Unreal Issue 2

eZine lover (@eZine)

Published in

Unreal

· 10 Mar 2023

Letter from the editors...

Another Issue of UnReal is released, due the number of articles we are getting we are either going to started releasing it more often, like every two weeks or start releasing more articles in each issue.

Last issue's file_id.diz was a little bit freeky, but i did it at the last minute while i was shelled into dos to upload it to some local board.

I would like to hear from you guys, comment and suggestions on how we at UnReal can improve the magazine. We are always in need of more articles so if you want to write an article, it doesn't have to be about computers or bbsing at all it can be about anything you want.

UnReal has added several new boards to our distribution sites, APOCALYPSE in 201, and Village Idiot's board (don't remember the name) in 609. Due to us having several sites right now we are in need of a courier or two. To apply for the position call PARANORMAL SHOP (number listed below) or contact Bouncer on IRC (#coders, #phreak).

UnReal is also having a space for a funny article. Starting next issue, there will be a funny article in each one. Next issue's article will be 103 mother jokes. Anybody, can write one of these articles but remember due to the fact that there is only 1 per issue it might take a while for it to get published in UnReal.

Well that all folks. Hope you enjoy the magazine...

UnReal Home - PARANORMAL SHOP 514-747-7560
UnReal Distro - APOCALYPSE 201-934-5613

Internet E-Mail address: Bouncer@pnet01.cts.com

The warez scene and stuff ...

Well, I am starting this T File at like 3 am so excuse me if I don't spell things out right. Anyway, I am writing this for UnReal so I don't know how many people will see it(if any). My knowledge of the scene began right after the "bust" of Grim and the NSHB. I came in right after that time period and didn't even know the bust happened until I talked to Grim about it. I always wanted to be in INC, because for all the little local lamers INC was IT as far as warez went. I knew of this local "INC Member", the Jet who was personal friends with Cool Hand and through his help I was able to contact Joe(Cool Hand) and was well on my way to being a courier. Cool Hand was a guy who was straight to the point, no fucking around. So, he sent me to Sought After's board, Crewel Lye. At this point Dave (aka Zack, aka Sought After) made me a "Trial Courier" and I was on top of the world. Courier for the #1 group ever. I must say I have never seen a group just totally dominate the scene like INC did for so long. INC totally crushed all opposition, anyone who was anyone is the warez scene wanted to be or was in INC. Well, I did my job for INC for a few months and things were going great. I couldn't have been happier, if it ended now it would be a perfect story. Unfortunately shit happens and things got fucked up. About two to three months after I joined INC, Cool Hand finally got pissed off at Sought After (for the second time) and kicked Dave out of the group. Well, since I did join while he was the courier coordinator I felt some loyalty to him. I made up my mind that wherever Sought After went I would follow, which I later found out to be a mistake. Dave called me the day after he was booted out of INC and told me he went to FLT, which at the time sucked, and asked if I would go with him. Well, even after I talked to Ford Perfect, who took over as courier coordinator (and who I believe is the coolest guy ever to be in the scene) I was set on joining FLT with Sought After. Two weeks after I joined FLT, I had my first chat with the Grim Reaper. At the time I thought he was cool as shit, how wrong I was. Well, Sought After had managed to convince Heretic (leader of FLT at the time) to let Grim join. As soon as Grim joined he got to work on suppling. Money was no object to him because he was using Flashback's credit card to buy all the games. I believe Grim was working so hard on supply because he wanted to beat INC at releasing. See, he tried to come back to INC but Cool Hand sensing he was no good didn't allow Mike to re-join. So, it was Mike's life work to destroy INC. About a month after Grim was working on supply things started to pay off for FLT. We acutually started competing with INC. I was happy until Grim started calling me at late hours expecting me to be on call 24hrs a day. He told me I had to eat, breath, and shit FLT. I had to ready 24-7 to courier warez. Well, after a few weeks of this, I couldn't take his shit anymore. I began talking to Lestat (who was now the Courier Coordinator of INC and a good friend of mine) and I would let him know everything I could about the goings on of FLT, only staying in FLT because of what I could tell him about supply. Only Lestat, Ford and Cool Hand knew what I was doing. I finally couldn't take Grim's shit any long and I made my move back to INC. Well, I thought that would be it, but only two weeks after I came back to INC, INC literally fell apart. There was a coup attempt to try and kick Cool Hand out of the group. It turns out Joe wasn't paying suppliers for the games and on top of that he was making INC sites in return for SNES and Genesis games. This attempt was foiled by Lestat and Ford Perfect left for FLT. I never expected Pete to go to FLT because his two most hated enemies were in FLT, Grim and The Gh0dess. Well as you can see I was fucked and for the next couple of months INC was shit and FLT ruled the scene. Grim had accomplished his goal of killing INC. I just sat back and watched as FLT pumped out ever new game. All this time I was talking to Con Artist, with whom I had developed a pretty good friendship with. I suttly tried to hint to him I wanted to come back to FLT, but not while Grim was still in. Well, I was in luck for Grim was booted from FLT, for stealing money ($2000) and I thought this was my chance to get back with the best group. I was accepted as a courier, under Night Ranger aka Silent Stalker and Con Artist. After Grim's theft of the money, FLT was in real trouble. We went through the next few months on nickel and dime shit trying to get back on our feet. Well, althought we had everything certain members were getting impatient with our progress. Silent Stalker and Shadow Angel were plotting behind Ford's back to start a new group. Mike (SS) tried to get Con Artist to go along with him, but Chris (Con Artist) went to Pete (Ford) with SS' plan. Pete wasted no time in acting on it and kicked the traitors out of the group. Well, Mike was shocked to say the least and got all the couriers together and tried to get them to leave with him to a new group. Pete called me and asked for my help with the couriers. Myself and Beach Bum (who is now busted) called all the couriers and tried to talk some sense into them. Only about 10-15 were loyal to FLT. I must say this was then end of FLT, but I didn't care because I had stayed loyal to my friends. I kinda laided back for a while until Blade Runner and Hawk called me and informed my of the beginning of PE. I agreed to do the couriers with Union Jack. We all agreed it was not going to be another Sinister, we would actually release shit. Well, PE's first release was a killer. X Wing knocked people's socks off. I think this is were I'm going to end this, because I am too tried to type anymore. I would like to give my official goodbye here. I might be back, maybe not. But if I don't come back I must say it's all been a blast and most of you guys were cool as shit. My board will still be up, so if you want to contact me call me at 301-946-3835.

