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Welcome to the The iSO News (>> www.orm.nu <<) first installment of our PC Game iSO Charts. With |
the new year, the ISO scene will most likely receive an influx of new people, new groups and more |
competition. With this in mind, now is the time to develop an organized way to rate the various groups |
that encompass the ISO scene. It will also help establish an acceptable set of rules. Rules that most of the |
major groups <DVNiSO, Cife, etc..> have been following anyway. |
Here is our point system... |
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Games : 5 Points + 1 if an exceptional/major title. |
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On the C-64 scene groups were rated on a flat scale. Each game received a point, and whoever got the |
highest won. It was simple, unbiased and worked. The C-64 scene also didnt have trainers<at least |
released seperately>, update patches, and 20 billion hunting titles to factor into the point system. Still a |
flat rate works and prevents bias. One need only look at the rip scene's Just The Facts to see how a mag |
without a flat rate can be turned into a totally biased propaganda machine for the group that releases it. |
That will not happen here. |
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Exceptional/Major Title : 1 Point. |
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While we think a flat rate point system is the best way to go, we also think that truly exceptional titles |
should get something extra. The logic behind this, is "Should the group that released Quake 2 get the |
same amount of points as the group that did Grizzley Hunter Deluxe?" What qualifies as "Exceptional"? |
From last year games like Thief, Halflife, Myth 2, Quake 2, etc.. This year? Only Sim-City 3000 thus far, |
but future ones would be Alpha Centauri, Daikatana, etc... There should never be any dispute or |
controversy surrounding what is classified "Exceptional". It should always be universally accepted. |
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Trainers : 1 Point |
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Trainers made specifically for ISO's will receive 1 point. |
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Update Patches : 1 Point |
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Games with protection, will often need the patch to be cracked before one can use it on there pirated copy. |
If this is so, the cracked patch will recieve a point. Patches that do not require a crack, will receive |
nothing and will be ignored by this chart. |
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Kiddy Titles : 0 Points |
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While we dont feel the need to penalize groups that release kiddy titles, we also will not support them in |
any way. Kiddy titles will be ignored. What constitutes a kiddy title? Edutainment, Teletubbies, Games |
made for the under-12 crowd. Use some common sense. We all know what kiddy titles are. |
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Overburns : 5 or -5 points |
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The reality of overburn's is that at least 40% of the intended audience cannot play them. Be it because they |
dont have CDR's capable of overburning, or the lack of 80 minute cd's in there area. The other reality is, |
since this is the ISO scene, games should at ALL times be complete. We feel the best way to handle this is |
to simply use some common sense. If you can rip out direct-x, game demos or anything on the cd that does |
not in ANY way affect the actual game, you should receive the same amount of points as any other game. |
Likewise, IF after ripping direct-x, game demos, etc, off the cd. The group finds that the only thing to do |
is either release it as an overburn or rip something that affects the game, the group should release it as an |
overburn and receive full points. The thing that should never be tolerated in the ISO scene is the ripping |
of game related elements. Thats what rips are for. 5 points will be deducted IF a group releases an |
overburn that can be done under 74 minutes by ripping direct-x or any of the non game related items |
listed above. 5 points will also be deducted if a group releases a game with anything game-related ripped |
just to fit it on a 74 minute CD. Notable examples from the past include the shortening of an audio track, |
the removable of an intro movie, the removal of an in-game .wav file, etc.. |
This is probably the most controversial aspect of these charts, but we think this is simply the most fair and |
the most sensible way to handle overburns. |
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Dupes : -5 Points |
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If someone release a dupe, they will have 5 points deducted from there total. |
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Repacks/Fixes/Fuckups |
releases the first WORKING version of the game gets the points. If someone releases a game, only for it |
not to work.. Whoever releases the working repack, fix, etc.. Will receive full points for it. We wont |
penalize a group for making a mistake, but they will get 0 points for there fucked up release. |
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Beta : -5 Points |
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Beta's are lame. And 5 points will be deducted for releasing one. If we find out at a later date that |
someone released a beta, the points they received for the release will be removed, along with the |
additional 5 points for putting out a beta. |
Old Games : 0 Points |
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Much like kiddy games, we dont feel the need to penalize those who release older games. Especially since |
many games released during the era of the rip scene were never done as an ISO. We also will not give any |
points for them. More often then not they are nukes, and should have no effect on this list. |
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Addons : 5 Points |
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Addons will receive the same amount of points as games. This includes Official or Unofficial addons. |
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Compilations : 0 Points |
