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Netmonkey Weekly Report Issue 76
Netmonkey Weekly Report
Issue LXXVI
March 7th, 2000
g#S$ d. ____ ascii by garflozzy
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`Y$ [ n ] ETMONKEY [ W ] EEKLY [ R ] EPORT
Well ontime again, or damn close to it if your not westcoast
it may appear to be late. <g> Bud is back, and so is TPK, and
also Dennison makes his return on the gaming review, Moon is out
sick for the week and no one felt like filling in for him. <g>
We also will be having a new story for NWR for once in a long
time. It's an interesting topic, and I don't wanna spoil the surprise.
Remember, www.netmonkey.org is still up and the issue
is now posted in incoming every week.
-Les
-----------[ index ]-----------
I.) Intro
a) Lester
b) ndetroit
II.) Quotes of the Week
III.) Stats - Ndetroit's Weekly Stats, and comments on Sites.
IV.) (Your Name Here)'s Biased Courier Report
V.) Articles
a) The Gaming Report
b) Bud's Biased Utils Report
c) Iso Monthly Utils Report
d) Lesters Moview Reviews
e) VCD Group and Movie Reviews
f) Da' Game Review(Not to be confused with TGR):P
VI.) Scene News - All the news thats fit to print
VII.) Rumors!
VIII.) Closing
---------------------[ Quotes of the Week! ]---------------------
I'm sure glen said alot of stupid shit that could go here.
-----------[ sites and stats section ]-----------
Pick up our good friends at CWS's magazine this week for the stats.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Group Review For This Week
----------------------------------------------------------------------
AOD: Owned the shit out of everyone.
AMN: Virus/Jfk raped alot of ass, not much else
DEV: Very little shizzit
Risc: not bad eh
whoever else exists sucked or i dont give a shit. <G>
-----------[ Articles ]-----------
=----------------------------------=--------------------------------------=
-----------[ The Gaming Report ]-----------
===============================================================================================
OMG YET ANOTHER GAMES REPORT ISSUE #7
-------------------------------------
Note: This report is best viewed in DOS Editor, AcidDraw, some other
good ASCII editor, or on the chest of a Playboy Bunny.
It's the first full week since the formation of Myth, and the
first week in over a year without a couple of groups named Paradigm
and Origin. With some good titles hitting the shops this week, it
looks like the race between Myth and Class is on!
This issue is only covering about six days since I was forced to finish
up a bit early just to make it in time for NWR.
- The Preacher Kane
The Points:
-----------
* Games will be scored on a scale of 0 to 5, points being awarded according
to the quality of the title. And not just quality by name - after all,
an anticipated "blockbuster" can suck as badly as the worst budget
schlock.
* A fix will result in a loss of .5 (one half) of a point. If the fix
is released by a group other than that which released the game, they
will earn the extra point.
* Addons such as Movies and Music will earn between 1 and 2 points,
depending on the title AND whether or not they actually ENHANCE the
gaming experience. Addons released by groups other than the group
who originally released the game will not be considered. Addons of
essential features (IE Textures, 3DFX, stuff that should not have
been ripped to begin with) will result in the loss of 1 point. Which
means certain titles can earn points even if some people consider them
"rapes" - I'm on a modem after all!
* Retail addons will recieve a score of between 1 and 4 points if they
are developed by the original developers of the game, or are officially
licensed. Unofficial addons will not be considered. Standalone addon
packs are always preferable to a standard addon release. If a group
releases an addon which is later released as a standalone, only
the standalone will recieve points.
* Update patches and trainers will earn 1 point each provided they
are fully working. A trainer released by a group after an existing
trainer has already been made available in an earlier release will
only be considered if it offers something NEW, otherwise it will be
considered a DUPE.
* Cheat codes will be worth .5 (one half) of a point. Since updates and
trainers take more skill to produce, simple cheat codes cannot be
assigned an equal value.
* A DUPE of a game will result in the loss of 1 point, with the
following exception: A game that was lost during a race between two
groups will not result in the loss of any points (we do need some
competition in the scene!).
* Repackaging of a game will result in the loss of .5 (one half) of a point.
* Non-English games will not be considered. Sorry, I only speak one
language.
* I retain the right to bend the rules any way I see fit!
* DATES *
This time around I'm including all the releases since my last report - 03/01/00 thru
to 03/06/00. Or something like that.
Now on with the report...
The Groups:
RELEASE NAME (c) COMPANY [xx/??]
ßßßßÛÜßßßßÛÜßßßßÛÛ ²Û ÛÛ ²Û ßßßÛÜ ÜÛßÛÛßßß ÜÛ
:²ÛÜÛß ²Û ÛÛ ²Û ß ÛÛÜÛß ÛÛ ²Û ÛÛ ßÛÜÜ ²ÛÜÛÛ
|ÛÛ Û² ÛÛßÛÛ ÛÛ Ü ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛßÛÛ ÜÜ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ
³ÛÛÜÛß ÛÛ Û² ßÛÜÛÛ ÛÛ Û² ßÛÜÜÜ Û² ²ÛÜÛß ÛÛ Û²
ÀÄÄÄ[ RELEASE DATE: ??/???/1999 ]ÄÄÄÄÄroyÄÄÄÄ
BACKLASH:
RELEASES: POINTS:
Total: Nada.
Comments:
They did some German stuff that I'm not going to list or count.
The Good: N/A
The Bad: N/A
The Ugly: N/A
RELEASE NAME (c) COMPANY
______ /| ___ /\______ /\______
/ \/ | / _ \ / _____/ _____>1
/ |_ / |/ | \\____ \ \____ \ 9
< | < / | / | \/ | \ 9
\ _____\_<____|___\_____ /\_____ / 9
+=\/hh!===================\/[XX/??]\/==+
CLASS:
RELEASES: POINTS:
Lucky_Luke_On_The_Daltons_Trail-CLS 2
Sammy_Sosa_Softball_Slam-CLS -2
Trophy_Bass_3D_v1.2_Update_Cracked-CLS 1
Puzzle_Trouble-CLS 1
Croc.2.Plus.2.Trainer-CLS 1
Total: 3
Comments:
With some good games out in shops this week, Class is feeling the pressure of
the newly formed Myth. Managing to win on only one decent title, they blundered
it, and basically handed the credit over to Myth.
The Good:
There's not really much to say that's positive this week. The two legit games
Class did basically sucked. Lucky Luke is, according to CLS, the sequel to some
old game Paradigm released. I'm not sure why Class bothered to mention this
in their NFO - was it to justify the release of this title, by saying "Hey
PDM released it, so it can't be TOTAL crap"? This one was a prospect for
MiniMe. However, MiniMe closed its doors this week - perhaps another sign
that CLS might be willing to slip in some lower quality games just to
keep up the pace.
The Bad:
I put Lucky Luke under "The Good" because I had to put SOMETHING there.
Honestly it could fit in right here. So here I'll talk about Puzzle
Trouble, published by Software Enterprises and developed by some German
company (I would assume, since there's a German language option),
because it's one I played for a while, as it was three disks and didn't
waste my download time.
Here's my mini-review:
The game sucks, don't download it. Sorry, but I might as well be blunt.
Puzzle Trouble consists (in one-player mode) of a screen similar to Tetris
or Dr. Mario or any of those old puzzle games which were very popular
on Gameboy. The gameplay is similar - the blocks fall, you match them up.
In this case the "blocks" are picture squares. Move them with the keyboard,
get three in a row (or other combos) to make them vanish, don't let
them pile up to the top of the screen.
The graphics look like something I'd expect to see on my my worst 16bit
Nintendo title. Uninspiring, to say the least. The game falls victim to
something which plagues most puzzle games in the graphics department- lack
of creative, original backgrounds. You get stuck choosing from a limited
selection of backdrops which do absolutely nothing to make the game more
enjoyable. I'd have the same reaction playing on a field of black.