Greets:

Sought After - No matter what they said about you Dave, you were cool to me.
VenoM - The coolest guy in the scene. I really liked talking to you, maybe I'll give you a call sometime.
Ford Perfect - Pete, what can I say. You wuz the shit. Always cool.
Blade Runner - Shawn(I dunno how to spell your name)... Only of the most mello guys in the scene. Stay that way dude, and good luck with PE.
The Hawk - When you first joined FLT I hated you. Since then though, you were cool as shit you big hick. Take it easy Ken.
Orion - You japanese freak. You were always cool too, take care of the kid.
Nuke - Where did you go in FLT dude?
Killer - I enjoyed talking to you Michelle... keep in touch.
Pieman - Pierre, good luck with THG(always releasing good shit)
Rambone - Tom... enjoyed the old INC days, have phun in RAZOR
Lestat - Fernando, my balls feel heavy.. Hehehe...
Union Jack - Didn't know you too long, sorry about not helping you much.
Everyone I missed

Just like to say I enjoyed my time in the limelight
I hope the scene can once be what it used to be. I'll be back someday....

Are lemmings religious ? ...

For those of you who think Lemmings are little green haired fellows directing traffic, go away. This article's not for you. This article is for the scientifically inclined, the curious ones among you; curious to know what IS the meaning of life? How old IS Mick Jagger? How DO you eat a Slush Puppy without leaving a flavourless glob of ice at the bottom of your cup? And most importantly, are lemmings religious?

Some of you may still be reading this article, but still not know what a lemming is. So let me reach into my wonderful encyclopaedia and give you a scientific definition. Lemmings are those little Norwegian rodents who jump off cliffs in large numbers. But why do they do it? To this day, many still wonder why these little brown balls of fur follow this strange tradition and commit mass suicide. Could it be their religion?

