The Pulse 4
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Preface
+ WELCOME TO +
+ THE PULSE MAGAZINE - THE OCTOBER EDITION +
As schedualed, we return to bring you the most popular source
for news and intertainment, THE PULSE MAGAZINE, released
by REGINA in the beginning of october.
THE PULSE MAGAZINE is no longer a PANDORA product. Read
more about that in the GLOBAL REPORT, our look at what has
happend in the scene the past month...
Use JOYSTICK. UP/DOWN to change pages. FIRE to reach the
MENU. LEFT/RIGHT to choose catagory and FIRE to LOAD..
+ THE OCTOBER PROGRAM GUIDE +
___________________________
-PREFACE DUKE
-MONTHLY RELEASES PSYCHOBILLY
-GLOBAL REPORT DUKE and PSYCHOBILLY
-BOARD REPORT CROSSFIRE
-CROSSFIRE DUKE
-WORLD OF DEMOS STEVE and SUN DANCER
-PROFILE DUKE with special guest.
-SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT DUKE with special guest.
-THE BLACKBOARD -//-
- THE PULSE MAGAZINE -
A TRADEMARK OF REGINA - DENMARK and NORWAY
+ THE PULSE MAGAZINE - MEMBERS OF STAFF +
_____________________________________
-THE PULSE PRESIDENT DUKE/REGINA
-BOARD/GAMES SPECIALIST PSYCHOBILLY/RSI
-BOARD SPECIALIST CROSSFIRE/EPIC
-PROGRAMMING SPECIALIST STEVE/REGINA
-GRAPHIC SPECIALIST SUN DANCER/REGINA
-EURO-SCENE SPECIALIST BREGO/RSI
-EURO-SCENE SPECIALIST KBS/REGINA
-THE PULSE PROGRAMMER DR.ZIVAGO/REGINA
We welcome CROSSFIRE/EPIC, STEVE/REGINA, SUN DANCER/
REGINA and KBS/REGINA into the staff. MADUPLEC/CREST
was fired, due to his delay on WORLD OF DEMOS last month..
+ THE PULSE MAGAZINE - CREDITS FOR THE OUTFIT +
_____________________________________________
PROGRAMMING DR.ZIVAGO/REGINA
GRAPHICS SUN DANCER/REGINA
CHARSET DUKE/REGINA
MUSIC SHARK/REGINA
Call our European BBS 24 hours a day (2400 BAUD)
GATEWAY
EPIC and THE PULSE MAGAZINE EHQ
+XX-XX XX XX XX (sysop : CROSSFIRE/EPIC)
EXPLANATIONS,
PREFACE by DUKE
This is the introduction part of THE PULSE MAGAZINE. We bid
you welcome with a detailed description about the staff and
the monthly chapters. Also search for statements from any of
the editors..
MONTHLY RELEASES by PSYCHOBILLY
Get a detailed description of what games has been released,
and by what groups. Check out the october chart, and look who
is at the number one spot this month. This month PSYCHOBILLY
has introduced some new rules in the system, so be sure to
check out this chapter..
GLOBAL REPORT by DUKE and PSYCHOBILLY
Keep yourself updated with the news and happenings in Europe
and The States. After the news, we have a special article
from the ECT-SHOW in LONDON by PSYCHOBILLY..
BOARD REPORT by CROSSFIRE
This month we are pleased to introduce this new chapter to
our already stunning program. CROSSFIRE has a talk with the
sysop of IN LIVING COLOUR, GREGO/ILLUSION, about the
board, and the current unstabile situation in ILLUSION..
CROSSFIRE by DUKE
The most contriversial chapter in the scene. Read about the
stars and the failures of the scene. Now you are warned..
WORLD OF DEMOS by STEVE and SUN DANCER
The new staff at THE PULSE MAGAZINE takes a look at what
is HOT and what is NOT. Not only are the demos reviewed in a
short and efficient way, the creators of the demos gets a
few oneliners on the way. Be sure not to miss this one!
PROFILE by DUKE with special guest.
This month we talk to one of the most contriversial persons in
the history of the 64. He has an unusual way of seeking star-
dom, a way a lot of people dislike. None the less he has a lot
of personality, something that is very rare these days..
SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT by DUKE with special guest.
BACCHUS of FAIRLIGHT tells us about his experience with
being a leader of one of the most famous groups in the scene.
He also explains what is wrong with today's cracking scene,
and more. SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT- "Today's cracking scene"..
THE BLACKBOARD
Our addresses chapter, dedicated to those hard-working
swappers and spreaders world-wide. Use the connection, use
The Blackboard..
Keep on reading, coming up our address and more..
Dear Readers, October 5th, 1993
Another month has passed, and once again we are ready to
bring you the most detailed magazine available in the scene
today. We are your source for news and enternainment.
We have had alot of success in the past months, and it seems
only a matter of time before this mag is enjoyed by everyone
in the scene, which is what we planned from the very beginning.
We hope to grow together with the scene, and keep our strict
deadline, which enables you to get this magazine every month.
Important to notice, is that I have no intention of going with
the flow, but instead we try to be as original as possible, why
we have also made our very own and special chapters.
CROSSFIRE, which is our satiric chapter, may have offended
quite a lot of people during the past few editions. This was
not intended, we just wanted to make a little fun out of what
seems to be a very professional scene. Professional is the
last thing the scene is, although it sometimes looks that way.
SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT, which is our sceners chapter, has
a lot of interesting text, both actual to the scene and the
people who runs it. That is one of the reasons why so many
people prefer THE PULSE MAGAZINE before other more
traditional magazines. We also like to tease our competition,
but "tease" is all it is, I can asure you of that.
We hope you will enjoy this edition, spread it as much as
possible, and help make the next edition even better by send-
ing us news or any other form of contribution (not money fool).
I would like to thank CROSSFIRE of EPIC for being such a great
help with the mag. Without his help, this edition would never
have reached it's current standard. No matter what you may
think of CROSSFIRE, then I mean it.
REGINA sends their greetings to: RED SECTOR INC, EPIC,
SUCCESS, AVATAR, FAIRLIGHT, ILLUSION, F4CG, TRIAD,
LEGEND, OXYRON, GENESIS PROJECT, VR, TRC, AFL, VISION,
CAMELOT, SACRED, CREST/TIA, FOCUS, CHROMANCE, BF,
FACES, TOPAZ, AMNESIA and everybody else..
Be sure to be a part of the MAGAZINE of the 90's. Send News,
Addresses, Letters, Party-Informations and articles if you
have something important to report upon.
THE PULSE MAGAZINE
XXXX XXXXX
XXXXXXX XX
XXXX XXXXXXX
XXXXXXX
GATEWAY - THE PULSE MAGAZINE EHQ
+XX - XX XX XX XX (Open 24 hours a day at 2400 baud)
See you all next month, DUKE of REGINA!
Monthly Releases
+ MONTHLY RELEASES by PSYCHOBILLY/RSI +
______________________________________
This month we have some surprises for you dear readers!
But before, let us take the usual look at the American scene..
DEMONIX keeps on dominating the import-market, since they
appeared out of the dust, and they added a few people to their
ranks, who are supposed to hold that level. Unfortunately
SWAN SONG had to return to college, so that they new board's
sysop also handles the import-job, which caused some prob-
lems with ALPHA FLIGHT already. EMPIRE still suffers from
their old problems, so not too many wares were released by
them this month again- in contrast to CODERZ, who released a
good load of wares, and some of them even fixed (!) by their
european fixer. SHADOW/AVATAR is back in the scene again,
but sofar we could not find any wares fixed by him! Quite the
same thing about ARMAGEDDON, who announced their come-
back with THREE (!) new fixers. Nevertheless nothing has been
released by them up to now. A "holiday-fixer" joined the US-
scene for a few days, who did some stuff mostly for EPIC,
called EDDIE, who is currently spending his vacation at GREGO
(Sysop-ILC)'s place. He is said to go on fixing in Europe
aswell.. RED SECTOR INC.'s fixer-section did nothing this time,
as much as the others did! Nonetheless, MO and MRP will keep
up supplying fixed wares.
As you can see, a lot is happening in the US-scene, and we can
expect a busy and extremmely interesting coming month. Be
sure to keep yourself updated, only in THE PULSE MAGAZINE!
ATTENTION-ATTENTION-ATTENTION-ATTENTION
As reaction to the actual trends of RE-RELEASING old games,
or RE-CODING them to release them as new wares, we at THE
PULSE MAGAZINE decided to add a NEW RULE to the point-
system of the MONTHLY RELEASES. From now on all re-relea-
ses, ripp-offs and any kind of these lame actions, will be pun-
ished by deducting -5 points for the Euro and the American
group who is responsible for putting out the ware(s). Further-
more we modified the credit-system slightly. In case a ware
which already has been released on pal and gets fixed by any
group afterwards, the European group who supplied the fixed
version, will get the points.. Read on for the group's releases
in SEPTEMBER..
ACTIVE (Sweden) (4.7 points/3.rank)
_____________________________________________
Completely new to the American market, they appeared with a
quite decent budget ware called PAIR OF MEMONY (4.7) from
DOUBLE DENSITY, which was fixed by DEMONIX in the states..
ALPHA FLIGHT (Germany, USA, Canada) (3.4 points/5.rank)
_____________________________________________
All they could put out this month was PLAY A MATCH (3.4) from
MAGIC DISK. No fix needed, and nobody was interested in
importing this piece of crap anyway. Their version of TENRACT
II was supposed to get fixed by Demonix, but due to internal
problems TALENT's version was released instead..
EPIC (DK, Germany, etc.) (-3.9 points/No rank)
_____________________________________________
A lot of wares of poor quality was released by them this month
again. Starting with MAGIC BOARD PREVIEW (0.3) and a soc-
cer-manager type game called SOCCER CUP II (2.9) from CULT
released on pal. After that they re-released a lame textad-
venture named TIMELORDS AMULET (-5) which is 8 years old
according to MAJESTY/TALENT. HIDIHOOD 100% (-5) which
even was fixed and imported by CODERZ, turned out to be a
rip-off from a preview PANDORA released last year, called
ESCAPE FROM MARS. Later this month, EPIC put out SHARDS
(2.9) from GAME ON, which they released on pal first, and fixed
by CODERZ afterwards. Along with this ware, they put out an
original version of PARSEC from DOUBLE DENSITY on pal. Also
a 50% fixed version made by EDDIE/EPIC was released. Both
versions were ignored though.
F4CG (Italy, Belgium, Etc.) (-5.0 points/No rank)
_____________________________________________
When SOLAR went to the ECTS show in LONDON, the remaining
members made the mistake to put out ORGATRON (-5) from
DOUBLE DENSITY, which was released by a lamer-lable before.