Sound follows this uninspired pattern, simple sound effects, pure
old-style console stuff. The small amount of voices are annoying as
hell - some wacked out monkey whines "Game Over" when you croak, as
if you hadn't noticed. Actually, that might be the ONLY voice, I couldn't
bear the pain of playing this game long enough to find out. There is
a multiplayer option, but I didn't even bother with it - trust me, it
won't help, and you could just play Tetrinet instead, which is a hell of
a lot more fun (even if it's no great graphical feat itself). One last
note: Puzzle Trouble allows two player gameplay on the same machine,
so if you and a friend feel like torturing yourself at the same keyboard,
go for it.
I said Lucky Luke was a candidate for MiniMe, well, Puzzle Trouble has
MiniMe written ALL OVER IT.
The Ugly:
Sammy Sosa Softball Slam. Just what the hell happened here? Class, who are
usually the ones ragging on groups for mistakes like this, screws up
with a passion on this title. A bloated, 43 disk "rip" of the game,
which Myth preceded to release at 13 disks, with nothing extra ripped.
Where was the Class conversion crew when this one got released? Normally,
CLS is fairly diligent about converting and compressing - so, was this
a simple screw up that slipped by quality control, or was Class in a panic
to win on at least one decent title this week and thus decided to rush
it out?
RELEASE NAME (c) COMPANY [XX/??]
ÜÜ 1999-??-??
²ßßßß²ß ßÛ² ßßß² ²ßßßßß²ßß ÜÜß ßßß²ÜÜ Üܲßßßß
° ÜÜÜÜ Û² ÜÜ ² ßß Û²Û ÜÜßÛÛÜÜÜÛÛÜ ÜÜÜÜÛÛ²
ÜÛÛÛß Û² ÜÜ ß ° Û²Û ÜÜ ÜÜÜ ßÛ²ÝܲÛÛß ÛÛ²
Û²Û²Ý ° Û² Û²ÞÛ Þ²ÛÝ Û² Û²Ý ° Û²ÝÛ²ÛÝþÜ
ßÛÛÛ²Ü Ü Û² Û² ÛÛÜÜÛÛß° Û² Û²Ý Û²ÝßÛÛÛÜ MtD
ßßßßß Û² ßß ßßß ßß ßßß ßÛÛÜ ßßÛÜÜ
ßßßßßßßß ßß ßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß ßß ßßþ
Dominate as to erase
DIVINE:
RELEASES: POINTS:
Desperados_Trainer_Plus_5-DVN 1
Total: 1
Comments:
Until their supplying team gets stronger, DVN is going to be feeding off the
scraps left by Myth and CLS.
The Good:
They did a +5 trainer for Myth's Desperados, whereas Myth only managed to
do a basic trainer with a single feature... you'd think, having ripped the
game, Myth would have taken the extra time and trained the game fully.
The Bad:
Nothing.
The Ugly:
Nothing.
_ ___ _______ _ __ __ _ __ __ __ _ __ _
__\\___ \ _/ \/ \_/ \__/ \_/ \_
\ _ / /_\__ /_ ___/ _ __\
/ /_/ // / / / / / // /
_\__/_ \__/ \______/ \__/_ \__/ \__/_ __ _
frx!sac [xx.xx.xx]
MYTH:
RELEASES: POINTS:
Sammy.Sosa.Softball.Slam.PROPER.RIP-MYTH 3
Driver.Update.v2.1.Cracked-MYTH 1
Desperado-MYTH 3
Desperados_Trainer-MYTH 1
Pharaoh.Ehancement.Pack.Patch.v.1.1.Cracked-MYTH 1
3D.Ultra.Lionel.TrainTown.Update.v1.1-MYTH 1
Armored.Fist.3.Update.v.1.00.20.Cracked-MYTH 1
Delta.Force.2.Update.v.1.06.14.Cracked-MYTH 1
Might.and.Magic.VIII.D3D.Addon-MYTH -1
Might.and.Magic.VIII-MYTH 5
Croc.2-MYTH 4
Might.and.Magic.VIII.Plus10.Trainer-MYTH 1
Riding_Star_Patch_1.2p1-MYTH 1
Rollercoaster.Tycoon.Added.Attractions.Update.v1.10.021 1
Total: 23
Comments:
That is one ugly DIZ. And I'm getting rather tired of the lengthy
recruitment adds and self promotion in their NFO files - it seems the OGN
tradition of boring the public to death is alive and well, living on in
Myth.
On the other hand, Myth rocked out all the top titles we saw this week,
and completely demolished the competition. So expect one hell of a
war over the next while between Class (who will want to make up for
this week) and Myth, and beware of flying egos, we wouldn't want to
see an innocent bystanders hit in the crossfire.
The Good:
Might & Magic VIII - one hell of a rip. At least one other group
got close to winning this one (no, I'm not counting the crap done
by TRSI), but Myth got it out first, a hell of a rip from 4 cd's.
To do it, they had to remove D3D support, but beggers can't be
choosers, and if you'd rather leech the 4 cd ISO, be my guest.
The game itself is recieving mixed reviews, but there's plently
of fans of this popular series, making it the top title of the
week.
Croc 2 is the other big one. Croc suprised some people when it
originally came out, by being better than most people had
anticipated. So this is another nice grab for Myth, although
I haven't checked it out myself yet.
Finally, Myth lives up to its CLS bashing (ok, I know it's
a merger of two pre-existing groups, but couldn't they wait
a month at least before launching into the verbal diareaha?)
and does a good rip of a huge CLS screwup, getting Sammy Sosa
Softball Slam down to 13 disks from Class's 40+ monster.
The Bad:
If you've got all that time to rip the game and do a trainer,
add some more features.
Sammy Sosa Softball Slam could have been even smaller without
the BIK videos... would have been much nicer as an addon, since
they aren't that great.
And more on Sammy Sosa Softball Slam... I actually scored it
the third best game of the week. Which it was, but M&M VIII
and Croc 2 are far better. Keeping in mind that it was SOFTBALL
and not a normal baseball title, I tried to find ways to like
this game on other levels. And couldn't.
It looks like someone drove a dumptruck full of money up to Sammy
Sosa, and he signed off on this one without looking into it. Without
exagerating, I've seen HeadGames titles that were better designed than
this one. Softball Slam offers the ability to... play softball. Yipee!
They do offer you about a half a dozen different parks, some different
teams with different characters, the ability to edit rosters and the
usual stuff. Unfortunately, the characters are basically big, bulky
polygons with a real lack of professional rendering. Backgrounds
aren't great graphics-wise either. The movies which Myth left in the
game were useless (the intro is a bunch of people you've never seen
before playing softball, grreeaattt, really), and the interface...
well, they decided to make the menus and such a bit cartoonish. To
go with the charicature of Sammy Sosa that appears when you first
load the game. The result, however, is the feel that this is an
amateurish, almost kiddie, baseball game (ok, softball game), that
will turn off serious sports enthusiasts in about five seconds.
And since it doesn't offer anything new to gamers who aren't
already into sports titles (besides inter-gender play and the
ability to play as Sosa in a softball game), they aren't going
to open any new markets.
Controls in this one are extremely simple - again, I feel like
I'm in a HeadGames title. Pitching basically consists of hiting
enter and releasing it at the proper moment. The moment is judged
by the familar meter founded by Golf sims - the old crescent.
Hold it while the power increases, let go when it's in the green,
and you let loose a decent pitch. The interface in this instance
is tried and true, but they've simplified it (You just hold and
let go, no extra click for accuracy), and you don't really do
anything but toss the softball. Aiming is pretty much of of the
question. So are any trick pitches.
Batting has the same flaws. In this case, you can move around
the betters box, but really, I feel like I'm playing RBI Baseball
on my old 8bit Nintendo when I come up to bat in this game.
Move around and swing. You don't really increase or decrease
your strength in the swing, and don't really have much of an
oppurtunity to aim well, plus, since the ball is always lobbed
in the good ol' softball underhand toss, it becomes hard
to judge when timing your swing. You hit enter and swing.
