Domination 05 News & Rumours

• News & Rumours *

Back to the most popular chapter, a update on what’s been happening inside this scene since the last issue of Domination each is put into own group news, providing that the group is active enough or is involved of something to make a topic about. Single news is at the end of the group news section in one line form.

News is gathered from the USA and European C64 boards and from the back of votesheets distributed through the mail by the Domination magazine spreaders. Some other information like competition results and news is gathered from the phreaks on the Internet.

Well without further notice here is the beginning of this issues large news report...

• JC *

Alpha Flight 1970 (Ger,USA,Pol,Hol)

Many releases and activity from this well established group. Trying to reduce members, several inactive flighters were removed, Namely Splash and Aggressor. Later on Stash was also removed for laziness.

Their new member Disaster never lasted long, having not done what he was supposed to, was removed from the status. Although maybe he will be re-introduced to Alpha Flight at a later time.

They gained another valuable member to help enforce their already strong German core. Chotaire/Ex-Onslaught was included in the status, and his BBS 'The Pirate Island' became their second German headquarters. Chotaire later rebuilt 'Pandora' and the BBS was shared with them. Being known for his situations on the USA BBS scene, Chotaire has been involved in quite a few disagreements with several, even quite a few well known sceners. Internal disputes raged when he joined, between him and leading figure in the flight, Skinhead. Skinhead publicly posted that Chotaire was removed, or he would leave the group. This confusion has ended with an agreement being made, and both are still members of AFL.

More trouble began for Chotaire, with internal arguments with Amputator/Pandora, which resulted in Chotaire leaving Pandora to focus on the flight. His BBS 'The Pirate Island' was suddenly formatted and went down forever, with the sysop, Chotaire, willing to sell his BBS equipment. More troubles started for Alpha Flight with their old BBS 'Holiday Inn Cambodia' going offline. Sysop Pol Pot/AFL refuses to run the Radar modded C*base again, and is busy remodding his own version of C*base and have 'HIC' back online soon.

The flight expanded their mail fleet with the inclusion of Spider/Fatum who joined as a megaswapper. He was not a member of Chromance as other magazines states. This inclusion of Spider, was all but too soon, as mega trader Calypso stopped megaswapping to concentrate on cracking and other jobs. He now only swaps with some personal friends.

Skinhead again will not be seen on the boards for quite sometime, having recently joined the army. With both Skinhead in the army and Marc/AFL busy with his studying for a Masters Degree the organization would seem to fail, but Styx announced he would take on the main responsibilities of organizing the group.

Great news for AFL as their other US HQ 'The Evil Island' went back online with sysop Ancient Mariner at the helm. The number still remains the same, and not as the Propaganda magazine wrongly printed as the older number, support this great BBS on 1-314/XXX-XXXX.

The NTSC section of AFL made another expansion as they signed on The Mercenary/Empire. This makes this section so much stronger, already with fixing help from: Ignorance, Calypso and Ream.

They gained another new member to their ranks known as Blaze, he joined as cracker and swapper, and he also remains in Galycia as his second group.

Things are looking great once again for the flight with the return of their BBS 'TEI' and of some new talented additions to their crew. Ignorance, main cracker for the flight, also returns to activity after a break due to his military service. Calling out does not appear to be a problem at the moment also, with several members always calling out to the US and European boards. They also have a growing magazine in the form of 'Gamers Guide' gaining popularity, edited by Ream, one can only hope it gets larger with each issue and bring back some cracker inspiration. Let’s see how the flight manages leading to the Christmas period.

Memberstatus: Ancient Mariner - Arne - Blaze - Calypso - Chotaire - Ignorance - Marc - Max - Murphy - Mercenary - Pol Pot Ream - Shuze - Skinhead - Spider - Styx - Xenox and Zapotek. Holiday Inn Cambodia 1-510/XXX-XXXX (Down) AFL WHQ. The Evil Island 1-314/XXX-XXXX AFL + Relax US HQ. Escapade +49/XXXX-XXXXXX AFL EHQ.

Avantgarde (Ger,USA,Swi,UK,Pol)

After some calling out problems and lack of activeness. This popular group gets the show moving again with a fine flurry of releases. Some co-op cracks with F4CG and also some utility releases have made AVT once again a great competitor and active group.

Gaining some new blood in the group, Avantgarde signed on Renegade who left Excess to stay in AVT as a cracker. Rage/Ex-Onslaught joined in as intro coder, cracker, swapper and original supply. An unconfirmed rumour tells that Rage had asked Success*TRC to join, but main organizer, Nightshade refused.

