Netmonkey Weekly Report Issue LXXIV February 25th, 2000 g#S$ d. ____ ascii by garflozzy ____ $$$: -- ,$b ----- $$$ ___ $$$$$s __ :$$l $',$$$$.`$$ :$$$._l$$: ,s#S$$$$: $$$"È$$b.`È$i $$$ ',$$'À$$,`$ l$$$T$$$$._ --------- l$$$$$$$$ :$$l b,`Y$$,`l l$$.d$P . À$$,` $$l" $$$ýT$S#g._ ----------- °°°°°°°°° :$$$$$$$l l$$: $$b.`Y$$, :$$$$' d$b À$$,d$$: :$$l ,.`"ýT$S# °°°°°°°°° $$$$$$$: $$$ :$$$$. Y$$.s$$$' d$$$b '$$$$l l$$: l$'.d$$' $$$$$$$. $$$ l$$$$$. $$$Sl$' d$$$$$b '$$$: :$$l .'.d$$' $$$$$$l :$$l $$$$$$l l$$::P :$$$$$$$b.`$l l$$: ~~~~~~~ ------------------ l$$: ------- :$$l.' ---------- `: ;$$l --------------------- $$$ °°°°°°° .l$$ :: ~~~~ ³ $$S#s,$$$ ::: ``^"ýY$$$ `Y$ [ n ] ETMONKEY [ W ] EEKLY [ R ] EPORT Lordie, can we say unstable? Hehe Its like friday morning and i'm putting out a half-ass issue just to get some of this old stuff off my hd and keep it from being totally outdated, but listen up, if you guys want to see NWR back in full swing of every week, here's what we are looking for: 1. A Games Group Reviewer, like the Blitz report and such. 2. A VCD Group Review(unless RYCHE WILL COME BACK@#!!@$!) 3. A Stats/Courier Review person, this requires you actually do your job every week. That's it. I'm gonna get the webpage done again finally, since ND is never coming back it seems, and then we'll see about getting back on weekly. Otherwise we may just switch to bi-weekly as I do not have the time to do all of this every week. We also have a new addition to the mag, much like the old Ionizer report from INQ days, it's by Dennison and reviews the bigger games that come out, hopefully he'll stick to doing it fairly regularly:) -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 ]----------- /**********************************************************************\ | Sites Used This Week: | | x3 FS - E - CAT - ET - PD | | x2 LA - MG - EB - PP - VDR | | x1 T - PB - H2H - DLS - TT | \**********************************************************************/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Top Ten Traders This Week ---------------------------------------------------------------------- /**********************************************************************\ | NICK |FS|E |CAT|ET|PD|LA|EB|MG|PP|VDR|T |PB|H2H|DLS|TT|Total| |[01] nail |03|01|02 |08|03|03|03|03|03|03 |05|02|04 |03 |06|229p | |[02] cedric |04|08|04 |03|01|08|01|05|04|02 |xx|xx|xx |04 |xx|182p | |[03] sax |xx|04|05 |06|08|07|xx|02|01|06 |01|03|01 |10 |02|164p | |[04] toonces |05|03|01 |02|05|01|10|xx|xx|01 |xx|xx|xx |01 |xx|160p | |[05] PsedO |09|02|03 |09|04|02|06|06|xx|04 |xx|xx|02 |07 |01|156p | |[06] Jaydee |02|06|07 |05|02|xx|02|01|xx|xx |03|xx|xx |02 |xx|154p | |[07] cahor |xx|07|06 |xx|xx|xx|07|xx|02|05 |02|01|03 |xx |03|106p | |[08] boring |xx|09|08 |10|10|09|09|04|05|09 |xx|xx|xx |06 |08|70p | |[09] freakshow |06|xx|xx |xx|xx|10|xx|xx|xx|07 |xx|xx|xx |xx |xx|39p | |[10] FlaVoR |10|xx|xx |xx|09|06|xx|xx|10|xx |xx|xx|06 |xx |xx|31p | \**********************************************************************/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Top Five Groups This Week ---------------------------------------------------------------------- /**********************************************************************\ | Group Abbr. |FS|E |CAT|ET|PD|LA|EB|MG|PP|VDR|T |PB|H2H|DLS|TT|Total| |[01] AOD |02|NA|01 |01|01|02|01|01|01|01 |01|02|02 |01 |01|118p | |[02] AMN |03|NA|04 |05|03|03|02|02|02|03 |03|01|03 |05 |02|79p | |[03] RiSC |xx|NA|03 |02|04|01|03|04|03|02 |02|05|01 |xx |04|73p | |[04] DEV |01|NA|02 |xx|02|04|04|03|xx|04 |04|xx|xx |02 |xx|63p | |[05] ViCE |05|NA|xx |xx|xx|xx|xx|05|xx|xx |xx|xx|05 |xx |xx|6p | \**********************************************************************/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: Weektops are calculated by top10 traders on each site, points go as follows: trader #1=10p x site multiplier. Grouptops are calculated by top5 groups on each site, points go as follows: group #1=5p x site multiplier. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Group Review For This Week ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ANGELS ON DRUGS: The angels are back to business with four people on the weektop charts and complete domination in the grouptop charts - cedric and sax are putting up thier usual meggage while cahor is starting to show why he came to aod, with being added to more sites we should expect to see him on the top5 traders :) freakshow also added a few pres to the total, which brings aod #1 grouptop on most sites. Ranking: 9/10 Comments: things will only get better soon, so watch out scene! AMNESiA: Things arent looking so good in the amn camp, although they took #2 in the grouptops chart its mostly because of nail, which is an awesome trader and showing consistancy, taking #1 in the weektop charts weektopping every site in this weeks review, other than that amn didnt have much to offer, we saw jfking pop up here and there, but nothing too serious from the amn crew. Ranking: 4/10 Comments: back to the one man show. RISE iN SUPERIOR COURIERING: RiSC is looking good ever since scan has took over the leadership position, getting #3 in the grouptop charts, and mostly we see nice work from thier now established team with psedo leading the way, backed up by flavor avalanche and worp, i can only expect to see more of this crew and maybe flavor getting back to himself and owning once again. Ranking: 7/10 Comments: good group effort, lets see some more! DEVOTiON: Nothing much to say here... another