE enlarged their activities in
the board front with signing up MOUNT OLYMPUS
(Motiv 8) as EHQ and enlarged their activity on the
Internet with an homepage created by Earthquake:
HTTP://WWW.TU-Chemnitz.De/&DSC/Pulse
* PALACE filled their rows with THE UNDERTAKER of
QUARTEX (Amiga).
Current Palace memberstatus looks like this (= 15):
2ny, Ace, Artic, B.P., CounterAttack, Delta, Flotsam
Hoffi, Junkie, Kreator, Oca, Page, Pain, Rockstar
and Undertaker
Palace worldheadquarter(s)/board(s):
FTP: LOSING CONTROL ftp.dhp.com
Best regards,
RRR/Oxyron
----------
Release Charts
The official Release Charts for the Relax Magazine
------------------------------------------------------------
Performed by the Master of Law...
MARC
Before the start over with general explainations for
these release charts we want to introduce our very
own point system:
Fullprice Games 6. 1 - 8.0 points
Budget Games 4. 1 - 6.0 points
Low Budget 2. 1 - 4.0 points
PD/Shareware 1.0 - 2.0 points
Previews 0.0 - 1.0 points
One bonus point can be gained by releasing a 100% (!)
working PAL/NTSC version. When a second group got
involved with the NTSC fix the points will be shared.
Games which were already PAL released have to be
fixed within 6 months after the official PAL release
otherwise no points will be given for the NTSC fix.
Minus points will be given for...
----------------------
Re-releases -7.0
Re-release of a preview -1.0
No levelpacking -0.5/ - 1.0
No trainer(s) -0.5/ - 1.0
No translation -1.0/ - 2.0
Unlike most other magazines we won't give points for
tools. Those releases will get mentioned but that's all
about them.
SEUCK GAMES, BASIC GAMES, COMPILED BASIC
GAMES and such games that were done using a GAME
MAKER will be ignored.
Whenever we think somebody did something special
or something outstanding we will add one point to the
normal amount of points.
It is also possible to get one EXTRA POINT for some-
thing that normally doesn't deserve any points.
The following boards have been taken in to conside-
ration whilst creating these charts...
Holiday Inn Cambodia XXX-XXX-XXXX
----------------- ------------
Dream Park XXX-XXX-XXXX
--------- ------------
Down by Law XXX-XXX-XXXX
---------- -------------
Dead Zone XXX-XXX-XXXX
-------- ------------
The Evil Island XXX-XXX-XXXX
------------ ------------
And here we go...
* ACRISE + EXCESS (0.0 pts) *
------------------------------------------------------------
The new cooperation had a very bad start with the
preview of CRAZY NEWS (0.3 pts) the full games of
COLOURS (2. 1 pts) and WALLSTREET 2 (0.0 pts),
a compiled basic game. And the RE-RELEASES of
SHOOT OUT (- 7 pts), Avantgarde & Atlantis released
the fixed version some days earlier and the preview
of HANGMAN (- 1 pts), Chromance released it 2 weeks
ago.
* ACTIVE (0.3 pts) *
------------------------------------------------------------
They uploaded the preview of MINESWHEEPER (0.3p).
* ALPHA FLIGHT 1970 (2.5 pts) *
------------------------------------------------------------
They started with the previews of MICK WORDS (0.5p)
from Butterfly Productions, A.P.E.X. (0.5 pts) and
HOPE TO HOPP 2 (0.5 pts) from Magna Media and
RINGS AND STARS DELUXE (1.0 pts) from XLCUS, it's
a GAME MAKER game but I give one extra point be-
cause they fixed the game intro.
* ATLANTIS (2.1) *
------------------------------------------------------------
They released SHOOTOUT (2.1) and Avantgarde fixed
it.
* AVANTGARDE (12.2) *
------------------------------------------------------------
Their wares rush started with DELITE (2.5 pts). The
game doesn't need a NTSC fix, the preview of
APOLLO 14 (0.6 pts) and the fixed versions of
CUBIC (3.4 pts), SHOOTOUT (1.0 pts) fixed for Atlan-
tis, BLOB (1.0 pts) fixed for Laxity, BOMBEL (2.1 pts)
and LOST (1.6 pts) together with F4CG so the points
will be shared.
* CHROMANCE (10.6 pts)
------------------------------------------------------------
They started with the fixed versions of BALLZ (4.4p)
and IGNORAMUS (1.0 pts). Ignoramus is a S.E.U.C.K.
game but they fixed it so I will give one points for
something special. GRUMPY BUMPER P. (2.1 pts) from
Loadstar doesn't need a fix and OTER (2.5 pts) got
fixed by Hitmen, followed by the previews of HANGMAN
(0.2 pts), TOXIC (0.3 pts), DUNE 2 (0.1 pts) and a
tool called PROFESSIONAL SOUND STUDIO (0.0 pts).
* F4CG (4.8 pts) *
------------------------------------------------------------
They started with the previews of GIRLTRIS (0.8 p)
from LK Avalon, MANGAOID (0.3 pts) and released
BOMBEL (2.1 pts) and LOST (1.6 pts) together with
Avantgarde, so the points will be shared.
* HITMEN (5.7 pts) *
------------------------------------------------------------
They released the fixed version of SUMMIX (4.2 pts),
the preview of COLONY (0.5 pts) and OTER (1.0 pts),
fixed for Chromance.
* LAXITY (0.0 pts) *
------------------------------------------------------------
They uploaded the preview of STAR WARS (0.2 pts),
BLOB (3.0 pts) fixed by Avantgarde and RE-RE-
LEASED COLOURS (- 7 points), Acrise & Excess re-
leased it 5 days earlier on the Dead Zone.
* MAYHEM (0.0 pts) *
------------------------------------------------------------
The only thing that i can mention is a S.E.U.C.K. game
called MONSTER MASH 2 (0.0 pts).
* MOTIV 8 (3.4 pts) *
------------------------------------------------------------
The following games and previews are all made with a
Game Maker - so NO points. STARS & RINGS 3 PRV,
STARS & RINGS DELUXE PRV, CONFUSING QUEST 2
PRV, STARS & RINGS 3 and FUZZY FISHERMAN.
Followed by the previews of FUTURE TETRIS (0.4 pts)
POLOGONAMY (0.1 pts), BOXES (0.3 pts), ACES OF
HEARTS (0.5 pts) and AMERICAN BASKETBALL HEROS
(2.1 pts), the game doesn't need a fix.
* ONSLAUGHT (1.2 pts) *
------------------------------------------------------------
They released the previews of DRUG BIRD (1.0 pts)
and SPINBALL (0.2 pts).
* SUCCESS & TRC (8.4 pts) *
------------------------------------------------------------
They started with the fixed versions of OKLAHOMA
KID (3.6 pts), SONNY THE SNAIL (4.1 pts) and the
previews of ISOLATION (0.3 pts) and INCERATOR
(0.4 pts).
* XENON (0.3 pts) *
------------------------------------------------------------
They uploaded the preview of STONED (0.3 pts).
Merged in to a table it looks like this:
The official RELEASE-CHARTS February 1996
------------------------------------------------------------
Rank Last Group Points
------------------------------------------------------------
01. (4) Avantgarde 12.2
02. (3) Chromance 10.6
03. (5) SCS+TRC 8.4
04. (6) Hitmen 5.7
05. (8) F4CG 4.8
06. (7) Motiv 8 3.4
07. (1) Alpha Flight 1970 2.5
08. (/) Atlantis 2.1
09. (2) Onslaught 1.2
10. (/) Active 0.3
11. (9) Xenox 0.3
The official FIXING-CHARTS February 1996
------------------------------------------------------------
Rank Last Group Releases
------------------------------------------------------------
01. (2) Avantgarde 5
02. (1) Chromance 2
(2) Hitmen
(/) SCS+TRC
(1) Alpha Flight 1970 1
Yours sincerly,
Marc/Alpha Flight 1970
-------------------
Board Charts
* THE BOARD CHARTS *
------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to your probably most favourite chapter,
the charts. The Relax is the only magazine so far
offering seperate board and mail charts in order to
show the charts from two different worlds in the be-
loved CBM 64 scene since modem traders do not have
the time or possibility to fill votesheets, otherwise
they would be called mail traders.
One of the most asked questions is what kind of votes
will be taken into consideration while counting these
charts. The answer is very simple. At first there are
voting booths on THE ESCAPADE in good old Europe
and on THE EVIL ISLAND (welcome back) in the United
States of America. Furthermore it is possible to vote
by sending e-mail to Marc/Afl at an every elite board
worldwide. There exists the opportunity to vote via
Internet, too, by using our very own DIGITAL VOTE-
SHEET or just by sending an e-mail containing your
votes to Zapotek or RRR. Simple, isn't it?
These board charts are the fastest moving charts
due to the fact that there is no votesheet which tra-
vels weeks or months to reach its destination. All the
votes were made between the previous and this issue
so this is some kind of mirror of the activity of cer-
tain established and new groups.