And as if the developers knew about the hideous gameplay flaws,
you can generally get on base without trying too hard. I hit a
home run on my very first swing in this game, and I wasn't even
sure of the keys at that point - I just hit enter for the hell
of it without even realizing the pitcher had thrown the ball.
The replay ability in this one is nill, for me anyways, and
the sounds were annoying - how many times can you take hearing
"Pitcher's got a rubber arm" in the background? Yes, I forgot
to mention, the players rag on one another. And after five
minutes, you want to run out onto the field and take some heads
off with the bat.
What else can I say but this: At least I didn't have to leech over
40 disks to discover what a letdown this game is.
The Ugly:
That damn DIZ, and an update for one of the worst games I've
ever seen, Riding Star.
ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ
Û Game Name: [ RELEASE NAME (c) COMPANY ] Û
ÛßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßÛßßßßßßßßßÛßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßÛßßßßßßßßßÛÜ
Û ÛÛÛßßßÛÛÜ ÛÛÛßßßÛÛÜ ÜÛÛßßßÛÛÜ ÜÛÛßßßÛÛÜ ÛÛÛ ÜÛÛßßßÛÛÜ ÜÛÛßßßÛÛÜ Û
Û Û²Û ° Û²Û Û²Û ° Û²Û Û²Û ° Û²Û Û²Û ° Û²Û Û²Û Û²Û ° Û²Û Û²Û ° Û²Û Û
Û Û±Û ° Û±Û Û±Û ° Û±Û Û±Û ° Û±Û Û±Û ° Û±Û Û±Û Û±Û ° Û±Û Û±Û ° Û±Û Û
Û Û°Û Û°Û Û°Û Û°Û Û°Ûv64Û°Û Û°Û ° ÛÛÛ Û°Û Û°Û ßßß Û°Û Û°Û Û
Û Û Ûßßßßßß Û ÛßßßÛÛÜ Û Ûßßßßßß Û Û ° Û Û ßßßßßßÛÛÛ Û Ûßßßßßß Û
Û Û°Û °°°°° Û°Û ° Û°Û Û°Û ° ÛÛÛ Û°Û ° ÛÛÛ Û°Û ÛÛÛ ° Û°Û Û°Û ° ÛÛÛ Û
Û Û±Û °°°°° Û±Û ° Û±Û Û±Û ° Û±Û Û±Û ° Û±Û Û±Û Û±Û ° Û±Û Û±Û ° Û±Û Û
Û Û²Û °°°°° Û²Û ° Û²Û Û²Û ° Û²Û Û²Û ° Û²Û Û²Û Û²Û ° Û²Û Û²Û ° Û²Û Û
Û ÛÛÛ °°°°° ÛÛÛ ° ÛÛÛ ßÛÛÜÜÜÛÛß ßÛÛÜÜÜÛÛß ÛÛÛ ßÛÛÜÜÜÛÛß ßÛÛÜÜÜÛÛß Û
ÛÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÛÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÛÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÛß
Û RLSDate: [??/??/99] Û Û Disk Count: [XX/??] Û
ßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß ßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß
PRECISE:
RELEASES: POINTS:
BROWNING.AFRICAN.SAFARI.DELUXE.MONEY.TRAINER-PRECiSE 1
Farm_Land_USA_Money_Trainer-PRECiSE 1
Total: 2
Comments:
This week Precise graced us with not one but TWO trainers. Hurah!
Apparently, Farm Land USA (which I hope has Deviance members hiding in
shame, for releasing such crud) really needed a trainer. Obviously,
farming is damn difficult, and thus this trainer is for those who
aren't sure whether they should F%&! the cow or milk it.
The Good:
They did release two trainers.
The Bad:
They're for games no one will ever play.
The Ugly:
Now that I think of it, the Precise DIZ is even worse than Myth's...
lets work on the size issue there, that's a freaking NFO header,
not a DIZ.
RELEASE NAME (c) COMPANY [XX/??]
/\______ /\______ ____/\______ __
\____ \/ \__ \/ _ \____ \ __/ \____
/ _/ _/ \/ / / / _/ _// / / / / /
/ \ \ /\ / /\ / / \ \/ /\ / / /
\__/\ \/RTX______\___/\__/\ \/ / /_/_/
=====\___)===\__)============\___)=\/=======
RAZOR:
RELEASES: POINTS:
Railroad_Tycoon_2_The_Second_Century_v1.54_Update-RAZOR 1
Revenant.Update.v1.2.WORKING-RAZOR 1
Total: 2
Comments:
How many times can I comment about all the patches? Yeesh... come on guys,
put out a game!
The Good:
Activity.
The Bad:
I'm going Patch-Crazy.
The Ugly:
Nothing.
___________ __________ _________________________
\ _____/___\ ____/____\______ /\ _ /
\_______ // / / \/ \ /
/ // // . \ \_____\
/___________\____________\\____________/______\
..........................................s.c.a.r.. .
SCAR:
RELEASES: POINTS:
BIG_GAME_HUNTER_III_THE_NEXT_HARVEST-SCAR -2
BROWNING_AFRICAN_SAFARI_DELUXE-SCAR 2
Total: 0
Comments:
It was all hunting week for Scar, but in the process of pleasing the
hicks, they forgot one of the basic rules of releasing.
The Good:
I guess someone will play African Safari Deluxe. I suppose probably
the same people who played the original. And I have no idea what's
"Deluxe" about it, but I remember Browning African Safari and it
wasn't great. Considering the original was released in 1997, I hope
there's a LOT new.
The Bad:
Scar should have been wondering about Big Game Hunter III: The Next
Harvest Expansion Pack as soon as DVN didn't release it. When the
master of all hunting games passes on one, there's something dead
wrong with it. And it this case it's obvious: TNH an addon for
nothing. Big Game Hunter 3 was never ripped. And if ISO users want
the addon, they'll take the ISO from CIFE, who also released the
original. God knows how this rip will even react with the ISO,
although I'm hoping Scar tested it. But still, you can't release
an addon for a game that wasn't ripped, unless you plan on making
it standalone, which Scar didn't do.
This is the same reason we haven't seen any of the BGH games in the
rip scene since the first game of the series. BGH II marked the end
of the series being rippable under current rip standards.
The Ugly:
See above I guess.
Group Rankings:
RANKING: POINTS: TO DATE: RANK TO DATE:
1) Myth (23) (36) 4
2) Class (3) (171.5) 1
3) Razor (2) (24) 5
3) Scar (2) (43) 3
3) Precise (2) (5.5) 6
4) Divine (1) (67.5) 2
5) Backlash (0) (2.5) 7
Top 3 Releases This Report:
Might & Magic VIII (MYTH)
Croc 2 (MYTH)
Sammy Sosa Softball Slam (MYTH)
Springerish Final Thought:
Despite the fact that the game sucks, Sammy Sosa Softball Slam winds up
as the third best of the week. Don't be fooled by this - it's simply
because there were only two good titles this week and I needed a third.
In other words, DO NOT DOWNLOAD THIS THING.
It's still early, but I've got two observations about Myth:
1) The horribly inflated egos seen in Paradigm and Origin just won't die.
2) They are capable of some damn good work when they put some effort into it.
Take that any way you want it.
One last note to Myth: Fix your damn installer so it doesn't error like crazy
just because I didn't extract your NFO file. "Fatal" error messages due to
a missing NFO are pointless... I could understand the error if I was actually
trying to VIEW the NFO, but since I'm not, ditch the check on startup. No one's
really going to read all that junk anyways.
Myth and Class will battle it out... Divine will soon slip to third on the
charts... if DVN was smart they'd let CLS and MYTH tire themselves out, and
in the meantime prevent any of the others from challenging them, by winning
everything those two miss... if RZR was smart, they'd do an actual game
within the next few months, while there's still a hope of rebuilding...
if Scar was bright they'd leave hunting games to DVN... if PCS was bright
they'd train something worth playing... if BLH was was bright they'd stick
to German releases and "retire" from the English scene entirely.