week of jaydee and tc preing, although tc actually traded some(HI TC!), but other than that nothing interesting is going on in the dev camp. Ranking: 4/10 Comments: wheres office and native ? ViCE: Quiet... Very quiet, no vice trader in the weektop charts, but they somehow manage to grab #5 in the grouptops, hardly getting the megs even on thier hq's. Seems like when citizen is gone theres noone to pull the meggage for the vice team. Ranking: 1/10 Comments: time to wake up from hibernation mrkiwi :) MOONSHiNE: Nice job :) msn has tied with vice for the #5 spot in the grouptop charts, also having boring in the weektop charts at #8. We also saw phresh and valient spewing some pres and even trading a bit, and it looks like msn is ready to invade europe, with msn people being on more of the topsites i think msn can start being a force in the euro scene. Ranking: 6/10 Comments: nice effort, you can do more! FastLane: I dont know much about these guys cept thier leader doobie :P fl has some people working the charts, though nothing serious yet, but from what i hear fl is getting ready to enter the euro scene, lets see what they can do! Ranking: N/A Comments: let me know when your here :) Insanity: Nothing serious this week, but i hear eich is coming back, and from what i remember he was pretty damn good, so lets wait and see what the ins team can do for us other than releasing the kbot bible :) Ranking: N/A Comments: eich is back... now wheres isso ? :) -----------[ Articles ]----------- =----------------------------------=--------------------------------------= -----------[ The Gaming Report ]----------- =============================================================================================== OMG YET ANOTHER GAMES REPORT ISSUE #5 ------------------------------------- Note: This report is best viewed in DOS Editor, AcidDraw, some other good ASCII editor, or on the chest of a Playboy Bunny. Looks like I'm it for games again this week. No editing because Bud was a lazy chimp and didn't even want to edit his own report. So sorry if my spelling is a bit off - believe it or not I don't have a spellchecker installed anywhere on my system. There were actually a few games this week so I guess I have something to write about. Actually last week was probably better now that I look at it. Great news! I'm now so popular I get quoted in HiV's Orgasming report! I think I just creamed! - 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 - 02/09/00 thru to 02/12/00. 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: Phoenix_v1.1_Update-BACKLASH 1 Total: 1 Comments: Just when I was about to delete these guys from my review (and from my memory), they finally do something. A patch. Yay, competition for Razor. The Good: A sign of life. The Bad: Don't expect a repeat of this momentus effort anytime soon. The Ugly: Jim Varney, Charles Schultz, and Tom Landry all died this week. RELEASE NAME (c) COMPANY ______ /| ___ /\______ /\______ / \/ | / _ \ / _____/ _____>1 / |_ / |/ | \\____ \ \____ \ 9 < | < / | / | \/ | \ 9 \ _____\_<____|___\_____ /\_____ / 9 +=\/hh!===================\/[XX/??]\/==+ CLASS: RELEASES: POINTS: The_Aztec_Empire_Money_Trainer-CLS (Broken/Last week) -1 Panzer_Campaigns_Smolensk_41_v1.02_Update_Cracked-CLS 1 Nox_Cheats-CLS 1 Superbike_2000_Music_Addon-CLS 1 Superbike_2000-CLS 2 Horse_And_Musket-CLS 1 Nox_Speech_Addon-CLS 1 Nox_Music_Addon-CLS 2 Nox-CLS 4 Total: 12 Comments: Once again it's Class who are the most active, and again they pull in a highly anticipated title, this time NOX from Westwood, an RPG supposedly as good as Diablo. The Good: NOX. A solid rip, a couple addons that you don't really need (Speech does little to enhance the game in this case, music is decent but not necessary of course). An 8bit GFX addon went out under IND, but I doubt anyone will bother with it - lets face it, if your system is that bad you shouldn't be playing games anyways, you should be working your ass of to make money for a new system. The cheatcode release was a bit of a retaliation against PDM, who fixed a CLS trainer only to fuckup their own NOX trainer. The Bad: Horse & Musket is a pretty crappy turn based war game. Actually, it's a VERY crappy turn based war game. The GUI blows, looking like some VB app put together in half an hour. The graphics suck, and the resolution is awful. Select zoom mode and all you see is a bunch of pixels which MIGHT be a man riding a horse, but could possibly be a horse riding a man. We actually saw two games from this publisher (Shrapnel Games) this week, the other being an addon for another crappy war game, this time released by DVN. So it appears CLS and DVN will probably race the next crappy turn based war game out from Shrapnel, WDK2K. Yay, I can't wait! <--- Insert sarcasm here. The Ugly: CLS forgot to crack the AMD executable for SuperBikes. As a result I gave them 2 points instead of 3 on the game, PDM gets the subtracted point for their fix. CLS also looses another point to PDM, for the Aztec Empire trainer from last week. I'll deduct a point here, since that trainer was broken and PDM did a working copy this week. For the record, I never test trainers since I don't use them. 