 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. _ .              
:     ______________________________________________________|/__________      
\  \ \\_       _//______  _\\__  _____//______   \\______  _\\__   ____// /  /
:      /       \__/   _/  \ _/_____  \__/    /    //    /  \ _/_____  \_      
:    _/   \/____/\___/     \____  \   /\___      /\____/    \____  \   /      
:    \_____\         \______/  \_____/     \____/     \______/  \_____/ Syk   
:                                                               :             
:              _____  _________________________  __________     :             
:     \    \  \\__  /\  _//______  _\\_______  \_\__   ___/_ /  :   /         
:              _/       \ _/   _/  \ _/    \____/_/   --'   \_  :             
:             .\____     \____/     \_____/      /____       /. :. .. .. .. ..
:            :     \______/   \______/   \______/    \______/   :            :
:. .. .. .. .: .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .:            :
    __________  __________  _______________________________  _________       :
 \ \\_______  \_\__   ___/_ \_______  \\_____   \\_______  \_\_____   \_\  \ :
    _/    \____/_/   --'   \_/    \____/    /    //    \____/_/    \___/     :
    \____/      /____       /____     \___      /\____/      /____    \_     :
        \______/    \______/    \______/  \____/     \______/    \_____/     :
             :                                                               :
             :. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .:
                                                                              
                      Mason's Ware Report April Edition                             

Another edition of Mason's Warereport is here - This is the april edition.
Many games has been released this month and even some good ones. 

There have been a lot of discussion about Rapes lately and if it was time to
raise the disklimit. My opinion about the Rapes is that we see some rapes now
and then, but no one has ever defined what makes a release a rape. Some said
it should be called a rape when the sound effects are ripped. Others said it
should be a rape when you rip levels in the game. Some thinks it's wrong to
rip solutions of the games etc. There's just one problem about it - everyone
does it and there are no specific rules determining when a release is a
RAPE or not.

Next question is the disklimit. I don't think we should raise the disklimit
yet - very few games can't get ripped to below the limit and if we want to
rip those games, we need a disklimit of 200 disks or more. It's not time to
do it and I think we should wait until at least the end of the year or 
maybe sometime in 1999.

Another question just pops up in my mind - how about the cracking rules? The
rules that we are following for a crack were made for DOS and a lot of new
things are possible. It might be time to set some new rules for cracking.

We will follow up on these proposals in later issues, but the rules are
still like this:
_   ____________  _______ ____  __________   ____________  ______________     
  _\\________  _\_\__   _|   _\\\__      /___\_______    \_\__    ______/_    
_   _/_  _\______/_/     |    \\_/ _   _//  \\_    _//____/_/_______    _\\_  
    \_____//     //___   |     //___          /__ _     _  //___  \\ _     /  
  _  Syk  \_______/   \_________/ _ \________/   \_________/   \__________/   
                                                                              
                                                  M W R     R  U  L  E  S     

  * The disklimit is 75 disks in 1.44MB size. If you go over that limit the
    game won't be validated. If we catch you cheating by making 1.6MB "disks"
    you get -2.0 points.

  * Updates will get you 1.0 point. A fix for an update gets -0.5 points.

  * Trainers will get you 1.0 point.

  * Games released from a less-known company will get at least 2.0 points and
    then the release can earn between 0.0-0.9 depending on the quality of the
    game.

  * Games released from a known company will get at least 4.0 points and then
    the release can earn between 0.0-0.9 depending on the quality of the
    game.

  * If a fix is needed for the game, the group has 12 hours to fix it and the
    group will get -2.0 points per fix. If another group fixes the game, the
    points will be transferred from the cracking group to the group who fixed
    it.

  * Dupe releases will get -5 points.

  * Addonpacks/Missionpacks for games will get 2.0 points plus the extra
    quality points from 0.0-0.9. If it's a stand-alone version it will
    at least earn 4.0 points.

  * Different addons for the game will get 2.0 points for releasing the
    addon. Lame addons and unnessecary addons will get -2.0 points instead.
    To give you an example of this: If you make a sound addon for a game you
    will get 2.0, but if you do an extra movie addon and the movies are just 
    unneeded movies, you will get -2.0 points.

  * The game must work 100% to get the points and must be packed correctly. If
    the game needs to be installed in a special way it must be described in
    the nfo or the game will counted as non-working.

