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The Ware Report - November 1996
Written By: The Renegade Chemist
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The Ware Report .. Official Rules ...
I. Definitions.
PLAYABLE - The game is cracked, and can be played by someone who speaks
only English.
COMPLETEABLE - The ware report does not go by the definition "playable."
Because games must be ripped from CD, they must be COMPLETEABLE in order
to be accepted. This means that you don't rip out tracks, levels, or
trivia questions in order to get a release out. It's okay to take out
sound, animations, and music, provided that these are not essential to
the completion of the game as it was designed by the publishers. Any
other license taken at the group's discretion is subject to my review.
DUPE - The game was released before, by another group. Usually this
means that the group released the game several hours too late, but this
rule also applies if a group releases an update and tries to pass it off
as a sequel.
FAKE - An unplayable, or unfinished version of a game.
CREDIT - Full credit means the group put out a new, completeable game,
and cracked it properly the first time. They receive all megabytes that
are associated with the game as part of their group score. Half credit
means that the game came out badly cracked, or in need of a fix, but the
group did fix it, so it only loses 1/2 of the megabytes. Both full and
half credit allow the group to retain the full release points for the
game, in addition to whatever meggage has been awarded. No credit means
that the game was not completable, or released uncracked and fixed by
a different group. In this last case, the group receives 0 megabytes
for the release, and 0 release points. Screw-ups like that can really
hurt your average for the month.
II. Rules ...
A. SPA Compliance - This report is fully compliant with all the rules set
forth by the SPA several months ago:
1. Only games of 50 disks or less will be considered.
2. Only final versions will be considered.
3. Only games completeable by English-speakers will be considered.
B. Extensions to SPA Compliance.
1. Only the first, completeable version will be considered.
2. Trainers, Patches, Upgrades & the like are not considered.
3. If a game is a DUPE or FAKE the group will not get credit.
4. If a game is released uncracked and later fixed by the releaser,
the group gets 1/2 credit. If another group fixes it, the
original group gets no credit while the cracking group gets 1/2
credit for the release. If the game goes unfixed, the releasing
group gets 1/2 credit and nobody gets the other half. Should a
game require more than one fix, for each subsequent fix the amount
of credit will be divided in half; ie, the first fix resulted in
1/2 credit, the second in 1/4, and so on.
C. The Ware Report Group Rating System - The group rating is based on
3 things - number of releases, meggage of releases, and release rating.
1. Number of releases - Self-explanatory.
2. Meggage of releases - Self-explanatory.
3. Release ratings - The rating is a number, from 0 to 9, rating the
game's importance to the scene. This means that big, anticipated
titles, which are of course more difficult competition, will get
higher ratings than smaller titles from smaller publishers. This
explains why BattleCruiser 3000 got a 9 (the highest rating) while
Death Rally only got an 8, even though Death Rally is more fun to
play. Quality of a release doesn't usually come into play on the
rating, unless the game is a real "sleeper" (ie the original
WarCraft) or a major disappointment.
* Rating Bonuses. While I can't find a fair way to penalize groups
for ripping games poorly, I CAN reward groups for ripping them
properly. This means that the smaller the rip, the higher the
bonus points:
1 - 10 disks .. +1.00 31 - 40 disks .. + 0.25
11 - 20 disks .. +0.75 41 - 50 disks .. no bonus
21 - 30 disks .. +0.50
* Group Rating Formula - The group rating is calculated as follows:
(Sum of all Ratings+Bonuses)
---------------------------- * (Awarded Meggage) = Group Rating
(Total Number of releases)
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TITLE PUBLISHER RATING DISKS SIZE AWARDED
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Group: Prestige
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3DO Games Decathlon Studio 3D 6(0.75) 16/16 23mb 23mb
Admiral Sea Battles Mega Media 6(0.75) 14/14 20mb 20mb
AFL Finals Fever Cadability 6(0.25) 31/31 45mb 45mb
Age of Sail TalonSoft 7(0.75) 19/19 27mb 27mb
Agile Warrior Virgin 6(0.75) 13/13 19mb 19mb
Alien Trilogy Acclaim 7(0.75) 13/13 19mb 19mb
Batman Forever Acclaim 7(1.00) 9/ 9 13mb 13mb
Battleground: Antietam TalonSoft 7(0.50) 28/28 40mb 40mb
Battleship Hasbro 6(0.00) 45/45 65mb 65mb
Cave Wars Avalon Hill 7(1.00) 8/ 8 12mb 12mb
Civ. II Scenarios MicroProse 6(1.00) 10/10 15mb 15mb
Conquest/New World DLX Interplay 7(0.00) 43/43 62mb 62mb
Death Drome Viacom 6(0.75) 11/11 16mb 16mb
Daytona USA Sega 8(0.75) 14/14 20mb 20mb
Descent 2 Inf. Abyss Interplay 6(1.00) 10/10 15mb 15mb
DragonHeart Acclaim 7(0.75) 18/18 26mb 26mb