CHROMANCE (Hungary, Germany, Etc.) (6.7 points/2.rank
_____________________________________________
They came from the east, and brought a good bunch of wares
with them this month. At first they released a 100% translated
version of ACID RUNNER (3.8) from L.K.AVALON which was
fixed by EMPIRE (last time the EPIC version was credited).
After that SUPERBALL (1.7) from CREAM SOFTWARE was put
out by them along with CODERZ on pal. TAMER (3.9) from L.K.
AVALON, which is nothing but a lame SEUCK game, was fixed
by EMPIRE and will not be credited in any way. In contrast to
those crappy wares, CHROMANCE put out two brilliant pre-
views from COSMOS DESIGNS called FRED'S BACK II (0.9) which
has a cracking bug, and another jump'n'run type of game, tit-
led HEAVENBOUND (0.8), which was imported by CODERZ.
Unfortunately CHROMANCE could not resist to follow the lat-
est trend, and re-released a stupid textadventure called
JHOTHAMIA 6 (-5) which was released by TROEP before! Later
MADRAX (4.5) from L.K.AVALON was put out and fixed by DE-
MONIX. Furthermore they released a cardgame in Polish called
KOSCI ZOSTALY RZUCONE (Start The Game) which is complete-
ly useless. Rumours said this one is old aswell...
ILLUSION (Norway, UK, USA,Etc.) (No points/no rank)
_____________________________________________
They released a 90% fixed version of LIVERPOOL from GRAND-
SLAM made by EMPIRE, which is ignored credit-wise..
SUCCESS (Holland, Germany, Etc.) (3.2 points/6.rank)
_____________________________________________
This group had a decent start this month with a kewl polish
jump'n'find type of game called HANS KLOSS (4.8) from L.K.
AVALON, which was fixed by DEMONIX. They got the credit for
those two wares uploaded by FIRE as SUCCESS could reliably
convict them for re-cracking their versions kept on disk, wai-
ting to get fixed! Consequently DISCOVERY (2.6) from ELEC-
TRIC BRAINS released on pal, and the 6TH SENCE preview (0.8)
was added to their point. SUCCESS did also release a pal ver-
sion of PARSEC, but unlike EPIC's first, it was a very decent
one. Nevertheless their version was not credited either. At
last, even SUCCESS joined the club of re-releasers with BOM-
BAMAD (-5) which was fixed by DEMONIX. It was also known as
the old GAME ON GAME called CLONE released by ACTION+
EMPIRE...
TALENT (UK, Germany, USA) (8.0 points/1.rank)
_____________________________________________
For the first time, they managed to top the charts for a month.
Although their leadership is caused by the RSI total inactivity
this month, they could release a lot of decent wares. At first
they put out TENRACT II (3.8) from MAGIC DISK which was on
pal, and then fixed by DEMONIX. Furthermore they were the
only group who could produce a 100% fixed version of PARSEC
(4.2) from GAME ON, which was made possible by ROCKSTAR..
TRC (Holland, Spain, Germany, Etc.) (0.4 points/9.rank)
_____________________________________________
All they came up with this month, was an average preview titled
WIZLAND (0.4).
TRANCE (Germany) (4.1 points/4.rank)
_____________________________________________
This group released a nice looking preview of a game called
SALIVA KID (0.7), and a horrible crappy game called THE NEW
JUMP (3.2) which was even fixed on PAL/NTSC. At last they
released a lame preview by the name of FREEZE (0.2).
OTHER GROUPS: REBELS released a stupid ware called KILL
YOUR STICK (3.1) which was imported and fixed by A-TEAM
FIXERS. A new Australian group called SHAZAM made their de-
bute release on the boards with PEE WEE HOCKEY (1.8) on pal.
BEST GAMES/OVERALL: (Rank/Name/Company/Country)
_____________________________________________
1. PARSEC DOUBLE DENSITY/GAME ON GERMANY
2. TENRACT DOUBLE DENSITY/MAGIC DISK GERMANY
-EUROPEAN RELEASE CHART-
Rank Group Releases Points
_____________________________________________
1.(2) TALENT 2(2) 8.0(10.9)
2.(3) CHROMANCE 4(2) 6.7(9.3)
3.(-) ACTIVE 1 4.7
4.(-) TRANCE 1 4.1
5.(7) ALPHAFLIGHT 1(1) 3.4(4.1)
6.(10) SUCCESS 3(0) 3.2(0.9)
7.(-) REBELS 1 3.1
8.(-) SHAZAM 1 1.8
9.(11) TRC 0(0) 0.4
-EUROPEAN QUALITY CHARTS-
Rank Group Releases Average Quality
_____________________________________________
1.(-) ACTIVE 1 4.7
2.(1) TALENT 2(2) 4.0(5.45)
3.(5) ALPHAFLIGHT 1(1) 3.4(4.1)
4.(-) TRANCE 1 3.2
5.(-) REBELS 1 3.1
6.(-) SHAZAM 1 1.8
7.(6) CHROMANCE 4(2) 1.675(4.05)
8.(-) SUCCESS 3(0) 1.06
-AMERICAN RELEASE CHART-
Rank Group Releases Points
_______ _____________________________________
1.(1) DEMONIX 5(5) 12.8(24.0)
2.(-) TALENT 1 4.2
3.(3) EMPIRE 1(2) 3.8(11.0)
4.(-) A-TEAMFIXERS 1 3.1
5.(4) CODERZ 4(2) 0.4(4.7)
CODERZ' extremely few points are caused by importing EPIC's
rip-offs. Also Demonix got a "bad import" which result is less
points!
-AMERICAN QUALITY RELEASE CHARTS-
Rank Group Releases Average Quality
_____________________________________________
1.(-) TALENT 1 4.2
2.(2) EMPIRE 1(2) 3.8(5.5)
3.(-) A-TEAMFIXERS 1 3.1
4.(3) DEMONIX 5(5) 2.56(4.8)
5.(4) CODERZ 4(2) 0.1(2.35)
For ANY complaints, leave me e-mail on FORPLAY. Have fun
with your calculators, so had I..
PSYCHOBILLY/THE PULSE MAGAZINE
Global Report
+ GLOBAL REPORT - THE OCTOBER HEADLINES +
_______________________________________
Welcome to the october headlines in THE PULSE MAGAZINE.
Like always we have heaps of happenings to report on. Be sure
to read our satiric chapter CROSSFIRE, in which we blow the
news into perspective.
After our news section, you will be able to read an EXCLUSIVE
REPORT from the ECTS-SHOW in LONDON, written by our very
own PSYCHOBILLY/RSI. Be sure not to miss that one!
The news and stories was primarily gathered by PSYCHOBILLY,
CROSSFIRE and DUKE. GENERAL EDITOR is as always DUKE,
so if you find any incorrect news, be sure to let me know..
* The growing Danish section of PANDORA broke loose of the
German section, to put together a new group called REGINA!!
According to DUKE, "I made it very clear to ATTRACTION, that
I refuse to be a part of a group, dishonouring deadlines. So
when ATTRACTION failed to complete a job he was given before
deadline, I left the group and brought along the other Danish
members into my new group. REGINA already made headlines,
when DUKE accepted GATEWAY as the EHQ for THE PULSE
MAGAZINE. GATEWAY is also the EHQ for EPIC, and therefore
it may have caused a minor scandal to some of the many enemies
of EPIC. However, according to DUKE- "What I choose to do is
my business. Sofar I am pleased with my decision". According to
the Danish mag EARTHSHAKE, "DOMINIC" was asked to take on
THE PULSE MAGAZINE which was refused. According to DUKE
however- "I never made such a proposition for DOMINIC, nor
would I ever. Evidently this is false news from EARTHSHAKE!".
The current memberstatus of REGINA, as of october 1st - 1993
_____________________________________________
DUKE : Leader, Swapper, The Pulse HQ DENMARK
DR.ZIVAGO : Coder. DENMARK
SHARK : Musician, Coder, Swapper. NORWAY
STEVE : Coder, Modem. DENMARK
SUN DANCER : Graphician, Swap. DENMARK
COYOTE : Coder. DENMARK
ROCCO : Coder. DENMARK
KBS : Swapper. DENMARK
IDOL : Swapper, Modem. DENMARK
_____________________________________________
* VISION is back with some of it's old members, and some new
ones aswell. The current memberstatus is : SATAN and RAY/
GENESIS, WOLF/F4CG, DISHY/FAIRLIGHT, MR.SMART/ex.
BONZAI, X-RADICAL/TRC, DR.JONES/SACRED, XORE/ELY-
SIUM, XOSS/X-FACTOR and DISK BANDIT who is the groups
card-hacker. According to JUCKE/GP- "I don't think SATAN
has any rights to call his new group VISION, as none of the
original members are in the group". We spoke with DISHY about
this, and according to him, several of the current members are
infact old members of the original VISION. They tried to bring
back the old German leader CURLIN, but this plan should have
failed. VISION also picked up two new boards, one of which is
shared with THE RULING COMPANY (look in TRC report), and
the other one "THE BYTE TOWER" is the German HQ for
CODERZ and VISION. That board can be reached at ++49-6356
1586, operating at 2400 baud.
* SUCCESS has hit a very humiliating source. After being one
of the groups critizizing EPIC the most for their re-release
of WOODY THE WORM, the worst thing possible happened. MR.
DISK and BURGLAR re-released CLONE, originally released by
ACTION and EMPIRE. In the SUCCESS version of CLONE, the
menu text and logo was removed. EPIC has no comments on this,
which shows that they are evidently not the types of persons
to kick on someone when they are lying down. Furthermore,
CLONE was imported and fixed by DEMONIX. ATMOS rejoined
his old group-mates in LEGEND, and VENGEANCE was busted
for using some local-PBX's, and lost his phone-line due to a
major phone-bill. VENGEANCE joined the Australian group
SHAZAM, and for him the American boards will be a thing of the
past. HAIN, who just joined recently from the Polish group
ELYSIUM, packed up his bags, and joined CHROMANCE.
* SHOCK is gone for good. SKATER made it official, he has now
quit the 64 for good, to begin his venture on the PC. TALENT
is to do a mag in the near future, with some of the old editors
of SHOCK. But let time reveal the true nature of this, please!
* FREESTYLE left ILLUSION due to inside quarrels in the
group. More news from the current unstabile situation in the
BOARD REPORT. FREESTYLE released a note to explain why
he left the group. To sum up his note, he wanted to push out
the American section of the group, which the other members
agreed to. However, this did not happen, and FREESTYLE left
in shame. To use FREESTYLE's own words- "The group is not
like what it used to be in the old days". GRECO has used the
word "traitor" among others agains't him. Right now it is still
very unsure whether FREESTYLE wishes to stick with the good
old 64, or simply do what he did with ILLUSION "Give it up"...
* SACRED is doing their early winther cleanings. ATOMICRO,
HOSTILE, PIGEON and X-RAFFI were booted. CODE 18 left to
join up with TRC. CORROSIVE quit, after he was kicked aswell.