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: Beetle.Crazy.Cup.Savegame-DVN 1 Beetle.Crazy.Cup.Music.Addon-DVN 1 Beetle.Crazy.Cup-DVN 3 Corsairs_Gold_Money_Trainer-DVN 1 Brigade.Combat.Team.Expansion.Pack.2-Light.Fighters-DVN 1 Total: 7 Comments: DVN, despite being dismissed over the years by their competitors, continually come up with some suprises. This time it's Beetle Crazy Cup, almost a week before you'll see it in shops. The Good: They got a game, and they got it early. No suprise that they can do it, after releases like Antietam and Tzar from the end of last year, which proved they had some decent supply connections. Beetle Crazy Cup isn't the best racing game, unless you love the Bug (your girlfriend might enjoy it, all chicks love those cars), but it's not bad. The game should get some points for not limiting itself to a few basic car designs - you can drive a beetle beach buggy, amongst other things. Note that the Savegame release is basically an unlock for all cars and tracks. The Bad: DVN competed with Class over crappy war games. Oh well, at least five people are gonna love these things. DVN proved it can rip, with UT, WOT, etc. They proved they can get games early. They can train games, they can crack. What they CAN'T seem to do is accomplish these tasks on a regular basis, and long dry periods occur as a result. Until they get active on a weekly basis, they've got the 3rd/4th spot secured, but not much hope of moving up. The Ugly: Nothing RELEASE NAME (c) COMPANY [xx/??] __ ______ ______ ____ _____ ____ _____ \// _ \ _ \_\__/ _ \_\__/_\_ \ / / / / /. / / / / / / \______/ \____|_/\___ /___/___/ / --------|___|---------/____\------/____\- Supplier: Cracker : ORIGIN: RELEASES: POINTS: Heartbreakers-ORiGiN 2 Corsairs.Gold.Movie.Addon-ORiGiN 1 Corsairs.Gold-ORiGiN 3 Total: 6 Comments: Origin does two games which aren't exactly inspiring. But it is two games. The Good: They're still managing a few games each week. Last week they had the TA:K addon, this week their best is Corsairs Gold. Unfortunately, it's not a great game in the first place. Argue if you want, but the whole concept just didn't appeal to me. The Gold edition includes the original plus and expansion. The Bad: Heartbreakers is an asian title, a clone of Streetfighter II. Well the best fighting games are Asian developed, but this genre has really played itself out. In this case it's 3DFX/Glide only. However, the GFX look like a bad Super Nintendo game, and the sounds are limited and repetitive. Nothing special about the characters, and I wasn't impressed by their moves. Speaking of sounds, OGN could have made this a bit smaller by converting the WAV's, but we all know how bad OGN is with BAT files, and the game is only seven disks to begin with, so we'll let them off the hook. The Ugly: Nothing RELEASE NAME (c) COMPANY [XX/??] ÜÛÛßÛÛÜ ÞÛÜ ÛÜ ÞÛÛÝ ÞÛÛÝ ß ßß ßß ßßßßÞ۲ݲÛßßß ßßß ß ß ÞÛÛÝ ÞÛÛÝÛÛÜßÛßÛÛÜßÛÛÜÞÛßÞÛ²ÝÜ ÞÛßÛÛÜßÜÛÛÜ ÞÛÛÝÜÛÛß Þ²ÛÝÝ ÛÛ² ÞÛÛÝÝ ÞÛÛÝÛÛ Ý ÞÛÛÝÛ ÛÛÝ ÞÛÛÝ ÜÛÛßÜÛÛÝÝ ÜÜÜßÜÛÛÝ ÞÛÛÝÛÛÝ ÞÛÛÝÛ ÞÛÛ ÞÛÛÝÞÛÛÝ ÞÛ²ÝÝÞÛÛÝ ÞÛ²ÝÝ ÞÛ²ÝÛ²ÝÝ ÞÛ²ÝÛ ÞÛ² ÞÛÛÝ ßÛÛÜÛßÛÝÛÜßÛÛÜÛßÛÝÛÜÛÛßÜÛÛÝÛÜÞÛ²Ýß ÛÛ² ÜÜÜ ÞÛÛÝ-bd! ßÛÛÛÜÛÛÛ ßßßßß PARADIGM: RELEASES: POINTS: Superbikes_2000_AMD-crackfix_for_CLS-rip-PARADiGM 1 The_Aztec_Empire_Money_Trainer_WORKING-PARADiGM 1 NOX_TRAINER-PARADiGM -1 Total: 1 Comments: A fix for CLS's mistake and a "working" trainer, again for a CLS mistake. But it's "Trainer Wars" this week as CLS retaliated with cheats for NOX since PDM screwed up the trainer. The Good: They fixed up some CLS fuckups. The Bad: They can't seem to get any games. Precise was more active then PDM last week, as was Razor. And they fucked up their own trainer for NOX. The Ugly: Ego, ego, EGO. And if it wasn't for CLS's mistakes they'd have a big fat 0 in the points department. And if you're going to harp on another group for a broken trainer, make sure your own trainers work FULLY. 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: Total: Nada. Comments: N/A The Good: N/A The Bad: N/A The Ugly: N/A RELEASE NAME (c) COMPANY [XX/??] /\______ /\______ ____/\______ __ \____ \/ \__ \/ _ \____ \ __/ \____ / _/ _/ \/ / / / _/ _// / / / / / / \ \ /\ / /\ / / \ \/ /\ / / / \__/\ \/RTX______\___/\__/\ \/ / /_/_/ =====\___)===\__)============\___)=\/======= RAZOR: RELEASES: POINTS: Total: Nada. Comments: N/A The Good: N/A The Bad: N/A The Ugly: N/A ___________ __________ _________________________ \ _____/___\ ____/____\______ /\ _ / \_______ // / / \/ \ / / // // . \ \_____\ /___________\____________\\____________/______\ ..........................................s.c.a.r.. . SCAR: RELEASES: POINTS: Total: Nada. Comments: N/A The Good: N/A The Bad: N/A The Ugly: N/A Group Rankings: RANKING: POINTS: TO DATE: RANK TO DATE: 1) Class (12) (148.5) 1 2) Divine (7) (58.5) 2 3) Origin (6) (34.5) 5 4) Backlash (1) (.5) 8 4) Paradigm (1) (51.5) 3 5) Razor (0) (17) 6 6) Scar (0) (37) 4 7) Precise (0) (3.5) 7 Top 3 Releases This Report: NOX (CLS) Corsairs Gold (OGN) Bettle Crazy Cup (DVN) Springerish Final Thought: It must hurt to be tied with BLH. It would be nice to see Razor active for two CONSECUTIVE weeks. Despite the fact that I think Corsairs sucks, it got a spot in the top three, since there wasn't much to choose from. NOX obviously stole the show this week. My comments from last week on CLS still stand. While they didn't fuck up as badly this week, they still had some trouble. With PWA busted, the rumor mill is in full swing. There's a narq in Class. There's a narq in X-Force. My balls are plotting to narq my ass. - The Preacher Kane. =----------------------------------=--------------------------------------= -----------[ Bud's Biased Utils Section ]----------- No utils, no time no bud no elo..no desire by our iso guy to do a 0day one :) =---------------Monthly Iso Utils Review------------------------= Tuesday