News/2002

2002-09-12
Updated the Demo Scene Reference Manual to version 4.33. The following changes have been made since the last version (4.28) released at ExoticA:
 * 4.33
 * A complaint was made by someone who didn't like having their real name in the guide. The author of the demo reference has now removed all real names. Personally though, I don't see the problem. Maybe it's something to discuss on the Forum.


 * 4.32
 * Deathstar, TAR, TheLink, Xentrix, Defekt, Spasm, Smoke


 * 4.31
 * Anarchy, Alive, Slach4 2002, TRSAC 2002, Apex, Atomic, Megabyte, UnitA, Delite, Dictators, Sentinel.


 * 4.30
 * Apathy, Darkness conti, Panic, Piranhas, Chryseis, Assembly 2002

Also updated the Compilation Disk Reference Manual to version 1.23 which is found on the same page.

Updated Scenery 64 to version V1.40 (September 2002 release). Scenery is a guide to groups, parties and releases on the c64/Amiga demoscene (pc is in development), and features what is likely the biggest, best and most comprehensive scene party index ever made public. It's an attempt to cover an important part of digital history, to accurately document things and events that otherwise might be forgotten.

There is a new gallery area up - Amiga City II. It's another section with some lovely photos of a contributor's Amiga game collection. Take a look! Scenery is now a Spaceballs Production

Since the update on the 27th July, the UnExoticA game music section has had 3 updates, bringing the archive to 5985 files packed into 1162 archives. Thats over 330 megabytes of awesome tunes! For details of what has changed please read the Updates Page.

Added another Intro Logo Competition entry to the Intro Page. This is a 3rd place entry made by Clary.

2002-09-21
Updated ExoticA's mirror of the High Voltage SID Collection to version 5.0 There has been some significant changes since the last version (4.6) and I recommend you to read the announcement text before downloading - update32.txt

The collection now contains 18,616 Commodore 64 tunes. ExoticA offers the music individually via a simple to use HTML Interface or you can download them all in one large GZIP'd TAR Archive - HVSC.tar.gz. For in depth changes, you can refer to the update logs in the DOCUMENTS/ Directory.

The ExoticA Guestbook is now discontinued in its current form. To replace it, we have now a Forum This is far more flexible than the guestbook, allowing discussion about the various areas of the site, and the ability for people to get support or submit information easily.

I have not been able to retrieve the list of subscribers for the old mailinglist. We now have another list set up on the main ExoticA server, so everyone who was on before please do rejoin. Information on joining can be found on the Support Page.

2002-07-27
After many months, the Games Box Gallery has finally been updated. Some of the changes were infact in place back in October last year, but I never had time to complete the update.

The following scans have been added (All complete with author information and links to the music if available):
 * 0-9: 1869, 3D World Boxing
 * A: Abandoned Places 2, Advanced Ski Simulator, Afrika Korps, Afterburner, Alien Breed, Alien Drug Lords, Alien Fires, Alien Legion, Anarchy, Arkanoid (Alternative Scan), Arnie 2, Astaroth, Astaroth (Extra large poster scan), Atax
 * B: Bad Dudes vs Dragon Ninja, Balance Of Power (The 1990 Edition), Ballyhoo, Batman Returns, Battle Isle Scenario, Beach Volley, Beavers, Berlin 1948, Berlin 1948 (Alternative Scan), Beyond Zork, Big Business, The Black Cauldron, Black Tiger, Blade Of Destiny, Bombuzal, Brataccas, Brigade Commander
 * C: California Games, California Games 2, Capital Punishment, Capone, Challenge Golf, Challenger, Champions Of Krynn, Christmas Lemmings 94, Chuck Rock, Corruption, Club And Country, Clue Master Detective, Colonels Bequest (Alternative Scan), Covert Action, Covert Action (Alternative Scan), Creature, Crime Does Not Pay, Crime Time, Crossbow, Crown, Cutthroats, The Cycles

Also replaced the images for Back To The Future Part 3, Cybernoid 2 with improved scans. Thanks to Dominic Holmes for Christmas Lemmings 94, Ronald Van Dijk for Afterburner and Wildwest for many of the others. This update brings the gallery to 1164 Scans!

Updated the Game Information Database on the Info Section.

UnExoticA has had another 2 updates since the 14th July. For information about additions and changes please read the Updates Page.

2002-07-24
Time to take a short break from the Competition Logos on the Intro Page. Instead, you can look at XtC's excellent Team 17 Tribute Logo. Now I'll just wait for the letter from their solicitor :-)

2002-07-14
Sorry there has been no news for the last couple of months. There has infact been updates, but I didn't have time to report on them.