Here we go.
* TOP TEN DEMO GROUPS *
------------------------------------------------------------
Rank Last Group Points
------------------------------------------------------------
01. (1) Oxyron 172
02. (3) Reflex 169
03. (2) Byterapers 164
04. (4) Camelot 139
05. (5) Agony Design 126
06. (8) Taboo 119
07. (10) Triad 102
08. (6) Censor Design 97
09. (7) Fairlight 89
10. (/) Profik 68
The race for the crown of the demo groups is getting
closer and closer. OXYRON was able to defend the
top spot, just having a few more points compared with
REFLEX and BYTERAPERS on the following places.
At the end PROFIK earned enough points to enter our
charts, sending FOCUS down to eleven. Let's see for
how long.
* TOP TEN SINGLE CODER *
------------------------------------------------------------
Rank Last Alias Points
------------------------------------------------------------
01. (4) Quiss/Reflex 192
02. (1) Mr. Sex/Byterapers 185
03. (2) Graham/Oxyron 179
04. (3) TTS/Oxyron 163
05. (5) Druid/Agony Design 142
06. (6) Slammer/Camelot 139
07. (8) Axis/Oxyron 112
08. (7) Slammer/Camelot 98
09. (9) Crossbow/Crest 79
10. (/) Fuben/Oxyron 65
After the impressing demo MATHEMATICA it is no won-
der that QUISS was voted on number ONE here, send-
ing MR. SEX back to TWO and GRAHAM to THREE.
At the end FUBEN replaced GLASNOST and he is the
FOURTH (!!) Oxyron coder in the top ten! Impressing,
or what?
* TOP TEN CRACKING GROUPS *
------------------------------------------------------------
Rank Last Group Points
------------------------------------------------------------
01. (2) Avantgarde 193
02. (3) Alpha Flight 1970 187
03. (1) Success & TRC 185
04. (4) Chromance 174
05. (5) F4CG 170
06. (6) Onslaught 164
07. (/) Hitmen 162
08. (7) Motiv 8 143
09. (8) Atlantis 132
10. (10) Fairlight 120
This time AVANTGARDE got back its pole position here
followed by ALPHA FLIGHT 1970 and last time's TOP
RANKED group SUCCESS & THE RULING COMPANY.
HITMEN entered the charts at 7, replacing Hardcore
who seem to be not that active anymore.
* TOP TEN SINGLE CRACKER *
------------------------------------------------------------
Rank Last Alias Points
------------------------------------------------------------
01. (1) Ignorance/AFL 189
02. (3) Jack Alien/AVT 175
03. (2) Burglar/SCS 166
04. (5) Hain/F4CG 153
05. (8) CBA/TRC 145
06. (4) Antitrack/F4CG 128
07. (6) Bacchus/FLT 123
08. (7) Kirby/ATL 115
09. (9) Skinhead/AFL 100
10. (/) Playboy/F4CG 95
IGNORANCE got voted as the # 1 cracker here, with
JACK ALIEN and BURGLAR in his neck. New in here is
PLAYBOY who replaced Moren, the rest remains
more or less unchanged, except for some MINOR po-
sition changes.
* TOP TEN GRAPHIC ARTISTS *
------------------------------------------------------------
Rank Last Alias Points
------------------------------------------------------------
01. (1) Cruise/Taboo 194
02. (2) Electric/Extend 189
03. (5) Creeper/Antic 172
04. (4) Carrion/Elysium 169
05. (3) Ogami/Fairlight 152
06. (6) RRR/Oxyron 128
07. (8) Joe/Wrath Design 115
08. (/) Fazee/Taboo 100
09. (7) Roder/Agony 99
10. (10) Cupid/Avantgarde 76
CRUISE, ELECTRIC and CREEPER are on top, what
seems to be no surprise at all. The rest of the top
ten remained more or less unchanged, except for
FAZEE, who entered the charts and replaced good
old MIRAGE
* TOP TEN MUSIC COMPOSER *
------------------------------------------------------------
Rank Last Alias Points
------------------------------------------------------------
01. (1) PRI/TIA/Oxyron 182
02. (5) PVCF/Reflex 164
03. (3) Syndrom/TIA/Crest 157
04. (2) Shogoon/Taboo 149
05. (6) Jeff/Camelot 143
06. (/) Fanta/Bass/Oxyron 126
07. (8) Red Devil/Fairlight 104
08. (/) Zyron/F4CG 102
09. (/) Compod/Charged/... 98
10. (4) Jeroen Tel/Focus 92
PRI is the ABSOLUTE number one, in both, board and
mail charts. PVCF moved certain positions up to two,
SYNDROM remained at three. A lot happened here,
with FANTA, ZYRON and COMPOD entering the board
charts, replacing the alltime heroes EDWIN VAN SAN-
TEN, REYN OUWEHAND and DANKO. We appreciate any
movement in order to prevent boredom.
* TOP TEN FIXING GROUPS *
------------------------------------------------------------
rank Last Group Points
------------------------------------------------------------
01. (1) Avantgarde 174
02. (2) Alpha Flight 1970 156
03. (3) Success & TRC 143
04. (4) Hitmen 127
05. (/) Chromance 103
06. (5) Onslaught 88
07. (6) F4CG 73
08. (7) Empire 38
09. (8) Demonix 27
10. (/) ./. ./.
AVANTGARDE, ALPHA FLIGHT 1970 and SUCCESS &
THE RULING COMPANY are the leading fixing groups,
atleast it's the opinion of the board scene. CHROMAN-
CE entered the charts, and the american fixing
groups are, due to a lack of activity, NOT able to
CHALLENGE their european COMPETITORS anymore.
Without any doubts they may DISAPPEAR sooner or
later.
* TOP TEN SINGLE FIXER *
------------------------------------------------------------
Rank Last alias Points
------------------------------------------------------------
01. (1) Peacemaker/HIT 189
02. (5) Ignorance/AFL 166
03. (3) CBA/TRC 153
04. (6) Jack Alien/AVT 142
05. (2) Suicide/AVT 139
06. (6) Jolz/Onslaught 125
07. (4) Pudwerx/ex-AVT 93
08. (/) Burglar/SCS 79
09. (7) Booze/Empire 37
10. (10) Mercenary/AFL 24
PEACEMAKER is the ABSOLUTE number one fixer in
here, followed by IGNORANCE, who CLIMBED certain
positions, and CBA. There are still many INACTIVE
americans in here. With BURGLAR we have a new en-
try, replacing RICH who seem to have left the top ten
for good. Aren't there any NEW names to enter here?
If you are not satisfied with these results do not
even think about starting to complain. Just call the
boards and start voting on the voting booth on your
favourite board THE ESCAPADE, on any other board
by leaving E-mail to Marc or on INTERNET by FILLING
our DIGITAL VOTESHEET or simply by leaving e-mail
to ZAPOTEK or RRR.
Best regards,
Marc/Afl & RRR/Oxyron
------------------
Mail Charts
* THE MAIL CHARTS *
------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to your probably most favourite chapter,
the charts. The charts are divided into two different
sections, the mail charts and the board charts. The
mail charts are what some people like to define mega
charts consisting of the incoming Relax votesheets
and the charts of other magazines spread during the
last weeks.
To create the charts you are going to read here we
took the following charts of the following magazines
into consideration completed by the votes taking
part as top ten from the growing amount of incoming
normal and digital Relax votesheets:
The Grapevine 17/The Dark Realm DECEMBER 1995
Domination 6/Independent JANUARY 1996
Nitro 20/Acrise & Excess JANUARY 1996
Rock'n Role 20/Role JANUARY 1996
Skyhigh 20/Camelot JANUARY 1996
Unplugged 1/U-Turn JANUARY 1996
If you disagree with the content of the following lines
we only can advice you to get your hands on all avail-
able votesheets and fill them to influence the charts
in the way you'd like to do it. Please do us a personal
favour and do not manipulate the charts while voting
for personal friends instead of supporting persons
who might deserve the vote.
TOP TEN DEMO GROUPS
------------------------------------------------------------
Rank Last Group Points
------------------------------------------------------------
01. (1) Oxyron 66
02. (2) Reflex 62
03. (4) Byterapers 54
04. (3) Camelot 49
05. (5) Agony Design 39
06. (6) Taboo 34
07. (9) Crest 24
08. (7) Antic 19
09. (10) Nipson 12
10. (/) Censor Design 10
The race for the TOP SPOT is getting closer and clo-
ser. OXYRON is still leading with Reflex, Byterapers
and Camelot on the following positions. At the end
CENSOR DESIGN re-entered the charts, replacing
with Fairlight another oldtimer.
