PCB news, CC trophies, and Kovrov ZX scene

Hi Unbeliever & all Samara! 28.9.2001 Here is the promised CD with our wild compo entry (final version). Spy put it there in two formats. Also on it you will find a small archive of ZX software from our hard drive. As well as various photos from different parties, including photos from CC'000, sorry, but we haven't scanned CC'001 yet :(, so for now it's without them. So, what else is there... A bit of Amiga software: the latest Amiga demos: lapsuus (by Maturefurk) and Perfect Circle (by TBL) — this is rulez, if you get a chance, definitely watch them. It's best of course to watch them at least on a 060. Also various Russian Amiga works, including a complete archive of works by Exploder^PUSH, some more magazines, etc. Ah, right, another tune called BornDead. We wanted to send it to you for your birthday, but Spy's internet got cut off :( and the present didn't work out. So look for it there. Spy also seems to have included some cool animations. I especially recommend watching "The Killer Bean 2". Maybe there's something else on it, but I don't remember right now (writing this letter at work). Well then... What's going on here in Kovrov. First about us. PCB only has one working ZX left — mine and Paracels's. SaiR00S burned his (again) and is now using the ex-Senat computer, which Senat sold long ago. He sold it to a friend of his, who played on it for a couple of months, bought a PC, and now Senya is selling it a second time :), but for now it's at Sirus's place. Crazy recently burned his machine when moving it into a tower case, and it's being repaired now. And Spy gave his 2 Spectrums to SaiR00S long ago, who went and burned them. Right now I seem to have found people who agreed to fix Sirus's computer. In general we'll see, maybe they will fix it, but in any case we need to look for a computer for Sirus! Right now Sirus is working on the final release of the LF demo, rewriting the entire engine. Honestly, I thought he wouldn't do it, just like with the previous demos (Napalm, Dogma, since we wanted to redo those too), but Sirus really seems to be doing it. Tonight Sirus promised to drop by and we will discuss everything regarding BUZZ and the demo. And there is another small project that I really want to do... they will probably finish it very soon, and as soon as it's ready, we'll immediately upload it to Scenergy. Also, a new version of PC (perfect commander) by Jeez is coming out soon, remember that old, simple, and convenient commander? It will feature support for 3-letter extensions, 11-character disk names, etc. I'm testing it right now, found a couple of bugs, need to tell Puzzler... Anyway, a new version is coming very soon, look out for it. At SNG of coz! That's basically all that's going on in Kovrov regarding the ZX. The PC community is preparing for MRS, Pyrotex has started making a 4K. Ash is completely lost in the internet, websites, etc. I don't know about the rest :( Regarding the Amiga. Max, don't listen to Shura, ZX rules more, Amiga is really only needed to watch cool stuff. And really, starting from scratch isn't appealing. Although Shura makes grand plans for an Amiga future. Even though it rules, our main activity is still ZX. On the Amiga we're just messing around for now :). Plus it's convenient to make our website on it. All in all, ZX — 100%, and I hope you won't abandon it! If that happens, it will be the end of the whole ZX scene ;) What about CC'002? Will it happen or not? Listen, I was thinking: what if next time we hand out small prizes (not hardware, that requires a lot of money). At VAV's place I saw (even held in my hands! :)) trophies from Assembly. Basically, these are small cubes on a granite base, with a "Made by Italy" sticker and factory mark at the bottom, so they are simply sold in stores. However, a metal plate is glued to that granite base engraved with "Assembly '00. First prise", which looks like the organizers made themselves. So surely similar trophies are sold in some of our sporting goods stores (I haven't looked yet, but I think they are), and I can just ask at the factory to have everything nicely engraved (though that still needs to be negotiated). For now, sponsor money is needed for everything. I was thinking of getting it done at the factory for free, but apparently nobody will take it on. The ideal option is to buy the trophies ourselves and make the plaques. At least for 1st places in ZX. Maybe I'm talking nonsense, but imagine how cool it would be and nice for the authors. And it's cheaper than useless hardware. Maybe it's worth thinking about? And of course don't forget about diplomas, I think in the age of laser and inkjet printers that's no problem. by our own efforts we will still do it, but for now I won't talk about it ;) There probably won't be KoSMe - 1. I decided to drop this nonsense for now. So that's how things are... Also, those pioneers here, "Virtual Masters", want to do so many things. They brought another guy into their group, some ALF, who once wanted to make "Darkwing Duck", and now they want to revive that project. I'll probably have to convert all the graphics for them. Well, okay, that's just in their plans for now, and it's unknown whether they will finish it all. Although I've already seen a playable version of level 1: everything moves, runs, shoots there, buggy and not 1frame of course, but not bad. I'll try to talk them into making something like a demo version, and we'll put it on Scenergy. They also want to do a magazine and a bunch of other stuff. But so far it's all just talk, and I don't know if they'll turn it into anything, because these folks have no clue yet how to put it all together. The only one among them who understands anything is ALF, so they want to saddle him with doing everything. Well, we'll see, maybe something decent will come out of them. Meanwhile, we are introducing them to the scene, etc. By the way, for example, ALF: after Vel dropped everything, ALF wanted to quit too, because he thought there was nobody else in Kovrov and nobody was doing anything. He had no idea that we and others existed. He didn't even know anything about FT, CC, etc. He hadn't even heard of BornDead ;) By the way, it was the same with Virtual Masters. That is, you can imagine what kind of people come after Velik; that is, now I understand that Vel didn't give a damn about the scene or attracting new blood to ZX, he only made money off them, and those users knew only him and that's it. How many ruined souls! :) And when he made enough money, he just bought a PC and dumped all those users. So that's the kind of legacy left to us after Vel. Sorry that I'm talking about Velik again, when everyone has long forgotten about him, but just realizing that he was undermining the entire Kovrov scene makes me want to kill him :) So, ok... moving on... The newly formed Jeez is currently working on the 3rd charts; as Sergius Puzzler^Jeez said, the 3rd will come out around New Year, but it all depends on Ash. Also, they will probably finish KluXer soon. Actually, we would have brought this KluXer to CC001, but Sergius just didn't have time to finish it, and now he wants to do some minor cosmetic overhaul there and take on this, but I promise nothing. I haven't checked the stores yet. In short, for now it's just a thought. And will there even be a CC? I hope so! Well, I guess that's all... If I forgot anything - sorry! Greetings to all your folks from all of ours! C Ya! wbw DMan ^ PCB Date: 28.9.2001 Time: 13:20:05 (msk) Place: GUP VNII "Signal" NPK-1 Temp: +3°C (outside) Powered by A4 & Corvina "51 (pen) URL: http://pcb.nm.ru mailto: placebo@imail.ru dman_pcb@imail.ru paracels_pcb@imail.ru spy_pcb@imail.ru P.S. How about your new CD? Placebo 2001. Kovrov Cool City 2001 PLACEBO dmn[pcb]