Updated the Demo Scene Reference Manual to version 4.29. The following changes have occured since the last reported 4.19 release at ExoticA. (Version 4.26 was released last month but without an annoucement):
 * -NEW- in 4.29
 * Illusion, Intuition, ICE, Impulse


 * -NEW- in 4.28
 * Crusaders, Sonic, Virtual, Syndrome, Dope, Keso, Voodoo Design, KGB, Obranche removed, Outlaws, Ward, Black Jack, Honoo, Horizontal Lamerz, Exodus, Gate


 * -NEW- in 4.27
 * Lemon, Anarchy, Vision, Einstein modules, Sanity, Sceptic, Quartz, Nuance, Fairlight, Reflectors, Ram Jam, Absence, Extend, Eremation, Nuance, Faculty, Freestyle NL, Lunatics, Illusion SE


 * -NEW- in 4.26 (ExoticA Release)
 * Spectral, Ipec Elite, Funzine, Faith, Flying Cows, Freezers, Frame 18, Factor, EOC 1999, Triad, Exort, Bomb Squad, BNK, Pack Mag Charts, Anathema, Intense, Supreme, Sardonyx, Light, Scarab, Inner City, Impact Inc


 * -NEW- in 4.25
 * Megaforce, Pussy


 * -NEW- in 4.24
 * Beastie Boys, Centolos, The Band, Liquid Skies, TCC Party 93, Team Hoi, Yodel, Anaheim, TimeCircle, Zaxon, Saturne


 * -NEW- in 4.23
 * Destiny & Zigag, The Party 5, Arsenic, Ramses, Questor, Quicksilver, The Party 1992, Suspect, Hawk


 * -NEW in 4.22
 * DCS, 23 Celsius Crew, 17Bit, Securitate, Targets, Noice, THR, Squadron


 * -NEW- in 4.21
 * Mystix, Alpha Cracking Service Team, Phoenix, Critters, Doxos, Darkside, Abandon, Securitate, Piranhas, Omicron, Wildstyle, J-Beam, Fluid Design, Alive, Corpse, Instinct, Syntex, Isch Crew, Sun Connection, Cult, Clones, New Wave


 * -NEW- in 4.20
 * Tech, Toxic Track, Trilogy, Omega, The Band,, Ghostriders, Unique, Mellow, Piranhas, Dexion, Aurora, Drifters, Armada, Golden Triangle Austria, WOW, Hellfire, Vega

The Tracker History was updated to version 1.05.

Updated Scenery (Amiga and C64) to version V1.39 (June 2002 release). Scenery is a guide to groups, parties and releases on the c64/Amiga demoscene (pc is in development), and features what is likely the biggest, best and most comprehensive scene party index ever made public. It's an attempt to cover an important part of digital history, to accurately document things and events that otherwise might be forgotten. ExoticA's mirror of the High Voltage SID Collection was updated in early May to version 4.6. The collection now contains 18,618 Commodore 64 tunes.

ExoticA offers the music individually via a simple to use HTML Interface or you can download them all in one large GZIP'd TAR Archive - HVSC.tar.gz. To see whats new you can check out the e-mail announcement text - update31.txt. For more in depth changes, you can refer to the update logs in the DOCUMENTS/ Directory.

Since the last news item on the 29th April, the UnExoticA game music section has had 9 updates, bringing the archive to 5718 files packed into 1131 archives. Thats over 321 megabytes of awesome tunes! For details of what has changed please read the Updates Page.

I've also attended a couple of events recently. In June I visited the eXtreme Computing 2002 festival in London with a friend. Met the Classic Amiga Preservation Society there and showed my lack of skill at computer games on their Amiga 1200 :) Also met the friendly Chris Abbott who runs C64Audio.com. I got totally spoilt by this little Commodore area of the hall. Chris gave me a free BIT 3 t-shirt, a promotional copy of the excellent new Instant Remedy CD, a discount on the excellent Nexus 6581 CD and a CD with some MP3 C64 Music Remixes. And the lovely CAPS bunch let me have their Zipstick. YAY! :)

After looking round for a bit at the whacky and retro things on display, I paid £5 for a cold plate of curry and went over to the pub. There I discovered the real festival and met Nigel 'Chuckie Egg' Alderton. What a nice man. His friend even gave me some z80 optimisation tips :) It soon came to the end of the day and after a few drunken "I love you"'s to Nigel It was time to head for home.

Also in June, XtC and I (BuZz) went along to Back In Time Live 3 in London which is organised by Chris (C64Audio.com). Despite the incredible heat in the club it was great to meet lots of people from the C64 and Amiga scene (Past and present!). Check out our Photo Gallery which is also linked to from the Gallery Section.