TOP TEN SINGLE CODER
------------------------------------------------------------
Rank Last Alias Points
------------------------------------------------------------
01. (1) Mr. Sex/Byterapers 68
02. (5) Quiss/Reflex 52
03. (2) Slammer/Camelot 51
04. (3) TTS/Oxyron 50
05. (4) Graham/Oxyron 49
06. (6) MMS/Taboo 29
07. (7) Druid/Agony Design 21
08. (10) Crossbow/Crest 11
09. (9) KM/Taboo 7
10. (8) Axis/Oxyron 6
Next to MINOR position changes nothing has happened
here. MR. SEX is still the person holding the pole po-
sition. Nevertheless we are waiting for a reaction
from his side towards the text in Mathematica. QUISS
jumped from 5 to 2 and GRAHAM should be much
HIGHER!
TOP TEN CRACKING GROUPS
------------------------------------------------------------
Rank Last Group Points
------------------------------------------------------------
01. (1) Avantgarde 60
02. (2) Success & TRC 52
03. (5) Alpha Flight 1970 45
04. (3) F4CG 44
05. (4) Chromance 40
06. (6) Motiv 8 21
07. (7) Onslaught 19
08. (8) Hardcore 17
09. (10) Atlantis 13
10. (9) Acrise & Excess 10
In the cracking business not that much happened as-
well. AVANTGARDE and SUCCESS & THE RULING COM-
PANY still at the top, this time followed by ALPHA
FLIGHT 1970 who have overtaken F4CG and Chro-
mance this time. The rest remained more or less UN-
CHANGED.
TOP TEN SINGLE CRACKER
------------------------------------------------------------
Rank Last Alias Points
------------------------------------------------------------
01. (1) Jack Alien/AVT 58
02. (2) Burglar/SCS 57
03. (3) Hain/F4CG 46
04. (5) Ignorance/AFL 34
05. (6) Derbyshire Ram/AVT 30
06. (4) CBA/TRC 27
07. (7) Mr. Wax/<C> 23
08. (8) Bacchus/FLT 17
09. (9) Moonchild/FLT 10
10. (10) Ream/AFL 7
It's getting BORING over here. The third top ten list
covering a few MINOR changes only. The top three
remains unchanged with JACK ALIEN, BURGLAR and
HAIN. IGNORANCE climbed 1 and CBA has lost 2 places
here.
TOP TEN GRAPHIC ARTISTS
------------------------------------------------------------
Rank Last Alias Points
------------------------------------------------------------
01. (1) Cruise/Taboo 66
02. (3) Joe/Wrath Design 62
03. (2) Electric/Extend 56
04. (5) Creeper/Antic 55
05. (4) Fazee/Taboo 38
06. (6) RRR/Oxyron 27
07. (7) Ogami/Fairlight 15
08. (8) Carrion/Elysium 14
09. (/) Astaroth/Agony 11
10. (10) Cupid/Avantgarde 10
CRUISE is the man when it comes up to CBM 64 gra-
phics these days, followed by JOE and ELECTRIC who
changed places. At the end ASTAROTH entered the
charts, replacing Biz Kid who left once again.
TOP TEN MUSIC COMPOSER
------------------------------------------------------------
Rank Last Alias Points
------------------------------------------------------------
01. (1) PRI/TIA/Oxyron 70
02. (2) Syndrom/TIA/Crest 59
03. (3) PVCF/Reflex 58
04. (4) Compod/Charged/... 43
05. (5) Shogoon/Taboo/Agony 29
06. (6) Jeff/Camelot/CZP 28
07. (7) Fanta/Bass/Oxyron 27
08. (9) Zyron/F4CG/Swemix 23
09. (8) Drax/Vibrants/Crest 16
10. (10) Jeroen Tel/Focus 10
PRI is still holding the well deserved number one posi-
tion of the most VALUEABLE music composer around
these days, followed by SYNDROM and PVCF on the
following places. Even the rest remains more or less
unchanged. Names like METAL and ZARDAX are
missing here.
TOP TEN MAIL TRADER
------------------------------------------------------------
Rank Last Alias Points
------------------------------------------------------------
01. (1) Intruder/AVT 50
02. (2) Calypso/AMN/AFL 42
03. (4) Derbyshire Ram/AVT 37
04. (3) Spermbird/<C> 33
05. (5) Splatterhead/TRC 28
06. (9) Shuze/AFL 12
07. (/) Spectator/SCS 11
08. (6) Bizarre/ONS 10
09. (8) Sebaloz/LD 9
10. (7) Walker/F4CG 7
INTRUDER, CALYPSO and DERBYSHIRE RAM are the
leading persons in the mail trading front. SHUZE did a
major step into direction top. SPECTATOR re-entered
the charts, replacing STARLIGHT who did not get
enough points to qualify for the top ten this time.
TOP TEN MAGAZINES
------------------------------------------------------------
Rank Last Magazine Points
------------------------------------------------------------
01. (3) Vandalism News 62
02. (1) Skyhigh 60
03. (2) Nitro 46
04. (4) Domination 45
05. (6) Shout! 40
06. (8) Propaganda 36
07. (5) Relax Magazine 32
08. (7) Mendip 24
09. (9) The Pulse Magazine 19
10. (10) The Tribune 15
For the first time VANDALISM NEWS has taken over
the pole position here, followed by SKYHIGH and NIT-
RO. The rest remains unchanged, except for some MI-
NOR position changes.
Best regards,
RRR/Oxyron
----------
Interview
* INTERVIEW *
------------------------------------------------------------
In our endless seek to look out for interesting pro-
files we meet Metal/Vibrants in the crusades through
the IRC, and there were no doubts that he has to be
the person to show up in the talk show this month, of-
course held via the Internet.
The following +/- 20K will present Metal and some un-
known facts about him, proving that he is sure one of
these few "oldtimers" left still trying the best to keep
the CBM 64 SOCIETY alive, something we can not re-
port about too much persons these days.
Surely there is no need to introduce him as almost
everyone should know atleast his work, so let's start
to come to the fact instead of wasting expensive me-
mory with small talk.
?: Hello Torben. As usual we start over here with a
short personal introduction, containing everything
you feel worth to be published here, except for any
computer data.
!: Well, my name is Torben Hansen. I'm 23 years old
and still looking good, even though the grey colour-
scale is taking over. I live together with my girl friend
MERETE and our unborn child. I'm 3.5 years though
my studies to become a land-surveyor, which involves
some math and law stuff. I guess that'll do for the in-
troduction.
?: You have been a member of many famous groups.
Please inform us about your computer history here,
from the very beginning until today's situation, con-
taining all groups which have been stations in your
career.
!: I'll give it a try ... my first computer was a CBM 64,
and I bought it in early 1986. For about a year or so
I didn't do anything but play games. But then his guy
at my school, TIGER (now working at Funcom Produc-
tions Ireland) introduced me to the scene and he
taught me to code mnemonic. He took me into his
group ZONE 7, and I joined as a coder/swapper. It
had members like Tiger and Drax's big brother, PET,
who today work for RAINBOW ARTS, and who has been
a member of such glory scene groups such as Jewels
and Upfront. Zone 7 changed name into Deadline in
1988 (not the one later to be known cracking group).
When I was in Deadline I started to compose and to
draw graphics aswell. Deadline died and I joined up
with a local group called The Atomic Freaks (1988),
which shortly after teamed up with some more guys
and created U2. In U2 I got contact to TDJ/Worldwide
Expressive (WWE) and he took me in (1988-89), and
so WWE was my first really known group. In WWE I
contacted Trap/Abnormal, who's work I had admired
when he was in Razor Express (1987). Anyway, Trap
asked me to join Abnormal since he was the only da-
nish member, and so I joined Abnormal in 1989. When
Abnormal died I got an offer from my good friend
Drake/Contex (later Dominators) to join them (1989).
Since my life in Context was pretty dull I wasn't sorry
when Contex died - I would probably have left them
anyway coz Flex made it pretty clear to me that they
wouldn't use my music in any Contex demos. So, for
the first time I was without a group. Drax, whom I've
known ever since he started in the scene, was at
that time in Amok. He was very tired of this group, so
to follow up the trend of the late 80's, we formed our
very own music-label Unitech Designs (1990). After 3
music demos and no reactions we gave up the idea
and Drax went into Vibrants, and Trap asked me to
join his rebuilt group BONZAI (1990), and we all know
wjat that lead to. When we agreed to bury Bonzai
(just after arranging The Party 1991) most of us
teamed up with the also close to dead danish group
STARION (1992). Besides Walt's demo Oksen, I thin we
all did nothing in Starion. My long time swapping friend
Morpheus of FLASH INC. jad numerous times asked me
to join up with Flash Inc. and so I did in 1992. It was
also in 1992 when I joined VIBRANTS, yes, I wasn't a
member before. Just because my music could be
played in the Deluxe-driver didn't mean that you were
a member of the Vibrants. Neither Scortia, Zonix or
MSK were ever members. Now back to Flash Inc. I did
not do too much for FHI, as I didn't have a C64. Ac-
tually I hadn't had a C64 since '91 or so when it broke
I had kept up my music-making by borrowing a friends
C64, but in 1993 that was over aswell. So, when FHI
died I joined REGINA more or less just to stay in the
scene, together with a friend of mine, Steve/ex-CML.