    ______  /|  ___   /\______ /\______
   /      \/ | / _ \ /   _____/   _____>1
  /    |_ /  |/  |  \\____  \ \____  \  9
 <     | <   /   |   /   |   \/   |   \ 9
  \  _____\_<____|___\_____  /\_____  / 8
 +=\/=====================\/====hh!\/===+
Date        Title                            Company            Points

15/04-98    Apache Longbow 3DFX Patch        DI                   1.0
30/04-98    Armymen                          3DO                  4.7
05/04-98    Battlezone 1.01 Patch            Activision           1.0
07/04-98    Beastwars Trainer                Hasbro               1.0
26/04-98    Defiance Build 759 Patch         Avalon Hill          1.0
01/04-98    Eastern Front Campaign CD1       Talonsoft            4.6
18/04-98    Esoteria Trainer                 Mobeus               1.0
24/04-98    Forsaken                         Acclaim              4.8
01/04-98    Highheat Baseball                3DO                  4.6
17/04-98    Highheat Baseball Update Patch   3DO                  1.0
30/04-98    Judge Dredd Pinball              Pinball Games        2.6
01/04-98    Ipanzer 44                       Imagic               4.7
23/04-98    M1 Tank Platoon 2 1.1 Update     Microprose           1.0
28/04-98    Play to Win Casino               Wizard Works         2.2
09/04-98    Profitana Deluxe                 Lavamind             2.5
08/04-98    Subspace 1.34 Crack              Virgin               1.0
27/04-98    Tennis Elbow 98                  Goto Informatique    2.4
25/04-98    Triple Play 99 Update            EA                   1.0
17/04-98    Twisted Metal 2 April Patch      Sony                 1.0
16/04-98    Ultimate Race Pro v.103 Update   Microprose           1.0
29/04-98    Z.A.R.                           Auric Vision         2.5
29/04-98    Z.A.R. Movie Addon               Auric Vision         2.0
15/04-98    Zebco Pro Fishing 3D             Headgames            2.7
15/04-98    Zebco Pro Fishing 3D Music Addon Headgames            2.0
15/04-98    Zebco Pro Fishing 3D Video Addon Headgames            2.0

Total for April                                                  55.3


This has been a semi-good month for Class. Forsaken is their top release, but
they also did good games like Armymen and Ipanzer 44. What I don't like about
the Class releases this month is all those budget releases like Zebco Pro
Fishing, Z.A.R and Play to Win Casino. About Play to Win Casino, you must note
that Class wrote it was released by GT.  That's wrong - it was released by
GT's budget label called WizardWorks.

A little note about Forsaken - Razor released a fix, but we found out later
it was what the update did from Acclaim. The Forsaken points goes to Class
and we give 1.0 for the update to Razor.

About Spec Ops patch from Paradigm. None of the groups did wrong. There
exists at least 3 versions of Spec Ops on the market. There's the US
version, the European version, and the export version that got sent out to
special countries before the normal release (often to do manuals, boxes in
a foreign language).  That export didn't have mouse support, but they can
download the patch from the Spec Ops webpage or get the "final" patch from
Paradigm, which we count as an upgrade instead. 

About Class in the future - I'm almost sure they will come back with more
releases very soon.

/\______  /\______  ____/\______     __
\____   \/  \__   \/  _ \____   \ __/  \____
 / _/  _/    \/   /   /  / _/  _// / / / / /
/  \   \  /\ /   /\  /  /  \   \/ /\  / / /
\__/\   \/RTX______\___/\__/\   \/ / /_/_/
=====\___)===\__)============\___)=\/=======
Date        Title                            Company            Points

23/04-98    Addiction Pinball Trainer        Team 17              1.0
23/04-98    Addiction Pinball Fix            Team 17              4.7
18/04-98    Airwarrior 3 3.02 Update         I-Magic              1.0
16/04-98    Descent to Undermountain 1.2     Interplay            1.0
16/04-98    Descent to Undermountain Trainer Interplay            1.0
25/04-98    Forsaken Fix                     Acclaim              1.0
08/04-98    Hardball 6                       Accolade             4.6
01/04-98    Incubation Hidden Worlds Trainer Bluebyte             1.0
16/04-98    Industry Giant Trainer           I-Magic              1.0
25/04-98    Lucky Luke Trainer               Infogrames           1.0
27/04-98    Magic The Gathering 1.3 Update   Microprose           1.0
20/04-98    Men in Black NT Patch            Southpeak            1.0
20/04-98    Men in Black Trainer             Southpeak            1.0
24/04-98    Might & Magic 6 Trainer          NWC/3DO              1.0
08/04-98    Outwars                          Microsoft            4.7
08/04-98    Outwars Movie Addon              Microsoft            2.0
08/04-98    Outwars Music Addon              Microsoft            2.0
15/04-98    Plane Crazy                      Europress            4.8
18/04-98    Reloaded Patch                   Gremlin              1.0
18/04-98    Reloaded Trainer                 Gremlin              1.0
18/04-98    Seven Years of War Trainer       CDV                  1.0
03/04-98    Shadowmaster Beta to Final Patch Psygnosis            1.0
01/04-98    Starcraft                        Blizzard             4.8
02/04-98    Starcraft Level 3 Fix            Blizzard            -2.0
03/04-98    Starcraft 100% Fix               Blizzard            -2.0
01/04-98    Starcraft Trainer                Blizzard             1.0
03/04-98    Starcraft Music Addon            Blizzard             2.0
19/04-98    TA: Core Contingency             GT                   2.7
19/04-98    TA: Core Contingency Maps Addon  GT                   2.0
19/04-98    TA: Core Contingency Editor      GT                   2.0