will be the February Iso Monthly Utils Review. =---------[ 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.. Pitch Black Starring: Vin Diesel and other unknowns Rating: 3 1/2 out of 4 Well, it's been awhile since there has been a real good sci-fi flick, but this cast of unknowns delivers of a nice film. It's about a ship that crashes on a desolate planet, and it appears to be barren of all life, but as the lights go out on an eclipse, life appears and shit happens. Vin Diesel plays an escaped convict, and the other people are like misc. passengers and a cop taking Diesel back to prison. Movies got some good scares and nice effects and it's a good time. ------ Whole Nine Yards Starring: Bruce Willis, Matthew Perry and others. Rating: 4 out of 4 Stars Well, it's 4 out of 4 for a comedy, not for like epic film nature. This comedy is just absolutely hilarious, it's about Matthew Perry, who plays a dentist in canada, and his new neighbor, Willis, who plays an ex-mob hitman who is hiding out in canada. The plot is actually quite funny and Perry is at his best(not like his other movies :)) and even Willis is good. Overall very very funny movie. -------- Boiler Room Starring: Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Ben Affleck Rating: 3 out of 4 Stars Well, this is a movie I've been waiting quite awhile to see, I didn't get to see the WP that Eviliso released, so I had to wait till release date like a normal person, and it was worth the wait, it's about the stock trading and a chop shop that sells bogus stocks to people for bigtime cash. Ribisi is great as always and Vin Diesel is very good as well, not sure where he came from but he's in 2 nice movies in 1 weekend, and he's good in both. So nice newcomer and a good agent apparantly. Movie probably is not for most chicks tho, so go solo or grab some buds. --- ----------------- =----------------------------------=-------------------------------------= =---------[ 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nope:( Scream 3 TS Video Quality: 3 out of 5 Audio Quality: 2 1/2 out of 5 Movie Quality: 3 out of 5 Ehh, scream3 on tv isn't nearly as good as in the theaters, go see this one in the box office. =----------------------------------=-------------------------------------= ---------------------[ Da' Game Review ]--------------------------------= DENNISON'S GAME REVIEW ---------------------- Hello dear reader and welcome to my review section. This is a review section in which I will try to review as much games as possible from a non-scene related viewpoint. I have decided to do this because I have been wanting to do something like this for a long time either for a gaming review website or a magazine, but I am just too busy to be tied up with something like that. Anyway doing reviews like this is a nice idea since nobody will nag me to make a review for some game if I do not have time. In doing this I hope not only to capture the scene's interest but the interest of the non-scene people as well, and if you'll notice, the reviews will be more like the reviews you will find in certain gaming magazines. Expect to see reviews on most multiplayer games since my real-life business has to do with multiplayer gaming, but I will try to do singleplayer reviews whenever I could. My objective here is to show other multiplayer-gaming site owners and idea of how much impact a game would have on your customers. Hope you enjoy the ride! :-) 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 The Sims -------- Publisher...: Electronic Arts http://www.ea.com Developer...: Maxis http://www.maxis.com Homepage....: http://www.thesims.com/ Genre.......: Simulation Origin......: USA Players.....: 1 Accelerated.: YES Demo........: Unavailable Requirements: Win9x, Pentium 233MHZ PC Compatible, 32MB RAM, 300MB HD space, 2MB video card, DirectX compatible sound card, 4x CD-ROM ESRB Rating.: Teen (13+) for Comic Mischief, Mature Sexual Themes, Mild Animated Violence Graphics....: 10/10 - 3D acceleration and nicely-drawn, realistic graphics, create-your-own objects and skins. The game has the familiar SimCity 2D sprite-based engine, but I guess if everything was made 3D this game would require a lot of RAM and better video cards and CPUs Sound.......: 10/10 - Great atmospheric sounds and music you'll even sing while sleeping. Very inventive creation of the Sims' gibberish talk. Control.....: 10/10 - Everything is mouse-driven, point-and-click, keyboard shortcuts are available for the interface commands and for changing the speed of the game. There is also an option to make you control everything the Sims' do so that you have total control over the game. Gameplay....: 10/10 - A great new concept which has never been done before, that is--to simulate people in a time-management game. Very open-ended, the game does not end unless your people get caught and sent to jail or if they all die. Story.......: 10/10 - Open-ended, and the story is up to you--you choose your own story, quite a break from all those linear storylines you get from other games. Movies......: 10/10 - A great new concept which has never been done before, that is, to simulate people in a time-management game. Very open-ended, the game does not end unless your people get caught and sent to jail or if they all die. Replay......: 9/10 - Very addictive. Once you get the hang of the game, expect to be hooked. Gender Bias.: 10/10 - Both males and females should have fun playing with the Sims without feeling uneasy. In