Duke3d Plutonium Pak GT Interactive 0(0.00) 0/19 27mb 0mb
Eat My Dust Sierra Online 6(0.75) 17/17 25mb 25mb
Front Page Football '97 Sierra Online 9(0.00) 42/42 61mb 61mb
Full Tilt! 2 Pinball Maxis 7(0.50) 21/21 30mb 30mb
F/X Fighter TURBO GTE 6(0.00) 42/42 61mb 61mb
Grid Runner FINAL Virgin 7(0.50) 23/23 32mb 32mb
Hunter: Hunted Sierra Online 7(0.25) 31/31 45mb 45mb
JetFighter III Interplay 8(0.00) 48/48 70mb 70mb
MS Golf: Mauna Kea MicroSoft 6(1.00) 6/ 6 9mb 9mb
MS Golf: Pinehurst MicroSoft 6(1.00) 9/ 9 13mb 13mb
Terminator: SkyNET Bethesda 9(0.75) 6/11 16mb 9mb
Tomb Raider EIDOS 9(0.50) 21/21 31mb 31mb
Plague MicroForum 6(0.25) 38/38 55mb 55mb
Power Rangers Zeo-Power CyberFlix 5(0.00) 46/46 66mb 66mb
Risk Hasbro 6(0.50) 29/29 42mb 42mb
Rocket Jockey Sega 7(0.75) 19/19 28mb 28mb
Sim Copter Maxis 7(0.50) 26/26 38mb 38mb
Sim Golf Maxis 7(0.50) 27/27 39mb 39mb
Soul Trap MicroForum 6(0.25) 34/34 49mb 49mb
SSN Simon&Schuster 6(0.75) 19/19 28mb 28mb
Steel Panthers II SSI 8(0.25) 38/38 55mb 55mb
US Navy Fighters '97 EA 8(0.00) 46/46 67mb 67mb
Virtua Squad Sega 8(0.75) 6/12 18mb 9mb
X-Treme Chess Davidson 6(0.50) 24/24 35mb 35mb
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS FOR PRESTIGE 286.00 920/950 1371mb 1327mb
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prestige Monthly Points : 286.00
Number of Releases : 40
Release Quality Average : 7.15
Prestige Group Rating : 9488.05
Notes/Explanations :
D3d Plut Pak - Bad crack/rip, fix required. RZR fixed, no credit given.
Termy SkyNET - Bad crack/rip, fix required. PSG fixed, 1/2 credit given.
Virtua Squad - Bad crack/rip, fix required. PSG fixed, 1/2 credit given.
Prestige - Comments ...
I feel like a broken record. For the 3rd consecutive month, Prestige has
equalled or broken the world record for the most releases in a month. Last
month, PSG did it with 36 releases, this time the group had 40 releases as it
coasted to an easy victory over the competition.
All of the Prestige Members contributed something to this month's victory.
The group had 14 different suppliers turn in performances this month, the
most out of any group, and 6 different crackers removed protections for the
group this month. Prestige's major source of originals is still conventional
but more insiders are jumping aboard all the time - with guys like ODB, Union
Jack, and the new insiders the group is rumored to have, expect to see many
more early releases from the group in the near future. Most Prestige Members
believe that Prestige is a fun group to be in; because of that, don't expect
to see a slowdown in the rapid growth of the group.
One of the things that makes PSG so successful month in and month out is
the effort of the leadership to bring in "new blood" as often as possible.
Many other groups refuse to give new people a chance to prove themselves,
often setting them up against ridiculous odds and not giving them the full
benefits that other suppliers might have. This is a foolish strategy. PSG
has proven that there are capable people out there, but they must be plugged
in to the system in order to be productive. Karrade, for example, cut his
teeth on the finely-tuned PSG Supply System, and now he has gone on to PDM,
presumably to succeed there as well. With 7 titles in his first month, he is
hardly going to be turned down by ANY group at this point - and yet just 4
weeks ago, he left Razor because of a lack of support by that group's leader-
ship. There are other examples of PSG's constructive philosophy, as well.
Guys like Pale Horse, Feeeenixx, and Q-Ball all provide an influx of games
into the group, but there is not much pressure on them to supply, because of
the capacities of the other, experienced, Members. Then there is the matter
of cracking. Prestige has 6 crackers, which is not particularly noteworthy,
until you consider that all 6 are actively cracking games for the group, and
that one of them, CyberPhreak, is actually new at cracking but has done six
titles this month! CyberPhreak is also a supplier, and is conveniently
located near the heart of PSG's Supply Team, plus he has one of the fastest
available connections to the internet, so he is a surefire bet to crack a lot
of PSG's titles. Wolverine and Grudge are 2 of the best crackers in the
scene, while LTD and Lost Soul are experienced but often more difficult to
contact because of their residence abroad. In any case, Prestige will more
likely never want for cracking, though no group can ever have "too many"
crackers (my personal philosophy). Prestige is quite simply a well-rounded
and balanced group, poised to take on December and beyond!
Assessments ...
1. Supplying. Prestige still has the best corps of suppliers out there,
and as a result won on nearly every US title once again. The loss of
Karrade probably won't hurt Prestige very much, as the chief reason
Karrade was successful was the support staff he had in PSG, and the
newest additions to the PSG supply team, Mr.Skill, Feeeenixx, Pale
Horse, and Q-Ball, should do more than pick up the slack. In Europe,
PSG did absolutely nil this month.