- The Preacher Kane.
=----------------------------------=--------------------------------------=
-----------[ Bud's Biased Utils Section ]-----------
Bud's Biased Utils Report #48
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wow. It's been quite some time since I sat down to write one of these.
My apologies for missing so many weeks, but as avid readers of NWR, you
should all have come to expect one thing from our magazine by now:
Rampant inconsistancy!
I'm rearranging a few of the listings this week. I'll explain as we go
along. I'd also like to thank Elocin for filling in last week, also
please note some of my dates may be overlapping his.
Disclaimer: It's BIASED moron. My opinion. So don't send me a bunch of mail
& messages bitching about this or that. If you don't like
it... SCREW YOU =]
Rankings: Groups get a score out of 10. Points are given for amount of
releases, but QUALITY titles will give a group a much higher score.
Nukes for duping, broken releases and just plain CRAP will lower
a groups score. However on the occasion that a title is nuked which
I don't feel should have been, MY OWN JUDGEMENT TAKES PRECEDENCE.
Cuz I'm writing this. Groups can also get points for any other
reason I see fit.
Week: Week is based from 02/29/00 to 03/06/00. I'm in the EST time zone so
dates/times run according to it.
Groups: (In no particular order)
Ü ßßÛÛÜ Ü Ü Ü
ßÛÜ ßÛÝßÛÜ Þ ÜÛß ÜÜÛÛÝ A Group
ÞÛÝ ÞÝ ÞÛ ÛÝÞÛÝ ÜÛß Û That Gives
ÜÛÛÝÜß ÜÛÛÝßÛÛÝ ÛÛ ÞÝ Slightly
ßÛÛÛ ßÛÛÛ ßÛ ÞÛÛÛÜÜ Û Less Than
ÞÛÝ ÞÛÝ ÞÝ ßÛÛß ßÜ A Fuck.
ß ß ß ß -XeN
PIRATES WITH ATTITUDE:
Releases: N/A
Total: N/A
ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ[XX/XX]Ä
ÜÛÛ ÜÜÜ ° ÜÜÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜ
Û²Û Û²Û ± ÛÛß Û²Û Û Û²Û ÛÛ Û²Û Û ÛÛÛ ÛÛ Û²
Û±Û Û±Û Û°Û ßß ÜÛ Û±Û ÛÛ Û±Û Û ÜÜÜ ÛÛÜÜ
ÜÛÛßÛÛÜ ß Û±Ûßßß ÛÛ Û°Û ÛÛ ÜÜÛ Û²Û ÛÛ ÜÜ
Û±Û Û²Û ² Û²Û ° Û²Û Û°Û ÛÛ ° Û²Û Û±Û ÛÛ Û²
ÛÛÛ Û±Û ± ÛÛÛ ßÛÛÛÛÛßÜÛÛ ± ßÛÛÛÛÛß ßÛÛÛÛ
ÄÄÄ ÛÛß ° ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ² ÄÄÄÄÄ sikos Ä
X-FORCE:
Releases: N/A
Total: N/A
/\______/| ___/\_
_/ ______ :|; . __/\ ____/\ __| //
%%%\____ \ |__:_\__ \/ ~~ :\_ | __/%%%%
iii_/ :| \\_ \ ;| \_ |____/ \iiiii
:::\__ ; _/ | \\_ : // | \\_ | \\_:::
\____/---|____/____/_______/-|____/kaz
SHOCK:
Releases:
Bill.Power.v7.3.135-SHOCK
Genitor.Surveyor.v4.5.Beta215-SHOCK
Sax.Comm.Objects.v7.0.2162-SHOCK
EnCase.Pro.v1.99L-SHOCK
Informed.Designer.v2.7.1-SHOCK
Informed.Filler.v2.7.1-SHOCK
IntelliCAD.2000-SHOCK
Informix.Internet.Foundation.2000.v9.20.TC1.for.WindowsNT4-SHOCK
Rhinoceros.v1.1.Multilingual.Platform.Enabler-SHOCK
Shock has what can easily be seen as its best week in the past month,
grabbing Bricsnet's IntelliCAD 2000, a low end CAD system which has been
designed and marketed as the main competition for AutoCAD. Being compatible
with AutoCAD's DWF files doesn't hurt either. They also pick up some more
of the usual stuff we see from them - a new version of EnCase (which is now
being used by the Toronto Police Services, the New York State Police & US
Customs, amongst many others), a new Informix package, and Shana's latest
edition of the Informed series. They also put out a patch for Rhino 3D 1.1
for users who were getting errors on non-english editions of Windows, which
were supposedly supported by the software but don't seem to be (this
was a problem with the software and not the release).
Total: 7/10
ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ
Û ÜÜÜ ßßßÛÜÜÜ [xx]
ÛßßßßßÛÜÜÜÜÛÜÜ ßÛÛÛÛÜÜÜ ßßßßßÛÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜÜ
Û ÛÛÛÜÜÜÜÜ ßßßÛ ÛÛ ßßßÛÛÛÛÛÜÜÜ ÛÛßßß Ü Û
Û ÛÛ ßßßßÛÛÛÛÜÜ ßß ÛÛÛÜ ßßÛ ÜÜÛß ÛÛÛÛ ßÛ
ÜÜÛ ÛÛ ÛÛÛÜ ÜÜÛÛÛÛß ß ÜÜÜÛÛÛÜ ß ÜÜÛÛÛÛßß Û
ÜÜ ÛÛ ß ÜÜÜÛÛÛÛÛßßÞÛÛÛßßßß ÜÜÜÛÛÛßßß ÜÜÜÛßß
Ü ßßÛÛÛÛÛßßßßß Ü ÛÛ ÜÜÜÛ ßßß Ü ÛÛ ÛÛÛÛ
ßÛÛ ÛÛ ÜÜÜÛßßßßß ßÛÛ ÜÜ ßßßßßßÛ ÛÛ ÛÛÛ °°°°
ÛÛ ßÛ ÛÜÜÜÜÛÛÛÛÛ ß ÜÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜ Û ÛÛÛ
ÜÛÛÛÜÜÜÛßßß ßßßßßßßßßßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜÜÜÛÛÛÛ
ßÄÄ pENTIUM fORCE tEAM ÄÄÄÄÄßßßßßßb1Û
PENTIUM FORCE TEAM:
Releases:
TestStand.1.0.2-PFT
Not exactly a busy week for PFT. Ok that's it, I'm out of practice.
Total: 1/10
Ü Ü Ü
Ü Üܲßß Ü ÜÜÛßßÛÛ²Ü ÜÜÜÛßß²ÜÜ
ÜÜÜÜÜ ÜÜÜÜÜ ÞÛÛ²Ý ÜÜÜÜ ÞÛ²Û
Þ²ÛÛÝ Þ²ÛÛÝ ÛÛÛ² ²ÛÛÝ ÛÛÛ²
²ÛÛ ²Ü ²ÛÛÝ ÛÛÛ² ²ÛÛÝ ÞÛÛ²Ý
ÞÛÛ² ÞÛ²ÝÞÛÛ² ÛÛ²ÝÞÛÛÛ² ÛÛÛÛ²
ßßßß ÛÛÛ² ÛÛ² ÞÛ²Û ßßßßß ÜÛÛ²ß mg
ß ßßßßÛÛÛÛ²Ý ßß ÛÛ²ß ß ßßßßßß
ß ßßßßßßß ßß²ß ß ßß ßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß ß
:: <LEGENDS NEVER DiE> ::: <xx * 2880> ::
Ü ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ Ü
LEGENDS NEVER DIE:
Releases:
CE.TOL.6.SIGMA-LND
THINK_DESIGN_V4.0-LND
LND has had fewer than fifteen releases this YEAR so far, but
they do manage to get two out this week, albeit their first two
since about the second week of February. Consistancy for LND is
their achiles heel these days, especially since they've long since
lost their domination over the CAD/CAM field, as groups like SCUM,
RISE, SHOCK, etc., have really worked on picking away at some of
the better titles.