SPLATTERHEAD also left to join ALPHA FLIGHT. SACRED
should also have kicked out DR.JONES, but he told us "I left
SACRED to join VISION, because I got into some differences
with the leading members of SACRED. They were not able to
supply me with the cards I needed, and frankly I think the
organization sucks". CONSIDER will open a German BBS this
month by the name of "VIOLENT DESIRE", which will be the
SACRED EHQ. If they decide to stay alive that long!?!
* COP/FACES joined CHROMANCE as a second group. He will
operate as a spreader and graphician. Also HAIN/SUCCESS
joined in, as did THE UNHOLY/DEMONIX (a fixer).
* SMC/PRETZEL LOGIC joined up with the still growing music-
label- TIA!
* PURGATORY, the ILLUSION WHQ, went down..
* The GENESIS PROJECT EHQ in Germany "HACKCHECK", will
soon be both C64, SNES, Amiga and a PC-board. Sysop will
remain L.A.STYLE. It will be running on a 14.400 baud modem as
max. speed. GENESIS PROJECT did also pick up THE DUNGEON
as their new WHQ together with DEMONIX. Shortly after joining
SANDERS ended his venture in GENESIS, and joined up with
his countrymen in FOCUS. FOCUS is right now considered the
# 1 demo-group in Holland, and they also brought FANTASTIC
FIVE (a musician) back into the scene..
* The legendary LOVERBOY/ex.MANOWAR has started calling
out again. Right now he remains groupless, and it is still very
unclear whether this should be considered as a serious come-
back.
* ALCHEMIST joined up with DEMONIX as a sort of substitute
for SWAN SONG, as he is currently very busy with college. He
is also running THE DUNGEON, which is DEMONIX+GENESIS.
Also CYBERNOID/ex.STYLE (US+Canadian demo-group) joined
up with DEMONIX as a fixer and coder. He is also sysop of COC.
* FORPLAY (RED SECTOR INC. WHQ) was down for some days to
get the 1.2 gigz connected. FORPLAY is supposed to be the
largest BBS ever in the history of piracy on the 64. It can be
connected to on 314-481-4821. DOUBLE-T quit both the 64
aswell as RSI, but he will be trying his luck on the PC. This
was a tough blow for RSI, as he has been responsible for many
1st releases for them during his stay. RSI did also have a very
unactive month- Result : They dropped out of the charts!
* Two unknown fixers, who already fixed undercover for RSI,
joined up with struggling ARMAGEDDON. The deal was said to
have been made by PSYCHOBILLY and MOLOCH. This is begin-
ning to sound like profession football.. JESUS!
* TUNNEL OF WARES is now the new WHQ for F4CG and 20CC.
This is due to DEVINE ULTIMATUM going down for good.
* CYBERDOME, the German FAIRLIGHT HQ, will soon be back up
running again. According to the sysop, LEXI/FAIRLIGHT, he
should be more active in the future.
* STEPHEN/ex.ALPHA FLIGHT (cracker, swapper) and IBANEZ
/MIGS/NO NAME (megaswapper) joined up with EPIC.
* CAMELOT is back with REVEALED, a business related mag
for the 64. The first edition included very little 64-scene
stuff, but they plan on bringing the latest from the demo-
scene in future issues. The current CAMELOT memberstatus,
goes as follows: GLASNOST, CRUZER, NIGEL, FLEXI, SPINX,
SLAMMER, REX, RAZ, JEFF, DUCK LA ROCK, METAL, DAN
THOMSEN, SCULPTURE, KRING, VIC, NEPTUNE, WAVE, TRIX
and TGD, all of which are from Denmark. STEVE left and
joined up with REGINA..
* MAJESTY/TALENT will be opening a German board in the
near future, which will be called "GODS DOMAIN". Also AVA-
LANCHE/ATLANTIS has opened a board in Switzerland, by the
name of "POWER ENGINE"..
* SHADOW/AVATAR has been spotted calling out again. Sofar
there has not yet been seen any wares from AVATAR, and
whether SHADOW plans on getting back in the race again is
still very unclear. Also THOR was spotted calling out, he was
seen calling FORPLAY..
* POLI/ex.TRISTAR is back after 4 years in prison. He will
be active in both the Amiga aswell as the 64 scene again..
* ASTERIX, JRC, SPITFIRE and DOGFRIEND were seen calling
the American boards aswell. DOGFRIEND however, left a very
lame note on a board- "Is this old crap machine still alive". I
really wonder why he calls 64 boards, if he hates the machine
so much. But what do we care about PC-DOM anyway!?!
T H E E V E N T - E C T S A U T U M N
______________________________
From the 5th to the 7th of September, the second European
Computer Trade Show has taken place at the Business Design
Center in the heart of England-London this year. This time
a lot of people promised to be present like MAJESTY/TALENT
or IMAGE/RSI who did not show up in the end, but nevertheless
the show and the whole weekend turned out to become a great
success. The people who proved their reliability were: BOD/
TALENT, JUST ICE/ex.IKARI, FREESTYLE+RICHIE+TRONIC/
ILLUSION, CBA+AJ+JRC/TRC, NEWSCOPY/GENESIS, HUCKI/
ex.EXACT, NINJA/ex.ENIGMA, KID/ex.F4CG, SOLAR/F4CG,
THE BREAKER+PSYCHOBILLY+TERMO+COMMUNIST+HOK/RSI.
The show itself started with a huge meeting of nearly every-
body mentioned above, infront of the main-entrance of the
Business Design Center. A bunch of photos were taken (right
SOLAR!) and a couple of chats made before everybody started
to investigate the show and the stands itself. Nearly all the
big and known software companies were presented (just missed
a few German ones and CULT+BEYOND RELIEF) and showed
their latest productions. Sadly most of the companies told
us that they will not release any games for our beloved 64
anylonger. Even the most traditional 64 wares producers
OCEAN stopped now 100% on the 8-bit market in order to con-
centrate on PC/SNES. Rumours spread by WESTBAM/LEGEND
that JURASSIC PARK will be released on the 64 are WRONG. A
snapshot of the forthcomming releases will follow later on.
Another highlight of the ECTS was the presentation of the
effect-company which is responsible for all those special
effects we know from movies like T2, JURASSIC PARK and
videos on MTV or even from some brilliant commercials on TV.
However, their trackmo was a blast to watch.
The main attraction of the assambly in London has not been
the ECTS show itself, but the hell of fun we had together with
most of the scene-people from all over the world, which made
this event that special.
Just let me mention afew highlights out of the mass from our
oub-trip through London-city.
- COMMUNIST got real drunk. He puked on Picadelly Circus.
- SOLAR was taking photos of HOK pissing into a waste-paper
basket infront of aproximately 20 people in puplic on Picadelly
- RICHIE sleeping in PSYCHOBILLY's bed in Tent City, while
PB had to sleep in the car, because RICHIE could not reach
his house anymore.
And many, many, many other funny things worth to remember
for the people who were present. For everybody who missed
this event - try to be there next time! A lot of people already
promised to show up again, it's worth it (just in case you stay
longer than the show itself ofcource!)..
Now have a look at the Future-Releases, by the most important
software companies at the ECTS show..
VIRGIN
_____
October. GOAL (PC+Atari ST), ALIENS 3 (Amiga+64), KRUSTYS
FUN HOUSE (Amiga), APOCALYPSE (Amiga), THE 7TH GUEST
(Mac). No 64 wares planned for November or December..
KONAMI ("To Be Reschedualed!!")
________________________
FRONTIER-ELITE II (PC+Amiga+Atari-ST), BATMAN RETURNS
(Amiga+ Atari-ST+64). No other 64 games planned..
OCEAN
_____
JURASSIC PARK (SNES+GameBoy+Amiga+PC), TFX (PC+PC
Rom+Amiga 1200+CD32), MR.NUTZ (SNES+Amiga 1200), DENNIS
and so on. So far NO 64 games has been planned by OCEAN..
ZEPPELIN GAMES
_____________
No NEW 64 productions, just a few compilations of old games.
Nothing is planned for the 64 by them anymore..
EMPIRE SOFTWARE
______________
They stopped on 64 aswell. Nevertheless, they might return if
the market allows it. So far nothing has been planned by them
either..
KRISALIS: No 64 games will be released by them..
ASCON
_____
They were presented with their three main titles: BOOT, THE
PATRICIAN and ELIZABETH I. There might be a chance of con-
versations for the 64 by them later..
ALTERNATIVE SOFTWARE
___________________
Their last game for the 64 will be SUBURBAN COMMANDO, which
is a fullprice game. If ALVIN+THE CHIPMUNKS will ever be
released for 64 aswell, is not certain. So far that is the fut-
ure games by ALTERNATIVE SOFTWARE..
GRANDSLAM
_________
This company will DEFINATELY keep on releasing on "the good
old 64" (quoted from their adverts). Comming soon from them:
ENGLAND (PC+Amiga 12oo+CD32+Amiga+SegaMD+Snes), TEN-
SAI (PC,Amiga,Atari ST) and more..
21ST CENTURY ENTERTAINMENT
________________________
There WILL NOT be a 64 conversation of PINBALL DREAMS.
And no future for the 64 in their gameprojects!
MAX DESIGNS (nothing planned), UBISOFT (compilations, not-
hing new),STROM (Troddlers might be the last), SYSTEM 3
(FUZZBALL won't be released for the 64)...
CODEMASTERS
___________
Two more games are announced by them. The future of the 64 is
unsure for them, as they want to get rid of their budget-image.
They may release a fullprice 64 title though!...
So much about the ECTS and the releases which will hit your
drives soon. I know that it does not sound too positive for the
64, but remember the companies in Germany, Italy and other
countries, which were not represented at the show. SMILE!
Board Report
+ THE BOARD REPORT by CROSSFIRE/EPIC +
___________________________________
Another new chapter has been launched by the already massive
numbers available from THE PULSE MAGAZINE. Every month we
will bring you actual reports from the overseas boards..
This month we will focus on one of the many boards located in
HOUSTON/TEXAS. Namely- IN LIVING COLOR...
The sysop is GREGO/ILLUSION, and it is no secret, that there
has been tons of internal problems in this group lately, espe-
cially on HOLIDAY INN CAMBODIA, the waves has been going
high lately, but now it all seems to be solved, but plenty of
changes had to be made in the group.
First of all, the original ILLUSION WHQ also located in
HOUSTON, PURGATORY, was taken down by the sysop BRETT/
ILLUSION, and IN LIVING COLOR which was TRC HQ at the time,
was kicked off, and then it became ILLUSION HQ.
THE PULSE MAGAZINE caught up with GREGO/ILLUSION at his
home in HOUSTON/TEXAS, while his girlfriend SUSIEUZI/ILS
and Eddie/EPIC was visiting him.