Supply Rating (Europe) - 1/10 (change: +/- 0)
Supply Rating (US) - 9/10 (change: + 1)
2. Cracking. The North American corps of crackers has truly solidified,
and PSG now has 3 capable crackers in the States - Shadow Seeker,
Wolverine, and perhaps the biggest surprise, CyberPhreak. This month
Grudge stepped up with 6 cracks, but LTD and Lost Soul are not to be
forgotten, each cracking several titles for the group. Overall, PSG's
cracking has improved, especially in North America, where fast cracking
is the key to victory.
Cracking Rating (Europe) - 7/10 (change: +/- 0)
Cracking Rating (US) - 9/10 (change: + 1)
3. The "Winner" Factor. This factor is of course still applicable,
perhaps even moreso this month than the month before. PSG is a winner,
and this keeps attracting more quality people to the group.
Noteworthy +'s and -'s ...
(+) Prestige added to its US supply team this month with the additions of
Mr.Skill, Feeeenixx, Pale Horse, and Q-Ball. The 4 of them combined for
about 25% of PSG's releases this month.
(+) Prozac had a huge month for PSG, supplying 11 titles and assisting
with several others. If this is an indication of what he can do in
the future, expect more big things from him.
(+) CyberPhreak has refined his cracking skills, and while he's unable to
crack some of the more difficult protections, he can handle 3 out of 4
protections that come his way. Because of his proximity to some of the
top PSG suppliers, and his ethernet access to the net, CyberPhreak is a
good weapon against the other groups. This kind of cracking availability
is a serious threat to competition.
(+) The Blue Adept joined Prestige this month, from Razor, and he'll prove
valuable in assisting with organizational matters within the group.
(+) Prestige made very few mistakes this month, and handled most of them in-
house. The quality of releases was higher than in October, and the group
grabbed a lot of big titles, like Front Page Sports: Football '97, Tomb
Raider, SykNET, and the Duke3d Plutonium Pack. Quality titles like this
will do a lot to offset the accusations of "budgetware" from other
groups.
(-) Once again, Prestige comes up empty in Europe. With so much success in
North America, its time for PSG to branch out and take parts of Europe
away from Hybrid.
(-) Prestige released Duke3d Plutonium Pack totally uncracked. This is
absolutely inexcusable, even though it has never happened to this group
before. I've always said that its better to lose on a release than to
put it out uncracked, but in this case the group didn't even test the
game. That's amateurish and mistakes like that cannot be allowed by the
PSG leadership. Things like this can open up the group for insult and
it alienates fans of the group who wanted to play this long-anticipated
game.
(-) Karrade, a fast supplier on the east coast, left the group for PDM. Top
members of PSG are less concerned with losing his output than with PDM
gaining it. Prestige probably has enough depth to cover the loss of
Karrade, but it could become a problem during a race.
Predictions & Summation ...
Last Month's Prediction: 1st place, 20-25 releases.
Actual: 1st place, 40 releases.
Prestige won by a landslide this month, just like the two previous months.
Other groups have got to be wondering if there's any good reason to try and
compete with Prestige - the group just wins on title after title, hit after
hit release, despite the best efforts of the competition. The basic core
of the group hasn't changed much since last month, although the group has had
its biggest facelift in some time, with the addition of 4 new US suppliers.
This group has been successful because of good organization from the top down
and that organization is still in place. Shadow Master deserves a lot of the
credit, as the group has become more successful as his name appeared in the
"supplier" column less often. In any case, PSG seems poised to win again in
December.
My prediction for December is that PSG will indeed win the month by a large
margin. I doubt that the group will manage 40 or even 36 releases, as the
last month of the year is historically a slower month than the two preceding
it. Once again, I have to bring up the fact that Prestige has the most depth
out of any other group. When Karrade left for Paradigm, the other top groups
started smacking their lips, looking forward to a shot at some releases, or
at least expecting Prestige to lose on a few more. However, since Karrade
left, the opposite has occurred - PSG hasn't lost on an American title since
Karrade left the group more than 2 weeks ago, while Karrade still remains
empty-handed as a Paradigm supplier. The reason for this is quite simple -
depth. When Karrade left, other suppliers stepped up to the plate and
delivered the quality titles. The supply scheme employed by Prestige is
such that suppliers can be more successful than within other groups - this
is why Prozac more than tripled his output moving from Illusion to Prestige,
why so many rookies are making an impact on the number of releases from PSG,
and why good suppliers only get better when made a part of this group. It
doesn't do other groups any good to steal PSG's suppliers - PSG can recruit
new ones who will do just as well as the old ones. Until the competitors can
come up with a supply system that can compete with PSG's, don't expect a slow
down in production from the group.
As far as last month's prediction (1st place, 20-25 releases) goes, well, I
blew it again. PSG had first place, of course, but doubled my predicted out-
put. I just didn't think we'd see this many titles for 2 months in a row,
even from THIS group. Well, I was wrong, and Prestige once again put on an
unreal show for us to watch. I expect the group to win in December, but this
time I really do think my numerical predictions are accurate. I just don't
see how we can have more than 40 new games out for another month...