Total: 5/10
.__________. [xx/xx/00]
\_ ___ ) Da ToP oF Da LiNe! .___.
===/ _/ /=======================/ /=====
.:/ _____/__./(___.____/\.______./ /_____.
:/ /__/ . ) . )____ ) _ ) / __ )
/__/ / / / / // __ / /__/ / /___/:
.:/ /__/__/__/__/(______\____ /__/_____ /MO
=/__/========================\/========\/===
= THE PINNACLES OF RELEASING (C) PNC 95-00 =
PINNACLE:
Releases: N/A
With all the idle groups of late, Pinnacle has been given a real
oppurtunity to shine through. PNC is one of those few groups which
has been around for quite a while but never really reached their
full potential. Unfortunately, PNC themselves instead went idle,
and really missed out on a great oppurtunity to snag a few titles.
Total: N/A
_______________ ____________ ____________
\_ ___ \_ ___ \ ___ \_
_/ l/ / l/ / l/ /
\______ / / / /____ / /|
======\________/\__________/[om]\________/==
d(*)d D r i n k O r D i e 2 0 0 0 d(*)d
===================== [ DOD * xx-xxx-00 ] ==
DRINK OR DIE:
Releases:
Madge.TrueView.Enterprise.Edition.v1.1a_Repacked-DOD
GTXRaster_Cad_Suite_v6.0_for_AutoCAD2000-DOD
DOD got fairly busy while I was gone, and they put two decent
titles out this week, Raster CAD Suite 6 for AC2K perhaps
being the better of the two. This addon has been available for
a short while, and it was just a matter of time before someone
picked up on it.
Total: 3/10
_______________________________[xx/xx]
\_ _ \_ ____/_ _ \_ ____/ |_\ ___/
/ _/ ___)/ _/ ___) | \___ \
/ | \_ | \ | \ | \ : \ : \
\___| /___ \____ \___ \___ \___ \
====|__/===\__/===\__/==\__/==\__/==\__/
REBELS: WE MAKE ALL DAYS PARTY DAYS
>> RELEASING WITHOUT PERMISSION <<
REBELS:
Releases:
IBM.JavaBean.Compendium.v1.34.Enterprise.Edition-RBS
VinDecoder_99_CRACKED-RBS
Two rels for the Rebels, the better definately being the
JavaBeans Compendium from IBM. Despite this RBS has been
damn idle of late, and their pace has slowed greatly since
the end of 1999.
Total: 3/10
..._______________________.___ ____.____...
::/ _______/ ____/ | \/ | \::
_/\____ \/ /___/ | \ \:
\ > \ \ \/ \ \
:\__________/\________/_________/|_____|___/
::.. .:[ SCUM ]:. .:[SCUM]:. .:[SCUM]:. ..::
````````````````````````````````````````````
SCUM:
Releases:
SYNAPTICAD.VERILOGGER.PRO.V6.5-SCuM
SYNAPTICAD.WAVEFORMER.PRO.V6.5-SCuM
ARDENT.DATASTAGE.SERVER.CLIENT.V3.6-SCuM
Despite having a good season overall, Scum really wasn't all
that impressive to me this week. The DataStage Client/Server
package was a nice pickup, but those Synapticad titles have
been waiting months for someone to crack them, and they really
aren't that great - I found the interface to be messy. And,
though it doesn't apply in this case, if you were a legit
user wanting to register the program, the unlock method
on the trial is damn nasty, as several programs with different
features can be unlocked through a single trial package. That
I can't hold against Scum though.
Total: 5/10
_______________________ ____________
__\ _______/ ______/______/__ /
\ __/ / / \/ / /
/_______\ /______________\____ /________\
-------------------------------\/-----------
(*) F a t i g u e - Couriers Network (*)
___________________________________________.
________________________________________wK!.
FATIGUED COURIERS NETWORK:
Releases:
Aebacus_Popup_Controls_Library_1.04.0290-FCN
WISE.INSTALL.MASTER.v8.02-FCN
Ultimate_Bulletin_Board_v543D-FCN
FCN loves those Wise Solutions titles, and they haven't lost on
one since the new Wise for Windows installer. This time they pick
up v8.02 of Install Master, and they're the heavy favorite for
Install Manager once it is updated.
Total: 4/10
__okifixedit!__
<$$$$$$$$$$$$$b
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|$$$ '$$$L
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¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
RADIUM:
Releases: N/A
I have, unfortunately, decided to say goodbye to Radium as far as my
report goes. Of course, I'll still use and appreciate their great work
in the field of Audio tools. However, reading last weeks report by Elocin,
I realized something: I can only go through so many weeks saying "Radium
owns the Audio market". Seeing him fall into the same pattern I've been
in when reviewing Radium pretty much set the bells off in my head.
Although they've been rather idle of late (a disease
plaguing many of the top groups over the past month or so), they still
do own the Audio market. Unfortunately, their output and strict adherence
to their niche make them segregated from most of the other groups on this
list, and since I'm honestly not going to have the time to review every
app that comes out, I'd rather not do a half-assed job on Radium.
So good luck to Radium, keep up the great work.
Oh, yes, one more thing:]
Radium owns Audio tools. :)
Total: N/A
---Ï-----------Ï-----------
_ _ _ _
Û_Û Û_Û Û Û Û Û Û_ß Û_ß ßÛß
Û Û Û Û ÛßÜ ßÜß Û_Ü Ü_Û Û
---Ï-----------Ï----[xx/xx]
HARVEST:
Releases:
EDLMAX.V.7.02-HARVEST
MAXMAN.V1.0.FOR.3DSMAX.V2.5.AND.3.FINAL-HARVEST
ARETE.DIGITAL.NATURE.TOOLS.V3.0.FOR.SOFTIMAGE.3.8SP2-3-HARVEST
KROKODOVE.V2.05.FOR.DIGITAL.FUSION-HARVEST
In a slow week, Harvest had a good outing, considering the overall
lack of activity shown by the rest of the field. With only four
apps they look like quite the releasing power, since over half
the field failed to get more than three titles out. The one thing
I'd really like to see from Harvest is more standalone tools, although
I realize plugins are their speciality. This week we see just one,
in the Edit Decision List Toolbox (EDLMAX).
Total: 5/10
. )\_______)\__)\_______)\_______ .
. __/ __ _/ _/ ____/ ___/ .
. \__ / _\ \_____ \ ___/__ :
. :/ \ \ / \ / \|
: |\___/ /___/_____ /___ /|
: | \_/_____/\____ /_____/___/_____/ |
:...`---\_____\/----/_flr_/---/_p^D_/--'
Really Into Spreading Elite:
Releases:
INPRISE.BORLAND.C.PLUS.PLUS.BUILDER.V5.0.ENTERPRISE.EDITION.REPACK-RiSE
ALLAIRE.HOMESITE.V4.5.1.BETA.2-RiSE
ALLAIRE.COLD.FUSION.STUDIO.V4.5.1.BETA.2-RiSE
DASSAULT.SYSTEMES.CATIA.MACHINIST.R1.2.FINAL-RiSE
IMAGEN.NT.PAYMASTER.V4.0.12.NFO.FIX-RiSE
IMAGEN.NT.PAYMASTER.V4.0.12-RiSE
MICROWAVE.OFFICE.2000.V3.22-RiSE
FIRSTSENSE.ENTERPRISE.V2.2.1.12-RiSE
ALTERA.MAX.PLUS.II.V9.5.RiSE
XMETAL.V1.2.RiSE
Rise was the only group to really put an effort into things this week.
They snag a highly anticipated title in C++ Builder 5 Enterprise. But
boy was that a bad one to have to repack. Come one guys, it's the best
title of the week, double check it! Rise was plagued by packing again
with ImagenNT Paymaster needing an NFO fix. As for the rest, nothing
special, and Allaire beta's are a dime a dozen, but they do come
out with the weeks best title. The one standout is XMetal from SoftQuad,
the makers of HotMetal.
