News/2003

2003-10-19
Thanks to those who donated some cash to the Upgrade Fund.

We raised 3400 NOK + 130 USD, which is 4300 NOK. 100 more than originally asked for.

We now have a HighPoint 454 RocketRAID controller. More info: http://www.highpoint-tech.com/rr454.htm.

We also have 6 Western Digital Caviar 80 GB disks with 8 MB of cache. Unfortunately due to some driver issues, the disks are not currently functioning as RAID but we have the much needed space. This will be addressed in the near future (I Hope) :-)

The downtime was a little more than expected. Apologies to those who were trying to access the site.

2003-10-10
ExoticA needs your help. Diskspace for ExoticA is very low.

The plan is to buy four 7200 RPM 80 GB disks along with a HighPoint RocketRAID 454 4 channel ATA133 controller. This would be 4200 nok, (that is around 500 euros). Most of the money has already been raised by the users of the server (Totem) which hosts ExoticA. The fund currently stands at 3100 nok.

ExoticA has been non profit and banner advert free ever since the opening in 1997 and will continue this way, so please help us with the fund. You can use the button below to make a donation via Paypal. Button & Address Removed

Since the last news update UnExoticA Game Music area has had another batch of additions and changes. For further details please check the UnExoticA Updates Page. Thanks to XtC and the other contributors for their hard work.

The High Voltage SID Collection has been updated. The latest update brings it to version 5.4. The collection now contains 20,660 C64 tunes.

ExoticA's mirror of this collection offers the music individually via a simple to use HTML Interface or you can download the entire collection in one large GZIP'd TAR Archive - HVSC.tar.gz. Also, we now offer the main all-in-one ZIP file - HVSC_5.4-all-of-them.zip. To see whats new please check out the the e-mail announcement text - update36.txt. For more in depth changes, you can refer to the update logs in the DOCUMENTS/ Directory.

And one last thing... I updated the photo of me on the Credits Page. C= forever! :-)

2003-07-13
To start this update, I must apologise again for the lack of activity on ExoticA in the last months. Hopefully I can find some more time for the site this summer. Having said this, there have been some changes since the last announcement.

Since the last news announcement there has been an update to the High Voltage SID Collection. The latest updates bring it to version 5.4. The collection now contains 21,272 C64 tunes.

ExoticA's mirror of this collection offers the music individually via a simple to use HTML Interface or you can download the entire collection in one large GZIP'd TAR Archive - HVSC.tar.gz. Also, we now offer the main all-in-one ZIP file - HVSC_5.4-all-of-them.zip. To see whats new please check out the the e-mail announcement text - update35.txt. For more in depth changes, you can refer to the update logs in the DOCUMENTS/ Directory.

There has been an update to the Demo Scene Reference Manual which brings it to version 5.06.

The following changes have been made since the last version (4.43) released at ExoticA:
 * 5.06
 * Underscore 2003,Darkside, Darkside Division, EOC 1999, Analog, Sun Connection, 23 Celsius Crew, Pacmag, Budbrain.


 * 5.05
 * Danger Productions, Solaris, Nuance, Upfront, Funzine, Futura, Future Mirror, nemesis, Axend, Energy, Zeroline, Nebula, Addonic, TDRS, Prism Illusion, Mad Monks, Violence, Starline, Armageddon, Nolem.


 * 5.04
 * Polka Brothers, E&L, Miranda, Pure Metal Coders, Pyrodex, Majic 12, Intryx, Imagine, Imp-666, Ackerlight, Humanoids.


 * 5.03
 * WOW, Parallax.Amigavision Crew, Scarab, Flash Prod, Breakpoint party 2003, Gathering 2003, The Silents, Offworld.


 * 5.02
 * Triumph, Vision, Treacl, Outrunners, Digital Force, Finnish Bit Wizards, Factor 4, Legend, Warfalcons, Mexx.


 * 5.01
 * Horizon, Apology, Iris, Equinox, Syndrome, Virtual Dreams, Shining 8, Profex, Decept, Drakpak, Skid Row, Sector 4, Limbo


 * 5.00
 * Goes Database.


 * 4.44
 * Powerline, Eltech, United Forces, Banana Dezign, Mythos, Kindergarden 2003, R, B.T, S, Turnips, Deform.