fact, it is said that this game is very popular especially among women. Hmm, I wonder why :) Fun Factor..: 9/10 - It gets a bit boring and repetitive if you are going to play for a few hours straight. Multiuser...: 5/10 - Lacks the feature to create multiple profiles and multiple saves for use in a single computer to which more than 1 person has access Multiplayer.: none Overall.....: 10/10 Definitely one of the most original and innovative games ever that is bound to set a new era in simulation. Expect to see clones of this game in the future. Everyone at the office is hooked on the game, and often I see them playing it during early mornings, during breaktime and whenever there isn't any important business to attend to :D Even though this isn't a multiplayer game ustomers have clamored for a try at the game, so I demonstrated it and they were awed by the realism. I overheard comments like "I have been waiting for this game for a long time" "Oh my, you can make him do that!??" and "Can you make them have sex?" Just like a sandbox, this is a game with infinite possibilities. There are still a lot of flaws in the game, though, and I can name a lot.. bisexuality, polygamy, politics, having no seasons, weekends, or holidays, not being able to go to the market, or watch a movie, or even go to a neighbor's house, but this is only the beginning, and I hope in the future, more and more of these issues will be resolved and more features added... Sims 2, anyone? Final Fantasy VIII ------------------ Publisher...: Square Electronic Arts http://www.squaresoft.ea.com Developer...: Squaresoft, Inc. http://www.squaresoft.com Homepage....: http://www.ff8.com/ (redirects to squaresoft.com) Genre.......: RPG (Role-Playing Game) Origin......: Japan Players.....: 1 Accelerated.: YES Demo........: Unavailable Requirements: Win9x, Pentium 200MHZ PC Compatible, 32MB RAM, 500MB HD space, 8MB video card, DirectX compatible sound card, 8x CD-ROM ESRB Rating.: Teen (13+) for Animated Violence, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes Graphics....: 5/10 - Very disappointing. I had hoped to see high-resolution graphics. Instead, you get what it seems to be a port-over of the PSX version. Even with 3D acceleration the edges are very jagged, and there is only one supported video resolution, 640x480 - disgusting :( Sound.......: 10/10 - The music is as lovely as ever, and I'm sure many will be in love with the game's soundtrack, "Eyes On Me" by Faye Wong. Lovely, enchanting song :) The background music pretty much adapts well with what is happening, be it a fight sequence, a dramatic scene, or a romantic scene. Control.....: 9/10 - It gets a little while to get used to a character's special move (like using Squall's gunblade attack). The fight sequences are menu-driven and turn-based, so not much to fuss about. Gameplay....: 10/10 - Again, just like previous Final Fantasy games, this game is easy to master, and everyone, gamer or not, should have a fair chance at defeating the game--the only drawback is the amount of time needed to finish it. Story.......: 10/10 - The usual romance theme in Final Fantasy games should keep many gamers interested in finishing it just to find out "what will happen next". The story is a bit complex at first, but once certain facts are unraveled, the puzzle pieces would all fall into place. Great storyline. Movies......: 10/10 - Great fully 3D full-motion videos that owners of this game would die for. Definitely worth watching. Replay......: 5/10 - Replay? Maybe not, since it would probably take the average gamer one whole month to finish this 4-CD game but still, die-hard fans would replay the game just to get all the GF's (your beast fighters). Gender Bias.: 5/10 - A bit pointed towards the male audience, and I don't expect females to be interested in playing complex fantasy RPGs like this one Fun Factor..: 9/10 - Gets a bit boring if you keep on encountering the same enemies over and over again, specially at times when you do not feel like fighting ie. when going across the forest but there is much to see to keep one's level of interest up. Multiuser...: 5/10 - Not much multiuser support, just save to a separate slot and load it up whenever you want to play. It would get messy if you have tons of saves though. Multiplayer.: none Overall.....: 8/10 Final Fantasy has always been a favorite among RPG fanatics, and this one is no exception. Overall, this game would have earned a 10/10 if not for the graphics which made me very disappointed. I bought this game hoping to see a lot of improvements, especially with 3D acceleration, but it seems Square Soft are a bit lazy to add high-resolution 32-textures and support for higher video modes. The highest i could get, 640x480x16 bit showed a lot of the textures rainbowing which means that the textures are probably only 8-bit color. I'd rather play the PSX version, at least the game looks better in TV mode than in the PC's high-res video mode. For those without a Playstation, this game is still worth buying not unless you want to miss out on another fine addition to the Final Fantasy series. Nox --- Publisher...: Electronic Arts http://www.ea.com Developer...: Westwood Studios http://www.westwood.com Homepage....: http://www.westwood.com/games/nox Genre.......: RPG (Role-Playing Game) Origin......: USA Players.....: 1 Accelerated.: YES Demo........: http://www.westwood.com/games/nox/downloadnoxnow/index.html Requirements: Win9x/NT, Pentium 200MHZ PC Compatible, 32MB RAM, 300MB HD