Prediction: 1st Place, 15-20 releases.
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Group: Hybrid
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Blood & Magic Interplay 8(0.75) 18/36 52mb 26mb
Blue Ice Psygnosis 6(0.75) 29/29 42mb 42mb
Destruction Derby 2 Psygnosis 8(1.00) 3/ 6 9mb 5mb
Fragile Allegiance Gremlin 7(0.25) 21/21 31mb 31mb
Grand Prix Manager 2 MicroProse 6(1.00) 5/10 15mb 8mb
Krazy Ivan Psygnosis 7(1.00) 4/ 4 6mb 6mb
Realms of the Haunting Gremlin 7(0.50) 27/27 39mb 39mb
Screamer 2 Virgin 9(0.00) 24/48 70mb 35mb
Swiv 3D Sales Curve 6(0.25) 18/18 26mb 26mb
XS Sales Curve 6(0.25) 20/20 55mb 55mb
Zombie Wars Sprint 5(1.00) 5/ 5 8mb 8mb
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS FOR HYBRID 81.75 174/224 324mb 252mb
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hybrid Monthly Points : 81.75
Number of Releases : 11
Release Quality Average : 7.43
Hybrid Group Rating : 1872.36
Notes/Explanations :
Blood & Magic - Bad crack/rip, no net play. Not fixed, 1/2 credit given.
Screamer 2 - Bad crack/rip, fix required. HBD fixed, 1/2 credit given.
D. Derby 2 - Bad crack/rip, fix required. HBD fixed, 1/2 credit given.
Gr. Pr. Mgr 2 - Bad crack/rip, fix required. Not fixed, 1/2 credit given.
Hybrid - Comments ...
Hybrid had another nice month this November, continuing a trend they
started early in the year, with a strong 2nd place finish behind Prestige
and ahead of Razor and Paradigm. Mad Turnip is once again the man most
responsible for Hybrid's success this month, which earned him the MVP for
a second straight month. Not only did the Turnip supply most of the games
Hybrid released, but he even cracked many of them himself! Of course
Animal & Dogfriend are not to be forgotten, as they supplied & cracked
3 games as well. Only a couple of Hybrid's releases needed a fix, as
Screamer II and Destruction Derby II both needed fixes (the netplay on
DD2 and Blood & Magic don't work by the way).
Many people wonder why Hybrid continues to be so successful even though
it is a small group. Here's why:
1. Supplying. Hybrid's originals all come from Europe, and I think that
Hoson (the leader of Hybrid) has finally accepted that, as no Hybrid
members have tried to make inroads with US suppliers. The addition of
Hot Tuna to the supply team will make life easier for Mad Turnip, as
now he has someone to help him rule over the UK originals. Animal &
Dogfriend continue to be a reliable duo, helping the group get over
the hump and put out some more quality games.
Supply Rating (Europe) - 9/10 (change: + 1)
Supply Rating (US) - 0/10 (change: +/- 0)
2. Cracking. Hybrid's cracking continues to become deeper, as Mad
Turnip sharpens his cracking abilities. It seems that the group
has almost no need to go with their pure crackers anymore, as most
of the titles we see nowadays are cracked by Mad Turnip or Animal &
Dogfriend, though Jammer and the rest of the crackers can still be
seen from time to time (like when Hoson tries to crack something that
is way over his head <g>). If need be, Hybrid can use some of the
best crackers in the business to take care of the tough protections.
Cracking Rating (Europe) - 9/10 (change: +/- 0)
Cracking Rating (US) - 0/10 (change: +/- 0)
3. The "Small Group" factor. Hybrid succeeds at what it does because
it doesn't have as many members as some of the larger groups. The
size of Hybrid facilitates better cooperation and communication
between members, and that's what keeps the group running so smoothly.
Noteworthy +'s and -'s ...
(+) Hybrid picked up another capable Brit this month, capturing Hot Tuna
from Razor to strengthen the UK supply team.
(+) Hybrid goes along with the 50 disk limit, which gives them credit as
a group that sticks to its word.
(-) Hybrid still has no US suppliers, so it lacks the firepower to beat
groups like Prestige.
Predictions & Summation ...
Last Month's Prediction: 4th place, 7-10 releases.
Actual: 2nd place, 10 releases.
Well, Hybrid sure surprised me this month! I figured that Europe would slow
down, but I was apparently wrong, as the group cranked out a flurry of games
at the end of the month to put them in 2nd place. Again, the other groups
are willing to write off the European titles as a loss to Hybrid, so I don't
think they are in any threat of major competition anytime soon, unless Razor
is able to get a lot of games out of Hooligan (which I doubt). In any case,
Hybrid did very well again this month, and I suspect they'll do alright in
December as well. For December, I predict this group will finish in second
place, as the US releasing season is getting wrapped up and I think that a
few more titles will be out in the UK than usual.
Prediction: 2nd place, 7-10 releases.