Total for April                                                  49.3


It's funny to see how Razor got a lot of points this month on mostly
trainers and patches, but they did one of the games this year - Starcraft. 
Beowulf, who cracked this game, did a lot of work on this one. I must
admit that it ain't my personal favorite game from Razor this month - mine
is Plane Crazy. Razor also did the long-awaited TA: Core Contingency,
which wasn't stand-alone, so they only get 2.7 for it. I even looked in
the game and I'm not 100% sure, but I think it should be easy to make a
standalone version under 75 disks.  Some people thought this release were
a RAPE, because they took out the multiplayer levels.  I won't judge if
it's a RAPE, but I looked in earlier reports when Class put out the first
Total Annihilation and they got points for it too.

The points from Addiction Pinball was transferred from Hybrid as they didn't
crack it correctly.

About the Shadowmaster Final patch: I explain the situation under the
Class section when I wrote about Spec Ops, but I'll explain it again.
There's more than one version of this game - there's a European version
and US version. As for all Psygnosis games, they get sent to Europe
earlier to make Swedish manuals.  The Paradigm version is the European
version that even one of the Razor had before they released the patch. I
can't really see any difference, but none of the groups did anything
wrong, so Razor gets 1.0, as we count it as update. 

                   
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Date        Title                            Company            Points

24/04-98    Baseball Mogul 99                GT Interactive       4.5
18/04-98    Esoteria 3                       Mobeus               2.6
07/04-98    F1 Racing Simulation 1.08 3DFX   Ubisoft              1.0
01/04-98    Hexen 2: Portal of Praevus       Activision           2.7
15/04-98    Industry Giant                   I-Magic              4.5
08/04-98    Lords of Magic 2.02 Update       Sierra               1.0
25/04-98    Lucky Luke                       Infogrames           4.5
20/04-98    Microsoft Golf 98 Edition        Microsoft            4.4
20/04-98    Microsoft Golf 98 Courseaddon    Microsoft            2.0
23/04-98    Might & Magic 6                  NWC/3DO              4.8
23/04-98    Might & Magic 6 Sound Addon      NWC/3DO              2.0
23/04-98    Might & Magic 6 Trainroom Fix    NWC/3DO             -2.0
24/04-98    Might & Magic 6 Animation Addon  NWC/3DO              2.0
26/04-98    Might & Magic 6 Videomap Fix     MWC/3DO             -2.0
23/04-98    Monster Truck Madness 2 Final    Microsoft            4.7
08/04-98    Pax Corpus                       Cryo                 4.5
01/04-98    Spec Ops Final Patch             Zombie               1.0
03/04-98    Starcraft Trainer                Blizzard             1.0
07/04-98    SFA: Chekov's Lost Missions      Interplay            2.6
20/04-98    Super Match Soccer               Acclaim              4.7
20/04-98    Super Match Soccer Video Addon   Acclaim              2.0
01/04-98    Tomb Raider: Director's Cut      Eidos                4.6

Total for April                                                  57.1


Paradigm had their comeback this month. Their best game this month was
Might and Magic 6, but they also did good games like Super Match Soccer
and MS Golf 98.  They released SFA: Chekov's Lost Missions and Hexen 2:
Portal of Praevus, but they didn't release them as stand-alone versions,
so we give 2.x for those.  The release of Pax Corpus had a little problem
with their DirectX Media, but it's out in the new DirectX 5.2
(http://www.microsoft.com/directx). 

Paradigm released a Spec Ops Final patch. I explain about this one in the
Class section, but I give Paradigm 1.0 for updating the game. Razor put out
a Shadow Master patch - as I explain in the Razor section, it wasn't a beta
version, but we gave Razor 1.0 in update too.

People have asked me if Might & Magic 6 wasn't rape - Well, I don't wanna
be the judge on the RAPE rules - go decide it in a SPA meeting and we want
exact rules. Also the same type of ripping is done in Fallout, which was
released by Class and they got points in earlier reports too. 

