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CL8:                    Mindcandy DVD Vol. 2 -  Amiga or not?
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CL8:                     Written by Fishwave of Scoopex & DCS

CL1:December  2002  saw the publication of
the  long await 'Mindcandy DVD'.  This
project   was  established  mainly  by
Trixter,  one of the PC sceners behind
the    famous    Hornet-archive   (the
predecessor  of Scene.org).  Mindcandy
DVD  volume  one  features 22 state of
the  art  PC  demos and 20 oldskool PC
productions    in   perfect   quality.
Furthermore    there    is   a   short
introduction  to demo producing and an
overall      stylish      presentation
(including   e.g.    music   by  scene







veteran  Virgill/Scoopex  &  Haujobb).
All  superior  quality  -  nothing  to
fault.   Also  the price is absolutely
acceptable:    approx.   15  Euro  (at
least  at  MAZ Shop, Germany) makes it
no   costly   purchasing.    This  DVD
definitely   is   appealing   to   any
demoscener - no matter whether you are
active   on   Amiga   or   PC.    More
informataion        available       at
www.mindcandydvd.com.

The  Official  Eurochart  has  got  in
contact  with  Trixter  and  wanted to
find out about future plans for volume
two.    Naturally   there   is  a  big
interest   and  demand  for  an  Amiga
edition  -  no doubt here.  So we were
dying  to ask about the planning stage
for the next Mindcandy DVD in respects
to  an  Amiga  featured DVD of course.
Trixter  tried  to evade our question:
"The  goal  of  the project has always
been  to  produce discs that represent
*all*  scenes.   We  went  with the PC
scene  first because 1.  we are mostly
PC  sceners  so  we were familiar with
the  material  2.  we live in the USA,
which  is  predominantly  PC,  and  we
wanted  to  make  sure the product had
North  America (USA, Canada) appeal as
well  as Euro appeal 3.  the modern PC
hardware-accelerated     demos    have
"mainstream"  appeal  -  so  we did PC
first  *intentionally*  to  make  sure
that the first volume, at least, would
appeal  to  as many people as possible
and  sell  well, ie.  not lose money".
We  can understand those reservations,
but   there   should  be  an  enormous
potential  among  Amiga  sceners - not
only  those  who are active but rather
those  who  want their daily ration of
nostalgia.   Especially since state of
the art PC demos can be seen by almost
everyone  there is actually not such a
big  incentive  to  buy  a DVD whereas
many  people  are  missing hardware to
savour Amiga jewels.

Also   the  Amiga  demoscene  rendered
outstanding services to demoscening in
general   and  deserves  a  volume  of
Mindcandy for itself.  Trixter soothed
us:    "I  agree  it  is  by  far  the
second-biggest  scene  (and definitely
the  most influential to the artform),
but I disagree about not publishing it
with C64.  I say this because:  if any
volume  loses  money,  there  probably
won't  be  more  volumes.   So putting
Amiga  on  one side and C64 on another
appeals to more sceners, and increases
the  chances of more being sold, which
means  more future volumes.  We're not
trying  to  make  a profit, we're just
trying  to make sure that enough money
exists from the sales of Volume 'N' to
support   the   production  of  Volume
'N+1'.    A  *future*  volume,  beyond
Volume  2, could very possibly be 100%
Amiga.   But  this  is  not  currently
planned   for   Volume   2".   We  are
horrified  about  the idea of an mixed
Amiga/C64  DVD.   This would mean only
approx.   20  demos  for  more than 15
years of Amiga demoscene!

Thus  it's even more important to know
how  and  what  demos  will be chosen.
"For   the  PC  volume,  we  initially
selected   them  and  had  the  public
comment  on  our  selection.   For  an
Amiga  volume,  I  think  that clearly
there will be some easy choices (SOTA,
9   fingers,   Jesus  on  E's,  Mental
Hangover,   Desert  Dream,  etc.)  but
beyond  that  what  we  would probably
want  the best Amiga scenemag to run a
poll  to  see  what  the best 50 Amiga
demos  were  from 1986 to 2002, and we
will  fit as many of them on the Amiga
side  as  possible", Trixter addressed
the  Official  Eurochart,  continuing,
"This  is  a good time to mention that
the Amiga volume will most likely need
the   help   of   the   entire   Amiga
community:   If  we  make an Amiga/C64
volume,    we   will   probably   need
donations  of  hardware  and knowledge
(much  more knowledge, actually).  For
example,  I  have  never seen a modern
Amiga  demo  because I don't know what
kind of modded Amiga (040?  060?  PPC?
3D  accelerator?)  is necessary to run
them,  and how to accelerate it in the
first place.  And while there are good
instructions  on how to modify an A520
for  decent S-video output, I lack the
electronics  knowledge  to  make those
mods  myself.   So when the time comes
we    will    probably   need   help".
Certainly  there are enough sceners to
be committed to this project.

But   with   those   difficulties   in
hardware  the  next  DVD could be much
more  expensive.  Trixter reassured us
of  this:   "Unless  we  run into some
sort  of  problem,  we  do not plan to
charge   more   for   future  volumes.
Furthermore,   since  just  about  all
decent Amiga and C64 demos are PAL, we
currently  plan  to  make  both  a PAL
version and an NTSC version".

For  those  who  want  a foretaste get
Mindcandy  DVD  Vol.   1.  There ain't
too  many  copies  left  out  there as
Trixter  told  us:   "We produced 2000
and  of those only about 25% are left.
If  we  run  out and still have orders
pending,  we  will look into producing
more to meet those orders".

The last word is on Trixter:  "We want
an Amiga volume just as much as anyone
else and we are just trying to make it
viable   (meaning,   we   don't   lose
thousands  of  dollars  out of our own
pockets).   I hope you and the rest of
the  Amiga sceners understand".  We'll
take his word for it.
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