space, 2MB video card, DirectX compatible sound card, 4x CD-ROM ESRB Rating.: Teen (13+) for Animated Violence Graphics....: 10/10 - You can choose between 8-bit and 16-bit graphics depending on your system's capabilities, and both contain nice hand- drawn graphics. The scenes are rich and full of detail, and there are a lot of textures to keep getting 2 places from looking alike. Great effects too, especially with the interface mouse cursor which really grabbed my attention the first time I played the game. Sound.......: 10/10 - Great ambient sounds and sound effects, and the music nicely captures certain events in the game. Control.....: 9/10 - There are a lot of keyboard shortcuts if you dont want to use the mouse all the time, otherwise the whole game is mouse-driven. Keyboard controls can be modified to suit your own needs. Gameplay....: 7/10 - Another Diablo clone, just better graphics/sounds/effects and a new story, but still fun to play. Its a bit time- consuming tho, dont play unless you have loads of time. Story.......: 7/10 - A linear one. A lot of mini-quests to keep you busy tho, just like in Diablo, but the main objective is to touch the magic Orb in the possession of the wicked-evil queen of the undead, Hecubah. Movies......: 10/10 - This is what took up 2 CDs of the game, so dont expect just some crappy animations :P Replay......: 7/10 - I dont think so, although I haven't finished the game yet to find out if there is a difference between playing as conjurer, wizard, or warrior, the fact that the game takes up a lot of time to play doesn't encourage me to finish the game more than once. Another addictive game, though. Gender Bias.: 5/10 - Another testosterone-driven game that is once again geared towards the male audience. You'll often find a semi-nude picture of Queen Hecubah in Nox posters.. this is a trend which Lara Croft of Tomb Raider started, and Nox seems to think that putting up an ugly-looking woman in bikinis would entice males to buy the game more. Fun Factor..: 9/10 - I just love hacking through monsters :) Multiuser...: 7/10 - No support for multiple profiles, although you can create your own character, start the game, then save it to a different slot. Multiplayer.: 7/10 - Although there are numerous multiplay modes such as arena, capture the flag, elimination, king of the realm, and flag ball, what is missing is the quest or story mode, which I think is the most important mode, and Nox lacks it :( To be able to finish the game cooperatively with your friends like in Diablo and Baldurs Gate is one of the best aspects of multiplayer gaming, I wonder why Westwood didn't bother including this! Overall.....: 7/10 Unless you've been living under a rock or hiding in a cave for the past 5 years, then you know that games like Quake, Diablo, and Starcraft are among the biggest titles, and a lot of clones have come out in the market in lieu of these games. Nox is Westwood's version of Diablo. I see Nox as bascially Diablo using the Tiberian Sun engine. A lot of nifty features added such as real-time colored lighting, transparency and true line-of-signt vision which adds a new dimension to multiplayer gaming since you can hide in the shadows and prey on other players. Also, a lot of objects are movable, which is something we have never seen yet in a Diablo clone. The only interaction you can do, though, is to push these objects around. Things such as rocks, chairs, bookshelves can be moved around, just as in real life. Also, barrels of water can be pushed over a wall of fire to douse the flames and keep your character from getting hurt (and you sure will get hurt, my character has died a lot of times from stepping over fire by accident). I think this movable object idea is really cool, and it has impressed me by far. Also, there are a lot of in-game storytelling wherein the game engine is used to show different events, and all you have to do is sit and watch. Finally, probably the biggest down side of the game is the multiplayer aspect. Sure, this game was a big hit among the players the day I installed it over the network, and we played many arena matches and it was quite fun--until we got tired of it and they were like, ok I'm tired of killing you guys over and over again, I'm going to disconnect and play single-player. Now, it would've been a lot more fun if you can finish the quest cooperatively with your friends. I remember the nights when we used to play Diablo, from evening to morning because it was really that fun, too bad we can't experience that in Nox, so Nox is suerly to be another single-player experience... Can't wait for Diablo 2 now. Counter-Strike for Half-Life ---------------------------- Publisher...: Developer...: Counter-Strike development team http://www.counter-strike.net Homepage....: http://www.counter-strike.net Genre.......: Half-Life Modification Origin......: USA Players.....: Max. 32 Accelerated.: YES Demo........: http://www.counter-strike.net/downloads.html Requirements: Win9x, Pentium 200MHZ PC Compatible, 32MB RAM, 40MB HD space, 2MB video card, DirectX compatible sound card, Half-Life CD ESRB Rating.: unrated, my rating: Mature (17+) for realistic violence and realistic blood Graphics....: 10/10 - Realistic weapons that look like the real thing! How I love the glock!! and the sniper rifle.. oh my.. deadly! :) Sound.......: 7/10 - A complete set of sound effects for all the weapons.. I love it :) the radio message voices are a bit vague though Control.....: 6/10 - Lots of controls! It