Shortly after that I have joined CAMELOT (1993). I
kinda lost track of the scene from 1993 to 1994, as I
didn't have a C64, and only heard a few things
through Drax, but since he wasn't too active either it
was a total blur. Then in 1994 I finally bought a new
C64, and finally started to do something for Camelot.
In 1995 my long time friend Deff/Avantgarde started
a pressure-campaign in order to siege me for the
demo section, and he succeeded ... And finally to cut
a long story short (erm, a bit too late for that, eh?!),
in 1995 I also joined the Internet group MARVEL, and
the re-grouped WWE, but neither of these groups are
active - don't ask me why I'm a member ... I know this
was a long answer, but hey ... you asked for the whole
thang, and you got it! On with the next one ...
?: You have become a quite popular musician all over
the years. What made you to become a music instead
of a programmer or graphic artist? Have you been
involved with music before your scene career, too?
!: No, not really. I played the guitar for a few years,
when I was still a kid, but that's all. When I entered the
scene in 1987 I got a tool called Soundmonitor, and I
got very inspirated to make music in it, even though
my friends would argue about the word 'music'. How-
ever my main-activities were programming and gra-
phics, so you could say, that I've been around. I more
or less stopped drawing when I entered Bonzai, and I
stopped coding at about the same time ...
?: When we are looking today on the music labels
around we always remember the glory days, when
"bands" like the Maniacs of Noise or Vibrants have
been around. Please tell us something about the Vib-
rants, and maybe something about the other members
and what they are doing the days.
!: Well, if you compare the Vibrants 5-6 years ago
with the Vibrants today, it's a different group in many
ways. The main difference is that we now operate on
other systems than the C64 (namely the PC). Another
thing, that has changed is the activity-level, which
has gone way down. About the members, there are a
few changes from the past: JCH ofcoz is still around,
even though his activity-level couldn't drop any lower
Today JCH isn't doing much. He has made an Adlib-
Editor and some other utilities for the PC. Something
happened to him, when he left the C64. He got very
unsatisfied with his own musical skills, and besides
converting some old C64-tunes to adlib, that's all the
music he's made since he left the scene. Lately
though he's tried a music-comeback with some XM-
mods, which have been spreaded. All I can say is, that
the rest of us in Vibrants kick his ass everytime we
talk to him to either do some programming or to make
some music. JCH is only 'active' on the PC. JO (Jes-
per Olsen) got assigned to the danish software label
Brainbug in 1993, and he followed them to Germany,
when they were bought by RAINBOW ARTS. He has,
much like JCH, more or less put his music in the
background, mainly because he likes to programm ga-
mes more. He still makes some noises though, but no-
thing seriously. JO is only 'active' on PC. DRAX has
been through a time where he hasn't made nearly as
much music as he used to. After he got a PC he's
mainly been making Midi and Adlib, and not so much
C64 music. Today he has divided his activity into two
parts: during weekdays he's in Aarhus, where he
studies, and here he has his PC. In the weekends he
travels home to his parents, and this is where his
C64 is. So, Drax is still active on the C64, and also on
the PC, where he's even started to make XM-modules
aswell. LAXITY is very hung up to his work in Norway
for FUNCOM PRODUCTIONS. He makes music for their
games - the latest production he's working on is
DRAGON HEART, where he makes the music partly with
JEROEN TEL, who also works for FUNCOM in Norway.
LAX is not 'active' on the C64 anymore, but it hap-
pens that he turns the old machine on and makes a
tune - just check out that demo 'Mr. Thomas/VIB". He
makes a lot of Midi-music in almost all cathegories,
except TECHNO. And finally myself - well, that's what
this interview is about, so let's go on with it, shall we?
?: Lately you have spread the complete Newplayer
20.G4 package, a music editor set some people kept
as a private utility, even if it was said to be public
domain since already two years. What was your very
own motivation to do it, and what do think about peop-
le "improving" these tools instead of writing their own
routines?
!: Well, first of all, it's very wrong that the Newplayer
was said to be public domain 2 years ago, when the
14.G0 unfortunately got spread. It hasn't ever been
PD before JCH spreaded the whole pack! As for my
motivation to spread the pack I must say that I did it
only because JCH wanted to spread the whole thing, I
still think it was wrong of him to spread it, but it was
not me to decide, and so I decided that if he were to
to spead it as a PC pack, I might aswell spread it on
C64 to please those, who hasn't got a PC and a x1541
cable to transfer the files. If people wants to improve
the tools, they are free to do so - JCH stated that
clearly in his spreadnotes, and I stated it very clear-
ly in my spreadarticle in Skyhigh # 19. However, I also
stated that if someone were to improve the Newpla-
yer or the Editor calling it their own would be very
lame, coz it would be like shitting all over JCH and the
tremenous amount of work he put into these tools. If
people respect that I see no reason why people
shouldn't improve the Newplayer or the Editor.
?: In comparison with other editors, what are the ad-
vantages/disadvantages of JCH's routine? Why did it
become your favourite one?
!: Hmm, the first question is fairly simple - there are
very few disadvantates of the Newplayer. It's a good
solid routine which is wrapped in a very user-friend-
ly editor with alot of commands and tables to adjust
the values of the instruments. If I were to point out a
few disadvantages of the Newplayer, I can only think
of a few things, and those are mainly new commands
for the editor. E.g. I think it would be great with a
command to set various filter values on the base-in-
strument - however, Syndrom has already implented
this in the 20.G5 player, which still isn't ready folks!
Why did I choose it? Well, I didn't just choose it. I saw
it for the first time at the 2000AD party in Esbjerg
1989, where JCH gave it to Drax. Since Drax and I
hung out alot I got to try it out at this place, and of-
coz the whole editor-system, which is far more user-
friendly than any duration-players, attracted me!
However, JCH didn't just give the editor to anybody,
so I had to amke alot of convincing - and after some
exchange of disks, I too got the editor, infact only 2
months after Drax got it. That Drax made a zillion
more tunes than I did is another matter ... The reason
why it's always been my fave tool is definately be-
cause JCH made new versions of the Newplayer and
added new features to the editor, so the whole sys-
tem was always up-to-date, and therefore I saw no
reason to look for other players. I've tried out both
the Music-Assembler and DMC 6.0, but it's just not
the same. At the moment I'm trying out JEFF'S new
editor, and I must say that this editor is the first one
that could pull me away from the Newplayer.
?: Many people thought you are inactive these days,
so it was a real surprise to see you joining up with
Avantgarde these days. What was the reason for
that kind of comeback?
!: There we have it again. Just because someone has
not released anything for a while everybody just
jumps to the conclusion that this guy has left the
scene, kinda like when everyone thought Crest was
stonedead! Anyway, I've been out of biz for a while,
since I have several other things to attend to. Why I
did join Avantgarde, well, it wasn't ment as a come-
back, but more a way to my music out, coz let's face
it, CAMELOT haven't exactly been active for quite a
while now. But again, why AVT? Why join an illegal
group? Well, as I mentioned before in my group-histo-
ry it was all because of Deff, who had put the pres-
sure on me to team up with them in order to built a
demo section. About the cracking-biz, heck I've been
in cracking groups before - Abnormal, Contex and
Bonzai cracked games, and I have no problems with
being in a group that has crackers as long as there
still is a demo section.
?: You are aswell active on PC. On The Party V we
were able to listen to your module(s) in the Analogue
demo. Why did you decide to enter the PC world in-
stead of the Amiga, who is said to be the big brother
of the CBM 64?
!: Well, indeed I have been active on the Amiga. I
bought it back in 1989 when I was in Abnormal, and so
my first Amiga group was Abnormal, although I think I
was the only member of Abnormal Amiga. Anyway, from
Abnormal I went through a number of different
groups and ended up in the one and only C64 legend
UPFRONT! In 1992 I got fed up with the Amiga, so I sold
it and bought a PC instead. So, I have been in the Ami-
ga-scene, but I never really felt comfortable with it.
Anyway, now I'm active on the PC and I do stuff for my
dutch group Analogue and my danish (inactive) camel-
colleagues in Camelot PC ... and ofcoz some releases
under the VIBRANTS label.
?: What kind of editors do you use on the PC, and
what are the advantages/disadvantages compared
with other trackers spread around? What formats do
you prefer (.S3M, .XM, ...) for your modules?
!: On the PC I use different editors for each format.