The old mailing list is unfortunately dead (And out of my control). A new list is available and I will post details on joining it soon. Hopefully I will be able to get hold of the list of subscribers to move them to the new list to save old subscribers some trouble.

Updated the ExoticA Intro Page with a second place entry drawn by TsunAmi for the Intro Logo Competition. You can view the full lossless PNG version on the Competition Page.

2002-03-29
For your downloading and viewing pleasure, the complete intro and outro movies for the classic Amiga CD³² game Alien Breed Tower Assault have been converted to MPEG-1 from the original CDXL version by XtC.

This new area can be accessed from the Miscellaneous Section. Also included is an amusing story outline, and the full credits for the production.

Since the last news item on the 20th March, the UnExoticA game music section has had 3 updates, bringing the archive to 5161 files packed into 1043 archives. Thats 295 meg of music! For details of what has changed please read the Updates Page.

Updated the Demo Scene Reference Manual to version 4.19. The following groups have had additions/changes since the last version (4.16) released at ExoticA:
 * 4.16
 * Andromeda, Zenon, Infect, Parasite, Addonic, Dual Crew, Vector, Essence, Aurora, Balance, Axis, Phenomena, Banal.


 * 4.17
 * Crusaders, Platin, Beyond Force, Vision, Lego, Beta Team, Applause, Brain Wave, Gathering 2002, MekkaSymp2002, Paragon, Cadaver, Ackerlight, Brainstorm, Trance, Disc12 & 13, BlackJack, Tech, Eclipse, RSI News on Tour, Mentasm.


 * 4.18
 * Intense, Darkage ShowTime 16 & 17, X-Zone, The Gang, Mankind, Devils, Destiny.


 * 4.19 (Current Version)
 * Complex, Dimension X, Rage, Coma, D-Tect, Vanish, Cromex, Precise, Black Division, Blizzard, Anthrox, Classic, Animate.

Updated the ExoticA Intro Page with a second place entry drawn by Mark Janssen for the Intro Logo Competition. It has been scaled very slightly to fit on the front page, but you can view the full lossless PNG version on the Competition Page.

2002-03-20
Updated the Demo Scene Reference Manual. Current version is now 4.16. The following groups have had additions/changes since the last version released at ExoticA:
 * 4.12
 * C-lous, Vixen, SCT, Prime, Possessed, Defiance, Mirage, Miracle, Mygon, Submission, TSL, Subway, Tension, Trinomic, RAF, Party changes, route66, Rigor Mortis, DeathDefiers, RamJam, Zoo


 * 4.13
 * Awesome, Digitech, Paranoid, Balance, Madwizards-Mawi, Visdom, Mad Elks, Lynx Crew, Laser Dance, Zero Defects, Zarch, Zaracon, Zenon, Leprosy, Level4, Union, Tulou, Three Little Elks


 * 4.14
 * Tulou, Three Little Elks, Wildfire


 * 4.15
 * Andromeda, Trilogy, Tulou, RAF


 * 4.16 (Current version)
 * Andromeda, Zenon, Infect, Parasite, Addonic, Dual Crew, Vector, Essence, Aurora, Balance, Axis, Phenomena, Banal

2002-03-19
In November 2001 last year, ExoticA held a competition to see who could come up with the best logo for the Intro Page at ExoticA. All entries were judged by XtC, the main ExoticA graphics artist. All the results are now online at the Intro Logo Competition Page.

Some days/weeks ago the ExoticA's mirror of the High Voltage SID Collection was updated. This brings it to version 4.5. The collection now contains 18,133 C64 tunes. ExoticA offers the music individually via a simple to use HTML Interface or you can download them all in one large GZIP'd TAR Archive - HVSC.tar.gz. To see whats new you can check out the e-mail announcement text - update30.txt. For more in depth changes, you can refer to the update logs in the DOCUMENTS/ Directory.

2002-02-20
Sorry for the lack of updates to this news area. I'm a very busy person :)

Updated Scenery (Amiga and C64) to version V1.30 (17th February 2002 release). Scenery is a guide to groups, parties and releases on the c64/Amiga demoscene and features what is likely the biggest, best and most comprehensive scene party index ever made public. It's an attempt to cover an important part of digital history, to accurately document things and events that otherwise might be forgotten.

Since the last news entry on the 24th December, the UnExoticA game music section has had at least 10 updates, bringing the archive to 4995 files packed into 1001 archives. Thats 284 meg of music!

The entries for the logo competition held last year has been judged, and all entries will be online soon. And last but not least, Happy Birthday to Nickerne, who is 26 today! (And a palindromic date too)