UCM23
.tHE .sIRIUS .cYBERNETICS .cORPORATION
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FEEDBACK AND VOICES
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After a short collection of feedback I got for UCM # 22 that I will leave here
all uncommented, follows an article I found in HUGI # 25 on PC, I have included
the whole article for you to check it out...
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alter, alter.
ich muss schon sagen...
RESPEKT!
ich habe bislang nur einige wenige artikel des neuen mags gelesen, aber schon
diese lassen alle ausgaben von alive verblassen. da ist er wieder, der gelobte
schreibstil, die slaggings ("feedback"). viele texte. tolle grafiken (ich knie'
nieder), hervorragende musik von tao (wow, was für ein georgel!).
was will ich mehr? ich bin rundum glücklich!
atari rules!
hoffe dich bald mal wieder im irc zu sehen!
bis dahin,
torsten aka mOdmate/Checkpoint
p.s.: und ich ärgere mich, daß ich dir nicht ein bissel unter die arme gegriffen
habe - so wie in guten alten zeiten. irgendwie hatte ich immer das gefühl,
daß das alles für die katz' wäre, weil das neue mag doch nicht kommt.
wieder einmal wurde ich nun eines besseren belehrt.
nunja.
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Finally, UCM is out.... and as always it kicks ass :o)
You did a great job dude and your magascene deserves the hype, one of the best
underground diskmagazine I've ever read !
Keep up the good work and never give up, stay ATARI.
EdO/Sector One
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I was very pleased with the issue as such, excpesially reading about my demo
"wait", an ego trip is always welcome .) in fact so welcome that work has begun
in a new production. Hopefully for EIL 2003 if possible not sure as I rewrite it
from the ground up and I always "code for fun" ;).
Please do keep up the good work, reading UCM has always been a pleasure and if I
get an idea I will write something up for you.
regard
Fredrik Olsson aka Peylow/TOYS
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Hi Eric
I will read ucm tonight.. Just came online again at uni.. Great that you
finished it so soon!
About the shell. I really don't want to mess around with it as I told seb and
you a few times. It's a horrible mess. Someone should really make a new shell.
That would be a good idea. Evl had some plans I heard..
About makelink. I've stop using tbe linksystem for my prods so I don't use it
anymore. However, I'm willing to check out it's behaviour. I've got your notes
and hope I can reproduce these errors.. Ofcourse it could be you used an old
version of makelink or it got corrupted? I'll have a look.
Good luck with ucm23 and with your family!
Pieter (earx)
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Hallo Eric !
well I spent most of last night reading UCM22 and really I just LOVE reading new
stuff! Sometimes I feel a bit lonely thinking of so few magazines :( But we need
diversity and no single minded views. I wish you could find regular writers so
that you could kick us hard :)
not much to add except that i was a bit puzzled reading that you just didn't
want to comment on my feedbakc to UCM21: what do you mean? I know you and I have
clearly opposite visions of the Scene but that doesn't make us rivals, well I
don't consider you an enemy but more like a friend. Anyway I just can't read you
mind!
Btw, I hope you now have a happy life with your wife and daughter! you surely
are a valuable man. Keep it up !
cheers, seb
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hi. also erstmal glückwunsch zum neuen undercover, ich habe zwar noch nicht viel
lesen können aber bisher recht interessant.
flash/tnb design
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Respekt,
man merkt das du kein Coder bist. Du hast irgendwie zuviel Zeit zum schreiben
;-) Schöner Artikel. Gefällt mir.. Finde ich faszinierend wieviel Zeit du für
das Magazin opferst. Alle Achtung...
Tschau
Jürgen aka Dragon/New Trend
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Latest Developments in the Atari Diskmags Scene
Adok/Hugi
In these days in which not a lot of diskmags are released in the whole scene,
it becomes yet more interesting to take a close look at the few who have not
left us, regardless of the platform for which they are released. On the occasion
of the recent release of Undercover Magascene #22 (in the middle of April 2002),
I've taken a peek on the recent development and the current state of the Atari
diskmag scene.
"Atari scene", that's a term that comprises the demomakers active on such
different platforms as the ST, a 16-bit computer from the middle 1980s which
once was the most fierce competitor of the Commodore Amiga, the Falcon, a newer
architecture which made serious trouble for 486s in the early 1990s, and the
Jaguar, which was the first 64-bit video game console ever - it had already been
established three years before the development of the Nintendo 64.
Since ST programs can be run on Falcon and PC too, in the latter case using a
free emulator such as PaCiFiST or SainT (available at http://www.atari.st/
Little Green Desktop), most diskmags are still based on ST shells. In fact, as
we will shortly see, there are two mags using a rather old engine that has seen
hardly any changes since 1998.
Due to this, graphics and sound capabilities are restricted; the clear focus of
most Atari diskmags is the content. However, there are also a few Falcon mags.
As far as I know, there is hardly any active Atari demomaker who does not own a
Falcon, so the number of people from the target group who are unable to read
them is rather small, but of course ex-Atari users and those who've never had an
Atari won't be able to read these mags using their PCs.