If I am to compose AdLib-music I use the Vibrants Ed-
Lib 1.05 editor, but due to different things this editor
has no real use anymore, and JCH has spread it. If I
am going to compose Midi-music I use CakeWalk 3.0
Pro hooked up with my Korg X3, which has a magnifi-
cent GeneralMidi-interface. For modules I've tried al-
most every darn format there is, but at this point in
time I use only the .XM-format (FastTracker 2). The
advantages ... well, the EdLib was simply a superior
adlib-editor, because you had the opportunity to
make instruments with many operators and even an
arpeggio-table, so it reminds me a bit of the New-
player editor on the C64. The reason why I don't use
it anymore is that it was made with game-music in mind
and indeed it was used for that. However, if you're
making music for games today you have to make it for
several different sound-cards, which means that you
either have one editor for all formats or you face
some hard convertion work! JCH saw that the EdLib-
editor has no future, and now we compose in Midi-
format for games. JO and JCH have made a little pro-
gramm that can play the Midi-file on both a GM-inter-
face such as the Roland SCC-1 or on an adlib-card, it
allows you setup a special instruments pack for the
adlib sounds, so you can regulate that aswell. Unfor-
tunately this tool is not (C) Vibrants as Rainbow Arts
have (C) on it, due to JO being a RA employee ... that
kind sucks!
?: Actually old CBM 64 music composers like Laxity &
Jeroen Tel are working for Funcom in Norway, doing
music professional for games. Do you have any ambi-
tions to do something similar or aren't you interested
in it at all, seeing making music just as a hobby to
"waste" some sparetime?
!: Well, in fact I did get the offer from Funcom Norway
to go there and work instead of Geir Tjelta, who was
heading for the army. If they'd called me up 4 years
ago I would have gone without hesitation, but today I'm
3/4 through my university education and I have sett-
led down with my girl and started a family. As far as
my ambitions are concerned, I want to continue mak-
ing music for games, even though it's harder to get
freelance-contracts. Making music will never be any-
thing more than a hobby to me, but indeed it will never
be a WASTE of my sparetime!
?: As we could see in the beginning of the interview
you are actually a member of five groups. How do you
manage it or have you set some priorities for your
"favourite" groups, as it must take a lot of time to
please them all in the same way?
!: Yes, I have set some priorities for these groups -
that's definately necessary! My priority list is like
this: VIBRANTS C64/PC, ANALOGUE PC, CAMELOT C64
PC inactive, AVANTGARDE C64, MARVEL C64 inactive
and WWE C64. It's quite a list, so one might I didn't do
anything but compose for these groups, however, do
remember this: Analogue make 1-2 demos yearly, and
we're 3 musicians to do the music for that (MCA, NAO
and myself). Camelot makes nothing. Avantgarde will
(hopefully) make some stuff, and this will require
some tunes. Marvel and WWE are doing nothing. So
you see, all in all I'm not at all hung up on these
groups ....
?: The Internet became a quite attractive place to
meet many old and actual CBM 64 related persons.
What do you think about this rather new media?
!: I like the Internet and I use it regulary - mainly be-
cause I have free access at University. I use the In-
ternet to leech the latest stuff from the C64 and PC.
Then there's e-mail, WWW and finally not to be forgot-
ten there's IRC! What my feelings are concerning the
Internet ... well, one could easily start writing endless
theories about the consequences of the Internet be-
coming so cast, however, I won't bore you with it ... so
far I feel good about the Internet, and I think it will
tribute to the continual existance of the C64, despite
what most board-sceners seem to think: to you I'd
like to say ... the only difference between the boards
and the Internet is that the Internet is Not a closed
area for a selected group of 'elite' people to call -
this one's for everybody, and indeed that's what will
keep the C64 alive. What's so wrong about moving the
board-scene along with natural development - go IN-
TERNET!
?: Unfortunately everything has to come to an end,
even this interview does not make any exception. This
is the place to add a final word and to send out some
greetings, if you would like to. Many thanks for being
our talk guest and for being patient all the time.
!: Well, my final words would be pointed towards the
whole C64-scene. When voting for a magazine, re-
member this:
"Don't just vote for activity and friendship -
vote for activity and talent!"
Finally I would like to thank you Timo, for wasting
some space in your great magazine for an interview
with me ... a total burn-out ;) And I would like to say
hi to everyone at # c-64 and to the rest of you out
there ... you know who you are!! And now back to you
Timo ...
Due to Metal's effort it became a quite interesting in-
terview, so we truely hope you enjoyed reading it as
much as we like editing it. Be sure to re-load this
chapter next time when another interesting profile
will become the target of our question attack to dis-
cover the last secrets of this universe.
Best regards,
RRR/Oxyron
----------
Demo Reviews
* DEMO REVIEWS *
------------------------------------------------------------
At THE PARTY V a lot of good demoes were released,
such as MATHEMATICA/REFLEX, DAWNFALL/OXYRON
and some others from No Name, Smash Design, Antic
and many more just to name a few. There are no
doubts to define it as a successfull ending of 1995.
1996 started quite promising aswell, with productions
from AGONY DESIGN called "PAIN" and ofcourse the
first demo since 1991 from SHAPE, and the name is
"BLUE FOREST". Unfortunately, after this quite good
start not that much followed, so we can't await to see
the productions released at the next conventions like
X-96 or SYMPOSIUM '96.
Ofcourse we intended to have a look at most of the
demonstrations, but caused by TECHNICAL problems
and the DEADLINE we had a look on the "Mergezo
Anyag III" from Profik and "Retroactive" from Antic
only.
Anyway, here WE go ...
* MERGEZO ANYAG 3/PROFIK *
------------------------------------------------------------
Profik is a PROMISING group from Hungary following
the tradition of solid hungarian demo groups. Unfor-
tunately they have advertised their previous demo
as Coma Light 13 what is ofcourse excellent in order
to gain ATTENTION and to get the demo spread, but it
does not speak for the group in our opinion. Never-
theless this time they have not done it, and so hope is
left for their future productions.
* FUBEN about the coding *
------------------------------------------------------------
This trackmo is coded by Profi 1 and Profi 1.5!
It starts up with some gfx in the intro and sort of
STAR WARS-scroller (an upscroller turned around to
the Z-AXIS). It DOESN'T run in one frame and was co-
ded before.
After the intro there is a LOADING part which looks
nearly the same like COMA LIGHT 12's loaderpart
(blue background, moving 'LOADING' sprites, ...).
By the way, all parts are just EQUAL-CHAR PACKED
but why?)!
The next part featurs a swirl ROTATOR (the same like
in Radio Napalm/REFLEX) combined with waves (new
on C64). Nice effects actually, but a bit TOO SMALL in
my eyes! I forgot to mention the 4x4 resolution.
Next effect is a TEXTURE MAPPED GLOBE, something
looking similar to GRAHAM's spherical projection in
PARTS, but here in 4x4 resolution and screen-filling
(in two frames, too).
An EOR-filled-HiRes-vector-tunnel follows, this time
in a square with 128x128 pixels! This effect is SIMPLY
done but nice to watch.
Next is a TEXTURED TUNNEL (looking quite SIMILAR to
AXIS' routine in LAMENESS RULEZ/OXYRON). I just
wonder why they have RECODED exactly the same
again?! The second texture is ROTATED, but it's no-
thing else than scrolling the textures up or down
(=changing the pointers to the texture).
Another Oxyron classic follows: a TEXTURED VECTOR
cube (see: LAMENESS RULEZ). This one looks even
more worse than AXIS's first try (he IMPROVED his
routine, which is NOT RELEASED yet). This one runs a
faster than Axis' one, but Axis' cube was BIGGER and
he also rotated a texture additionally. Evenso I was
surprised seeing this effect here again. Did I say
that this effect is in 4x4 resolution again?
A new effect comes up. This time TWO LENSES move
over a 2x2 texture (4 colours). I am not sure, but I
think this version is the FIRST, which really DISTORT
a texture under the lenses. Other routines just EX-
PAND the texture.
Finally the end arrives. An AMIGA-CONVERTED RAY-
TRACE-animation (on Y-expanded multicolor sprites)
with 20 pictures MOTIVATES you to push your reset
button. Over the animation there you see some text
written, giving credits and so on.
First, I have to say that ALL parts FADE in and out,
which is a base for DESIGN, that is BADLY needed in
TRACKMO. This demo is surely HARD coded. Evenso,
there are many recoded effects, which WEREN'T even
improved!
I can't wait to see the next PROFIK demo and I think
that is a group with great POTENTIAL!
I give a rating of 73%!
* RRR about the graphics *
------------------------------------------------------------
ALL graphics in this production, starting from the
charactersets to the logos, have been drawn by
PROFI 2.
The trackmo starts with a fullscreen multicolour bit-
map PROFIK bitmap in 3D, followed by a MERGEZO logo
at the left and an ANYAG logo at the right side, both
surrounded by a lightgrey background. In the middle
of the screen you can find a triange, and in the cen-
ter you can find a 3. In comparison with the graphics
at both sides of the screen the ones located in the
middle look quite poor. Next in the row there is again
a Profik multicolour bitmap logo at the top of the
screen, followed by one at the right side of screen,
again in multicolour bitmap format, what can be said
about the next two ones following in the same order
like the previous two ones.
To describe them would be a total waste of time as it
seem to be COPIES out of logos I have seen before
in old demoes from the major demo groups. There is
nothing NEW and SPECIAL in them, but that does NOT
mean that the graphics don't look nice. Therefore the
rating is at 67%, as there is hardly anything else but
logos in this production.