TP = THE PULSE MAGAZINE
GR = GREGO/ILLUSION
THE BOARD REPORT - GENERAL EDITOR : CROSSFIRE/EPIC
TP: Hello GREG, please be so kind and enlighten us abit with
some facts about the wellknown trouble in ILLUSION lately,
mostly about your change of group on ILC. I understand,
that the shit hit the fen for real around the time when
SUSIEUZI and SERPENT joined up with ILLUSION?!
GR: Hello CROSSFIRE, and thanks for interviewing me for THE
PULSE, I have enjoyed reading some past issue's, and I
hope that I can contribute to the upcoming issue with
something interesting for the C64-scene....
In regards to IN LIVING COLOR changing from a TRC HQ to
an ILLUSION HQ, with no notice, that is quite simple. THE
RULING COMPANY was NOT kicked by all means, TRC was a
fantastic support-group, when they used my BBS..
..as their HQ. I have no complaints AT ALL, they uploaded
shitloads of warez, spread the number, and supported the
subs. I also made some cool friends in the group, and I
hope, that all TRC will continue to call IN LIVING COLOR.
I would not say, that "the shit hit the fan'" when SUSIE-
UZI and SERPENT joined ILS, it DID disturb one european
member, who left the group today. BRETT was voted into
ILLUSION 6 months ago, and he sysop'ed PURGATORY
until this last week. IN LIVING COLOR has always been a
backup, or sister BBS, to PURGATORY since it's inception
by BRETT, FREESTYLE and myself. BRETT nolonger has
time to run a BBS, so ILLUSION has relocated to ILC.
DERBYSHIRE RAM nominated SUSIEUZI for membership, and
she was voted in by the majority about one month ago. She
is responsible for public relations, and is a wares-runner.
She is very active on most of the top US- and EUROPEAN
boards, and she has been helpful with straightening out
some recent gossip about ILLUSION, just a small rumour,
but look for something from her soon, that's all i'm saying.
TP: Thank you! Most people in the scene calling out today
knows ILC. But for those poor bastards who STILL haven't
gotten around to calling it yet, please give us the back-
ground of the board, since you opened it and till these
days...
GR: Well, that's a long story KIM. IN LIVING COLOR went ON-
LINE September 29th, 1991 (Hey, happy birthday. ed!). It
has just had it's 2-years birthday. The original co-sysops
were the friendly C64-people who helped getting the BBS
started: CUDDLES, LONE STRANGER, MAD DOG, RELUC-
TANT DRAGON, WANGBAR, BILLY THE KID, AC-DC/COD-
ERS and BRETT/ILLUSION, all local friends.
The first group ever to use IN LIVING COLOR as their HQ
was PRESENCE, a german group, where EDDIE/PRESENCE
in HANNOVER/GERMANY was the only member with a modem.
A funny trivial note is that EDDIE, now member of EPIC, is
sitting beside me now, during his visit to HOUSTON. He was
also the first european EVER to call IN LIVING COLOR.
currently, there are about 45% EURO's, 25% TEXIANS,...
..25% other AMERICANS, and 5% callers from elsewhere.
I would say ILC has a nice cultural balance.
Another group that used ILC as HQ, was MOD, THE MINI-
STRY OF DARKNESS, a TORONTO-based group with PRIME
EVEAL as the main antagonist. Hehe, another sister-BBS
was HELL'S BELLS, sysoped by AC-DC, the founder of
the new H/P-group CODERZ that has reached # 1 in the
H/P scene thanks to LUCIFER and ONYX. AC/DC is my
cousin and lives across the street from me, and he had to
take his board down due to a HUGE phonebill, whoops!
Anyways, back to the subject, TRC was the most recent
group to HQ on ILC, before ILLUSION.
I'm very proud of my board and I could go on with it for-
ever..
The subs are extremely active, with over 25.000 puplic
messages posted since the board went online. I can not say
enough to thank the locals that helped to start the BBS.
IN LIVING COLOR started a small scale war for a time in
the HOUSTON 713-area when some jealous local sysops set
out to destroy my reputation, they are deleted and still
not allowed access here, but the locals who helped by
supporting the board in it's move to the top remain. If I
had to name one caller, it would be RELUCTANT DRAGON,
who is nearing his 900th call to the system. She is a friend
of mine, and her and her husband sysop another HOUSTON
BBS named THE IMPROBABILITY DRIVE INN, XXX-XXX-XXXX.
MAD DOG and RD are good people, meeting them alone has..
..made my modem-activity worth every minute.
IN LIVING COLOR is my 2nd BBS venture. The first BBS i
sysoped was in the mid' 80's in MODESTO/CALIFORNIA,
that was simply called THE BBS (How original! Heh! .ed).
IN LIVING COLOR is now one of the top-boards in the world.
Oh, yeah, how about the number? It's XXX-XXX-XXXX.
TP: Could you give any technical details, like the equipment
you use to run ILC with, etc.?
GR: Ok. One really funny thing though, is that ILC has tended
to be lightening prone. Since it has been online, the BBS
has been hit by lightning 3 (!) times! Luckily I have always
had enough spare-equipment, too keep it online.
Currently, there is 15 megs online. Not huge, but well over
enough to handle the current flow of C64-wares. ILC is
running on a 64C with a skyles ieee interface, an COM-
MODORE D9090 hard-drive (7.5 meg drive made in 1982!), a
CBM 8250, [2] Sfd 1001's, [3] 1581's, a 1541c, an Aprotek
rs 232, and an external IBM 2400 baud-modem, 1802 moni-
tor. The software is a UCBBS 1.3 mod, backdoor free,
modded by me, and backdoor freed by BRETT/ILLUSION
and NME/ILLUSION. The original program I used for 3
months was IVORY BBS, also modded to the maximum.
TP: Thank you for this nice chat we have had, and we in the
staff of THE PULSE MAGAZINE wish you all the best in the
future..
GR: Thank YOU very much for your time, CROSSFIRE. I am look-
ing forward very much to the next issue of PULSE. It has
been pleasant, and thank you for the publicity. Long live
the good ol' C64!
We rule!!!
GREGO/ILLUSION 9/26/93
HI MOM!
_____________________________________________
After having completed this interview, I just want to thank
GREGO for putting everything else aside, to make this inter-
view on such short notice.
A few words from the PRESIDENT,
________________________
This was the premiere of our new BOARD chapter, written by
CROSSFIRE of EPIC, who just signed on as our new journalist.
This chapter was originally given to ATTRACTION/PANDORA,
but due to the birth of REGINA, and some other complications,
it was given to CROSSFIRE, who was our first candidate..
CROSSFIRE joined our staff only one week before our official
release-date, so it was difficult for him to put together a
long and juicy chapter, holding all the events. However, as a
hard-working and loyal staff-member, he managed to put some-
thing together none the less. Be sure to keep yourself up to
date, with the most all-round BOARD REPORT in the scene..
As a follow up to the contents of this chapter, this would be
the perfect occasion, to announce that THE PULSE MAGAZINE
has taken on GATEWAY as it's official EUROPEAN HQ.
Be sure to call it any day of the week, 24 hours a day, and
give us your contributions. A special bulletin will guide you
your way when you call...
" GATEWAY " - EPIC and THE PULSE MAGAZINE EHQ
+XX - XX XX XX XX (sysop CROSSFIRE/EPIC)
Signed,
DUKE/REGINA
Crossfire
+ CROSSFIRE - THE AUTOPSY OF THE SCENE +
_____________________________________
Get lost, and welcome to another edition of the most contri-
versial chapter in the 64-scene.
As always we have alot of revealing stories. Especially notice
the massive abuse of "Meanwhile at the house..", which this
chapter is filled with. Yummi, yummi!
LEGEND was not very happy about getting the blame for this
chapter, so we have nominated PROPAGANDA instead (since
they obviously have great problems releasing the mag these
days). So send your complaints to NEWSCOPY, and remember
not to take the scene too serious, eventhough we do.. WIGGLE!
Everyone is in deep SHOCK
____________________
* SKATER/LEGEND quit the scene, eventhough he promised
he would start releasing SHOCK again. According to close
friends of SKATER, he was feeling down since the HUGE suc-
cess of THE PULSE MAGAZINE. Others say he commited sui-
cide, but there has still not been found any body. LAGERFELD
claimed he killed him, but others say LAGERFELD has not left
his house for months. Oh, who can you believe these days!?!
* SUN DANCER/REGINA is being sex-herrased by a 200 pound
elephant at school. It is actually not an elephant (No?), but
some type of female. SUN DANCER claims he will stop bathing
for some two months, maybe that will scare her away. OH BOY!!
* Meanwhile at the house of BOD/TALENT
"Oh jolly, where am I?"
* Meanwhile at the house of DISHY/VISION
"Oh, LAMERS gives me the creeps!"
* Meanwhile at the house of FREESTYLE/ex/ILLUSION
"Sigh, ILLUSION is not what it used to be, now that I am out"
* Meanwhile at the house of PROPAGANDA
"What does DUKE mean by "TILL THEN, THE PULSE IS WRIT-
TEN BY REAL MEN". Oh damn, just wait till we get enough
strenght to put together an issue. (Yeah right, I am looking
forward to the christmas issue!!!)
Episode # 0001 of SUPER-SKINHEAD
____________________________
It was a cloudy morning in BRAUNSCHWEIG/GERMANY. JOCHEN
had just inserted his breakfast, although he hated needles.
KNOCK KNOCK, the door opened. "Hello there SKINHEAD". It
was HARTMUT from next door, he was wearing a skirt like every
morning he came by. "So what is on the program for today",
JOCHEN asked. "Well, I suppose we could go down town and
visit PARSON in the SINGLE MEN OF THE 90's, maybe he can
borrow us some of his imaginative girls, he has got millions of
them!!!". "REALLY, wow, man, that's really great man!" JOCHEN
said out loud. So they went down town dressed in pink skirts,
in good faith, that this would be their lucky day! When they
arrived at the SINGLE MEN OF THE 90's, the door was locked.
THE END OF EPISODE # 0001. Join us next time, and these
questions may be answered...
-Does HARTMUT really wear a pink skirt, instead of a yellow?
-Does JOCHEN really wear a pink skirt, instead of a yellow?
-Can breakfast get inserted by the use of a needle?
-Does JOCHEN really live in BRAUNSCHWEIG?
-Did JOCHEN forget to shave? Did HARTMUT?
-Is this really worth reading? But ofcource!
* Meanwhile at the house of JERRY/TRIAD
"Oh damn, another grey hair!"
* Meanwhile at the house of DERBYSHIRE RAM/ILLUSION
"WOW, a hair!"
* Meanwhile at the house of SKINHEAD/ALPHA FLIGHT
"OH NO, a hair!"
* Meanwhile at the house of PARSON/HOOLIGANS
"What is a hair?"
* Meanwhile at the house of BOD/TALENT
"Oh jolly, where am I?"... Do I get the feeling of deja-vu?