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A compilation is when a company takes a group of older games, slaps it into a spiffy package and chucks |
it out as a retail package. Some examples include Wizardry Gold, Prince of Persia Collection, Heroes of |
Might and Magic gold, etc... Theres nothing "new" added, just old games released as a collection. While |
some completist collectors may want these, most folks do not. Groups will not be penalized for releasing |
them, but they will not receive any points either. |
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Races |
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What is a "Race"? A race is when 2 groups release a title around the same time, and then rush to see who |
can spread it around first. In this situation the "winner" is the group who can get it on the most sites first,|
especially the rival group's they are racing against. Heres how we will deal with this situation... If there is|
a winner, he will get full points for the release. If it comes down to an exact tie.. the points will be split.|
Usually there is always a winner, and ties will be rare.. But they do happen. |
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If anyone has any questions, complaints, or other problems with our ratings system or how we score titles, |
feel free to e-mail us at isoscene@yahoo.com. On with the ratings.. |
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DVNiSO |
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۲�� ���۲ ������� ����� ��۲ ���۲e���� ����� ۲�� ���۲ |
������������۲ ��߲������߰������� ��������۲c������������۲�������������� |
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Simcity 3000 (c) Maxis/Electronic Arts : 6 Points |
Extreme Tennis (c) Head Games/Activision : 5 Points |
Elite Darts (c) Take 2 Interactive : 5 Points |
Close Combat 3 (c) Microsoft : 5 points |
Tellurian Defense (c) Psygnosis : 5 Points |
Worms Armageddon (c) Team 17 : 5 Points |
Total : 31 Points |
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In the year of 1998 DVNiSO emerged as the undisputed king of the ISO scene. They had more total |
releases then any of there rivals. For January though, they are only able to secure the #2 spot. With that |
said, they still had the top 3 releases of the month in Simcity 3000<which we consider good enough to |
warrant an exceptional rating> Close Combat 3, and Worms Armageddon. |
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CiFE |
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.___________________. |
| | |
( cD iMAGES .____. F o R the E L i T E ) |
_____|__|. |___________|_______ |
_ ____ / _____|| | ______________/____ __ _ |
\\\_\\__ / \_|__| | ____/ ____/__. __//_/// |
........\__________ :____|.\____\| |........ |
. .....:::::::::::::|::|____|:::::::::::\______|::::::..... . |
| | |
| <e> | |
|___________________| |
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Natural Fawn Killers (c) The Gameplay Company : 5 Points |
Beavis and Butthead - Do U (c) GT Interactive : 5 Points |
Solitaire for Win98 (c) Interplay : 5 Points |
Battlecruiser 3000AD 2.0 (c) Interplay : 5 Points |
Damage Incorporated (c) Wizardworkds : 5 Points |
African Safari Hunter (c) GT Interactive :5 Points |
Trophy Buck (c) Sierra : 5 Points |
Extreme-G 2 (c) Acclaim : 5 Points |
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Total : 40 Points |
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If someone had to pick a #2 for 1998, it was CiFE. This month they manage to upset DVNiSO and claim |
the #1 spot. Although only one game broke $20, they still deserve credit for claiming #1. A great month |
for CiFE. |
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Quartex |
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_____ /| ___ ________________________________ _____ |
/ \ / |___ / \ \ __ \_____ ___ _____/\ V / |
/ � \/ | |/ : \|\/ ! \Z!/ | /\/ __) \ ! / |
/ |/\ \ | | \ _/ / |/ \_ > < |
\ \_ \ / ! | � \ \ \/ |\ / / � \ |
\______ /______ |___| ___/___|\ /____ | \_____ / / |____\ |
=============\/=======\|===|/=========\_/=====\|======\/==\____|============= |
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Liath (c) Project 2 Interactive : 5 Points |
UFO's - 0 Points : OLD |
Total 5 Points |
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Quartex is a new ISO games group for 1999, and released the very first title of the new year. It was a very |
good debut release, and a nice game. They also released UFO's, which is easily over 6 months old, and |
thus a nuke. Since its not a dupe, points will not be removed, but it is old so it will be given 0 points. In |
the future, look for Quartex to compete on some of the European titles. |
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EvilISO |
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Concorde SST (c) Interactive Magic : 5 Points |
Total 5 Points |
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EViLiSO is mainly a VCD group, and they do well in that area. They also release the occasional game, |
even scoring Fallout 2 in 1998. They only had 1 title for January. |
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Fairlight |
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Simon The Sorceror Pinball (c) Adventuresoft : 5 Points |
Close Combat 3 : Dupe -5 Points |
Rainbow 6 - Eagle Watch Addon (c) Red Storm : 5 Points |
Football World Manager (c) Ubisoft : 5 Points |
Simcity 3000 : Dupe -5 Points |
Battleground 9 - Chicamauga (c) Talonsoft : 5 Points |
Ultimate Soccer Manager 98/99 (c) Sierra : 5 Points |
Total : 15 Points |
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Fairlight has seen better days.... First they start off the month with a valid title. Then they ruin it by |
releasing a very blatant and obvious dupe. The man listed as the supplier in that NFO<youngblood> came |
onto IRC and stated that it was a mistake, and acknowledged Fairlights error. Every group makes |
mistakes, so not a big deal. They follow it up with a decent addon and a soccer manager. Then release |
another blatant dupe. |
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ADSL256 |
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Slingo : Dupe -5 Points |
Total : -5 Points |
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This was there debut release, and a blatant dupe of game released by DVNiSO in October of 1998. A very |
lame debut, and i cant imagine them releasing anything in the future, even budget stuff. Most likely this |