would take a lot of time to get used to the different keyboard commands, binding, and shortcuts aside from the move/shoot controls, you also need to bind keys to reload, buy, rescue, radio a message, etc... quite confusing at first, but you'll get the hang of it. Gameplay....: 9/10 - When you join a CS game, you get to choose between terrorist and counter-terrorist team, and depending on the map and which side you are on, you will be given missions such as rescue missions, elminate the other team, or bomb detonating missions, and more, all of which are just as fun to play :) Story.......: 5/10 - Eliminate the other team :p well, aside from that you have to be careful not to kill your teammates or the hostages or you will be penalized and money will be deducted from you. Movies......: none Replay......: 10/10 - Following the trend set by Action Quake, this game has proven to be one of the crowd favorites, and everyday customers arrive in groups just to play a game of CS for hours. Gender Bias.: 5/10 - Fully testosterone-driven game, as usual :p well, females do want to try out this game once in a while, instead of just watching patiently as their male friends play for countless hours :) Fun Factor..: 10/10 - They laugh, cry, shout at each other, fight, tease, cuss, and jump with joy with every game.. ahh.. the little joys brought about by 30 megabytes worth of 1's and 0's :) Multiuser...: 3/10 - I guess you gotta blame it on the Half-Life code that you can't save profiles of your different keyboard configura- tions, so you have to set your bindings/configs manually every time. Multiplayer.: none Overall.....: 9/10 If Action Quake was THE MOD for Quake II, then Counter-Strike is THE MOD for Half-Life. Gone are the days of Action Quake, as Counter-Strike quickly took its place since the day it was released. Even with the release of earlier HL mods such as Team Fortress 2, Action Half-Life and others, Counter-Strike is by far the game of choice by a great majority of network gamers, and the reason is quite obvious: It isnt as complicated as TF2, but it does have more features than Action HL, and the mod is still in its beta stages. The latest release, Beta 5.2 is already quite stable and has proven itself to be able to offer a lot to the network gamer. I admit, when this mod first came out, I was a bit doubtful that it will gain the attention of many gamers, but time has proven me wrong and now, CS is the most popular game here. Everday groups of 8-10 teens come to the shop to play Counter-Strike. Usually more players are assigned to the "more powerful" anti-terrorist team, or something like 4 of the best players play counter-terrorist, while 5 play terrorist. If you run a network gaming site make sure you have this game, and make sure you know how to play it so you can teach newbie players! :) Pokemon Trading Card Game Trainer Edition ----------------------------------------- Publisher...: Wizards of the Coast http://www.wizards.com Developer...: Fluid Entertainment http://www.fluidnet.com Homepage....: Genre.......: Cards Origin......: Japan Players.....: 1 Accelerated.: NO Demo........: Unavailable Requirements: Win9x, Pentium 233MHZ PC Compatible, 32MB RAM, 300MB HD space, 2MB video card, DirectX compatible sound card, 4x CD-ROM ESRB Rating.: unrated, my rating: Everyone Graphics....: 5/10 - Although the illustrations may be very nice, the game lacked high-res graphics and support for higher resolutions, so some images are blurry or pixelated. Sound.......: 5/10 - Not much sounds aside from the voice talent and sound effects for the Pokemon. Control.....: 3/10 - The whole game is mouse-driven. They could've added some keyboard shortcuts to some operations in the game.. it gets tiring if you have to use the mouse all the time. Gameplay....: 4/10 - The game offers only the basic elements of the actual trading card game, it could've been a whole lot better. Story.......: 1/10 - All you have to do is defeat the girl in a pokemon match. Movies......: 1/10 - Aside from the intro and the credits there isnt much to see, and the in-game movie that shows the girl speaking tends to be annoying after some time. Replay......: 2/10 - Since the game only offers 2 decks and you only get to play against one computer oppenent, I don't think anyone but the die-hard fan and beginners will play this more than 5 times. Gender Bias.: 8/10 - TCGs like Magic and others are usually male-oriented, but pokemon looks like its trying to capture the female interest as well, with pikachu being gayishly cute and such :p Fun Factor..: 4/10 - Not too fun if you only get to play 2 decks versus the one same computer opponent over and over again. Multiuser...: 10/10 - You dont need to save configuration profiles or anything so basically almost anyone can play using only one terminal. Multiplayer.: none Overall.....: 3/10 Supposedly a PC conversion of the popular Pokemon TCG, this game appears to be less-than-decent. If you're a beginner trying to learn how to play and trade Pokemon Trading Card Game, then this should help you a lot. Otherwise, if you're already into playing TCGs like Magic and Pokemon, you would find this boring and useless. Basically it teaches you the ins and outs of playing the game, as well as giving you an experience of playing a basic Pokemon match. You get to choose between 2 decks (water and fighting) only, and the decks dont contain much cards either. I was expecting something like or even better than the Magic: The Gathering PC version wherein