* SUCCESS was caught at re-releasing a couple of games, one
of which was CLONE, which they already took the blame for. We
wired BURGLAR's phone two weeks ago, and came up with the
following shocking conversation...
BURGLAR: Heh. Now that we have aimed everyones attention
on CROSSFIRE re-releasing WOODY THE WORM, we can finally
release some of the games we have been fixing!!
MR.DISK: Yeah, I already fixed up CLONE, changed the name
and some of the inside of the game, so that it will be ready
for releasing..
BURGLAR: Great news. I will tell DEMONIX the game is ready!
We called up MR.DISK, to have a talk with him about the game,
and we came up with the following:
PULSE: Is it not true, that you deliberately aimed everyones
attention towards CROSSFIRE, so that you could release one
of the games, which you fixed up yourself?
MR.DISK: What nonsense. I got a disk from some unknown dude,
who claimed the game was a sequal to the old CLONE. We are
honest people, and so we believed him, although I always had
my suspicion. I just wanted to wait around, and see whether
the scene would notice it or not, before I said something. Ehrm
Anyway, I believe the scene is too hard on those re-releasing
games, BURGLAR agrees to this too..
* Once again ILLUSION is struggling with inside-problems. This
time FREESTYLE made a big mess, when he tried to vote all the
Americans out of the group. FREESTYLE claims "Well, I think
the Americans suck, because they claimed they were the ones
who carried the biggest burden during World War II. Everyone
knows that England won the war, but they kept on harassing me
about it, and I just couldn't take it anymore, so I left". The
other European members voted agains't the Americans aswell,
but when GREGO promised them free American stickers, they
turned agains't FREESTYLE, and voted for the Americans. So
now after all these years of European reign in ILLUSION, it
seems as if the Americans have finally taken over the leader-
ship of the group. SAURON told FREESTYLE "This is a lifetime
opportunity. If you were offered this, you would do the same!"
+ NATURES CORNER by POWERPLANT/LEGEND +
Hello, and welcome to NATURES CORNER. Today we will discuss
the difference between a LARCH and a HERRING!
PWP: RICHIE, you have had alot of experience on the LARCH
area for years. During your young days, you used to fish for
HERRINGS after sunday-school. What, in your opinion, is the
difference between these two phenomenons?
RICHIE: Well, I have no idea.
PWP: Thank you for coming. Join us next time for more revea-
ling stories, in NATURES CORNER. I am - the will of nature!
Meanwhile at the house of JUCKE/GENESIS PROJECT
"The new VISION is the work of SATAN!!"
Meanwhile at some board, SOLAR/F4CG is writing: (BUFFERED)
- Now you mention it, there must be something wrong with me.
I don't get respect. Boehoe.
* GREGO of ILLUSION has admitted to having no life. His huge
addiction to calling boards, has become quite a personal pain.
"Well, I call up to 40 US boards and 15 European boards every
day, and I have an account on 70 different boards world-wide".
GREGO's girlfriend SUSIEUZI is pretty upset about his massive
abuse of the telephone- "He has given up on having any kind
of sex with me, so I have considered taking on BOD's offer,
and use him for sex!". GRECO keeps on calling, right now he is
down to 2 hours of sleep each day, but GRECO seems to be of
the idea, that there is plenty of time for sleep when he gets
old. Right now, boards needs to be called.. RING, RING!!
Meanwhile at the house of THE LOVERBOY/ex.MANOWAR
"Well, you gotta love me!!"
* SPITFIRE has made it to the American boards once again. He
damned the 64 on a board, and explained how it had cursed his
life and his privacy. "I haven't touched that %"$' for 5 months
and then one day I turned it on, and HOK called me to give me a
calling-card. I swear, this machine is cursed!". SPITFIRE has
started visiting a therapist because of this! (PRESS FIRE)...
World of demos
+ WORLD OF DEMOS +
__________________
Aaaaaaaand welcome to the demo-section of THE PULSE MAG-
AZINE. Unfortunately this part was missing in the last edition,
but we won't go into details about that here. Anyway, it's here
now, with the brand new staff: SUN DANCER (taking care of all
the graphical stuff) and me, STEVE, in charge of the coding-
areas.
Hopefully you still remember me out there. In my past in X-FAC-
TOR and CAMELOT I used to code demos, I run the software-
company IMAGINATION DEVELOPMENTS, and ages ago I wrote
the demo-reviews for PROPAGANDA aswell. A year ago I deci-
ded to leave the C64, and half a year ago I bought a PC and I
am now on my way in the PC demo-scene.
But recently DUKE convinced me that the C64 was still alive,
so I decided to join REGINA and help out with these reviews..
As soon as all my equiptment is running again (my drive is at
some lamers place and my PC drive is fucked up aswell) I will
take up coding on the C64 and PC again.
Before reading my reviews, please notice that I am NOT proud
of them, and that they will be much better next month. This is
because these were made under tremendeous stress (in school)
without a disk-drive. (Here I would like to thank NEPTUNE of
CAMELOT for letting me see the demos on his C64). Also I wish
to include other, more interesting articles in this chapter.
And SUN DANCER explains. I am totally unknown. I have never
been a member of any notable group, and the reason for me
being a member of REGINA, is that I actually like doing graph-
ics. I review the demos like I want to, I do not lick ass, I
tell my honest opinion about the demos I review. Later on I
will explain about my review system, but you can always look
upon the ratings, and maybe learn a thing or two!
As mentioned, I make graphics in REGINA. Furthermore I am a
member of the PC-group DISTORTION, together with STEVE.
Look out for productions from us, C64 and PC, with the
standard nowadays they will be worth waiting for..
A.O.S 2 by BEYOND FORCE
____________________
STEVE, about the coding:
Now here's a surprise.. Or perhaps more like a shock! When I
realized that I was about to check out a new BF demo, I was
real anxious to get started. BF has done some of the best
demos throughout the history of the C64, and people like
SOLOMON and SAM are among my personal favorites. Naturally
I expected something remarkable. But, but, but.
GREMLIN (who coded the demo) has plenty of interesting ideas,
unfortunately he totally failed in the programming.
The first part is a small precalculated animation of a chess-
board rotating around the Y axis. No code.
Next part is GREMLIN's version of interference-circles. But
again: precalculated animations. It doesn't even move in the X-
axis, which makes it look even worse.. Totally bogus part.
Now for the worst part I have seen in ages : 2 mega(?) bobs(?).
One made in the text-screen and the other is extended spri-
tes. They even move.. WOW (NOT!)
Last part is luckily somewhat better than everything else in
this demo. It's a transforming 3d-starbackground. Hard to
descrive, but it's transforming star-squares and -circles give
an excellent visual effect.
Value: 60% (Coding)
SUN DANCER, about the graphics:
Disappointing! I mean, this is BEYOND FORCE. (Another great
C64 group bites the dust?). Nice letterform in the intro logo,
the filling is just too simple..
Value : 10 (Graphics)
CROCODILE TEARS by CHERUBS
________________________
STEVE, about the coding:
Now the first in a whole series of IRQ-loader demos. The loader
has a note-writer implemented, which I really like, as it is
informative and leaves a lot of rastertime for the loader (=You
don't have to wait until the C64 is dead before the loading is
finnished!!!)
The demo isn't much of a kick though. A totally lame plotter
where the X/Y add-value changes each frame (looks messy), a
precalculated globe-plotter, and finally a sinus-mixer-plotter
(Whatever that is). The mixer-plotter looks ok. It's nothing
special, but atleast the sinuses look cool.
Value : 30% (Coding)
SUN DANCER, about the graphics:
Nothing special about this demo. I guess this is supposed to be
the new standard of the C64 (Yawn!). The graphic artists of
this demo, tried to find their own style. The only thing that
did happen, was a result screwed up. Bad Karma, eh?
Value : 30% (Graphics) - Come again, CHERUBS!
MILESTONE by DAMAGE
__________________
STEVE, about the coding:
Not too much worth mentioning about this one. After the intro
(I hope it was the intro!), 2 mega-dycp's appear with 2 (sprite
-) dxcp's over them. I am sure this could shock some people
(wowsers, 2 dxcps on 2 dycps).. But the coding is real simple,
so I won't give much for that.
Then some graphics-parts, and then an upscroller with some
lame sprites behind it. Whatever. The next 2 parts fortunately
raise the quality a bit. They are an FLI-VSP (with wave-
changing logos), and FLI-shadebobs. I must admit that I am
tired of fli-whatever all the time, but an FLI-VSP needs a lot
of timing, so that's an OK part. Final part is a Y-plotter.
Value: 40% (Coding)
SUN DANCER, about the graphics:
This demo is usual for the Eastern Europe. Nothing much, and
nothing to write about.
But the pictures that we have to see, are very "unpretty".
With some training, the artists in this group could end up
being quite good. But they have to work for it, and they should
probably stop making pictures!
Value: 20% (Graphics)
THE TRUTH by TWILIGHT
___________________
STEVE, about the coding:
No way I am going to review this one - It's an intro and music
collection, and it would be unfair towards the coders to review
this the same way as the others.. So on we go to the next one..
SUN DANCER, about the graphics:
Does the standard "BIRD-graphics" ring a bell? This demo is
very notable for it's stunning graphics (You'll die laughing!).
Eventhough this is a very ugly demo, I would like to state that
I actually have seen uglier graphics (Way back in 1986, when
my 7 year old little-sister tried to make a painting of herself
in Koala Paint!). In the demo there is also a ROBOCOP picture,
which the TWILIGHT guys ripped from the game of the same
name. Perhaps a 1K-ZX81 SPECTRUM could perform something
worse, but I honestly doubt it. Avoid this demo!
Value: 6% (Graphics)
INNOCENT by EXILE
_______________
STEVE, about the coding:
Now for a totally boring demo. All you get is some dot-letter-
zoomer behind a scroller in the sideborders, a dyzcp (Hooray-
A dycp with like 4 animations per char! WILD!), and finally an
FLD-sideborderscroll. I am stunned.
Value: 20% (Coding)
SUN DANCER, about the graphics:
Mirror, mirror on the wall. Which is ugliest of them all?
- I could puke. More "BIRD-graphics"...
According to EXILE, this is a "really cool" and "kewl" produc-
tion. The only real cool thing about it, is that you can format
the disk it's located on. There is one good picture in the
demo, made by LOTHLORIEN. The rest is lower than low. DO NOT
watch this demo, it's a complete waste of time.
Value: 0.01% (Graphics)
ALBION by FATUM
______________
STEVE, about the coding:
The first part looks real neat. The coder named it FLI tech-
tech plasma (which is what it is..). No special code, but still
looks neat. The other part worth mentioning (?) is a glenz-
vector part. I know that we don't have all the rastertime in
the world on this little machine, but still.. The objects were
so small I had to find my glasses to make out anything of them.
(Though I was shocked when I saw the NAZI-symbol, right up
until I saw the little guy in the corner throwing it away.)