In turn though they lost long time member Decilon, who left Avantgarde and the scene. Expanding in the wares market Avantgarde built their Polish section - and yet another group looks to the east for support. First to join was the excellent coder from Agony, Druid, who also stays in Agony as second group. Followed soon by a mystery member known as Trimone, his identity is unknown, but word says he is a popular scener under another handle. To complete the Polish section AVT signed on Astaroth/Agony/Antic who joined AVT as first group, leaving Antic and pushing Agony back to second.

With the rise of talented sceners appearing from the Eastern Europe, this Polish section should serve well for the times to come.

Some obvious signs of problems appear, with their cracker Weasel not getting as much support from AVT as he would like. He joined the newly formed Pandora as his second group, in the hope they will supply him with originals, Avantgarde who have been known for their immense illegal activities and board based plan have expanded much lately in their legal endeavours, also signing on graphician Cupid/Extacy/EQX, who left both groups for membership in Avantgarde.

The popular BBS Dream Park goes off line for quite sometime, with the organizers unsure on the time before it goes back up. But gladly the number was changed from the old, heavily blacklisted number to a new number, and then goes back online. The new number: 1-619/XXX-XXXX.

Confusion over releases?

Two releases created some talk on the American boards with their release of 'Mortal Dogfight Prv' (C) Cherry Software. Head of Cherry Soft, Newscopy/F4CG claims the game is not from their label. AVT otherwise, but sure thing is the full game should be out in late November.

The early release of Amnesia by Onslaught caused some slight fuzz. As Deff, leader of AVT claimed it not to be a Twice Effect game, which Tricom/AVT is member to. Other allegations said 'Onslaught' recoded their older game for points. Truth is that the game was received from 2 game companies with a letter from Soeren Kress / Twice Effect with the 'Twice Effect' letterhead asking for the game to be sold. Twice Effect denies they made the 'Amnesia' adjustment on their original game for money. But have decided, coincidently, to modify the 'Amnesia' game even more and release it under their label anyway.

Their megaswapper Intruder is having some problems with the German post and had to stop swapping with all his German contacts.

These minor problems aside, Avantgarde has had a great period of releases. They dominate the modem and mail scene and have even shown signs of legal ambitions. Leading profile Deff/AVT gained employment from big music label BMG in Berlin and will move there this year. It is unknown how this will effect the organization of the group. But some have said that Intruder will take up the job. But this is unconfirmed and most likely false. Much has been said of late on their rumoured magazine 'Corramba' but Jack Daniels/AVT reports to Domination: "The rumours should cease as Avantgarde will not release the magazine and I myself haven't time for the task of magazine editing anymore.." This proves that popular groups do get their fair share of rumours. But I’m quite sure this leading group will be a major group, leading into the New Year.

Memberstatus: Astaroth - Chameleon - Cyborg - Cupid - Deff - Derbyshire Ram - Druid - Eliminator - Freestyle - Intruder - Jack Alien - Jack Daniels - Rage - Renegade - Skywolf - Suicide - Thorn - Tricom - Trimone - Weasel.

Dream Park 1-619/XXX-XXXX AVT + F4CG WHQ.

Chromance (Hun,USA,Ger,Swe)

The Hungarian based fame, from the ashes of FBI-crew, went through a somewhat inactive period, with members losing interest in the scene and their group, with some even leaving. But things appear to be back to normal once again with main organizers injecting more support and thought into the group. Unconfirmed news says Moose and TL joined as graphicians and paper artists. But there is an uncertainty to its truth.

Chromance gained another Swedish member, this time Motion/Ex-Noice who joined as a trader and will also do his independent illegal based magazine Destroy.

Among a few who changed handle lately, Chromance's new original supplier Zag, changed to Scatman. Their Polish section grew with the recruitment of Bolee and Immortal as original suppliers and traders. On gaining a few members as they also lost some long time members such as Homeboy and Stake, who left to work solely in 'Onslaught'. Their Swedish sysop Joyride left them for 'Onslaught' taking his BBS 'The Highway' with him.

Pete/Onslaught joined as second group, but not long after left both Onslaught and Chromance for the newly formed group 'Resource'.

Things looked a little dim but valuable Techno/Success*TRC joined as original supplier and coder. Medron/Ex-His Team also joined as original supplier and programmer. He is best known for his works on the game 'Earth 3'. Having recruited a strong original source, the mail section also got re-enforcing with popular trader Spermbird/Excess joining and pushing Excess back to his second group. They also gained Mc Byte/Paradox as trader also. Being active once again put more hope into the group and this heightened even more with hard working member Wozio completing his army service and returning to scene activities. He announces also a Polish BBS called 'County Jail' which will serve as the Chromance EHQ.

The only problem now is a series of Chromance re-releases that seem to halt the group’s advancement in taking the number one.

