Articles

Illegal 24:

HELLO, DUDES...

This is SWYX from TRIANGLE. Since we seem to be a very popular group at the moment, I'd better write something about ourselves this time!

We are getting letters in which we're asked: "Do you wanna trade with me" almost every day. (I think many of you big guys out there have the same problems, right?) Well, some of these letters are from quite famous groups, but most of them are from smaller groups, also known as "LAMERS"! I'm the one who daily go to open our postbox and I'm gonna be tired of getting all those lamer-letters, coz all of them write something like this: "If ya don't wanna swap with me, then please return my discs"! But how can I? It would cost me a fortune to return all those discs again! We simply can't afford to send back all of 'em. So read this carefully: those who aren't worth trading with, will not have their discs back a second time! I can name a few guys who wrote us lately and either have got our response or will get it very soon: THE WANDERER GROUP, THE SHARKS, THE SIGMA CREW etc.. We see these guys as cool and famous so of course we want to trade with them. Well, enough about letters, just a little note to all the "disc-supplying" guys: THANX!

And now something sad...

I have decided to stop swapping, 'cos I'm too busy and it's too expensive! The only groups I'm going to trade with in the future are:

RADWAR / THE LIGHT CIRCLE
TRIAD (IXION!)
THE FANATIC DUO (long live the brotherhood!)

The rest will be contacted by the other swapper in Triangle, SCRATCH, very soon! We might get a new member, who will trade as well very soon. So we can keep all our contacts and even get som new! What am I going to do in the future then? Well, things like cracking, writing for this great magazine and working on the game, CHIX and I has planned to do! And of course concentrate more on school! (My teachers are gonna love me!) I wanna leave ya all now, but before I say "GOODBYE" a few notes to some people:

OSI / FAC: No more trading, don't fuck my good friend Jeff Smart or anybody else in "TFD".

HOTLINE: Please contact us, we wanna trade with you!

IXION / TRIAD: Thanx for a great party, hope to see ya soon, dude!

And, dear audience, don't forget to vote for our "DEMO OF THE YEAR", you have time until 22nd of January 1987 (one vote a group) and keep in mind that not only the winning group will get a price, but one of the audience too, who will be pushed by random. First people liked TRIAD, DEXION, TFD and even ours the best, but you'll see the final rankings soon.

That's it, see you in the next issue, where I'll write a longer and much more interesting article than this time! You'll see my adress on the last page, so don't hesitate - write!
GOODBYE says SWYX OF TRIANGLE

Illegal 26:

C 64 vs AMIGA!? STAY ON 64

YO DUDES! Sorry for not writing an article in the last issue, but you didn't notice I presume? Well I'm gonna write about something else than the Danish Cracker scene, but the computer which all of us love very much, namely the COMMODORE 64! Since the AMIGA was published, a lot of groups moved to the 16-bit'er and left the good old 8-bit'er! I think it's alright, that you guys buy an Amiga, but why in the hell leave the 64 alone? I have had my 64 for more than 4 years now and of course I'd like to have 4096 colours, 4 stereo voices and 512 K, but what is the fun in making demos on such a computer? Everybody can do something which looks incredible! On the 64 you have to be cool to do great demos and to crack the hard games! In a period, I thought about buying an Amiga, but I dropped that idea, coz I knew, that the only way I would use it would have been playing stupid games and honestly I hate playing games! My career as a gamefreak stopped two years ago, but I still enjoy cracking, training and testing the games! Those of you, who thought about buying an AMIGA and selling the 64, reconsider! If everybody leaves the 64, the software houses will stop producing games and then we've got nothing left to crack... And if there are no games, nobody will trade and if we don't trade, then why make demos??? I think that all of you see your C 64 as a very good friend, right? WOULD YOU SELL A GOOD FRIEND? Nope! Therefore, stay on 64! You're very welcome to write to me to argue for or against leaving the 64, my adress is on the last page! Before ending this I'll greet a few people:

TRIAD (IXION, JEFF SMART, HITEC, 3D)
BFD-CREW (THE BRIGHT LION)
HEPTAGON (GALACTICUS)
TRIUMPH (ICON)
and the rest of TRIANGLE

SWYX OF TRIANGLE

Illegal 27:

COPS 'N CRACKERS
Hi dudes. SWYX of TRIANGLE here!!! Now the headline sounds like a bad imitation of "cops n' robbers" or a movie in one of system four's cinemas, but it definately is not!!! I named this article "Cops 'n crackers", cus the cops and a Danish organisation called S.U.S. seriously are hunting us crackers in Denmark now!

The whole thing started about a month ago, when a guy named "Goodfather" (by the way, he was a member of one of my former groups, Danish Cracking Crew) got busted. Well, the only bad thing about him getting busted was that he is a lousy coward! Wha'd'ya think the guy promised? Yeah, he promised to help the police catching all the big and known groups in Denmark!

Thanks, pal!

Unfortunately, Goodfather had more than 300 adresses in his archive, including mine, of course. So... I paniced! The same night, I started removing all my disks, adresses and tape copies etc., and so did all the other Triangle members. In the next 14 days, 3-5 other guys got busted. The only well-known one was The Tiger of Dexion, who is just on the Amiga!

Last week then, I returned all my equipment to its place and Triangle started cracking and trading again! We thought that the danger was over, until today (5th of April), when I just heard that Azake of System had been busted! Scratch of the triangular gang called him, to ask if it was true or not and it sure was! Well, the guy admitted that it was right be his own fault that he got busted, cuz he sold some games to a S.U.S. guy a few days ago. That's all I know about that case here, I just wish that it'll be over soon. And now... An announcement:

ON THE FIRST OF MAY, TRIANGLE WILL BE ONE YEAR OLD!! WE WOULD LIKE TO RECEIVE BIRTHDAY-CARDS / CALLS FROM EVERYBODY, EVEN THOSE OF YOU WE DON'T TRADE WITH. EVERYONE, WHO SENDS A POSTCARD OR CALL US, WILL BE SPECIAL GREETED IN THE BIRTHDAY - DEMO, BUT REMEMBER WE MUST HAVE 'EM BEFORE 1ST OF MAY (ADRESS ON LAST PAGE) !!!!