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Group: Razor 1911
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Battleground: Antietam Talonsoft 0(0.00) 0/28 41mb 0mb
Blam! MachineHead EIDOS 6(1.00) 9/ 9 13mb 13mb
C&C: Red Alert Virgin 9(0.25) 17/34 49mb 25mb
Cyber Gladiators Sierra Online 7(1.00) 9/ 9 13mb 13mb
Duke3d Plutonium Pack GT Interactive 9(0.00) 10/19 28mb 15mb
Firo & Klawd BMG 5(0.00) 46/46 67mb 67mb
Gubble Actual Ent. 4(0.25) 27/27 39mb 39mb
Ironman *FAKE* Acclaim 0(0.00) 0/13 19mb 0mb
Ironman *FIXED* Acclaim 0(0.00) 0/57 82mb 0mb
Lords of the Realm II Sierra Online 8(0.25) 36/36 52mb 52mb
Privateer 2 *BETA* Origin Systems 0(0.00) 0/46 67mb 0mb
Space Jam Acclaim 8(0.00) 47/47 68mb 68mb
Time Paradox Flair 6(0.50) 27/27 39mb 39mb
WWF *BETA* Acclaim 0(0.00) 0/43 62mb 0mb
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS FOR RAZOR 1911 65.25 228/441 636mb 329mb
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Razor Monthly Points : 65.25
Number of Releases : 14
Release Quality Average : 4.66
Razor 1911 Group Rating : 1533.14
Notes/Explanations :
Battleground: Antietam - Dupe of PSG. No credit awarded.
C&C: Red Alert - Bad crack/rip. RZR fixed, 1/2 credit given.
Duke3d Plutonium Pack - Fix for PSG bad/crack rip. 1/2 credit given.
Ironman *FAKE* - Fake release. No credit awarded.
Ironman *FIXED* - Over disk limit. No credit awarded.
Privateer 2 - Beta. No credit awarded.
WWF *BETA* - Beta. No credit awarded.
Razor 1911 - Comments ...
November marked many changes for Razor, most of them for the worse. The
group's leader, The Speed Racer, retired from the scene, and left the group
in the hands of The Punisher, an inexperienced hothead who has only been in
the scene for about 6 months. The Punisher has already managed to alienate
some of the oldest members of the group, as Hot Tuna, Razor's former top UK
supplier, left for Hybrid, citing disatissfaction with the childish attitude
of the leaders as the chief reason for his departure. Hot Tuna has already
proven valuable to Hybrid, supplying 2 titles for the group this month. In
addition, the new "leader" of the group displayed more of his childlike
antics in threatening a young supply prospect, Karrade, when he left for
Prestige early in the month. Karrade was also disappointed with the so-
called "leadership" within Razor, and struck out for better opportunities,
but The Punisher would have none of it, and threatened to bust him. Read
more about it in RCN #30.
Combined with the great losses Razor incurred when they lost Karrade
and Hot Tuna (who together released more games than Razor put out the
entire month!), Razor's image was shattered as the group cranked out beta
after beta release. WWF: In Your House, Privateer 2, and Iron-Man were
all betas, requiring mop-up jobs from other groups. The group released a
game as 57 disks (Iron-Man - Fixed), well over the established 50 disk
limit, as well. The kiddy ware Gubble didn't do much for Razor's image,
either, as that game was passed up by Prestige (and every other group!)
more than a month before those "talented" guys at the Blade released it.
PieJackers and Time Paradox (supplied by JDA and rumored to be a beta,
though nobody's proved it yet) rounded out the garbage games by the blade,
while CyberGladiators did not work on any of the 4 systems we tried it on
(rumor has it this one works on some systems, so for this report I'll give
Razor the benefit of the doubt). Command & Conquer: Red Alert required 2
fixes to play properly, one for the internet, and one for the graphics
which were screwed on level 7 through 11 because of an improper rip-job,
but I think we can overlook that considering the fact that Beowulf had to
strip one 400+ meg file into several smaller files to make the game
playable for us pirates. Although the Razor members continue to rant
"quality not quantity," it has become apparent, at least to my eyes, that
this group will release anything it can get its hands on, regardless of the
condition of the release. For more information on how bad Razor is, just
read JDA's interviews in RCN #31, they tell volumes about how the group
operates.
But why did Razor crash and burn again this month? The fact that Razor
kicked itself in the nuts in October had a lot to do with it, but I think
we should go into more detail:
1. Supplying. Razor's supply team has withered into nothingness.
The group used to have a lot of depth in this area, but now all
the top suppliers have gone the way of the dinosaur, or left for
other groups. Hot Tuna, the group's top UK supplier, left for
Hybrid, which was a blow to the European section of the group.
While JDA was mostly a beta supplier, he did occasionally get a
final version of a game, but he, too, is now gone. In the US,
none of the top suppliers from the past are making an impact;
the only good games Razor got this month came via The Speed Racer,
who is now retired. Razor is no longer able to get ANY games by
conventional methods, and what titles they do get now will be few
and far between, and will not exhibit any semblance of consistency.