Anyway, huge or big, it's still glenz and looks ok. Everything
else goes down the drain. (Unlimited bobs - seen before?!),
zoomed bobs (ZOOMED?! Can you say slow and animated?!) and
finally a bugged bitmapupscroller.
Value : 45% (Coding)
SUN DANCER, about the graphics:
This is another demo from Eastern Europe, and that tells us
something about the quality. Those people just don't have the
same standards, as us old-timers have.
Most remarkable about this demo, is that the signature usually
is alot prettier than the logo itself. Also notable was the
"recycling-man" throwing away a NAZI-symbol. Cute but simple.
Eventually there did come some pretty graphics, done by
FAZEE. His pictures and FLI-logos were above the standard,
the rest of the demo shows us. The end part was worth waiting
for.
Value: 40% (Graphics)
PROMISED LAND by LETHARGY
_______________________
STEVE, about the coding:
This demo has an omega-supreme-like part (fill the screen with
effects until there is absolutely NO empty pixels left), an
animated glenz-vector object, a paralax-fli effect and a new
version of the chessboard zoomer.
The ideas of this demo are not exactly incredible, but they are
atleast better than most other things I have put my eyes on
this month. A bit more effort from the coder(s), and the demo
would be real neat. Notice: the loaderparts has GREAT music!
Check it out!
Value: 55% (Coding)
SUN DANCER, about the graphics:
Here we see a graphic artist named MERCURY, competing for
the world championship in the "who can make most, most iden-
tical logos" contest. He wins!
The look-a-like contest of the decade ends up getting VERY
boring to watch, perhaps MERCURY should try to find some new
inspiration for his artistic creations?
Value: 30% (Graphics)
THAT DEMO.. by PARADIZE
____________________
STEVE, about the coding:
This is only a small preview of two parts.. But still better
than some of the other 20-part demos in this review.
The intro is a hand-writing-effect (looks like if the letters
were drawn by hand onto the screen) and the part itself is
called RGB-plasma. I wouldn't say that I think this looks good,
but the coding is ok. New colours would do miracles.
Value: 50% (Coding)
SUN DANCER, about the graphics:
Not much graphics to review in this demo, but I guess that only
makes it easier to review. Actually there is only one logo, and
2 fonts (!) in this demo.
The logo however is really good, I like it. Nice work, SILCO.
This proves that PARADIZE still is capable of releasing good
productions. (In graphics, anyway)
Value: 55% (Graphics)
TECHNOPHOBIA by THE SHARKS
________________________
STEVE, about the coding:
Before we get on with it, let me just say that TECHNOPHOBIA
actually is a Danish techno-sampler (not the ones you use to
sample music with, but an LP collection of tunes from different
groups) sampled by TBM1. It's great, go buy it!
I wish I could say the same about this demo - but no. The thing
that destroys this demo is all the loading! First an IRQ-loader
loads another IRQ-loader, which then loads the part itself (!).
And let me just take this opportunity to give some advice to
those who make IRQ-loader parts: The princip of IRQ loading is
that the loading is done when the stuff on the screen does not
use rastertime. This is why you do NOT make a fractal-calcula-
ter while loading - The fractal calculater takes up loads of
rastertime, leaving no time for loading (=lame!). And no, I do
NOT agree with SUN DANCER on the FLI thing..
After waiting (and waiting) 2 morphing SHARKS-logos pop up,
animated. The screen updating is totally wierd?!
More IRQ-loading, and then the techno-part appears. It's only
a sample though, with nothing moving on the screen (And I'd
like something more hardcore next time, if you don't mind-heh!)
Loading, loading - And then IRQ loading again!!!!
The last two parts are silly. One is strange RVS-ON square
colour-effect (!) and the other is an RVS-ON square-scroll on
top of another (char)scroll. More advice: The blockscroller
should have been made in sprites instead of using paralax-
techniques. This way the scroller wouldn't have been bugged!!!
Value: 50% (Coding)
SUN DANCER, about the graphics:
The graphics in this demo are very simple, but quite stylish.
The simplicity doesn't really destroy anything. It was easy to
see that some of the graphics were inspired by the (L)amiga.
The charset they ripped, won't get rating. (Make your own,
guys!). THE SHARKS used Mandelbrot fractals as loader pic-
tures, these should atleast have been calculated into FLI-
mode!
Value: 25% (Graphics)
MINDCONTROL by TRIAD
___________________
STEVE, about the coding:
This is probably the best demo reviewed this month.
All the effects are pretty cool.. There's an interlace side-
borderscroll (with a huge font), an upscroller with a rotating
font (vectordots), and a weird version of the well-known circle
bob scroller (the letters are rotating and stuff inside the
circle. Impossible to read, but I don't care as it looks fine).
Unfortunately the disk with this demo was bugged, so I was not
able to load part 3. I will just pretend it has the same stan-
dard as the others.
Value: 75% (Coding)
SUN DANCER, about the graphics:
The usual mixture of wierd design and graphics, as we always
see in a JFK demo.
This demo is hard to review by it's graphics, it should be
reviewed by it's design. Most remarkable is a picture done by
M/TRIAD. Not alot of colours, it's just stylish as hell. This
demo shows that TRIAD's place in the charts is well earned.
Value: 70% (Graphics)
CREATION by UTOPIA
________________
STEVE, about the coding:
Ehrm.. Well, this is not much of a joyride either. The intro
has a scroll (!), part one is cheat-plasma (looks alright
though, so thumbs up for that one), part 3 is some lame wait-2-
years-for-the-logo-to-popup effect, and finally a 1 by 2
chars upscroller.
Interesting! As I said, the cheat-plasma is ok. It is animated
chars moved in circles around the screen, but gives an ok
effect.
Value: 50% (Coding)
SUN DANCER, about the graphics:
This is UTOPIA's first demo, which can be seen in the graphical
standards. Atleast they do not brag about how cool the demo
is, as most others do these days. Keep trying guys...
Value: 5% (Graphics)
_____________________________________________
After discussing back and forth, we (STEVE and SUN DANCER)
have decided NOT to give a design rating. Different people
suggested adding the 2 ratings, and dividing them with two =
Design rating. No way. Instead there is a mixture of both
design and the work area.
STEVE and SUN DANCER of THE PULSE MAGAZINE...
Profile
+ PROFILE - THE ONE'ON'ONE +
___________________________
Welcome to another edition of PROFILE. Last month we had a
very instructive talk with JERRY of TRIAD, with whom we had
alot of fun (like always)..
This month we caught up with one of the most contriversial
persons in the history of the 64-scene. Our guest has tried
the taste of sweet success, but he has also had to flee
because of the mistakes he may have done in the past. None
the less, he remains one of the few individuals, who seems to
have a true talent for building groups bound for success..
One of his fellow group-members, descrives him as a hard work-
ing cracker, with his priorities in order. We proudly present
to you, the october PROFILE, CROSSFIRE of EPIC!
[D] = DUKE/THE PULSE MAGAZINE
[C] = CROSSFIRE/EPIC
[D] Welcome KIM. Now that I have launched the traditional
introduction speech, we can begin with the interview. The
majority of the scene probably never really heard about you,
till you showed up in the charts nation-wide. Please tell us
something about yourself!
[C] Thank you ALEX. Well, what I did in the past probably
stands unclear in the minds of most people in the scene today,
as they were not even around back then, so all they known is
what they have heard. But OK, a very personals, though it is
not incredibly interesting: Name is KIM, age is 20, height is
1.80. Like I said, not very exiting. I have a tendency to do
whatever needed/un-needed to achieve the things I want, and
if I tell you that my main-aim in the EXORY-days, was to enter
the charts, I think that probably explains a little. Ironically
enough, now that I have been in the charts constantly over
the last 2 years or so, it is not all that exciting anymore. I
guess everything always falls back into place by itself.
[D] Some people cannot live without fame, some people die with
it. You are probablu one of the people with the longest list
of past handles and groups. Is it easy for you to build new
groups, change handle and start all over?
[C] See, there was the question I was so hoping would come up.
Actually, it was no problem at all, since I only tried to run
away. Call it chicken out loud if you want, ONCE! That was when
I re-entered the scene. All my handle- and group changes in
the past is a totally different story. You see, I had a long
period of my scene-life, where I changed handles, and some-
times also groups along with it, because I had a hard time
falling in there. Not that I am antisocial or anything, I just
found it difficult.
[D] You were first really known in the scene as EXORY of UNI-
CESS. At that time you made alot of enemies. What did happen,
that made you so unpopular, that a federation agains't you
was formed?
[C] Ahem, actually I was in both the demo-group NOISE, and
later DOMINATORS when NOISE splitted up in 1989, and most of
the other members (TIGER, MADUPLEC..) then joined NATO, so
I was a well-known scene character already a long time BEFORE
the EXORY-scandal in 1990. What happened? As said earlier, I
was so incredibly hooked on the idea of entering the cracker-
charts, so at first I cracked all the originals I got, but it
fastly added up to being not QUITE enough. Then one day I
recieved a package with a Spanish basketball-game. Don't even
consider asking me why, but before I knew it, the intro of the
group that originally cracked the game (can't remember who!)
was removed, and my own was added. Later it was send off to
the other members. That was the only time I ever did such a
thing. Mags blew it up, wanted to create sensation, to being
well over 100 games or even more. Suddenly, I was also guilty
of alot of other charges, for which I was completely innocent.
Two of the other dudes in HOLOCAUST, SLIDE and CHRIS, did
also get accused for re-cracking, which I frankly don't think
they did. Also DENSE (now in RSI) was also hammered down in
the puplic, eventhough he didn't even participate in these
troubles. It became too much for me, so I quitted the scene in
late 1990, only to return a year later under the handle of
CROSSFIRE, together with a good friend, who quit around new
years time 92/93. So now CROSSFIRE is only one person, and
that is me.
[D] Well, I guess we have heard more than enough about the
past. Today you are the main-reason for the success EPIC has
had. You have managed to put out alot of games, but you also
released alot of bad games, which in many peoples opinion
should have been released under a lamer-label. Why did you not
release these games under a lamer-label?
[C] The scene is way too demanding these days. When it comes
to judging quality of a production, a thing that does not at
all fit together, with the weak flow of games on the market for
the C64 these days. I have always believed, that should I
release a ware under a budget-label, it should look so much
like a basic game, that it would even fool the most skilled
coder to believe it is, though it may very well be in MC. You
know the kind, 10 blocks long, noise instead of music, charac-
ter graphics, etc. I guess I am simply not half as demanding as
most of the groups around these days.
[D] So I guess you have decided to ignore the complaints from
your rivals then. Today you are running a board by the name of
GATEWAY. What made you put up this board, and how has the
board been doing up to now?