* PRI about the musics *
------------------------------------------------------------
All tunes for this demo were composed by Roy/Re-
play. They are of different QUALITY and character.
The intro is a common TECHNO tune with RATHER OLD
instruments, the HIHAT sounds more like a brush. But
later on some nice effects come in. THe second tune
starts with that OH-SO-POPULAR (in "real" music)
fast snare fade in and is a good deal, better than in
the intro, with some changes, breakdowns and harmo-
nic passages. The portamento-bass is neat (maybe
some older Oxyron-tune had an effect on the compo-
ser there?). Only a pity that there's no fade out. But
this critism has to be addressed to the coder. The
end-tune finally reminds me of Andre, a former Oxy-
ron member from the early days, now active in Ons-
laught. That WEIRD leadsounds, the NON-INVERTED
chords, the not very GROOVY rhythm... typical Andre
like. How come Roy composed something which sounds
exactly like this?
But anyway ... without the MAIN TUNE for this sound-
track wouldn't be too world-moving, but altogether it
is worth 75%.
* RETROACTIVE/ANTIC PRODUCTIONS *
------------------------------------------------------------
Antic is a group always well known for really good
looking demonstrations which are NOT too hard coded
in comparison with lots of other competitors. Never-
theless the audience appreciates their work very
much. Unfortunately, like MOST other demo groups
well, they have decreased their activity level.
* FUBEN about the coding *
------------------------------------------------------------
This demo is entirely coded by Depeh.
All starts up with an INTERNET simulation with an ani-
mated Antic-logo in the lower bottom.
The next part features a fullscreen animation on 4x8
resolution. Additionally there are some SPRITES
showing some text. Nothing impressive!
The 3rd part is a WOLFENSTEIN engine (no Doom!)... it
is calculated on an area of 50x24 pixels on 4x4. This
version is definetely too SLOW and too UNEXACT. As
always on C64 there are just TEXTURED walls. This
version is nothing against Graham's new Wolfenstein,
he coded recently.
Next effect is showing a textured object,which trans-
forms itself. It really looks funny but is nothing than
a normal MOVELIST effect in my eyes! By the way, this
effect is running in 4x2! In the background there is
the MICROSOFT Windows outfit shown...nice idea!
Finally the end appears. Some little KOALA-graphics
fading in and out with some sprites giving the credits
All in all a rather POOR demo containing some FUNNY
IDEAS though. No real CODING effects to see in it
beside of the Wolfenstein part. My rating: 36%
* RRR about the graphics *
------------------------------------------------------------
All graphics in this demonstration were drawn by a
person most expected to have left the scene, no one
else but Creeper decided to add his pixels here.
The first graphic we got to see is some kind of NET-
SCAPE screen, which most PC Internet users should
now, filled with a lot of colourful icons what looks in-
deed quite nice but can not be called an outstanding
graphical masterpiece, anyway it is function what
seems to be more important here. This got followed by
a screen we use to know as one of the most adverti-
sed and commercial computer production dividing the
nation these days, a Microsoft WINDOWS FOR WORK-
GROUPS screen. You all know the latest version of
Windows offers functions which Apple or Amiga ope-
rating systems (OS) offer since almost ten years by
now. Both PC screens, the Netscape and the Windows
screen got designed in 320 X 200 pixel resolution,
are quite colourful and come close to the original in
my opinion. What know follows in something you have
not expected after regarding the graphics until now,
another Windows application screen appears, this
time of the PROGRAMM MANAGER, again containing
some fine colourful icons and all the other "crap" you
use to know from the 16/32 bit machines.
The endpart is quite different. Here we find some
nice multicolour bitmap graphics, unfortunately most
of them were quite old and already shown in certain
Flash Inc and Antic productions.
All in all the graphics Creeper did for this demo are
surely quite nice and serve the ideas of the produ-
cers, nevertheless they are not too hard to create
and the cool graphics in the endpart are partly damn
old what will ofcourse prevent a top score. This leads
me to a rating of 59%.
* PRI about the musics *
------------------------------------------------------------
The soundtrack for this production got added by Zy-
ron, who left his former comrades in Antic for F4CG
these days.
ZYRON is without any doubts a composer with a very
personal note. It may not be everybody's cup of tea,
but, so to speak, a deaf man can recognize his tunes,
which also goes for this demo.
The intro features a very distortion-like techno (how
to call it exactly? Noise techno or something?) tune,
but after some seconds it is skipped. The next one
comes in some kind of ROCK sound with some psyche-
delic effects and some typically WEIRD lead sounds
and melodies. In the "radar" part there's something
more mysterious ... with some a little bit too loud ar-
peggios and some nice sync-effects, partly like
KRAFTWERK, next to a broad bass. Again some critism
to the coders ... STOP cutting off tunes that abrupt-
ly!! Fading them out belongs to "the good style" now-
adays.
But this doesn't diminish the rating, which is 74%.
Best regards from your FAVOURITE reviewer team,
Fuben/Oxyron
------------
PRI/TIA/Oxyron
-------------
RRR/Oxyron
----------
Party Radar
* PARTY RADAR *
------------------------------------------------------------
The party radar is no new chapter in general, it is
just the new definition for our party report chapter.
This chapter will cover, next to the reports of the
major parties taking place in western Europe and
perhaps eastern Europe, too, ofcourse all important
invitations. This was our motivation for the minor
change of the name, as an invitation can be hardly
presented using party report, atleast not in our opi-
nion and our sense of perfection.
In our previous edition we presented all facts of the
SYMPOSIUM '96 taking place exactly on the same
weekend like the following event, what was a good
reason for us NOT to release it in one edition. Ne-
vertheless, finally here it is and here we go.
Success and The Ruling Company organise in April:
X-96 the successor
------------------------------------------------------------
After last years success we are going to fly even
higher. It will be more wicked than last year's party ..
The party will take place on April 6th and 7th, 1996.
Some things changed, other remained the same, but it
will be FUN for sure.
The entrance fee is about 30 dutch guilders, though
German Marks can be changed against a DEM 1,-- =
HFL 1,-- (only PAPER, no small exchange).
The party will be held in the same place as last year's
so those who have already been there know how to
find it. More rooms will be available and we also ar-
ranged a sleeping facility (do NOT forget your sleep-
ing bag!!!!!). Furthermore we have a meetingplace with
a bar and a videocorner, different rooms for both
CBM 64 and PC. Outside is a big parking place and a
cafeteria which will sell all kinds of snacks. Prices
will be reasonable ... (not like TP5). The partyplace
can hold about 500 participants so it's imperative
that you make reservations. Those who do not make
them might be refused at the entrance.
The party will feature:
------------------
* 24 hours showing of the latest movies
* probably a party network
* performances
* competitions ofcourse
* and some funny things ....
Some things to keep in mind are:
---------------------------
* bring your own power cables (grounded)
* space is limited, so you can bring a computer but
when you bring amplifiers etc. we can't guarantee
that you can place them at the party
Rules for the competition:
---------------------
* the demo should NOT have been released yet
* each group can participate with ONE demo
* the demo will be RELEASED at the party
* the demo will be judged by a competent and partly
expert JURY
* the demo must run on a DX2-66 minimum, but will be
displayed on a Pentium 100 MhZ, 15 MB Ram and in-
tegrated videocard (brand will be announced in a
later note). Sound will come from a Gravis Ultra
Sound PRO with about 4 MB. You do not need Sound
Blaster support and the demo does not has to be
Windows 95 compatible.
* there will be a music, graphic and intro competition
* the same rules apply here expect for the music
competition. Musics must be playable in XM, MOD,
S3M etc. or you must support your own player.
How to behave?
-------------
* people who behave criminally will be handed over to
the policy. Softdrugs are allowed though.
* we are NOT responsible for losses.
* we server alcohol but when you are to drunk you
will be REMOVED from the party place.
* between 00:00 h and 06:00 h it's either inside or
outside.
* at any time the organisers keep the right to refuse
admittance.
* racist signs and behaviour will NOT be tolerated
How to make reservations?
-----------------------
Write a paper including your name, handle, number of
computers you bring along, number of persons, for-
mat (CBM 64 or PC), groups, etc... and send this to:
X-96
XXXXXXXXXXX XX
XXXX XX XXXXXXX
XXX XXXXXXXXXXX
Internet: Serve to the homepage:
HTTP://WWW.XS4ALL.NL/&Herkel
E-mail: fill out the .frm for and mail it to:
CBA^XS4ALL.NL
Partyplace address is:
-------------------
Buurthuis Einstein
Stroyemborchdreef 12
3506 GL Utrecht (Overvecht Noord)
++31/30-2614845 (ONLY at the party date)
For more information call ++31/75-6704225 (Tim) or
download the file X96TXT.ZIP from UTOPIA.HACKTIC.NL
/pub/c64/Party/Invitation
for further information, route descriptions and the
reservation form among other useful files.