Total: 8/10
__ ______
\// / _______ _______________
_/ _/____/ _ \_____\_ \ _ \
\ \ \ / | _/ _/ / /
\__________\________|____\_____ ____//\
- - imo -----------xx/xx/2000- |____| -- ¯¯
d$$""""ü$¼" """""$$b """""$$b $$"""¼¼ü"
$$$ ` ü$$ $$$ $$$ $$$ `""""$$b
$$$ ø¼""$$ü" $$ $$$ $$$ $$P ,d, $$$
$¼üø"""""` """""""` """"""` $$$"""""`
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""`d$$[Y]
The Corporate Gods:
Releases:
CISCO.SECURE.VPN.CLIENT.v1.0a.DES.RETAIL_WIN9xNT-CORPGODS
MICROSOFT.WINDOWS.MILLENNIUM.BUILD.2481-CORPGODS
Communique.Communicate.32.v8.0.83_Win9xNT2K-CORPGODS
COMMUNIQUE.COMMUNICATE.i2000.v2.0.881B_WIN9xNT2K-CORPGODS
FUTURE.FANTASTIC.GENESIS.v2.01.PRO.FOR.PHOTOSHOP.RETAIL.RIP_WIN9xNT2K-CORPGODS
MSC.WORKING.MODEL.4D.v6.0.0.1102.RIP.FULLY.WORKING_WIN9xNT2K-CORPGODS
A winbeta. I'm suddenly feeling a great lack of emotion. Actually, now
that I look at it, I'm a bit afraid. Every new MS OS has meant new bugs
for me (I've spent all week with Win98 freezing for no reason, even when
nothing is running) so I'm not really looking forward to Windows
Millenium. Which, for the record, I will refuse to call "Windows ME", which
has to be the WORST abbreviation for a program I've ever heard. How
about "Windows BILL" or "Windows Sucks Your Money Out of Your Wallet
And Never Actually Works Right"? Think they'll catch on? Oh well. I said
Rise was the only group putting an effort into releasing this week, but
I shold also include both Corpgods and Shock in that one. These three
(with Scum and FCN trailing) pretty much defined the week. Nothing
great but they were fairly active. So that about sums it up, in this
case, leech Windows if you dare, FF Genesis if you're a Photoshop
user, and that's it.
Total: 6/10
__________________________________________________________
/ \
\ /
/ \
\__________________________________________________________/
/ ___ ________ _________________ _______ _____ \
\ // \ / \ ( ! / / \ | \__// \ /
/ /' \(# ÄÄÄ / \ ____/ÄÄÄ | \| |__/ ___/ \
\ // ÄÄÄ \ __ \___\ \( |? /. \ (___ /
/ / ___ \ \ \ \ \ ÄÄÄ | |\ / \ \ \
\=\__/===\__/___/==\__/________)______\___|=\_\____/_____/=/
/==============================================-sleighty-==\
\__________________________________________________________/
ARSENIC:
Releases:
CadControl32.v3.10.O-ARSENiC
Rapid.Recovery.v1.1-ARSENiC
Software.Submission.Wizard.v1.0-ARSENiC
Fast.Access.v3.3.2-ARSENiC
Fast.Start.9000.v3.0.1-ARSENiC
Fast.Start.v1.0.For.Solidworks-ARSENiC
Fast.Track.v1.0.1-ARSENiC
MD.Solids.v1.7.5-ARSENiC
Alright, I've been promising to include these guys for a while, since I've
removed a few groups from the list. Arsenic formed several months ago now,
and they've managed to survive the new-group growing pains. They still
aren't really a contender as a top group, but they've been doing
fairly well, sticking to low-end CAD addons/titles and other small
stuff. Despite the fact that they seem to spend too much time raiding
cadplugins.com, they've done some decent titles, and managed to throw
in a few good cracks. This week there really wasn't much that was
impressive to talk about, Fast Track claims it will elimiate hand
generated time cards - well, guess what, I haven't seen a traditional
system like that in years anyways, so they're pretty much already
eliminated!
One last thing... that ASCII has got to go, it's way to bulky guys.
Total: 6/10
New this week: Arsenic
Idle this week: PWA, XF, PNC, RADIUM.
Quote(s) of the Week: * SphereHwk eats Bud
<SphereHwk> tastes like alcohol bathed chicken
<|deviant|> Time is 8:16pm, computer has been up for 4h 9m 16s
<|deviant|> damn.. that's gotta be a new record running win98
Well, no one releasing this week made my job easy. It's also damn
easy to pick out the best titles for the week, and they'd be called
C++ Builder 5, IntelliCAD 2000, XMetal 1.2, Think Design 4, and what
the hell since I want to choose five, CE/TOL 6. Rise definately
won the week, Corpgods and Shock both deserve notice, and LND
did put out two decent titles.
- Bud
=---------------Monthly Iso Utils Review------------------------=
End of March eh.
=---------[ Lester's Movie Reviews ]----------=
Sure he's a prominent scene member, leader of the #1 courier
group, and former "Miss Scene 1995".. But did you also know that
in real life, Lester's real name is "Roger", and he hosts a popular
syndicated television show, where he plays a big fatass who has
nothing better to do with his time than go to every single movie
ever released? Well.. now you know..
Honestly did not see anything. :)
-----------------
=----------------------------------=-------------------------------------=
=---------[ VCD Group and Movie Reviews ]----------=
VCD Group and Movie Review
We would like to begin by explaining some of the common terms used in VCD
releasing. These formats are:
CAM - A cam is usually a handheld camera snuck into a full theatre. The base
is shaky, the audio is poor, you can hear people laughing and talking. A cam
is distinguishable by usually having a combination of all three or more of
these flaws. Most sites nuke cams for their general poor quality.
Workprint - An early release of a movie. These are usually stolen or leaked
copies of movies that have made their way onto VCD from VHS or a variety of
other sources. These will usually contain running time codes as well as other
identifying marks used in movie production. The quality on these can vary
from bad to very good depending on the quality of the source material used to
encode the VCD. Note: This category is also used for very bad screeners or
copies of movies that just didn't fit into any of the other categories due to
defects or problems with the quality of the VCD's audio/video image.
Telesync - Basically a very good Cam. A steady base such as a tripod is used,
the theatre is empty or very close to empty, and the audio and video are up
to par. Although, you can usually detect some flaw with a TS. You may see a
random head pop up, the screen edges are noticable, or the audio isn't always
crystal clear. While not perfect, the quality in general of a telesync ranges
from good to very good and is usually the first type of VCD made of a new
movie.
Screeners - These are the top quality VCDs. They can be in either widescreen
(letterbox) or in full-screen (pan and scan) with excellent audio and video.