During the early part of the month, Razor stated that they would
now get all Virgin and Sierra games. Since that bold statement,
Razor has lost on 2 Virgin games, and on the biggest Sierra game of
the season, Front Page Sports: Football '97. Whether they are able
to rebound and pick up a good supplier or two will dictate their
success in this area, because right now, Razor just doesn't have
the firepower to compete with Prestige in the US, or with Hybrid
in Europe. On the upside, Razor seems to have an enigmatic new Euro
supplier, Hooligan. This is the only possible ace Razor has in its
deck, and thus far, Hooligan has only supplied 2 cheesy titles that
none of us will ever play (MachineHead, Firo & Klawd).
Supply Rating (Europe) - 1/10 (change: - 1)
Supply Rating (US) - 3/10 (change: +/- 0)
2. Cracking. Last month, my report generated some controversy when
I stated that Razor's cracking in North America was only worth 3/10
points. I did not intend to offend Beowulf, and I apologize for doing
so, as anyone who has spoken to me on the subject of cracking knows
that I consider Beowulf within the upper echelon of crackers; indeed,
cracking is the only area where Razor has any strength at all, and
Beowulf is the prime reason for that. The 3/10 was awarded because I
did not believe Beowulf was easily accessible or available, and there-
fore I did not think he'd be much of a factor unless the group had a
game very early (where speed on cracking didn't matter). The cracking
rating is based on my opinion of what would happen if all the groups
got a typical, protected US game at the usual time (in general, before
noon EST). Razor would not be able to go with Beowulf, unless I have
bad information, thus he is useless in that kind of situation. I'm
sure that if Beo was available, he would perform as well as any good
cracker out there; but if he's not available, how good he is becomes
a moot point. Anyway, on with my analysis. Beowulf did more than I
expected him to, as he was able to crack 4 games for the group, thus
earning the MVP award for the month. Beowulf single-handedly put out
the best game the group got, Red Alert, by stripping it from a huge
size to one that is playable for the rest of us, and for that he does
deserve a big hand, even though the game required several fixes. As
far as the other crackers went, they performed on an average level,
but note that none of them was really tested; Razor was able only to
get one game via conventional means this month, therefore speed was
never an issue. All in all, I'd have to say Razor's cracking team is
capable of cracking just about anything, but because of time differ-
ences and availability, is not a threat in a race to a group like PSG,
which has enough crackers for almost any eventuality. Razor gets a +2
for the US side of the rating, because Beowulf really does deserve a
hand for his work with Red Alert, but again, in a race, I don't see
how Razor can compete. Again, its not Beowulf who gets the cracking
rating, but Razor with the rating. To draw a metaphor - on a Super
Bowl team, Neil O'Donnell was a pretty good quarterback, interceptions
notwithstanding. With the New York Jets, he is 1-12. His bad stats
passing this season are more a reflection of the team he plays with
than a reflection on his abilities as a quarterback.
Cracking Rating (Europe) - 4/10 (change: +/- 0)
Cracking Rating (US) - 5/10 (change: + 2)
3. The Punisher Factor - The Speed Racer stepped out, and with him a bad
reputation for dirty tricks, which is definitely a bonus for the group
and its reputation. In order to offset any benefit of this departure,
however, TSR installed one of his disciples, The Punisher, in the
position of "leader." The Punisher, while just as rotten as TSR, has
none of the former leader's sensibilities in determining when and when
not to discuss busting someone; before he was even given the mantle of
power, The Punisher threatened to bust another group's supplier, and
this isn't the first time Punisher has done something like that, as he
even threatened to bust a good friend of his, Malign, after he left
Razor for Prestige several months back. Even Razor members don't like
this guy, as was proven by the departure of Hot Tuna, and the recent
rumblings of dissatisfaction within the group. The fact that The
Punisher threatens to bust anyone who leaves Razor is certainly a good
reason NOT to join this group; as more people realize what a tyrant
this guy is, they'll stay away from the group, and more importantly,
those already in the group may elect not to perform rather than serve
the ego of a guy like this.
Noteworthy +'s and -'s ...
(+) Hooligan supplied 2 titles from Europe this month. Whether or not that
means anything, time will only tell, but if Hooligan is able to keep up
2 or 3 titles a month, it will help keep the group afloat until it makes
the tough changes that have to be made.
(+) Beowulf is cracking more of Razor's titles. If that means he has more
time to crack, it is a huge benefit for the group, as Beowulf is one of
the better crackers out there.
(-) Razor has started releasing all sorts of crap, but continues to rave
about "quality, not quantity." Its clear that those are empty words,
so Razor should either can it, or only release quality games, before it
erodes any more of the trust people have in Razor's cracks. With so
many big egos and so little production, something has to give.
Predictions & Summation ...
Last Month's Prediction: 3rd place, 5-10 releases.
Actual: 3rd place, 10 releases.
Once again, Razor has had its knuckles bloodied as it hit against a brick
wall called Prestige again this month. The only thing holding the group
together is the idea that if they try hard enough, its members can bring
down Prestige. Some members, like The Punisher, are taking this very
seriously, even going so far as to threaten Prestige suppliers (ie Karrade).