To find out the answer to this question, one must look at their method of thinking. Are they rational thinkers? If so, then perhaps a few of them would see the danger in running headlong into a ravine. Maybe it's just a grandiose case of peer pressure, in which case none of them have enough self-confidence to say: 'No, I'm not going to jump off a cliff, because I'm my own person. I'm really me.' Does this mean that lemmings are spineless as well as suicidal?

All I can say is who the hell really cares. I mean really. You must have spent at least a minute and a half reading this article, and where has it gotten you? To the fourth paragraph, where the author has run out of things to say about lemmings and is now trying to cowardly fill space by writing about his inability to psycho-analyse tiny furry rodents. Well, I say enough of this. You've probably got better things to do than sit here and read the thoughts of an insecure lunatic. Well that's just fine with me! Go ahead, hit ESC!

What ... Haven't had enough? Have I not been shamed enough? You want to persist in tormenting me by continuing to read this article?! Have some decency, for goodness sake. Leave me with what little pride I have left. For the love of God, hit <ESC>!!!

Ah, good, they're gone. You see, actually, I'm a very intellectual person, who devised this clever little screening process to rid this article of 'unwanted' eyes. No longer reading this article are your local lamers who happened to get a copy of this mag by logging onto your board using a false pseudo you weren't familiar with. Anyhow, onto proper business:

..-=HaTE: THE TRUE STORY=-..

HaTE was an ANSi/VGA art group that surfaced in the late summer of '91. Originally, it was named MAFiA (Many Ansi Freaks in Action), and was to be a local 613 group. The founder was Mad Hatter, and he chose the Chemical Warzone to be the Headquarters. There was not much response, due to the artistic inertia that existed in 613 at the time, until one day, when a VGA artist, new to the scene filled out his app.

This new guy was Eight Ball. Running off a 286 and a 24oo baud modem, he slowly made his way into the scene. His first Loader was for Chemical Warzone, and impressed everybody off the bat. After a few short weeks of productivity, Eight Ball was moved into the Vice Presidency (after Overlord of Chaos's computer exploded). At the time, 613 was abundant in LD codes, so the group prospered. President and Vice President called out and began recruiting in the USA. We stumbled upon a small New York art group called 'FiSH', and an alliance was formed. During an intense conference session, the name HaTE was decided upon. Highly Artistically Talented Entreprises.

With the merger, the FishMonger was moved into Co-Presidency, and artists from all over North America were applying. Among the best of us were Eight Ball, Daeor, (that's all I can remember) and one other NEW guy: VenoM. My memory's still a bit foggy, but he had something to do with the Serpent's Lair or something. Anyhow, after a few months of prosperity and popularity, animosity began to arise in the group. The New York side of the group was being disobedient and had a very big mouth. Until one day when Mad Hatter received a phone call from the Frozen Tormentor [iCE].

FT chatted with Mad Hatter, and although I didn't hear the conversation, I was later informed that HaTE has merged with iCE. This had come at an ideal time for iCE, because at the same time, iCE had just gone through a splitting ordeal with ACiD. Without HaTE, what would have become of iCE? Who knows... All I know now, is that iCE is prosper, while HaTE is non-existant. I liked HaTE. Regardless, I'm still happy with my current position in iCE, no matter how SCARCE the iCE uploads are to my board. But I'm digressing again...

BBS software review ...

Here is my viewpoint of all the BBS software out there available for everyone right now..There are many different kinds...Let's see there is Celerity, ViSiON-X, ViSiON/2, FuSIoN, PC Board, LiQUiD, OBV/2 And RiP-X..