These are made from video distributors demo tapes, reviewers copies, insider
copies of the film or from any number of sources. Most screeners will contain
"1-800-NO-COPIES" or "Property of.." messages somewhere in the film, but it's
not a requirement to fit into the screener category. These most closely
resemble a VHS or LaserDisc copy of the movie. They're easily identifiable by
their top quality.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
=----------------------------------=-------------------------------------=
---------------------[ Da' Game Review ]--------------------------------=
DENNISON'S GAME REVIEW
----------------------
Okay, I wasn't able to make any reviews last week as I was idle as hell with all
the workload I have to carry out especially with the final examinations drawing
near (only about a week left w00h00!) So, well I was able to read a part of
Lester's comment hoping that I'll be consistent with this report so that made
me feel a bit guilty for not having a report last week and seeing Bud was idle
as well and Lester's not watching much movies anymore (which is a bad sign) I
decided to go leech.. umm. I mean, download.. er, "trade" a few *cough* LEGAL
*cough* copies of games that er.. aren't even out in the market (my dog works
at Eidos and my cat works at EA so I get games really really early.. believe me
it's strange but true!) and so PREPARE TO BE ELECTRIFIED BY THE MOST ELECTRI-
FYING REPORT IN SCENE ENTERTAINMENT TODAY!@#$$%$^^& (damnit, been watching too
much wrestling lately) and that's the bottomline :P
This week I have 2 special guests, Fade (MM8 review) and Neo (Croc2 review) cos
I didn't have time to get those two (and after reading their reviews I don't
think I ever will :) so big big thanks to them ;D
Ok I know my computers suck, here are the specs. I will be mailing them over to
my great pal JEFFK after I type this report so he can "haxxxx0r" my "computrar"
and my AOL cos I hear he's good this shit, so with luck my Pentium 550 will be
"overclocked" into a "PENTUIUM 99999 GIGAHERZ COMPUTAR" by JEFFK
Test system (singleplayer): Windows 98 OSR2, Intel Pentium 550, 64MB RAM,
32MB ASUS Riva TNT2, Sounblaster AWE64 PCI, 52x CD-ROM
Test system (multiplayer): Windows 98 OSR2, Intel Celeron 300a, 64MB RAM,
32MB ASUS Riva TNT, generic 32bit PCI soundcard, 32x CD-ROM, 10Mbit generic
PCI LAN card, 100Mbit HUB
Comments, suggestions, constructive criticism, money email dennison@ucf2000.com
Flames, insults, curses, spam, fanmail, or sex email root@127.0.0.1
Sammy Sosa Softball Slam
------------------------
Publisher...: 3DO Interactive http://www.3do.com
Developer...: Team .366 http://www.3do.com
Homepage....:
Genre.......: Sports
Accelerated.: YES
Price.......: $29.99
Demo........: Unavailable
Requirements: Win9x, Pentium 233MHZ PC Compatible, 32MB RAM, 200MB HD space,
2MB video card, DirectX compatible sound card, 4x CD-ROM
ESRB Rating.: Everyone - contains comic mischief
Graphics....: 7/10 - The graphics are mediocre, the players, bat, and ball are
in 3D but the background, audience, and everything else is
all 2D sprites. They didn't even bother to animate the
audience, which gives the game an eerie feeling that you
are being watched by zombies. Anyway the game lets you
choose between software and accelerated mode, as well as
choose from a bunch of resolutions from 512x384 to
1280x1024, so I ran it at the highest possible res and
it still ran smoothly, great! You can also create (edit)
your own characters and leagues, as well as choose from an
array of arenas and decide whether you want to play during
the day or during nighttime, although I noticed that the
only difference between playing at night and day is that
you get a different background :P
Sound.......: 9/10 - Ok, the sound effects per se are okay, and you get a wacky
announcer that says funny things once in a while. You can
hear the "audience" (or whatever you call it) pipe in once
in a while with shouts like "Score!," "Strike her out!,"
"Oh no! It's Sammy Sosa!!!" and "What's taking you so
long!?" which added to the comic atmosphere of the game.
Control.....: 7/10 - Control varies on the level of difficulty you chose before
the start of every game. If you chose easy, all you have
to do is press the enter key at the right moment and the
computer will control your basemen and fielders for you.
at normal to hard level, you will have to control your
basemen on your own, as well as run between bases on your
own, so you have greater control over your player and
teammates than in easy mode. I can't find any place where
you can redefinte the controls and I don't think it can
be redefined, so that's a boo-boo, since most people who
don't read manuals (like me) usually refer to the controls
configuration to find out the appropriate controls.
Gameplay....: 8/10 - This is probably the first softball game ever to hit the
PC, and it's not bad, but not perfect either, there are
still a few stitches on controlling that would be nice to
see resolved in future versions of this game, if ever
there are plans to turn this game into a sequel.
Story.......: - Emm. I don't think sports games need a story not unless
it's a WWF game, then you gotta have a friggin' story or
I'll personally take my mouse, go over to the developers,
AND STICK THAT THING RIGHT UP INTO THEIR CANDY ASS!#!@$
uh.. sorry, got a bit carried away by the WWF mania there.
Stephanie is so sexy and I wanna mary her ;D oh and bye
bye Mick Foley *sniff*
Movies......: 5/10 - They have a not-so-bad intro movie. Aside from that,
nothing else...
Replay......: 7/10 - Ok, well, unlike other baseball games where you get the
pros, here you only get Sammy Sosa, so I don't think many
hardcore baseball fans will replay this game much, but
this game definitely fits the "fun for the whole family"
category and I'm sure the whole family will enjoy playing
this game just to pass time.
Gender Bias.: 10/10 - Ok you get a fair amount of both male and female
characters in the game, and there aren't any sexist things
and such in the game, so it's all good.. the female model
is sexy ;D
Fun Factor..: 8/10 - I have to admit I'm not a big softball fan but this game
still is definitely fun to play especially if you have
some company to enjoy the game with.. damn goody goody
family-type games ;[
Multiuser...: 3/10 - Ok, well.. not mutliuser support, no profiles no nothing.
Multiplayer.: none
Overall.....: 7/10
I think this is quite an impressive shot at creating the first ever softball
game for the PC and although there are a lot of limitations and downsides, there
are a lot of strong points in the game as well.
-
The Bottomline:
Is it worth buying? For $30? umm, maybe :)
-
Command and Conquer Tiberian Sun Firestorm Expansion Pack
---------------------------------------------------------
Publisher...: Westwood Studios http://www.westwood.com
Developer...: Westwood Studios http://www.westwood.com
Homepage....: http://www.westwood.com/games/ccuniverse/firestorm/main.html
Genre.......: RTS (Request to.. er.. Real-time Strategy)
Accelerated.: YES
Price.......: Not yet available
Demo........: Unavailable
Requirements: Win9x, Pentium 166MHZ PC Compatible, 32MB RAM, 300MB HD space,
4MB video card, DirectX compatible sound card, 2x CD-ROM
ESRB Rating.: Unrated, my rating: Teen (13+)
Graphics....: 10/10 - Same old Tiberian Sun style units and terrain that never
ceases to impress me.
Sound.......: 9/10 - Same old Tiberian Sun style music and sound effects that
never ceases to impress me.
Control.....: 8/10 - Same old Tiberian Sun style music er.. countrols that
never ceases to impress me.
Gameplay....: 6/10 - Same old sucky, outdated Tiberian Sun style gameplay that
never ceases to disappoint me.
Story.......: 7/10 - Same old.. um, okay so it's a continuation of the ever-
boring Command and Conquer universe.. *yawn*
Movies......: 8/10 - Of course, same old Tierbain Sun style movies that never
ceases to bore me.
Replay......: 5/10 - *yawn.. zzzz*
Gender Bias.: 7/10 - A game primarily for the male population, but I am sure
girls would love to play this game too.
Fun Factor..: 5/10 - *zzzzz..* mommy? I don't wanna review this game anymore
Multiuser...: 7/10 - Limited number of saves which you can use to save and load
gamestates.
Multiplayer.: 6/10 - Just like Tiberian Sun, it's a game a few people will even
notice (and they're die-hard C&C players at that)
Overall.....: 6/10
Just like my comments up there, this game is crap. Westwood, unlike Blizzard, is
a sales-oriented company. They are in this just to make money, that is why they
put a lot of hype into their products to make sure many will buy it (ie.
Dune2000 and the many C&C revisions). Surely, Firestorm will be another one of
those games that many people will buy (because of a lot of hype on Tiberian Sun)
, but will never really enjoy. The C&C style gameplay is: go up the tech tree,
build, attack. There is no strategy, and although Tiberian Sun has a bit more of
strategy than its C&C predecesors, it's still predominantly a unit-building
game. Whoever controls the most units win. Oh, and do I have to remind everyone
that NOD still overpowers GDI by 10 times? Gee, talk about balance, and now with
the new units in Firestorm, GDI just got stronger. GDI now acquires mobile EMP
generator, and NOD gets a f*cking mobile stealth generator, now they're unstop-
pable! If in a typical game stories the good guys always win, and obviously that
is not the case here. new units, new maps, new upgrades, kane is dead and there
is a new leader, new.. give me f*cking a break! Okay, so maybe I'm being a bit
too harsh, it's still a good game, so I checked the shop's statistics on how
many people really play Tiberian Sun and it seems that a few customers come in
to play it once in a week, so that's not really good stats.
