PIC:barclip.ilbm                        

CL9:                        The scene 2003 - Status Report
PIC:barclip.ilbm

CL4:                               By Zerox of Gods

CL1:As  this  is  the  first  issue of the
EuroChart  in  2004, it's time to look
back  on  the  things that happened in
the  scene last year, and to check out
the status of our precious scene.

CL8:The Parties

CL1:The  tradition  with  most productions
being released at various parties have
continued.   But  this  year  we can't
really  say  that  one party offered a
lot  more releases than other parties.







CL0:In  previous  years  we've experienced
that  most productions get released at
the Party, the Gathering, the Assembly
or  the  latest  years; at the Mekka &
Symposium.     But   last   year   the
productions   were   distributed  more
evenly on the various parties.

CL1:In   2003  the  most  important  scene
events    were    probably   the   new
Breakpoint   party   in  Germany,  the
Symphony    party   in   Poland,   the
Kindergarden   party  in  Norway,  the
Gathering  in  Norway,  the Underscore
party  in  Sweden, and the Assembly in
Finland.   But  there  were also other
parties with Amiga contributions, such
as  the  Equinoxe  party,  the Fyanica
party,  the  Euskal  party,  the  Cafe
party,  Dreamhack,  the  Syndeecate  -
Apocalypse party, the Evoke party, The
Remedy party and some more.

CL0:That  year  we  missed parties such as
the   TRSAC   party  in  Denmark,  the
Solskogen  party  in Norway, Lobotomia
in Finland, the Flag party in Hungary,
the Slach party in France and probably
some  more.   At least I haven't heard
that  these parties were  arranged nor
seen any releases from these parties.

CL1:It  was  also  sad  to  hear  that the
famous   The   Party  in  Denmark  was
cancelled last year for the first time
since  the  start  in 1991.  The Party
was   once  the  main  party  for  all
sceners.    Unfortunately  those  days
have long been gone.

CL8:The Productions

CL1:In   2003  there  were  slightly  less
productions released than the previous
years.   But  still  some  productions
were of quite high quality.

CL0:First lets have a look at the somewhat
memorable   classic  demo-releases  of
this   year.   We  got  the  following
productions  which  could more or less
be classified as demos:

CL1:Magia  by  The  Black Lotus, Mental by
Push  Entertainment,  Fake  Elektronik
Lightshow  by  Ephidrena,  Light II by
IRIS,   We   were   dark   helmets  by
Spaceballs,  My  Definition In Blue by
Scarab,    Lysbryter   by   Ephidrena,
Micromonster by Contraz, The Plague by
Spaceballs,  Ht  by  dA JoRMaS, I Am
Back  by  The  Gang, Plenum by Elcrew,
Agitation  by  TeamPowerAmiga, Vice by
V-nom,  No  Santa  Porn  by  Marshals,
Singularity  Is  Just The Beginning by
Singular  Crew, At Last by Harvester &
Nah-Kolor, Watching TV by Pure Lamers,
Megademo  8  by Laxative Effects, Fast
Codequinoxe by Pure Lamers, Demo 90 by
Elcrew, Megademo 3 by Fag, TsattiXP by
po-RNO, and Bravo by Laxative Effects.

CL0:And  then we have the PPC demos, which
are:

CL1:Fate  Fits  Karma by Mawi, Till I Feel
You by Mawi, Own Love Balance by Mawi,
By  Night  by  Encore  and  No Sync by
Universe.

CL0:I'm  sure  there  have  been  released
other  demos also that have slipped my
mind.   In  any case, both the quality
of  the  majority of classic demos and
the   PPC   demos   are   quite  good.
However,  we  can't say much about the
quantity which is a bit disappointing.