As far as I know RiP-X's author quit so that takes care of that software..
OBV/2 I have to admit, it kicks some ass..It has alot of features that make it easy and convienent to use and operate.. It has extended features that help the sysop and users make life a hell of alot easier. And menu's are QUALITY especially the main menu one..Other than that it is just a good all around software to use and operate..
LiQUiD, I have seen a little bit of it but not much...I am not sure what it looks like since I haven't called a BBS running it. But as I heard it is really good, but I havn't seen enough of it to really say anything about it.. But as I've heard it is suppose to be really good.. So I guess GO GRAB IT AND FIND OUT HOW GOOD IT IS!
PC Board, Now there is a good ALL AROUND BBS software.. Very configurable and easy to use..It has many features and very compatible with about any message NET out there..I've seen it and I think it is one of the best BBS software out there that is good and worth the time..And it is updated quite often, so it always has new features on it...
FuSIoN, I have seen a little bit of that...It looks kinda wicked with the different MCI color codes in it..It kinda makes it different and unique to not have just the same as the rest do.. It has some different commands that allow you to do many things, and change those cool colors around to your likings.. So that about explains FuSIoN for all of ya...
ViSiON/2, Now there is a different software..So damn configureable that you need your OWN ansi's for EVERYTHING practically..It is basically YOUR creation when you get done with it, due to all the ANSi screens that need to be made.. I think it is one of best software's out there..It looks like Crimson Blade is doing a GREAT job on it..It is just a great software if you like your own ANSi's and really like to full around with your BBS alot, this is the software to get!
ViSiON-X, Ah back to this one...Well they have made new releases and trying to stay in the competition..But they are trying and it looks pretty good for their newest release, but choosing over ViSiON-X and ViSiON/2 is a tough choice if you see them both.. Because both are quite good and different at how they operate and run...But ViSiON-X still has it's old way's and new way's of doing things..But it's getting better as time goes on...
Celerity, Uh....I don't know if it's even around anymore..It wasn't that good..It was just the standard 'ole BBS..But I think it died, 'cause I havn't seen any BBS running it anymore.

Well that is my review of the following BBS's.. If there are more out there I obviously don't know about them.. So don't give me any SHIT if I forgot one or two or alot more.. I just made the review, so if you don't like it OH WELL.. I told it to the best of my knowledge, so don't give me any HELL if you have any different point of views about it..

Later,
Agent-X
[UnReal]

Amplitude's relocation to 704 ...

What the Fuck?

Well, upon my relocation from 214 to 704 I was forced to leave the pirate scene for about a year. When I left, INC was still running the scene and there was not really any competition. Razor released a little bit every now and again, but I think by the time I left Razor had pretty much disbanded. TDT/TRSI had split up, and now there were twice as many rereleases. Someone said it best when they said, "Damn, all I have to do is DEL COOP*.*" Well, 90% of you guys out there wouldn't remember that, nor would you remember when it only took an hour to newscan CelerityNET. The Renegade Chemist was running some 214 courier group where all the members had 2400bps modems. Half the times The Unknown posted it was to the effect of, "Does anyone know where I can get an HST cheap?" Nothing was taken very seriously, which made everything cool. Nobody gave a fuck about anything. I guess ViSiON-X was probably the most popular pirate BBS program (besides Celerity which will always probably be the most popular).. I kept in contact about once a month with friends from back in Dallas and heard shit about TGR and TNSHB. Well, I got ViSiON/2 so that we could test it before letting anyone see it and I started calling out a little bit. Everything is different.. I don't know who the hell fucked up the pirate scene, but one thing is certain...the whole scene is like 90% lame now. Well, I'll put it this way.. Go do a user list, and see how many of the people you actually know. Fuck, I remember back when you knew everyone on the god damned board. Back when Maximum Security was a bad ass board. So what happened??? What the fuck happened??? When the hell did cracking groups start charging money for distribution sites? That is so lame. Open your fucken' ears jerky....THAT IS |_ /=\ /\/\ ). Where did the term Supplier go? They still have the little supplier box in the NFO, but what the hell does it mean anymore? If the distribution sites are supplying the games, why the hell does someone get credit for ordering the damned game? Any cracking group ought to have enough common sense to know how to run a scam. Also, what's the deal with Courier groups? Is that like for people who can't courier for a cracking group? Who runs them? People who have always wanted to be a courier coordinator? Who remembers when TWA was around? Shadow Demon was the courier coordinator. Hell, if Shadow Demon could be a courier coordinator can't anyone? And what ever happened to crzy joe? What ever happened to the ANSi groups? There used to be ACiD and iCE, unless of course, if you count AAA. Now there's like 20 fucking ansi groups. Well, I guess there's really only one more thing I have to complain about right now.. All these fucking magazines..

Now for a few greets..