Razor must overcome challenges like The Punisher so that the truly gifted
members of the group can shine. Some of the pieces of the puzzle are there,
but the group doesn't have anyone to get the rest of the pieces and put them
all together.
My prediction from last month was accurate, as Razor finished in the bottom
half of the heap with less than 10 releases. I believe that next month, the
group will do worse than it did in November, however I think that Paradigm
will be even worse, therefore I think Razor will finish in 3rd place one
more time. I said last month that many Razor members were barely holding
on by a thread; some of those members are already gone. December could be
Razor's defining month: Razor will either prove me totally wrong and succeed
in the face of overwhelming odds, or it will fizzle into nothingness once
and for all. I don't think that this group can continue running on fumes
for much longer.
Prediction: 3rd Place, 3-5 releases.
������������������������������������������������������������������������������
Group: Paradigm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A-10 Cuba! Activision 7(0.50) 16/31 45mb 23mb
Archimedian Dynasty Blue Byte 7(0.50) 22/22 32mb 32mb
Creatures Inscape 0(0.00) 0/14 21mb 0mb
Harpoon '97 for Win95 Intractv Magic 6(0.00) 43/43 62mb 62mb
Heroes/M&M II New World Cmp. 9(0.75) 8/16 24mb 12mb
Master of Orion II MicroProse 0(0.00) 0/58 84mb 0mb
Race Mania Flair 5(0.25) 19/38 55mb 28mb
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS FOR PARADIGM 36.00 108/222 323mb 157mb
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PDM Monthly Points : 36.00
Number of Releases : 7
Release Quality Average : 5.14
PDM Group Rating : 806.98
Notes/Explanations :
A-10 Cuba! - Bad crack/rip, fix required. PDM fixed, 1/2 credit.
Creatures - Bad crack/rip, fix required. PDM fixed, but not a
game. No credit given for screen saver utilities.
Heros/M&M II - Bad crack/rip, fix required. Indy fix, 1/2 credit.
Master of Orion II - Bad crack/rip, fix required. Fixed by PDM, but over
the limit, and initial fix did not work. Third-party
30 disk fix required, final size totaled 88 disks.
Race Mania - Bad crack/rip, fix required. PDM fixed, 1/2 credit.
Paradigm - Comments ... :
Even though Paradigm was able to get a few good titles this month, the
only word I can use to characterize their performance is mediocre. PDM,
who I thought would win 3rd place this month, fell all the way back into
last place, behind even Razor. From the attitudes of group members,
however, you'd think they won the month! PDM boasts big attitude, but thus
far has produced very little in the way of results. A number of factors
influenced their slide this month.
For starters, out of 7 releases this month, 5 of them had problems. First
off comes Creatures, which is not even a game, but is in fact a screen saver
utility. Why PDM released this is beyond me. In addition to not being a
game, the release required a fix as well. The second screw-up of the month
was Race Mania, a very bad racing game from Europe that required a fix to
patch the CD check that occurs after you win one race. A-10! Cuba and
Heroes of Might & Magic II both required fixes as well. Finally, we come to
the issue of Master of Orion II. This game was available all day in CompUSA
before PDM released it - yet they still were unable to get it right. For
starters, the game was released as 58 disks by PDM, well over the set limit
of 50 disks. While this outraged the other groups, many users were happy
to get a relatively small version of the game to play - unfortunately, PDM
did not test their release at all, and the game was NOT playable. The 4
disk fix released by PDM solved some of the problems, but in order to finish
the game, an additional 30-disk fix from an independant group was required.
This means that the full game is about 90 disks in size, which is nearly
double the size of the limit, and is a lot more than most users are willing
to download. Shame on you Paradigm!
Bad cracks/rips notwithstanding, PDM still had a pretty bad showing this
month, with only 5 legit releases. However, once again both continents did
provide several titles each, and the group was able to release a very big
title, Heroes of Might & Magic II. The supply team appears to be rounding
itself out, as the group picked up several new suppliers (though I suspect
that these "new" suppliers are just fake names for someone we already know
and love, I will give the group the benefit of the doubt for now) who have
all produced a good title. Zeus did nothing for another month, and this
could really become a big problem for the group, as PDM needs for him to
produce in order to be successful.
Paradigm's cracking remains a major issue, with the star cracker of the
group, Holy Beast, faking a crack for Master of Orion II, and of course the
crack/rip mishaps I mentioned above. Then there is the problem of leader-
ship, which seems to be getting out of control over at Paradigm. Hemp
Hoodlum, one of the leaders of the group, threatened to bust CyberPhreak of
Prestige, after a routine prank (releasing a 100 disk title as PARALAME in
homage to PDM's flouting of the 50 disk limit on MOO 2). This kind of
silliness is what's killing Razor, and the Paradigmers should be careful
not to let it kick in before the group even gets off the ground.
So, what are Paradigm's chances in the future? Let's see what's "under
the hood," so to speak:
1. Supplying. The fact that most of PDM's releases this month required
fixes is not a reflection on the group's ability to get the games. I
was surprised to see where the games came from in November, though not
entirely surprised to see a number of good titles from the group.