* SYMPOSIUM '96 *
------------------------------------------------------------
Enclosed please find the party invitation and a detai-
led map which might be rather helpful to find the par-
ty location, both as EXECUTABLE files added on the
disk.
Updated Organiser List
-------------------
AMIGA: POLKA BROS, LEGO & PHANTASM
PC: CUBIC TEAM
ATARI: ARENA & ABSCENCE
CBM 64: OXYRON
NEW Internet Homepage
-------------------
HTTP://193.59.3.15/&rawstyle/sym96
In the near future Oxyron will release an updated in-
vation file containing the latest changes and informa-
tion in order to keep you up-to-date.
Please note that the Relax Magazine staff will be pre-
sent at both parties and we intend to report about
both events in our NEXT edition.
Best regards,
RRR/Oxyron
----------
Advertisements
* ADVERTISEMENTS *
------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to the area of advertisements where you
get the chance to offer the rest of the world the
possibility to either contact you as a trader or
just to place a request through us.
To see your advertisement in this chapter you HAVE
to fill one of our votesheets as the total amount of
adverts fortunately increased between the past few
months. Therefore we installed a NEW presentation
system and if the amount of filled votesheets increa-
ses in the same way we feel free to cut off the sup-
porting advertisement text. Telephone numbers or In-
ternet addresses can be found at the end of the ad-
dress line(s).
* ACHERON *
------------------------------------------------------------
Exact: XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX, XXXX XX/XX, XXXXX
XXXXXX, XXXXXX (-> ICON)
* 4 swap, 4 covers, cool friendship
Mr. Plum: PXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX, XX. XXXXXXXXXXXX XXX/XXX X.
XX, XX-XXX XXXX, XXXXXX (-> ARISE, BRONX, G8D)
* Swap non stop, 100% reply to all, orries wanted
* ACRISE & EXCESS *
------------------------------------------------------------
Nasty Boy: XXX XXXXXX, XXXXX XXXXXX, XXXXXXX
* originals, 100% to all, looking for more contacts
Truss: XXXX XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXXX XX XX. XX, XXXX
XXX X. X., XXXXXXX
* Illegal swap on PC, all Acrise warez, 100% reply
* AGONY DESIGN *
------------------------------------------------------------
Druid: XXXXXX XXX, XXXXXXX X/XX, XX-XXX XXXXXXX-
XXXXX, XXXXXX (-> AVANTGARDE)
* NO opdinary swapping, AGONY DESIGN HQ
* ALBION *
------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Soft: XXXXXXX XXXXX, XX. XXXXXXXXXX XX/XX,
XX-XXX XXXX, XXXXXX /++XX/XX-XXXXXX
/Gothrek^Vm.Amu.Edu.PL
* nice & quality swap, good cover swap ctx needed,
* RPG & Fantasy warez, just try it
Worm: XXXX XXXXXXX, XXX. XXXXXX. X/X, XXXXX XXXXXXX,
Poland (-> ESTATE, NSTG, LEPSI DEVELOPMENTS)
* ALPHA FLIGHT 1970 *
------------------------------------------------------------
Alpha Flight is looking for more talented mailtraders,
who will make sure the AFL releases will get spread
around the globe.
The mailtrader we are looking for has got atleast 70
contacts, situated in different nations and should be
known as 'FAST' and 'RELIABLE'.
If YOU think this job will suit you perfectly (no matter
what kind of group you are currently supporting),
write to the following address immediately:
Styx: XXXXXX XXX, XXXXXXXXXX XX, XXXX XX XXXXXXXXXX
XXX XXXXXXXXXXX
Please note that EVERYONE will get a reply. Make
sure to act fast. Who knows, you might be a member
of one of the LEADING cracking groups sooner than
you think!
Calypso: TXXXX XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X, XXXX
XX XXXXXX, XXX XXXXXXXXXXX (-> AMNESIA)
* to send in your cracks for THE BEST magazine
Ream: XXXXX XXX XXXX, XXXXXXXXXXXX XX, XXXX XX XXX
XXX XXXXXXXXXXX
* to send in your cracks for THE BEST magazine
Shuze: XXXX, XX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXX, XXXXX, XXXXXXXXX,
XXX XXX, XXXXXXX
Zapotek: X.X. XXX XXX, XXXX XXX, XXXXXX
/Sveinung.Bergkvist^HIT.NO
* CBM 64, Covers, Sheets, 100% Reply
* ATLANTIS *
------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Science: XX. XXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXX, XXXX XXXXX,
XXXXXXXXXXX
Dr. Who: XXXXX XXXXXXXXX, XXXX XXX-XXXX, XXXXXX
* C64 and Amiga swap, 100% reply
Freddie: XXXXXX XXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX, XXXX
XXXXXXX X, XXXXXXX
* latest Atl warez, Immortal Flash, stamp swapping
Robocop: X.X. XXX XX, XXXX XXXXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX,
XXXXXXXXXXX
* AVANTGARDE *
------------------------------------------------------------
Cupid: XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX XX, XXXXX XXX-
XXXXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXX
* Gfx, NO swapping, Skyhigh, 128 tools
Derbyshire Ram: XXXXX XXXXXX, XX XXXXXXXX XXXX,
XXXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXX XXX XXX,
XXXXXXX
Intruder: XXX XXXXXX X, XXXXX XXXXXX, XXXXXXX
* CHALICE *
------------------------------------------------------------
Mike D.: XXXXXX XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXX XX, XXXXX XXX-
XXX, Germany/roland.kletzing^rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de
* CHROMANCE *
------------------------------------------------------------
Motion: JXXXX XXXXXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXX XX XXXXXXXX,
XXXXXX /++XX/XXX-XXXXX XXX XXXXX
* all <C> warez, Amiga, PC, VHS, originals, 100% reply
Spermbird: XXX XXXXXX X, XXXXX XXXXXX, XXXXXXX
Syco: JXXXX XXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXX XX, XXXX XX XXXXXX-
XXX, XXXXXXX
* for <C> warez and originals
Wozio: XXXXXXX XXXXX, X.X. XXX X, XX-XXX XXXX,
XXXXXX (-> ELYSIUM)
* for hot originals, prefer fast swapping, elite only,
* Always & Astoria HQ, ESM & <C> warez
* CREST *
------------------------------------------------------------
The Syndrom: XXXXXXXX XXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX. X, XXXXX
XXXXXXX, XXXXXXX
/Hartung^RMHS2.URZ.TU-Dresden.De
* NOT for swapping!
* EQUINOXE *
------------------------------------------------------------
Warp: XXXXXX XXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXXX. X, XXXXX XXXXXX-
XXXX, XXXXXXX /++XX/XXX-XXXXX
/Markus.Peter^RPHC1.Physik.Uni-Regensburg.De
* 4 joining, 4 supporting SHOUT!
* FANTASTIC FOUR CRACKING GROUP *
------------------------------------------------------------
Motley: XXXX XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX. X, X XX, XXXXX X-X,
XXXXXX /Motley^Algonet.Se
* searching for ANIME/MANGA pictures on PC, also
* trading NIN-stuff and everything concerning RAY-
* TRACING on PC, objects, textures, etc ....
Newscopy: XXX XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X, XXXXX
XXX, XXXXXX /Newscopy^Algonet.Se
Sixx: TXXXXX XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXX. XX, XXXXX XXXX,
XXXXXX /Sixx^Algonet.Se
* for the latest EFFO QUADRO CIGI wares!
Walker: XXXXX XXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXXXX XX, XXXXX
XXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXX
* FRACTION *
------------------------------------------------------------
Alpha: XXXXXX XXXXXXX, XX. XXXXXXXXXXX XXX/X. XX-XXX
XXXXXXXXX, XXXXX (-> LEPSI DEVELOPMENTS)
* Disk = 100% reply, Friendship, fast 'n cool swapping
Cha$h: XXXXX XXXXXXXX, XX. XXXXXXXXXXX X/XX, XX-XXX
XXXXXXX, XXXXXX (-> F4CG) /+XX/XXXX-XXXXX
* Megaswapping, Disk = 100% reply, Fraction HQ
* GALICYA *
------------------------------------------------------------
Nazgul: XXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX, XX. X. XXXXXXXXXX XX/XX,
XX-XXX XXXXXXXX, XXXXXX
Tiamat: XXXXX XXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXXXX X/XX,
XX-XXX XXXXXX, XXXXXX /+XX/XXX-XXXXXX
* Megaswapping, 100% reply to all
* HARDCORE *
------------------------------------------------------------
B-Wyze: XXX XXXXXX X, XXXXX XXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXX
* HITMEN *
------------------------------------------------------------
Tranziie: XXXXX XXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXX. X, XXXXX XX-
XXXX, XXXXXX
* LAXITY *
------------------------------------------------------------
Didi: XXXX, XXXXXXXXXXX, XXXXX XXXXXXXX X, XXXXXXX
* joining Laxity, friendship, 100% reply
Vague: JXXXX XXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXXXX. XX, XXXXX XXXX-
XXXXXXX, XXXXXXX /++XX/XXXX-XXXX
* LEPSI DEVELOPMENTS *
------------------------------------------------------------
Frank: XXXXX XXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX XX/X, XX-XXX
XXXXX, XXXXXX
Sebaloz: XXXXXXX XXXXX XXX XXXX, X/X XXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXX XX/XX, XX-XXX XXXXXXXX, XXXXXX
* MAYHEM *
------------------------------------------------------------
Silver Bullet: XXXXX XXXXX, X XXXXXXXXX XXXXXX, XX
XXXXX, XXXXXXX, XXXXXXX, XX-XXXXXX, XXX-XXX, XXX-
XXXX
* C64 & Amiga 1200, NEW & OLD, (il)legal, friendship,
* personal notes, covers/sheets, reliable friend, ....