[C] Pretty good. By the time this gets in the mag, it has been
up for around 4 months, and have so far recieved over 1000
calls, which is pretty good for a European board. Right now It
has around 50 users. I had a big crash, where over 80 uses
were deleted, by accident ofcource. Already 50 dudes have
called back after the crash, which was about 5 weeks ago. I
sure learned alot by this incident, so I have taken all purcau-
sions to keep it from happenings again. People from all over
the globe is calling, but the most active of them is from Den-
mark, Germany and the states. There is alot of well-known
faces, so I am pretty satisfied. The very latest wares is
always to be found there, and the action goes pretty highly on
topics, some ofcource more interesting than others. It was put
up to begin with due to curiousity, and for members only. It
was not even supposed to stay online, nor go puplic, but after
a week of running this board as a private one, I decided to
declare it open for the puplic. So we re-constructured it
about 80%. It runs on a self-modded version of C-BASE, which
I have got nothing but good remarks from doing, and then we
declared it open for the puplic and spreaded the number. There
is ofcource up's and down's running it, like when I had the
huge crash 5 weeks back. But all in all, it feels pretty good
once it was fixed and put back up!
[D] I guess we can expect it to become the most popular board
in Scandinavia now that it is also THE PULSE MAGAZINE EHQ,
heh. You are one of the very few people calling out from Den-
mark (or Scandinavia for that matter) these days. What do you
think the reason may be, for this sudden lack of Scandinavian
phreakers?
[C] Blueboxing from Denmark has not been a reality for quite
some time now (actually it is long before I even got my modem),
and cards is quite a bitch to get, unless you choose to either
hack them yourself, or buy them from somebody. We hack them,
the few of us cannot bluebox (...sniff!!), ourselves, so we
have got all the cards we need, so calling out is not a problem
for me anymore. Our German members can still blue-box, so
there is no problems for them either, that problem is covered
now. Not many danes are calling out at all these days. I have
spotted FLETCH/LEGEND once on THE SHAOLIN TEMPLE a
few weeks ago, and besides that I have never seen him there
before. MICK and TRICKET from VISUAL REALITY is also
calling out occasionally, more often than FLETCH though, but
it is far from regulary for them too, in this case it is becau-
se they have got alot of other things to do, which leaves them
with less time to phreak. Then there is two other EPIC members
from Denmark, who has started calling out once in a while now,
LOYALTY and DOOM. They also have all the cards they need,
but I fear that they are missing the lust to call, as they are
not too often to spot on the boards either.
[D] Cards is especially a problem from demo-groups, as it is
generally the cracking groups that trades games for cards,
unless you have a hacker for yourself ofcource, but they are
very rare these days. Let us return to the introduction part
of this interview. Do you agree with what was said?
[C] Hah, tough question. Well, I am really not in the habit of
judging myself, other people does that enough to make me
avoid it, so I would rather just jump to the next question.
No really, I appreciate what has been said by one of my fellow-
group-members, though I have NO idea at all who could possibly
have said it (I will pay you later, hah). But somehow it makes
me feel all warm inside (Erhm....!.)
[D] It was TG-ACME that I had spoken to prior to this inter-
view. Anyway, EPIC is primarily a cracking group as far as I
know. Do you have any ambitions moving towards other areas,
such as the demo-scene maybe?
[C] Hmm, when we were formed about a year ago by now (happy
birthday to us, I guess!), we were both a cracking- and demo-
group. But our demo-coders left us, and either quitted the
scene or joined another "demo's only" group. However, we
have got some new and quite talented coders, so a demo might
be on it's way after all. Let us wait and see, shall we?
[D] I guess we have no choice?! Who IF ANY, inspired you the
most through your C64-career and why?
[C] Oh shit. That is a good question, another one of them. I
don't know. I myself entered the scene back in 1986, when some
true biggies were groups like FAIRLIGHT, TRIAD (both still
around, YO), ACE, TSK-CREW, RAZOR EXPRESS, FUSION,
TRIANGLE, etc. I guess you can pretty much say, I was there
when the shit hit the fen (ed.WHAT?!). However, any role-
models - Hmm.. No, I can't think of any really. I entered the
scene because a couple of old friends of mine who left the
scene years ago, incouraged me to do so. Back then I used to
visit JTC/RAZOR EXPRESS and SENSEI (later in CONTEX) to
get the latest games. Then I began swapping and then it all
came to me one thing after another.
[D] Your main-job in EPIC, apart from being the group-leader,
is obviously doing most of the cracking. In your opinion, do
you think the C64 is going down hill fast, or is it simply a
mild progress, which could take years?
[C] Hmm. I consider the scene dead as it is now. Some people,
I amongst them, just keep clinging on to it in the hope of
letting it stay alive for just another year or maybe just a bit
more. All these wares in the scene doesn't really fit into this
or helps it in any way, but some people are too dumb to realize
that, I won't mention names, but people mentioned is aware of
the fact that I refer to them, and if not, they are too dumb
to try and reach anyway. Despide the fact, that the C64 is
still the most sold machine on the market, fewer and fewer
titles gets released, I hope that will change. How many English
games has been released this year so far? Not more than it can
be counted on two hands, that's for sure.
[D] Personally I like the scene the way it is right now. I pre-
fer the scene to be small, but not too small. Right now there
is just the right number of groups, which enables everyone of
us to know who is around, which I think is good. On the Amiga,
most of the people have no idea how big the scene is, that is
in my opinion, pretty lame. The one product which is being
produced the most these days, is without any doubts the mags.
What do you think the perfect C64 MAGAZINE should be like?
[C] I read THE PULSE MAGAZINE, PROPAGANDA and SHOCK
myself (ed. Although SHOCK was just reported dead), so I
guess a big milkshake with a little of each in it, would make
the perfect mag. It is my opinion, ofcource it will vary alot
from dude to dude. Then again, the result might be totally use-
less, but you never know till you have tried.
[D] Sure, that sounds just as stupid (pardon me) as if you
asked me to put together a dog, cat and a mouse to make the
perfect house-pet. I for one prefer a mag that can keep me
updated EVERY month, with everything from the demo to the
cracking scene. Also a magazine that is released ON time, and
that leaves out basically 99% of the mags in the scene today,
except for THE PULSE MAGAZINE. Anyway, what are your
future ambitions with EPIC, and do you plan to stick with the
C64 to the very end?
[C] Oh well. I will be around till the very end, you can be
sure of that, only due to my curiousity.
[D] Good answer, identical to mine. We are moving towards the
end of this one'on'one. Do you have anyone in particulary you
wish to say hello to?
[C] The best friends the scene can provide: All in EPIC, LEXI/
FAIRLIGHT, TRICKET and MICK/VISUAL REALITY, LUCIFER/
CODERZ, GREGO and SUSIEUZI/ILLUSION, BIRD, SWANSONG/
DEMONIX and ofcource several other guys.
[D] Last question before we go. If you discover that a group
has re-cracked one of your releases. What would you do?
[C] Hah. Nothing man! Nothing at all. Silly question, since I
would feel bad spreading those news, since I used (remark:
USED!) to do it myself.
[D] Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.
Good luck with EPIC and GATEWAY in the future..
[C] Thanks, and better believe it was my pleasure. I would like
to say this to my fellow sceners. "Don't mess up, because when
discovered, the scene might even tell you that they forgive
you, but they never do. No matter how much you try to make it
up to them - they NEVER do!". See you ALEX.
And with these last words from CROSSFIRE, another edition
of PROFILE has been put into history. This interview was made
on the 20th of September, and CROSSFIRE joined our staff
about 2 days later. Just to let you know!
Next month we will have another famous profile in for a talk
about his career, and his views. TILL THEN, THE PULSE IS
WRITTEN BY REAL MEN!
Special assignment
+ SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT - THE PULSE MAGAZINE +
______________________________________
WELCOME to the october edition of SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT. We
have a great show for you this month. We invited one of the
world famous crackers, to tell us his opinion on todays crack-
ing scene. So it goes without saying, our topic for october,
will be THE CRACKING SCENE as it looks today...
Not only have we got a long and interesting article from our
guest BACCHUS/FAIRLIGHT, we also got another letter from
BACCHUS, explaining the current situation of FAIRLIGHT, as
a follow up to last months topic- GROUP MEMBERS. He wrote a
long article about the history of FAIRLIGHT, which should be
interesting to read. All in all, another brilliant month with
heaps of text to read, only in THE PULSE MAGAZINE.
The following pages was written, as said before, by BACCHUS
of FAIRLIGHT. On behalf of THE PULSE MAGAZINE, I would like
to thank him, and all the others, who took their time to give
us contributions or merely moral support.
We are ready to take on your opinions. Send a letter or disk
to THE PULSE MAGAZINE, at the address displayed in our
introduction chapter. Be sure to use enough stamps, and also
make sure that your letter will reach us before the 28th of
october. Otherwise your contributions/letters would be of no
use to us. That's all from the editor. Now we go to STOCKHOLM
to hear what BACCHUS of FAIRLIGHT has to say... /DUKE!
+ READERS OPINIONS - BY BACCHUS/FAIRLIGHT +
______________________________________
HOWDY HACKERS!
After reading the latest edition of THE PULSE MAGAZINE, I
must react a bit on the SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT section. I
thought it would be great fun to share the concepts behind
our group. FAIRLIGHT has now grown into being a rather large
group and yet we are not visible on the U.S. boards. Why?
Well, first some basic stuff! FAIRLIGHT was built back in the
days when most of you out there were wearing dypers, by
STRIDER, GOLLUM, HOBBIT and WOODOO. After a few months
STRIDER brought in enforcement from the guys that built
ONEWAY a week earlier. This pissed GOLLUM off, but we are
now what's the core of FAIRLIGHT. Since I took over in spring
1989 I have built the group according to my views and values. A
lot of groups rose and fell during this time, but FAIRLIGHT is
still standing. I do not say we are the ultimate # 1 overall
group, but we have built respect to the name FAIRLIGHT on the
scene, and I guess a vast majority know who we are, and like
our work. In this way I say we succeeded to the full.
After this patting on the chest, I'll share the concept that
made this possible. It is my view that all members must have a
function that they are good at, and must feel that they can
contribute to the group in any way. This is not enough! The
MAIN point is that all members are friends. We have no internal
wars or members disliking each other. All members must be able
to communicate without consulting me first. We try to meet on a
regular basis. This is rather hard if the group is scattered
over the world, so therefore we prefer Swedes so that keeping
contact at a reasonable cost is possible. Mind also that I am
a lawstudent and have not called one single call on card or
anything like that. This prevents me from taking in foreign
members that only will have a function, and who will not feel
as part of the team, as I cannot afford calling them. Ok, I
admit that this has happened a few times, but the arrangement
have never been good (Take MENDRAKE as the most recent
example). The only real exception is AYATOLLAH and this is
only possible as he is so devoted to the group!
The principle I use when getting new members, is getting a
whole bunch of them in at the same time. If we got our eyes on
a talented person that we could have good use for, then we
bring him in and the friends he currently work with. Then we
have them on trial for some time when we learn to known them.