Remember to look out for the first TRIANGLE / TRIAD cooperation, which is a demo made by COZMIX and JANITOR, the living deads!

Well, before leaving you, just a few greetings to:
- TRIAD (JS, IXION, JANITOR and HI-TEC)
- HEPTAGON, SCIENCE 451 (THE BRIGHT LION), I.O.F. and the NICE GUYS in Triangle.

See ya in issue #28

SWYX OF TRIANGLE

Illegal 29:

WHO'S COOL, WHO'S NOT ???????

How do you decide whether a group is cool or lame? If you ask an American he'll answer: "If you're fast, you're cool!".

As some of you know, I'm the lucky owner of a modem and I'm trading with quite a lot of yanks! I've tried quite a few times to have a new TRIANGLE-crack, which the guys in the U.S.A. don't want to upload, cuz as they say: "Oh, that's already been released over here!". They don't care if our version is a +++++++ version, or if it's 20 blocks shorter than the one they got... only speed counts...

If this is the future way of judging people, then I'll quit the 64 very soon, cuz I'm trying to do a good job, cracking and training the games, and if nobody wants my version, because FUSION or SCG cracked it two days earlier... then I don't see much fun in spending time on doing life easier for the gamefrex!

When I decide if somebody is cool or not, I look at the following factors (in ranked order):

- Quality and quantity of own cracks
- Abilities of programming and designing (demos)
- Number of sendings a week
- (at last) fastness

As you see, fastness doesn't mean a lot to me! For example I have been trading with IXION of TRIAD for a long time now, he's not very fast, but TRIAD's cracks, especially JANITOR's ones are fucking cool!

That's the way I think we should judge each other! I'm tired of getting the same answer all the time after time on my question to foreign freax: "Who do you think is the coolest group in DK?" ... The Papillons or Jewels most of 'em answer, "coz they are sooo fast!"!

Dammit! Honestly, I think the Papillons are the most lame group in DK. Their pal-fixed version of WINTER EDITION was pretty lame cuz it didn't work at all!

I know that people think we (TRIANGLE) are showing off a lot, but honestly, why shouldn't we?

Who in Denmark are better programmers? Well, I can only imagine two groups, namely DEXION and UPFRONT! Other may be JEWELS and 2000 A.D.!

Who are better crackers in DK? Nobody, I think. Our versions are always well-trained and very short! JEWELS crack a lot, and their versions use to work, but they're too long. PAPILLONS crack & recrack a lot, but... no comment as I don't want 'em to hate me more than they already do.

Anyway, the conclusion was: the 6th place in the "cracker of the month"! Okey, I'll go now, but just a few personal greetings to:

TRIAD (JS, IXION, JANITOR, HI-TEC)
NETWORK (MATCHAM)
THE BRIGHT LION

All the AMERICANS who have sent a modem! I'm nearly able to set up a computer shop selling modems! If anybody wants to buy one, then just write to me (adress on last page). Look out for my next article in "ILLEGAL" issue #30, but also watch out for an article written by COZMIX of TRIANGLE...
Later Dudes... Swyx / Triangle

Illegal 30:

COZMIX'S FAREWELL

It'z with sorrow on my mind, tearz in my eyez and trembling handz I write thiz farewell note. I'm now leaving this my beloved computerworld concentrate on living what somebody calls LIFE!?!

But before I quit, I'll try to give U -the reader- some kind of insight in the thoughts, I've had about computers generally - more specific about the 64 and it's hiostory / future.

When I started cracking some games way back in '85, it all seemed sooo easy: no real protections, no big speed race among the groups and no discussion about who made the best version. U were happy just to get a version of the game - even though they often were malfunctioning or they just were previews...

Today, a lot of things has changed. Speed is the keyword - not quality. My good friend Janitor has written a lot about this problem, so I won't bore U with repeating him. No, I'll instead talk 'bout the good thingz.

A very good thing is that the demoz release for the moment are increasing in quality. That's very good, 'cuz it's more healthy concentrating on being the bezt coder than on being the fastest with the crackz. To be more specific:
competing on coding givez even the smallest group a chance of winning fame, while competing on crack-speed iz verrryy unfair. Reasonz:

1) The English groups have the originals before everyone else - even if they buy them in the shops. Thiz means they can crack them before most other groupz without doing anything cool...

2) Getting and cracking the games fast iz also a big matter of time and money - two thingz that doesn't tell anything 'bout how cool U R at computing...

To sum all up: Coding haz got more to do with controlling your computer than being a fast cracker has.

This leads to COZMIX's SENTENCES ON COMPUTING:

1. Don't admire fast crackers (like Papillons)
2. Admire cool coders instead (hmm.. TRIANGLE)
3. Admire quality-groups (like TRIAD & TRIANGLE)

I guess thiz iz the end. Thanx to the world of serious coders, crackers, hackers, composerz, graficianz etc.

Special thanx to: Swyx, Chix, Janitor, Pixi, Jeff Smart, Blitz, Starman, D. Mode, Krush, Coldcut, J. Brown, Matinique, Radio Clothing Company, Prince (Lovesexy), Coke, Toyota and Adidas.

By the way, all layout by COZMIX (That'z me!)

Goodbye, auf wiedersehen, farvel, au revoir, adios, ciao

Love from yourz sincere,
Cozmix