-
The Bottomline:
Is it worth buying? Uhh, what's the title of that game again?
-
Might & Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer
----------------------------------------
Publisher...: 3DO http://www.3do.com
Developer...: 3DO http://www.3do.com
Homepage....: http://www.3do.com/products/pc/mm_destroyer/
Genre.......: RPG (Role-Playing Game)
Accelerated.: YES
Price.......: $44.99
Demo........: Unavailable
Requirements: Win9x, Pentium 233MHZ PC Compatible, 32MB RAM, 500MB HD space,
2MB video card, DirectX compatible sound card, 4x CD-ROM
ESRB Rating.: Teen (13+) - contains animated blood, animated violence
Graphics....: 5/10 - Boring 2D sprites, nothing special, seems like the game
is still using the outdated engine used by 3DO in MM6
Sound.......: 7/10 - Mediocre sound effects and voices.
Control.....: 8/10 - Same old point and click interface.
Gameplay....: 8/10 - The game starts out strong and interesting, but it drags
and starts to get tiresome after a few hours, heck it's a
2-cd game even.
Story.......: 7/10 - The Destroyer is back! Good must prevail over evil! woohoo
Movies......: 7/10 - The movies, although good, could use a few more effects
and better animation and graphics, the characters seem to
move very unnaturally.
Replay......: 6/10 - Once you get absorbed in the worlf of Might and Magic like
a lot of my friends are, you get hooked, forget about
eating, install a toilet in front of your computer, and
forget about sleep.
Gender Bias.: 10/10 - It's RPG games like these that interest both males and
females alike, heck, girls could solve puzzles faster than
I could, hehe.. they totally own me at MM.
Fun Factor..: 6/10 - It may be fun for others, but I find reading through pages
of text boring that it just scroll through the important
parts or else I might get a migraine from reading too
long. Slow engine and jerky graphics bring down the fun
factor of this game
Multiuser...: 10/10 - You can create your own characters and save them. You can
also save your progress in the game to be loaded and
continued later on (of course)
Multiplayer.: none
Overall.....: 6/10
MM8 was about 40 hours of gameplay, and still long away from good old MM6
that was like 120 hours (only thing that's better with MM8 is that it use
D3D acceleration). Something that was new in MM8 was that you just started
with one person in the party, and had to pickup other partymembers through the
game, my personal thought is that this option should be a choice if you want to
start with a whole party or not. And WTF happend with the Archmage ? Just
Necromancers, Dark Elves, Trolls, etc.. oh yah, you could be a cleric, It
was like the only "person of light" you could be, so MM8 is a game for ppl that
liked the dark path of MM7, also it's a musthave for a RPG fan, myself for
exaple started to play at 12pm thursday, and had it done on sunday afternoon, so
it's kinda gets to you. MM8 is a
very easy game, just let a dragon join your party
and no dungeon is hard to finnish. Nearly no puzzel's at all, as it use to be in
Might and Magic games, just a few riddle's in the end of the game, and ofcourse
the famous Obelisk quest. Final thoughts, this game is a really good game, but
after MM6, I know that New World Computing could make it so damn much better.
And yah, a new engine, it's up for MM9, they are going to use the same engine
as "Shogo - mobile armor division". But anyway, It's a good RPG and beats games
like FF8 easily..
-
The Bottomline:
for $45, I think I'll wait for MM9. I hope 3DO wakes up and starts putting a
little more quality for their fans
-
(rated and reviewed by Fade)
Croc 2
------
Publisher...: Fox Interactive http://www.foxinteractive.com/
Developer...: Argonaut Software Ltd. http://www.argonaut.com/
Homepage....: http://www.croc2.com/
Genre.......: Arcade
Accelerated.: YES
Price.......: $19.99
Demo........: (32mb) http://www.foxinteractive.com/croc2/demo/croc2demo.exe
Requirements: Win9x, Pentium 266MHZ PC Compatible, 32MB RAM, 32MB HD space,
4MB video card, DirectX compatible sound card, 4x CD-ROM
ESRB Rating.: Everyone - contains mild animated violence
Graphics....: 4/10 - Simple objects, nothing spectacular.
Sound.......: 4/10 - Simply annoying, especially when you have a conversation
with another character.
Control.....: 5/10 - Simple, but bad, the controls won't allow you to walk
backwards.
Gameplay....: 7/10 - Generally it wasn't so bad, at least I am sure younger
kids would find it fun.
Story.......: 3/10 - Extremely bad introduction, I didn't really understand
what the story was.
Movies......: 4/10 - No movies except 3D rendered sequences.
Replay......: 1/10 - Annoying and boring, after that first try, I didn't want
to play it anymore.
Gender Bias.: 10/10 - Great for both gender young or old, but definitely younger
kids.
Fun Factor..: 3/10 - Tell you the truth, I didn't find it every fun at all,
more like boring.
Multiuser...: 2/10 - Doesn't allow multiple profiles.. you're always the same
chracter and the story doesn't change nor can you change
the playble character.
Multiplayer.: 3/10 - Tried it for about 10 mins then quit, so not much here..
Overall.....: 4/10
As you can see from the above rating, this game is targetted towards younger
kinds, probably about the game of 8-11. Personally, I thought the game to be too
childish for teens or adults, but perhaps some people will have a different
view. I was annoyed by the fact that I couldn't use the back arrow to walk
backwards. This contributed the fact that I kept on falling into the lava pit.
-
The Bottomline:
If you're a parent, it would be a good game for your kids, but if you're a teen
or adult, I don't recommend you trying it. It will most likely turn out to be a
waste of time. (You'd better be off downloading porn? :P -Ed)
-
(rated and reviewed by Neo)
-----------[The Scene News]-----------
All the news thats fit to print...
and then some...
1. COD goes down on Sunday, March 5, 2000 after 4 years ;(
2. TR is now confirmed to be perm down, another good old site gone.. :(
(damn that, tr was the ONLY site for me.. my favorite -dennison :(
3. TD is back up.. same userbase, affils, box, everything.. w00t!
4. according to minime.nfo in alchemist, MiNiME is disbanded:
BLUEBALL:
Some will be disappointed, others will be glad in cheer. This is the final
Minime release to the rip scene. After 6 months, it was time to say goodbye
to the end, to move on, and to sure as hell not merge with any group. After
25 releases to the scene, it was time to move on and do better shit in
life. We brought you all types of games, and hoped you enjoyed them all.
5. DBZ is also back up
--------[Stories from the Watercooler]----------
Ahh yes, rumors, we all love them even though we love to say how much we
hate them when they are about us. And these are some of the better ones
circulating around this week. Email us or find us on irc if you have a
good rumor you'd like entered, your name will not be included, but we
do not add rumors like that Xtremist is having Jess' baby or that
Elocin is being gang raped by Cedric and Sins, because we all know
that those are both true.
Rumor is that Xtremist is going to have triplets!
=-------------------------------------=--------------------------------------=
Well friends.. Thats about it. If you've read this far, we sincerly thank you.
We like to know this thing gets read, so if you get the time, drop one of us
a quick msg, and tell us what you think, give us suggestions, tell us it sucks,
or just say "hi" to us!....
Greets fly out to: Ryche, Edge, Bernis, Elocin, Sins, Crackz, Zip, Goatass,
Dma, Bigmom, Bud, Preacher K, Bohnz, Ceddie, Glenfag,
Prs, Tyger, Dopestar, LS, PaleDeth, Humble, Xtremist.
Find us on IRC in #nwr, (channel commands: !nwr, !nwr 69 or whatever issue
you want.
+lester
03/07/00