Neither the US nor the European side fared well this month, but both
did provide a couple of games, and this is a good sign. Zeus did not
supply this month, which is worrisome, considering that out of every-
one in the group, he has the most potential to be a top supplier.
Zeus even lost on an Avalon Hill title, a company he claimed to have
"locked up" after he picked up Over the Reich from that publisher.
If Zeus loses his motivation, this group is sunk. In the US, the
group added Karrade, who was successful with Prestige, as an East
Coast Supplier, and in Europe, the supply as been as expected, with
several poor to mediocre titles coming in from the German connection.
Supply Rating (Europe) - 2/10 (change: +/- 0)
Supply Rating (US) - 4/10 (change: - 2)
2. Cracking. Paradigm has several crackers, but has only used two of
them thus far, Holy Beast and Johnny Cyberpunk. Johnny is certainly
the better of the two, and Holy Beast proved that he's not as good
as he'd like to think, even faking a crack on Master of Orion 2 when
no protection was encountered on the game. Additionally, with the
addition of Karrade, PDM's cracking will have to get much faster in
order to win on the US titles.
Cracker Rating (Europe) - 5/10 (change: +/- 0)
Cracker Rating (USA) - 0/10 (change: +/- 0)
3. The "ZEUS" Factor. Zeus is still a famous supplier, and he can still
use that to his advantage when recruiting suppliers to his team, as
he did when he brought in Karrade. However, if he doesn't start to
put out titles, the novelty of Zeus will wear off.
Noteworthy +'s and -'s ...
(+) Karrade joined Paradigm this month, and he'll be a valuable addition,
as he's had experience with the most powerful North American group,
Prestige. If he's able to duplicate his successes with Prestige,
Karrade will supply a lot of good titles.
(+) For a second month, Paradigm has had several titles from both the US
and Europe, which can only serve to keep the group closely-knit.
(-) PDM continues to break their promises/philosophies, as 5 of 7 PDM
releases this month required fixes, and Creatures was not even a
game. Should they continue on this track, the "Quality not Quantity"
ideal will be mocked.
(-) There continue to be members in the group who don't do anything. A
few PDM people have already expressed concern with this situation.
Predictions & Summation ...
Last month's prediction: 2nd place, 5-10 releases.
Actual: 4th place, 7 releases.
Paradigm has evolved from a threat into a joke. This group has some real
potential, but is wasting it on public relations nightmares. Master of
Orion 2 was released at 58 disks, 8 over the limit, and required a 30 disk
fix from an independent group in order to run properly, as the 4 disk PDM
fix for the game was useless. Creatures was cracked by PDM this month,
requiring a fix, unfortunately it wasn't a game. A-10 Cuba!, Heroes of
M&M II, and Race Mania all needed fixes as well. Master of Orion 2 had no
protection, but PDM stated they cracked a CD check on the game. So far,
the group has done everything it set out not to do - first budget titles,
now 3 out of 5 releases need fixes, etc. They need to get back on track.
On the upside, PDM was able to get several good titles out of the States
this month, and several games out of Europe as well. Zeus supposedly did
not supply a game this month, and the group still did okay in the US. Now
if PDM can duplicate those successes, expand on them with Zeus and Karrade,
and work on getting out more clean cracks, they have a chance to be a big
contender in December, but I personally don't see it happening.
Prediction: 4th place, 3-5 releases.
�������������������������������������������������������������������������������
Well, its been another great month of free wares! November saw the release
of Red Alert, Tomb Raider, Master of Orion II, and a lot of other really kick
ass titles. For the past couple years, November has been the best month of
the year, and this one was no different. Prestige blew the doors off of the
competition once again, slamming out an outrageous number of quality titles,
but the other groups weren't silent, as Razor made noise with their crack of
C&C: Red Alert. Hybrid got in on the action with several nice European games,
and Paradigm brought up the rear with a bunch of non-working releases, among
them the highly anticipated Master of Orion II. This month, there was really
something for everyone, and December should be a little bit slower so we can
all take our time sampling the great titles from November.
* NOTES: As usual, my commentary was written right about at the start of
December, so by now its a little bit outdated. Paradigm died and
the remaining members joined Razor, Hybrid's having a killer month
so far and other weird things have happened since I wrote the copy
for most of this report. Once again, sorry it took so long to get
out, but there was a lot of stuff out this month and I have a lot
of other things to keep myself busy with, besides the scene. I
appreciate all the email, comments, and questions I have gotten
since I started the report - keep 'em coming. Also, check out
the file SCORING.TXT included in this release, and if you like it,
let me know. The MVP and more is in that file. Enjoy, and have
a happy Christmas holiday!
* GREETS: The Third World Paki Report Crew - Shadow Master & MindBender.
Prestige, Razor 1911, Paradigm, and Hybrid - All the guys that
make my report possible.
And of course, greets to pirates everywhere! Enjoy the report
and watch out because it'll be out next month, too.
- The Renegade Chemist / Prestige
Author of The Ware Report!
* To contact the author of The Ware Report, email him at chemist@laker.net.