you get to choose from a lot of decks, and you can even build your own, play against computer or human opponents, etc. Well, I hope some other developer would make something like that and also add Online Multiplayer gaming support so that one can play head-to-head against other players from different parts of the world. All in all, Pokemon TCG Trainer Ed. is just for beginners and die-hard Pokemon fans. Definitely Not worth your hard-earned money! PBA Tour Bowling 2 ------------------ Publisher...: Bethseda Softworks http://www.bethsoft.com Developer...: Bethseda Softworks http://www.bethsoft.com Homepage....: http://www.bethsoft.com/PBA2/ Genre.......: Sports Origin......: USA Players.....: 1 Accelerated.: YES Demo........: Unavailable Requirements: Win9x, Pentium II 266MHZ PC Compatible, 64MB RAM, 35MB HD space, 2MB video card, DirectX compatible sound card, 6x CD-ROM ESRB Rating.: Everyone Graphics....: 9/10 - Nicely detailed, true-to-life graphics and support for a wide array of video modes from 320 x 200 x 16bit to 1280 x 1024 x 32bit resolution, plus the option to modify advanced graphics options make for a graphically-pleasing game that would run nicely on a low-end system, but even better on a high-end one. Sound.......: 8/10 - Catchy music and crisp sound effects are all here, what's missing, though, is the voices of the players, making the players at least comment at their shots would have added to the realism of the game, and even more if they added commentators to the game. Control.....: 7/10 - For someone who has had no previous experience of playing bowling simulators for the PC, he would find himself at a loss. There are no tutorials whatsoever to teach you how to play the game, so make sure you read the readme file as well as other documentations if you want to understand how to control your shots, or else you'll be stuck to making gutter-balls all the time. Gameplay....: 6/10 - Like I said above, there were no tutorials, and it takes a while to get used to the game and start making good shots, so instead of enjoying the game you actually spend more time practicing and learning how to make a good shot by trial-and-error. Story.......: na Movies......: 3/10 - Not much to watch except for the crappy intro movie. Replay......: 7/10 - Whether you're a professional bowler or someone who does not even know how to bowl in real life, you'll find that realistic sports games like these tend to be quite addictive :) Gender Bias.: 10/10 - You can create your own players, which is nice and there are a lot of male/female default players to choose from, too! Fun Factor..: 7/10 - Bowling games are fun indeed :) although it could've been more fun if you could play with someone on the same pc, or even head-to-head online multiplayer Multiuser...: 5/10 - You can create your own players all right, but you can't save your control configurations and neither can you save an ongoing game! :( Multiplayer.: none Overall.....: 7/10 I remember playing the first PBA Bowling release a year or so ago. I also remember that it sucked :) Well, it seems they had some major improvements over the previous verion of the game and I am quite impressed with the effects and playability of PBA2. When I first started the game I was looking for a tutorial and there was none to be found, so I went to the menu and selected a practice game. Gutterball... another gutterball.. and another :) Finally I thought about reading the readme file (yeah yeah I know I know!) and found out how to actually control your shots. After that, I practiced again and viola! I started making good shots, not necessarily the kind of shots I wanted but at least I earned a lot of spares and a couple of strikes every now and then. My only problem now is how to get the ball to spin on the right direction, as the game allows you to make no spin, forward spin, or backspins but it doesnt explain how :( Speaking of realisim, and detail, you can sometimes see other bowlers playing in the same center, and I noticed that different players have different reactions (proud, happy, sad, dismayed, etc) especially the professional players whose appearance and reactions were all taken from their real-life counterparts (they have Tim Criss, Bryan Goebel, etc.) and that is so cool. The game is quite buggy, tho, as I have discovered a few bugs in the game engine. One of them is when you start the game with the "Center Life" (center life adds players and people in the background--it slows down your system a lot) option turned ON, start a normal or tournament game, then turn the Center Life option OFF, the names and scores will not appear on the scoreboard and you will have to turn the center life option to on again, so you have to turn the center life option off or on before you start a game. Anyway what I'm really missing here is the multiplayer aspect. Being able to play with a friend on the same terminal or via network or internet would have made the game more fun and it would've made more people want to play the game over and over again just to have fun with their friends. With the net going faster and faster, game just tend to look incomplete without multiplayer support. Still, a decent game, probably the best bowling game available in the market. -----------[The Scene News]----------- All the news thats fit to print... and then some... --------[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 our favorite ex-NWR gimp might be retiring? 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 02/25/00