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COMPACT DISX NOT WORTH TO HAVE?
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Hello and welcome to moondog's first strike in 2oo5, woah! In fact the idea to
this article is quite some months old and at first I wanted to leave some lines
after the release of the latest BSW compacts, but somehow my motivation was
dragged down in that time so this article didn't matched it to a spreadable
state... But thanx to the marvelous cOnstruct crew my motivation woke up again
with "their" latest release...
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So let's start with a straight review of all those disk that popped up over the
last months... and of course, we start with BSW... BSW you might ask? Yes, Blue
Software, a very infamous compact makers group from eastern Germany, known for
their famous coder bITmASTER. I really thought they were history after the band
was dissolved in 1994 to join THE CHAOS ENGINE but it seems The Byte just has
resurrected the label to kick out some more compacts... In fact their disx were
infamous because of the loosy intros/menus they often contained, offering ripped
grafix and musix, giving the credits to the BSW members, woah...
And if you ask me, this reanimation of the disk series was just made to fill up
the number 1oo, nothing else... But who cares, so we have something to write
about, hehe...
BSW DCD 8o v2
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Here we go with a re-release of number 8o. At least it is called to be such a
rerelease. It comes along with an intro of the known bad quality, showing a part
of a digitized keyboard and a scrolly, together with a damn old chip tune.
The menu offers 1o different screens, starting with some old BBS intros, a
ripped screen of the Synergy Megademo (Pajaro, nice one, but the demo contained
much better stuff), another Synergy screen with a kewl digidrum music by their
famous musician Scavenger, a porn demo that wont run on my machines, the YM
Rockerz "Popstars" demo, a Zuul screen that turns out to be a Fingerbobs one...
So a various collection, nice move is that the menu stays in memory and you go
back to it after every screen if he offers an exit...
What to say about? Surely the menu is ok, if you are a die-hard-cd-collector, if
you don't care about the not running porn show, if you don't care about the
missing Zuul screen... but don't wait for the quality menus by ANIMAL MINE, POV
or RIPPED OFF always brought to your machine...
BSW DCD 99
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We go on with their latest release, number 99... Upsi, seems I missed a lot of
disx then? But who cares, as I didn't cared to get their whole collection in the
past... The things The Byte did with the re-release of menu 8o, he missed out
this time completely, so the menu doesn't stays in memory, offers just static
"intro" and menu screen and makes it awfully annoying to run the demos from the
menu, getting always to the desk... It contains various demo and intro releases
from the last years, starting with our (.tSCc.) "Fading Twilight" and "Songs Of
Distant Earth", going on with the Tawnee Stone porn show, a small MJJ intro that
leaves a black screen in the end and the YM Rockerz "Wave Upon Wave" demo...
Surely nice contents if you are off from the scene since 5 years and missed out
a lot, but really nothing to collect for anyone who has an eye on the things
going on, esp. since the menu doesn't make it easier to check out the things as
it doesn't makes a difference if you start them from menu or desk...
Die-Hard-Collectors may store the disk, the others surely will delete it as the
menu/intro itself isn't worth to be stored anyway... if you leave the nice
raster boot sector by the DNT Crew out... ;)
BSW DCD 1oo A
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Here we get disk 1oo A... A? Don't ask me why, as disk "B" doesn't contains any
files needed to run the stuff that's on this disk... And here we go, what do we
get here? Apart from the usual static "intro/menu" screen we get the Wolfenstein
Preview by Ray/.tSCc. and games we all have played so much over the last months
and years already, "ChuChu Rocket lite" and "Godpey"... Wow!? But wait! With
Jet Set Willy there is another killer on the disk, a 1:1 conversion of a 8bit
Spectrum game... one headache later I tried to write my conclusion...
Yet another disk the world really wasn't waiting for, while the Wolfenstein
preview is already outdated again, as Ray did some updating, the included games
by the Reservoir Gods aren't bad at all, but they were played by the whole scene
already months and years ago... so was it really needed to create a compact with
them? At least for my idea about the sense of compacts not...
BSW DCD 1oo B
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The last one... so far or forever? Dunno, at least the intro comes along as an
intro, or better intro-alike-slideshow this time with real fading routines ;)
Once more The Byte packed quite uninspired a load of small intros and games of
various age onto the disk, starting by the game Lombric by Exocet, Santa Fly and
Double Juggle Vegetabobble by the Reservoir Gods, Cream's "Minesweeper" from the
year 1993 or 1994 and a few other things... Not really the thing even a demo
collector was waiting about...
So what at all? The Byte reached number 1oo and surely stops releasing compact
disx now, even though there should be enough stuff around to fill some more disx
if you ask me... I never liked the BSW CD's that much, a few of them contained
nice intros by bITmASTER but as they used the same intros again and again, it
was mostly wasted time to check them out, and so it goes for the stuff, that was
quite seldom hot and not seen before... those new disx are no exception...
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and nOw fOr sOmething cOmpletely different, suddenly cOsmO pOpped up again and
guess what, he brings us the latest cOnstruct crew release! cOmpact disk fOur!!!
wOw, that was the thing we all were waitin' fOr! yeah baby! after the cOngeniOus
menu 3 On fOur disx, we nOw get menu fOur On One disk... the intrO is the usual
ripp Off Of an Old sOurce cOde and lOOks, tO be hOnest, a bit like dck again...
nOw cOsmO is prOud tO present us... lOtus turbO challenge 2... wOah! i have tO
say, if Our Old member apache wOuldn't have cracked and sent it tO me 12 years
agO tO shOw me hOw easy cracking is, and if it wOuldn't be packed On sO many
menus befOre, I really wOuld still wait fOr it... arf...
To be honest, I still don't got the point to release menu's with stuff that was
already hacked and compacted so many times before, it goes on with the PD game
"Stomp" that even appeared on a lame PD menu by my old band .tnb. 12 years ago,
not to mention the ST FORMAT coverdisk that featured it originally, huaah, and
all the other menus that were proud to present it in the past...
The LAPD Virus Killer and the Revenge Doc Displayer filling up the rest of the
disk, or at least a part of the free diskspace... A part? Yes, Cosmo again did
not care about the sense of "compact disx", using inefficient packers and not
higher formatted disx, to try to pack even some more stuff on to them...
So what? Don't ask me, again a Construct menu not worth its not used diskspace,
bringing old stuff everybody knows and owns already since years... just a disk
nobody needs really...
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Ok, that's it for now... yes, mOOndOg is still alive (somehow) and still going
to check out the things going on and still opening his mouth ;) So take care
about your coming releases...
moondog - o2.o2.2oo5
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