* MIRACLES *
------------------------------------------------------------
Psychik: XXXXXX XXXXXX, XX. XXXXXXXX XXXXXXX X/XXX
XX-XXX XXXXXX, XXXXXX
* NO ordinary swapping, only elite, friendship, PUNX
* MOTIV 8 *
------------------------------------------------------------
Clive: XXXXX XXXXXXX, XXXXXXX X, XXXX XXXXXX-XXXXX,
XXXXXXX
* fast & hot C64/PC swapping, hottest Motiv 8 warez
* NOICE *
------------------------------------------------------------
Zzap: XXXXXX XXXXXXXX, XXXXXX. X, XXX XX XXXXX,
XXXXXX
* SLOW but C00L swapping, Highway +46/42-83773
* NO NAME *
------------------------------------------------------------
Celtic: XXXXX XXXX, XXXXXXXXXX X, XXXX XX XXX-
XXXX, XXX XXXXXXXXXXX /++XX/(X)XX-XXXXXX
* joining No Name, 4 Contrast & Chit Chat, SNES, .....
Funxilla: XXXXX XX XXXX, XXXXXXXXXXXXX X, XXXX XX XXXXX-
XXX, XXX XXXXXXXXXXX (-> U-TURN)
/++XX/(X)XXX-XXXXXX
* ONSLAUGHT *
------------------------------------------------------------
Code 18: XXXXXXX XXXXX, XXXXXXXXXX XXX. XX, XXXXX
XXXX, XXXXXXX
Donar: XXX XXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXX XXX XX, XXXXX
XXXXXX, XXXXXXX
Grafee: XXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXX X/XX,
XX-XXX XXXXXXX, XXXXXX /++XX/(X)XX/XXX-XXX
Jazzcat: XXXXX XXXXXXX, XX XXXXX XXXXXX, XX. XXXXXX
XXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXX /Jazzcat^Vision.Net.Au
* Domination, The Pulse, Hack & Phreak trade, legal
* only, simply the best, VMB: ++X/XXX/XXX-XXXX,
* VMB +XX/XXXX-XXXXX
Rap: XXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX X/XX, XXXXX XX-
XXXXXXXX, XXXXXX
* not 100%, cool zakers
Vengeance: XXXX', X XXXXXXX XXXXXX, XXXXXXXX XXXXX-
XXX, XXXXXXXXX XXXX
* VANDALISM NEWS
* OXYRON *
------------------------------------------------------------
Fuben: XXXXX XXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXX XX, XXXXX XXX-
XXXX, XXXXXXX
RRR: XXXX XXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXXX XXX. XX, XXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXX /xxxxx@xxxxx.xxx
* legal mailtrade on Amiga 1200 and CBM 64
* (game-) graphics ---------
Scrapper: XXXXXX XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXXX. XX,
XXXXX XXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXX
* PC swapping on Disk and Streamer tapes (QIC 80)
* PALACE *
------------------------------------------------------------
2NY: /ZNY^CUTE.FI
* I luve Ozzy Osbourne # 1
Junkie: XXXX XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXX, XXXXX XXXXX,
XXXXXXX (-> DOOM PATROL)
* PHUTURE Software & Marketing *
------------------------------------------------------------
is still looking for motivated, active and skilled pro-
grammers, graphic artists and music composers in
order to develope and create some upperclass ga-
mes for the following computer systems: Amiga, PC
and CBM 64.
Are you interested to get your games SOLD or are
you in the need of graphics or soundtracks to com-
plete, then the address below is the RIGHT one!
If you are interested to cooperate with leading per-
sons out of the demo scene in all various sections do
not hesitate to send in some examples of your work
along with a short personal record to:
XXXX XXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXXX XXX. XX, XXXXX XXX-
XXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXX /xxxxx@xxxxx.xxx
* REACT *
------------------------------------------------------------
2ge: XXXXX XXXXX, X.X. XXX XX, XXXXX XXXXXXXXXX
XX, XXXXXXXX (-> FENIKS) /+XX/X/XXX-XXX
* wanna know how to connect an Amiga with a CBM 64
Matthew: XXXXXX XXXXX, XXXXXX XXX, XXXXX XXXXXXX,
XXXXX XXXXXXXX
* 4 swap demos & tools
* SAMAR *
------------------------------------------------------------
Diverse: XXXXXX XXXXXXX, XX. XXXXXX XX, XX-XXX
XXXXXXXX, XXXXXX (->FUGAZI GRAPHICX)
/Strazak^Andante.AE.Katowice.PL
* covers, anything, but I'm busy, meet me at # C-64
* SUCCESS & THE RULING COMPANY *
------------------------------------------------------------
H-Bloxx: "RM", X.X. XXX XXX XXX, XXXXX XXXX. XXXX-
XXXX, XXXXXXX (-> ACRISE & EXCESS)
* hot megawap, 100% back
Spectator: XXXXXX XXX XXXXXXX, XXXXX XXXXX XXX. X,
XXXX XX XXXXXXXXX, XXX XXXXXXXXXXX
* Original and Tape swap
Splatterhead: XXXX XXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXXX X,
XXXX XX XXXXXXXXXX, XXX XXXXXXXXXXX
Tristan: XXXXXX XXXXX, XXX XXXXXX XX., XXXXXXXX XXX-
XXXXX, XXXXX XXX (-> STORM)
* 100% reply, illegal/legal and oldies
* TABOO *
------------------------------------------------------------
ACIDCHILD: XXXXXXX XXXX, XXXXXXXXXXX XXX. XX, XXXXX
XXXXXXX, XXXXXX
CRESH: XXXXXX XXXXXXX, XX. XXXXXX X X, XX-XXX XXXX-
XXXX, XXXXXX
SAILOR: XXXXX XXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXXX X, XX-XXX
XXXXX, XXXXXX
* U-TURN *
------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Doom: XXXX XXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXX XXXX, XXXX XX XXX
XXXXXX, XXX XXXXXXXXXXX (-> HITMEN)
Flashlight: X. XXX XXXXXX, XXXXXXX XX XXXXXXXXXXXX XX,
XXXX XX XXXXXXXXXXXXX, XXX XXXXXXXXXXX
* swapping with a girl
* WRATH DESIGN *
------------------------------------------------------------
Stash: XXXXXX XXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX X. XX, XXX XX XXXXX,
XXXXXX /XXXXXX.XXXXXXX^Ferrari.Ct.Se
* latest Wrath products, looking for SNES contacts
* X-VECTOR *
------------------------------------------------------------
Phyton: XXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXX XX, XXXXX XXXX-
XXX, XXXXXX (-> VCS, EPH, BD, RSS)
* swap, no polish dudes, always answer, try ...
* XL. C. US SOFTWARE *
------------------------------------------------------------
JJ: XXXXX XXXXX, XXXX X, XXXX XXXXXXX XX XXXXX, XXXXX-
XXXXX, XXXXXXXXXX XXX XX, XXXXXXX
* XL-C-US warez, demos & mags, NO cheating
XL: XX.X.XX XXXXXXXX, XXXXXX XXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXX,
XXX XXX, XXXXXXX
* GROUPLESS *
------------------------------------------------------------
Mac Gyver: XXX XXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXX, XXXXX XXXXXX,
XXXXXXX
Hunho: XXXXX XXX, XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX, XXXXX XXXXXX,
XXXXXXX
* 4 the latest, friendship rules and you know that!
XXXXX: XXXXXX XXXXX, XXXXXXXXXX XXX, XXXXX XXXXXXX-
XXXX, XXXXX XXXXXXXX
* very fast turbo swap, 4 covers, always fast reply
Zinia: XXXXX XXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXX XXX. X, XXXX XXXXX-
XXXX, XXXXXX
When the amount of addresses is growing in the same
way like during the past few days we feel free to re-
move the supporting text and to print the address
only in order to save memory as we do not feel like
releasing many adress chapters to fill up the maga-
zine and to impress the readers with a huge amount
of text. WE feel free to present your advertisements
coming up to our interests in order to SAVE memory!
Best regards,
RRR/Oxyron
----------