CL1:Lets  have  a  look at the intros that
have  been  released  during 2003.  We
have  the  40k/64k  and  other  intros
(even some dentros etc.):

CL0:One  by  Nature,  Mindflux by Software
Failure,  Biologic by Veezya, Khold by
Tulou  &  Traktor, The Earth Buildings
by  Tulou  & Traktor, Lost In Otaniemi
by  Spaceballs  &  UpRough,  Haakan by
Apathy & UpRough, Turbo by Traktor and
Intro  by  Laxative Effects, Gagaip by
W.A.T.T,  The Wall by Nukleus, Hamster
Party   Invitro   by   Pure  Lamers  &
Woodtower,  Blast  by KIKI-Production,
Pimptro  by Planet Jazz, Kuelschraemke
by  Bluebox Cinematique, Tunnel Effect
by   Up-Rough,   Spline   2  by  Chip,
Dotmatrix  by Xeron, Ticle Compo Entry
by  Musashi/HellHoundSG,  Horoperse by
po-RNO, Simple by Im}bE, A story About
Sceners  by  various,  Hubschrauber by
Bluebox  Cinematique, Unfortunately by
Drifters  &  Moods,  Catcon2k Invitro,
Kindergarten    Boogie    by   Bluebox
Cinematique, Fyanica Invitro, D.I.S.C.
#14 Intro by Kufa/Scarab.

CL1:Those  are  the  intros that I more or
less  can  remember.   Unfortunately I
can't say many of these mentioned here
are  of  any good quality.  The intros
released previous years were better.

CL0:As for the 4k intros in 2003, we have:

CL1:Pop  (Humus  4) by Push Entertainment,
Fistpig  by  Spaceballs  &  Ephidrena,
Timur  Lenk by Spaceballs & Ephidrena,
Fact  by  Scarab,  Bobshow by Void and
Tulou 4k by Tulou.

CL0:The  vast  majority of these 4k intros
were quite good actually.

CL1:Naturally  there  have  been  released
even more intros, but I can't remember
them.   I haven't even seem all of the
productions  mentioned  above  either,
but at least 80-90% of them.

CL0:As   for   diskmags,   we've  had  two
releases  of  the new mag Saxonia (nr.
1  & 2).  This is infact the first new
mag  in  the Amiga scene for many many
years.   We've also had one release of
D.I.S.C  (nr.   14),  which was infact
the  last  release  of  this  mag ever
after  13  years  of existence.  There
have  also  been released one issue of
the  EuroChart (nr.  46) and one issue
of  Jurassic  Pack (nr.  12).  Cows n'
Snakefights also  made  a  comeback in
2003,   and   issue  5  got  out.   In
addition  to that, there was one issue
of   the   World   Charts  (nr.   15).
Unluckily,   it  now  seems  that  the
returned  World Charts are dead, along
with  mags  as  Devotion and ShowTime.
Even  though  ShowTime is not declared
dead  yet.   Excess  (nr.  9) also got
released  in 2003, along with Taboo 5.
But those mags are mainly for the ones
that   understand  the  language  they
speak in Poland.

CL1:As  for packs, there haven't been many
at  all.  This is mainly because there
are so few things to insert into these
packs.   But  at least there have been
some issues of Hitpack by Gods (55 and
56)  and Frozen Pack by Whelpz (52, 53
and 54.)

CL0:When it comes to musicdisks/chippacks,
it   seems   like   Traktor   released
Extraliv  and  Traktor & Liquid Motion
released   Old   shit.    Veezya   has
released  Embrion 8 and 9 also.  Zenon
released  issue  7  and  8  of GooGoo,
Instant  3  and  4  were  released  by
Appendix,  and Creators released Music
From  The  Crypt.   Liquid  Skies have
been hyper active and released lots of
modules, and the same is the case with
Moods.   We've  also  seen a few other
releases from other musicgroups.

CL1:There has  only been released one real
slideshow  in  2003  I think, and that
was  Blind  Visions  by  Appendix.  It
features  some  cool pictures from the
graphician   Slayer.    Anyway,   some
rumours  indicate that more slideshows
will appear next year.