Memberstatus: Amc - Bolee - Griff - Immortal - Janee - Jaydee - Jazzy D - Lion - Mc Byte - Medron - Motion - Mr.Wax - Rough - Rug Rat - Scatman - Skud - Skull - Spermbird - Syco - Techno - The Unholy - Will - Wozio - X-radical.

Edge of Midnight 1-609/XXX-XXXX <C> WHQ. (Down) County Jail +48/XXXXXXXX <C> EHQ.

Fantastic 4 Cracking Group (Bel,Swe,USA,Ger,Aus)

Activeness seems to be the major downfall in this group with an inconsistency seen the past few months. But just this month, they have returned once again with some great releases and the return of their BBS, Dream Park. Former member of F4CG and former scener Smasher returned to the scene and the group. Also a programmer called Aristo joined their forces.

Talented member Deathlok however left the group for the newly formed Pandora group. But they gained another well known American profile The Stablizer/Demonix who joined as NTSC fixer.

F4CG announced there SNES section up and running. Gaining former C64 member Storm rider and his BBS Tunnel of Wares as their SNES WHQ. Members include: Mfm, Judge, Abo-Bo, Solar, Hobbit, Newscopy, Antitrack, Tyger, The Last Dragon as well as some people from Napalm, Anthrax and Sneakers.

Moving to the Internet, Playboy set up a FTP site which will serve for both F4CG and Motiv8. BBS.cc.uniud.it

Propaganda seems to come out quite regular these days with issue #20 soon to be released on paper. As a celebration issue called 'Propaganda Gold' (Ed: issue #19 reviewed this issue). Newscopy has also been busy organizing the Tribute 1996 party which will be held in Spring. Let’s hope it brings another major success in C64 history. Things continue to look good for the group, as they sign on a Polish graphician called 'Worm', who is on a trial based membership. However their NTSC fixer in Australia, Cerebus may be inactive for sometime, due to his exams coming up. The group however is getting increasingly active, with some co-op releases with Avantgarde. Several legal projects such as a music collection from Decoder and a new demo from Devil. Plus their involvement with software label 'Cherry Software', they have quite a strong basis to build from as this old group journeys into 1996.

Memberstatus: Antitrack - Aristo - Bitman - Cerebus - Cyborg - Cybersurfer - Decoder - Devil - Draz - Fen1 - Hain - King - Maja - Morris - Motley - Mr. Alpha - Neotec - Newscopy - Playboy - Smasher - Sneaper - Solar - Stablizer- Therion - Total Chaos - Walker - Worm.

Dream Park 1-619/XXX-XXXX F4CG & AVT WHQ.

Hardcore (Ger,USA)

After the breaking up with their friends in 'Onslaught' from the cracking co-op. Hardcore were left with the task of performing on their own. They have released occasionally but show signs of lack of good organization.

Firstly, they gained the excellent intro coder and former member of AFL, Leeway. Carlos/APS joined a programmer and obviously as an original supplier, being a member also of game label APS. Who in fact plan to release games like Icemania, Centric, Dinox 2, Trooze and Brainstorm. Creat/Padua joined in, and changed his handle to Bingo Byte. Whilst Human changed his handle to Ticket and then again changed it to Q-Tip. Rumours say he may even be migrating to Australia soon. (ED: meet you soon then!) Unconfirmed former member of Success and AFL, Dooze joined Hardcore as a graphician.

With added strength in the group, one would think of moments to look forward to, but instead Hardcore got involved in some re-releasing with 'Fred's Back 4' which got accidently uploaded onto the 'Onslaught' board Down By Law. Zore/Hardcore admitted that poor organization was the reason behind the upload.

The slowly dying Excess lost another of their valuable members, this time Nebula left them to join Hardcore as a cracker, composer and coder. After having lost 'Onslaught' immense BBS support, the search for a host BBS began. They now share 'In Living Color' as a US HQ with Danish based Motiv8. But fate happened to occur, with sysop of Blue Galaxy, Galactus searching for a group to support his BBS, so Hardcore took on both him and his board, as their new WHQ. Some news slipped around that main organizer, Ramirez left the scene, but this is not near the truth, as he has just merely slowed down his activities on the C64, explaining the lack of organization seen of recent However they gained Zoomo former Gordon of Success and Origo fame.

Hardcore are still a very unpredictable group, with some very talented members, lets hope things pick up for them.

Memberstatus: BingoByte - Bwyze - BlockBuster - Carlos - Communist - Dooze - Galactus - Leeway - Nebula - Ramirez - Rap - Shocker - Volunteer - Q'Tip - Zoomo - Zore.

The Blue Galaxy 1-609/XXX-XXXX HC WHQ. In Living Color 1-713/XXX-XXXX HC US HQ.

Load 'News & Rumours 2' OUT OF MIND, OUT OF MEMORY.