Since the last news, there has been 5 updates to the UnExoticA game music collection. This brings the archive to 6879 files packed into 1335 archives. That's over 371 megabytes of music! For details of what has changed please read the Updates Page.

There is a small, but active community of people at the ExoticA Forum. Please do join up and participate in the various discussions.

2003-02-02
First of all, I must apologise for the lack of updates to this news page for the last 4 months. I have been extremely busy with my work, and took a much needed holiday (to Poland!) for a month. There has however been various changes and updates around the site.

Since the last update there has been 2 updates to the High Voltage SID Collection. These latest updates bring it to version 5.2. The collection now contains 20,325 C64 tunes.

ExoticA's mirror of this collection offers the music individually via a simple to use HTML Interface or you can download the entire collection in one large GZIP'd TAR Archive - HVSC.tar.gz. To see whats new please check out the the e-mail announcement texts - update33.txt and update34.txt. For more in depth changes, you can refer to the update logs in the DOCUMENTS/ Directory.

Also, since the last news, there has been 10 updates to the UnExoticA game music collection (Including a large update by XtC today). This brings the archive to 6495 files packed into 1272 archives. Thats over 357 megabytes of music! For details of what has changed please read the Updates Page. A big thanks to XtC for his hard work maintaining this area, and to all the other contributors. There is a new music section coming to ExoticA soon. It will be the UnExoticA for demo music. Watch this space for more information.

Menace/Spaceballs released a new version of his excellent Scenery demo guide (C64 and Amiga editions have been updated). Version 1.41 (February 2003 release) can now be downloaded from the Scenery page. 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.

Sorry for the lack of updates on the Games Gallery page. I have hundreds of images waiting to be added, and hope to get them online soon.

Added last years Team17 Intro logo to the Intro Logo Gallery.

Updated the Demo Scene Reference Manual to version 4.43.

The following changes have been made since the last version (4.33) released at ExoticA:
 * 4.43
 * Subway, Slipstream


 * 4.42
 * Thrust, Punishers, DB Advanced, The Superions, The Supervisors, the Undertakers, Necatrix, Defeat, The Flashing Bytes, Supplex, Paradox.


 * 4.41
 * Ladybird Design, Gods, Setrox, Senses, Drifters, Blitz, LSD, Pleasure, Dimension X,


 * 4.40
 * Falcons, Obsession, IntelOutside 94, BLS-jobo, Manitou, The Mad Mixers, Rave Network Overscan, Red Chrome, Cycron, Cydonia, Centolos, Setrox, Culprits, Caveman, Cartel PL, Cartel, Cascade, Appendix, Solskogen Party 2002.


 * 4.39
 * S!P, Disknet, Rebels, After Eights, Cyborx, Absolute, Vision Factory, Amaze, Jesters, Next, Accession(scan news), Acid, Melon Dezign, Assembly 1993,


 * 4.38
 * Anarchy Easter Party 1991, Jurassic Pack 11, Proton, Lingo, Aspect, Orix, Acme, Rebels, Gemini, CBC.


 * 4.37
 * R.A.W, Darkness, The Champs, Destiny Seven, Encore, LSD, Spectre, SoftSonicForce.


 * 4.36
 * Byte Busters, Illusion, The Rappists, Reality NL, Reality GER, Reality PL, Megalight, Dazzle, Rubberduck Crew, OKS, Sunriders, PHR CREW, Hurricane, Endless Piracy.


 * 4.35
 * xbeat, Magician 42-Sodan, Blizzard, Exotic Men, Bounty, Ghost, The Goonies, The Gang, Genocide, Crazy.


 * 4.34
 * DAI, D-Mob, Deadline, Index, Bitstoppers, Megadeath, Quicksilver, Panzerfaust, Bignonia, IBB, Beastie Boys, Excel, Elite Inc., The Enemies, Compact Inc., The Electric Touch, Edge, Neutron Dance, Nightfall

Only 1 month away from the Retrovision 3 Event - Retrovision 3 "the Third Phase of Yak", Special Guest Jeff 'YAK' Minter. 2 Whole Days Of Retro-Blasting-games-Mayhem!!!! Playing the Machines from the 80s and 90s all day!!. For more details about this fantastic retro gaming event see http://www.retrovision.org.uk. The last 2 retrovision events were really great, and this one is going to be even bigger and better!

In addition to this news page you can keep up to date about the goings on and join in site related discussions at the Forum.