About Tomb Raider: Director's Cut: I got told that you can download the
files on the web, but I also got confirmed from Eidos, that the store version
of Tomb Raider Gold contains 2 extra levels. The game were made as standalone
version, so it gets 4.x.

       ܿ
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۲  ۲       ۳
       ܲ߳
sL!(sac) <xx.xx.xx> 
Date        Title                            Company            Points

10/04-98    Monster Truck Madness 2          Microsoft            0.0
10/04-98    Monster Truck Madness 2 Movie    Microsoft            0.0
02/04-98    Nahan                            Globalstar           2.7
08/04-98    The Worlds of Billy              Intense             -5.0

Total for April                                                  -2.3


This ain't a good month for Divine. First they release the beta version of
Monster Truck Madness 2. Then they release Nahan - a very funny puzzle
game. The last release called The Worlds of Billy is a DUPE of Class'
Drillin' Billy. 


      
:            
| ۲            
  ۲   ۲  ۲   ۲
Date        Title                            Company            Points

18/04-98    Seven Years of War               CDV                  2.6

Total for April                                                   2.6


Backlash only did 1 release this month. A budget game, but a nice one.

_____ _____  ____ _____  ________________
\_   | \   \/   / _   /__\_   \_/   _    \
 |   _  \_  \ _/  \   \ __/___/ |   /    /
 |___|   |____|___/   /_\   \___|_______/
  ::d|___|::::::.\___/.:.\___\::::::::::
Date        Title                            Company            Points

22/04-98    Addiction Pinball                Team 17              0.0
01/04-98    Beast Wars                       Hasbro               4.6
29/04-98    Incoming                         Rage                 4.7
21/04-98    Motorhead                        Gremlin              4.7
21/04-98    Ultimate Soccer Manager 98       Sierra               4.6
09/04-98    Worldcup Monopoly                Hasbro               4.5
09/04-98    Worldcup Monopoly Soundaddon     Hasbro               2.0

Total for April                                                  25.1


I must say welcome back to Hybrid in the scene. What I pointed out last
month was true - Hybrid UK took over in the United Kingdom. Most of their
games were great except the Worldcup Monopoly game. They did a bad crack
for Addiction Pinball, but Razor did a working one, so the points are
transferred to Razor. 

A lot of people had problems with Motorhead and I have seen several tries
to crack the game, but still no. Last I heard were 800x600 3DFX didn't
work at all. Hopefully we'll see a crack for this game fully working soon.

   ________   ______   ______   _______   ______   ___     ______             
_\      /___\___ /___\__  /___\_   _/___\_ | /___\_ |____\  | /_
_/  \    /  |   \/   |    |    \__  ____/__  _   |    |  |_____   \_ MONTHLY  
\    \  /                 |               /  |        |       \    /  CHART   
\___ \/    ____     ____ |   _____      ____|   ____     ___     /
    \______/   \____/   \_|__/    \_____/  \____/   \____/  \____/Syk         


Paradigm                                                         57.1
Class                                                            55.3
Razor                                                            49.3
Hybrid                                                           25.1
Divine                                                           -2.3
Backlash                                                          2.6


After a long time on top, Class is number 2 this month, but I'm sure Class
will be back in old shape soon. All groups are known for a quiet month
like Hybrid and Paradigm just had.
  ______    _______    ________    _______    _______    ______     ______    
  \____ \   \_  |  \   \_  ___/_   \____  \   \_____ \   \_   /__   \_   /__  
_/  \_/  \_/    |   \_/   --'   \_/   \___/__/   _ \  \_/    /   \_/    /   \_
\____     /_____     /_____      /____/     /____      /____      /____      /
    \____/Syk  \____/     \_____/     \____/    \_____/    \_____/    \_____/ 
                                                                              
                                            O V E R A L L   C H A R T         

Class                                                           186.8
Razor                                                           140.0
Paradigm                                                        104.7
Hybrid                                                           25.1
Divine                                                           22.6
Backlash                                                         14.5


The charts didn't really change this month. Class still leads the overall
chart, with Razor and Paradigm trying to catch up. Hybrid has won place 4,
but we can't really judge them in the overall chart yet, as it's the first
month this year that they released something. 

May and June seems to be big release months, so we can't wait to see how the
chart goes. Will Class win next month again or will Paradigm takeover? Also
it's gonna be fun to see if Razor UK can release something again after Hybrid
UK came back.

I wanna say thanks to Dragon Master (aka DragonM from efnet #warez) for
reading through the whole report to remove bad grammar and spelling
errors.  Without the help from DragonM this report would have been
unreadable.  Remember to come back next month to read the charts. Even our
webpage should work soon. 

                                                         Mason
                                                 Ex. Motiv8 President
                                                www.cracking.net/mason