Three years ago, we had the first Atari Diskmags Report in Hugi, to be more
precise Hugi #14. Back then there were two major magazines, the Undercover
Magazine (UCM), which had already reached issue 14 as well, and Maggie, of which
26 issues had seen the light of the day thus far. The first being published in
Germany, the second in England, both had international contributors, were
targeted at an international readership and featured in the former case mostly
and in the latter case only articles in the English language. Furthermore, there
was another active diskmag, Toxic Magazine. But this one was en Francais and not
intended to address anyone outside la Grande Nation.
Similar to other magazines at other platforms at other times, UCM and Maggie
were struggling to become leaders in the scene. Of course this was not a serious
struggle, it was a competition driven by fun. The answer to the question of who
was the leader was left open, as both magazines had their own diskmags charts in
which, naturally, they themselves were placed number 1 respectively.
Basically it seemed that, like so often, there were two factions in the scene,
one being Maggie groupies, the others defenders of the undercover crown.
The UCM adherents regarded their mags as more scenish, since it focused on news
and heaps of reviews of demos, music packs, diskmags and even ascii art while
containing only few non-scene articles - mostly jokes in German language from an
unknown origin. By contrast, Maggie was more open-minded towards other topics,
the scene section being just one of many. The games and game-dev section was of
the same size, and there were lots of stories and reports about real-life as
well as fictional happenings. At the same time Maggie also featured more coding
articles. Well, yeah, I see that you are smiling - or at least I am.
UCM was directed by Moondog, a German editor and member of the demo group .tSCc.
(the sirius cybernetics corporation). He was (in)famous for his harsh,
opinionated reviews in which he did not hold back criticism, no matter whether
the respective production had been released by a friend or foe of his. His
writing was not too bad, never too short, sometimes rather too long. However,
his style very often appeared to be quite spontaneous, which was shown by the
frequent use of the words "hehe" and "hmm". That's why MrPink, deputy editor of
Maggie, once joked that Moondog was probably living in Hmmburg.
Short after the review in Hugi, Moondog's scene activities were interrupted by
the loss of a very close relative. It was not easy for him to recover from this
shock, especially as it also meant that from now on he would have to assume more
responsibility for his remaining family. That was why he decided to stop working
on the magazine which he had been leading and filling with articles for more
than five years.
The new main editor was STsurvivor, the former editor of the French Toxic
Magazine. STS created issues 15 to 20 of UCM. Whilst issue 15 was still in the
Moondog style because Moondog had left quite a lot of articles to his successor,
he was on his own in the remaining issues. STS faced the problem with which a
lot of editors who aren't accustomed to writing everything themselves are
confronted: lack of contributions. So the fact that UCM was released quite
frequently, and once there was even just a month's time between two issues,
isn't due to a flood of articles; these issues were simply small in content.
After UCM #20, STS resigned. At about the same time the last issue of Maggie was
released - 10 years after Maggie #1. The Atari scene was left without a major
diskmag. Then editors of both magazines, such as CiH, Paranoid and Exocet,
decided to team up and create a new mag. Born was Alive, the mag that was
supposed to show that the Atari scene was what its name indicated. One former
UCM editor, however, didn't join this move; instead, Grey of Mystic Bytes
founded another disk magazine, Chosneck. So far there is only an issue. It is
based on a Falcon engine which, according to the review in UCM #22, looks very
much like PC diskmags such as Hugi.
Whereas Chosneck apparently has a pretty modern interface, Alive is embedded in
the engine of the old Undercover Magazine. It looks so much like older UCM
issues that, if there wasn't the Alive logo, you'd think you were reading yet
another UCM edition. But in contrast to the last UCMs, it did have quite a lot
of content: about 70 articles per issue. The first issue came out in early 2001.
By now there are already four issues.
But, now comes the surprise: Short after Alive #1, UCM #21 was released under
the .tSCc. label; Moondog was back in business! Again he had created an issue
almost with only his own articles. The mag appeared in the same old, or let's
say classic style, it featured the same sections as before, a big news corner
and lots of reviews, including reviews of Alive and the last issues of UCM with
STS as the main editor - the headline is already very telling: "UCM at its
worst?".
A year later, in April 2002, UCM #22 came out, again mainly with Moondog
editorials, Moondog news, Moondog reviews - and, okay, Mc Laser party reports.
Moondog is a veteran who is obviously very dedicated to the Atari scene and
loves writing about it. He also seems to feel responsible for his magazine,
which is very understandable, as he built it up himself, led it and dominated
its contents for several years. He is the example of a single person with
oustanding commitment - commitment strong enough to keep a whole scene alive.
Apart from those, some new mags saw the light of the day in Poland and England:
Syntax vs Underground and ST Offline respectively. At this point it seems to be
impossible to tell anything but that future will show us how they will develop.
The latest two issues of UCM can also be read online at
http://www.sirlab.de/tscc/ucm.html
That's a very good move for those who want a quick read without bothering to
install an emulator and find out how to handle that new, virtual system.
In conclusion, although Atari systems aren't widespread, the scene seems to be
still running, and there are still mags of some quality. I'm personally not much
attracted by reviews except sometimes mag-reviews, but if that's what an editor
wants to write, there's no reason to forbid him to do so.
Adok/Hugi - 29 April 2002
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