After this time it's time to sort out the ones not qualified
enough. By this time, the one we were after has either rooted
in the group and found new friends to work with (so that he
will not miss the ones dropped) as he now have new FAIRLIGHT
friends. Perhaps he will drop out himself as he didn't manage
to harmon with the group. And perhaps we find that we under-
estimated some of the guys we brought in.
Leading a group is not at all easy, and there are lots of dif-
ferent types of leaders. There are the whiplash leaders that
push the members for whom the members are mere slaves used
for the fame of the group. I'm more of a democratic type of
leader. It's important for me that the members feel comfortable
in the group, and no whipping will do this. I therefore try to
set a good example by keeping out of laziness myself, releas-
ing high quality cracks and membersendings on a regular basis.
I discuss things with TRON and GRAYHAWK, but then the deci-
sions are mine even if they might be hard to execute by kicking
a good pal. In FAIRLIGHT we have something called "HALL OF
FAME". This is a memberlist for the ones who have contributed
to the glory of FAIRLIGHT, but who now have retired. No ordi-
nary members will enter this section without special talents,
years of devoted work and world-wide reputation.
Also; all persons you have good use for do not have to be in
the group. In our case we often use music by KRISTIAN ROST-
OEN/SHAPE and graphics by CREEPER/ANTIC. This is ok, and
nothing much would change if they were members!
Current standings:
BACCHUS:
Leading groupmember. Cracker and utility coder. Swapping with
a few good friends to ensure to get the best tools, friendship
can buy!
TRON:
Our "WIZ" coder. MICKE is the second most important person
in the group. He's a major asset as he is active himself, with-
out me being forced to challenge him.
We have three boards at the moment, and the sysops are
SLEDGE, LEXI and SPIROU. SPIROU is also intended as a multi-
functional member, as he can also code and crack if required.
On the codes section we have a huge bunch of members. TRON
is the prime one as said, followed by the two other democoders
OXIDY and now also HCL. The other ones are HARLEKIN (who
also edit and release the membermag I wrote), DINO, ROWDY,
WATCHMAN (who also cracks when given the opportunity).
Our swappers are all mailswappers, which is an apparent draw-
back and the main reason for not bothering about the states
much. They are GERWIN, GRAYHAWK and ENDURO. AARON used
to be our main supplier and swapper, but since he moved to
BELGIUM, we haven't seen much.
AYATOLLAH is in the group to crack games he fixes himself.
Our graphicians are OGAMI and VODKA, and RED DEVIL and
BAPPALANDER produces the internal music.
This leaves only BLACK PRIEST, who is the editor of our mag
"REFORMATION". The outfit TRON made for the mag is swell,
but it's no secret that we are not too pleased with GERALD's
work so far.
As an extra feature we have ALCHEMIST in. He is the old main-
cracker and is producing C64 tools on the AMIGA. ADRIAN is
the true C64 enthusiast and made the '93 version of our legen-
dary intro. Even if he's 95% on the AMIGA, it's for the C64
section he does his work!
That was 22 members. Some of them are doing their military
service and this is a major pain in the ass, as it steal so
much power losing ENDURO, ROWDY and SPIROU. All the others
are more or less active even if their work might not be obvious
to those not members, as the tools they produce stay within
the group! Not mentioned is that BAPPALANDER and SPIROU
are the brains and muscles behind "THE COMPUTER CROSS-
ROADS", the worlds second biggest party arrangement!
As you can see, we lack a steady supplier and a modem courier.
As we don't have any fast originals we can live without the
courier, and just lend the service from someone we know if
needed! But we sure as hell would like to get a new supplier.
If you are the one, then just pass me a letter.
BACCHUS/FAIRLIGHT
_____________________________________________
A short message from the editor, DUKE!
As said in the introduction phase of SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT,
we have two articles this month written by BACCHUS. The one
you just read, where directed towards last months topic, which
was GROUP MEMBERS. The next article was also written by the
very same person, but that one is about the cracking scene....
Howdy Hackers!
___________
I was asked to give my point of view on the scene today, and
the result is what follows:
First: The term "CRACKER" is getting more and more blurred.
The original meaning is "a person who deprotects a game,
thereby enabling the spread of it" (quote from the BACCHUS'
well of wisdom). Most of todays "ORIGINALS" have been no
where near a protection of any kind. They are swapped and can
be distinguished from cracked games, only by the simple fact
that they don't feature any group intro. The only "protecton"
is the fact that they are crunched, and must be decrunched
before you can put the intro on. If this is cracking, then we
all protect our cracks by crunching them and they are no more
cracked than when we got them. They just have a new protec-
tion.
This was all said to show the absurd in calling a person a
cracker when he puts an intro on a "wapporiginal". In this case
you shall produce a short version with all the necessary
trainers.
In the FAIRLIGHT versions you can see that we often put in
some other word in stead of "cracked" like "mended", "humi-
liated" or anything else to show that we produced a version,
but didn't consider the work worth of the description "crack-
ed".
Secondly: The most talked about mag of the scene is, without
any doubt, TRIAD's "GAMER'S GUIDE". It has been ragged on
as it lists the available version by lenght. Let me point out
my view in the "quality vs. speed" debate.
First of all I don't equal QUALITY with a SHORT version. I
think one must consider what qualities of a crack one would
like to have to define the term "quality". The first and ABSO-
LUTE demand is that the game is fully working and after this:
Lenght - This is good to save disk-space and time over modem.
Trainers - They are good to play through the game, and for
this purpose yoy need a few of them. Excessive training is so
utterly stupid, as they are supposed to be trainers and not
some kind of "game preference editor" (i.e. I have no need to
change colours of the mainsprite etc.).
Speed - Of cource you want the game as fast as possible.
So, if you pick up a game a few months after the release. Do
you bother which version you got first? Of cource not. If you
want to keep a version to play some time you want a reliable
one, you might want a speedloader if you don't have a hard-
ware based one already, you want the trainers to pass the
harder parts (or at least to see how the game looks in later
stages and levels) but you couldn't care less which version
you got first.
On the other hand, Americans only fix ONE version, and this is
the first one, even if there turns up far better ones later on.
For this reason Americans tend to like the fast ones..
Much of the ragging on speedcrackers is mainly envy on the
suppliers of the fast group. By cracking games as first, it is
likely to be widely spread. What I can't understand is; why
this crawling for the Americans? If they have a defect video-
system forcing games to be fixed to make them run, it's nothing
for us europeans to bother about, is it? I can't see the rush
to get it fixed, as this is only a way to get fame in the USA.
Why fame in the states? It's in Europe you find all the good
crackers and coders, and the respect from them is more dear
to me than the respect of some modemtrading American. To me
it is not a war between "quality and speed" but a war between
"craftsmanship and American junklifestyle".
So, on the cracker chart, we find quite a few "crackers" who
never did a multiload, nor a program with protection on, and
yet they are voted for. I guess one could blame incompetence
of the voters. I don't complain, as I know they don't know any
better. For this reason I truly like GAMER'S GUIDE, as it is
the most objective way my work can be judged on. If I produce
a 100% version with all the necessary trainers, IFFL'ed levels,
speedloader that is a few blocks shorter than all others, then
I know I did a good job, even if quite a few voters are too
stupid (or whatever) to understand this..
And now to something completely different:
The trend that is clearly visible is that the major groups get
fewer and fewer. The elite is so much smaller than it used to
be. The gap between the lamers and the elite is huge. The elite
are the ones who decided not to go to the Amiga scene, even if
they have the potential. But the lamers are the ones who would
be stinking lame on the Amiga too! All the wanna-bes who used
to challenge the elite are now mainly on the Amiga, leaving a
gap where the mid-divisions used to be. The only hopes of fil-
ling this gap is the growing eastblockscene. POLISH, EAST-
GERMAN, CZECK and even RUSSIAN groups will be the ones to
fill this gape, if it ever is to be filled again.
As I am a lame leecher on the Amiga, I can clearly see that the
Amiga also faces a decline. PC and consols are the future
markets. Quite a few have established on either PC, SUPER
NINTENDO or SEGA, and more are to come. The BBS's and
scenes for these machines are constantly growing. The best
choice for a skilled C64 coder is a SNES as the processor in
it is a 65816, which is an integrated 8 and 16-bit processor
fully compatible with the 6502 and 6510. The only difference is
a wider statusregister, opcodes on all 256 available bytes
(covering f.ex. a new Z-register) and available 16 bit mode.
I will soon buy one myself. The trouble is that you also need
an Amiga or a PC to do the actual coding on, and then port the
result to the SNES. The SNES scene is very likely to be an
"all elite" scene, as you need not only the actual hardware,
but also a costy "copier". The copier is the thing you insert
in the cartridgeport, which features a diskdrive. You then
insert the cartridge in the copier and get a copy on disk. You
can then also play the game from disk! This is not something
every lamer is likely to buy, which leaves out really pathetic
creatures that crawl around near the computer, as they have
the ability to copy disks when you buy them. If this is good or
bad, I cannot judge over, but I guess there will be fewer
lamers running around on parties begging for the latest.
Signed,
BACCHUS of FAIRLIGHT - a REAL cracker!
_______________________________
And that concludes this months topic "THE CRACKING SCENE"
with special guest BACCHUS of FAIRLIGHT. Next mont we hope
to have another interesting topic on the program for you, and
perhaps we will also be able to present you with another famous
persons opinion aswell.
If you have any special opinion about something actual in the
scene, write us at the following address. We will print all the
letters we get, so be sure your efforts will not go to waste..
THE PULSE MAGAZINE
XXXXXXX XX
XXXX XXXXXXX
XXXXXXX
The Blackboard
+ THE BLACKBOARD +
__________________
* We are searching for a CARD-HACKER, and a GRAPHICIAN. If
you have any talent at either, write to the following address:
DUKE/REGINA ; Also for TOP-ELITE trading..
XXXX XXXXX
XXXXXXX XX
XXXX XXXXXXX
XXXXXXX
Also for everything concerning THE PULSE MAGAZINE. News,
demos, stories, letters. We welcome all contributions with a
smile!
Howdy hackers,
FAIRLIGHT is looking for something!
First of all someone who can fix us fresh originals from ENG-
LAND. If you work in a computer shop or live close to one, and
possess a modem, then send me a letter!
Also; someone who is willing to do some carding if we supply
the cards...
FAIRLIGHT HQ
XXXXXXXXX XX, XXX
XXX XX XXXXXXXXX
XXXXXX
The following addresses works as follows:
+ = LEGAL ONLY
* = ILLEGAL and LEGAL
_____________________________________________
Contact the newly built demo-group REGINA, at the following
addresses:
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* LUKA/EXCESS
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XXX XX XXX XXXXXX X.X.XXX XXX
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X XXXXXXXX XXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX
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XXXXXXXXXXXX XX/X/X XXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX
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