will be there first and last title, and they will fade into obscurity. |
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PDMiSO |
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cH!SAC/PDM ���۲�� ���������������� |
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Tunguska (c) Project 2 : 5 points |
Total : 5 Points |
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PDMiSO did 1 title this month, and it was a good one. PDM's performance in the ISO side was mixed in |
1998. They did a decent amount of top quality titles, but marred there name by also doing some beta's and |
even a dupe. They are off to a good start thus far in 1999, and if they keep to there current path, they |
could even challenge for the top spot later in the year. The potential is definately there. |
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NWW |
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Eat This (c) Image Line : 5 Points |
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NWW Is obviously a fake lable. A simple look at the nfo<quite funny to read> confirms that. Eat This is |
an overburn, which is probably why it went under the NWW lable. Many groups have been very vocal |
about overburns being "lame" etc... But regardless, the game is quite playable and good. The game also |
cannot be ripped to fit under 74 minutes without removing any items that affect the game. Thus in |
accordance with our rules, it gets full points. |
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Isoz |
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Grizzley Hunter : 5 Points |
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Isoz is a small and pretty much unknown group. They did manage to release a valid title this month |
though, and thus receive points for it. We dont know much about them, so we really dont know exactly |
what to expect from them in the future. |
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Overview. |
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Overall it was a very slow month, which is normal for January. Still there were 2 major titles released, |
Simcity 3000 and Close Combat 3. Both done by DVNiSO. There was also major controversy surrounding |
both. With the huge propaganda fight between DVNiSO and Fairlight, some people still have no idea |
what to believe. With that in mind we will address them here. Close Combat 3 was resolved very quickly. |
It ended with a member of Fairlight<Youngblood> coming into the #dvniso channel and admitted that |
there release was a mistake and that they never should have released it. His full and exact quotes were |
pasted on our site<www.orm.nu> as one of our staff was there to view them as it happened. We still |
compared both titles side by side to see what the deal was, and found them to be byte by byte the exact |
same game. The only difference was the inclusion of a scanned in manual on the FLT release. So the |
question was "Is the inclusion of a small scanned in manual, justification for re-releasing a whole CD and |
labeling it a 'Final'?" We dont think so, and neither did anyone else, including Fairlight. So there version |
was nuked and labled a dupe. Sim City 3000 was a different story. The SC3K scandal started on the rip |
scene, and then somehow ended up polluting the ISO scene. It became a large propaganda war between |
the DVNiSO/Origin team and the Fairlight/Class squad. Rather then reprint all the propaganda here, we |
will just report our own findings and conclusion. If anyone truly cares, you can read both sides NFO's, |
statements, and comments on www.orm.nu. The whole fight boils down to one significant fact - If you hit |
cntrl-alt-v in the DVNiSO release the version information says Beta. For the record both versions say |
"Prerelease beta" in the code. With that said, its also not uncommon for store finals to say "Beta" in the |
code or version. Heart of Darkness was an example we used on our page of this occurence. So what we did |
was a bin compare. We also compared file sizes, file dates, actual gameplay and we even had 2 seperate |
crackers/coders actually look inside them. Our conclusion is this - Both releases are exactly the same. |
Aside from that one string listed above, the games are 100% identical. Even FLT members were not able |
to name us a difference between the two<and we did ask>. With that said, its obvious that DVNiSO did |
release the Final version of SC3k. Fairlight also did the same, just a week after Dvn. That makes the FLT |
version a dupe, and thus it gets -5 points in our charts. The single worst aspect of the whole Sc3k |
controversy is the lengths that Fairlight went to mislead the public. While we attempt to remain impartial |
and non-biased, its very hard to not call Fairlights actions lame. Aside from the Flt/Dvniso fight, there |
were a couple of other notable releases this month.. Including "Worms Armageddon" which featured the |
new years first "race". While it was definately close, DVNiSO managed to beat Cife on the release, and |
get the points for it. Still, in the end it didnt matter, as Cife re-emerged as a major force in the ISO scene,|
claiming the #1 spot and defeating DVNiSO. An amazing accomplishment considering the stranglehold |
that the Deviance team had on the iso scene during all of 1998. Congratulations Cife! Some of the other |
notable releases that are worth downloading include The Rainbow Six Addon - Eagle Watch released by |
Fairlight, Liath released by Quartex, Tunguska by PDMiSO, Tellurian Defense from DVNiSO, and finally |
Eat This from NWW. |
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If anyone has any questions, comments, disagreements, etc.. Please e-mail us at isoscene@yahoo.com - |
We attempt to make these charts as fair and unbiased as we can. And appreciate any feedback, be it |
negative or positive.... Also make sure to check out our site at www.orm.nu - Updated daily with all the |
latest ISO Scene news, and group releases and NFO's, presently covering PC Games, PC Utils, VCD and |
PSX. |
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Krazy8, Orm, and Pug |
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January Totals Year To Date Totals |
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Cife 40 |
DVNiSO 31 |
Fairlight 15 |
PDMiSO 05 |
EViLiSO 05 |
QUaRTeX 05 |
NWW 05 |
Isoz 05 |
ADSL256 -05 |
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