CL0:There    have   been   released   some
videodemos,                 wilddemos,
gallery-slideshows,  party-slideshows,
asci-collections and other stuff which
is hard to put into any category.

CL8:The Groups

CL1:2003 was ruled by a few groups really.
Some  quite  good  groups were more or
less resting, like Loonies, Potion and
Creative  Minds for instance, and some
weren't  as  active as they've been in
the previous years.

CL0:Nevertheless,  the  shining  light  of
2003  got  to be groups like Mawi (for
all  of  their great PPC productions),
Ephidrena (for all their great classic
demos  and  intros),  Spaceballs  (for
their high activity level and smashing
productions),  IRIS (for supplying the
only   chart   left   and  other  cool
productions),  Scarab  (for more great
productions),  Push Entertainment (for
some  excellent productions), TBL (for
one  stunning demo) and perhaps Nature
(for  the  best bigger intro of 2003).
But other groups like Encore, Contraz,
Universe,  Software Failure, Appendix,
Veezya etc.  etc.  should be mentioned
for making 2003 what it was.

CL8:The Future

CL1:I  have  to  admit that 2003 was a bit
depressing  concerning  the  number of
productions.   But at least there were
some demos and intros which really are
worth  to  watch  many many times.  It
was  also  a  bit surprising that some
old  groups  made  comebacks after all
these  years,  and that a few new ones
appeared too.

CL0:We  do  not  know what the future will
bring,  but  one  thing  is  sure; the
scene will continue with its uniqeness
and creativity in 2004 also.

CL1:And already now it's quite likely that
the  uncertainty  of the future of the
Kindergarden   party   has   vanished;
another party will be held between the
17th  to 19th of September 2004!  This
time it's called KGb, and the location
is the same as last year.

CL0:So   I'm   sure  there  will  also  be
released  productions  at parties such
as    the    Breakpoint   party,   the
Gathering,   Symphony,   Kindergarden,
Underscore,  the  Assembly, the Euskal
party, TRSAC and probably a few others
as well.

CL1:Therefore  the Amiga scene should look
forward to getting more quality demos,
intros,   diskmags,   slideshows   and
musicdisks  throughout  in  2004.   In
addition  to  lots  of  new tracks and
pictures.   When  we  least expect it,
there  will always come some fantastic
Amiga    productions.     I'm   infact
confident  that  there  will  be  more
Amiga releases at the Breakpoint party
in 2004, than last year.

CL0:How many demos and intros that will be
released  in  2004  is  hard to say at
this  point,  but the number will most
likely  be  something  similar  to the
previous years.  This means that there
will  probably  not  be  released many
slideshows nor musicdisks.  The latest
years   it   has   been  usually  only
released  a  couple  of slideshows and
musicdisks  a year, if any.  And there
won't be too many mags released either
now.   But  quantity isn't everything,
quality is.

CL1:It's  most  certain  that 2004 will be
some  kind  of  turning  point for the
Amiga  scene.   If AmigaOne with OS4.0
ever will come, then 2004 is the year!
The  past  years  the users of classic
Amigas  have decreased much, and there
have been a small increase in users of
PPC  cards.   In  2004  I  think  many
groups      will      start     making
productions/moving  to  PPC.   It's at
least  certain  that some parts of the
scene  will  make  a  push towards PPC
and/or  AmigaOne.   I bet even some of
the  leading mags will try turning PPC
during 2004.  I should think that this
will  be a very interesting year; it's
definately a crossroad for our fragile
community.   Fanatic protecters of the
classic Amiga scene are loosing ground
and   have   started  to  accept  that
AmigaOnes  or  Amigas  with  PPC cards
will  play  an  important  part of the
future  scene.  Let us not forget that
2004  WILL  be the year with the first
AmigaOne productions.  But then again,
I  do not think that the classic Amiga
scene will die.  However, it is likely
it  will  become  smaller.   It's also
likely  that  there will come more PPC
productions  and  that  a new AmigaOne
scene somehow will emerge.

CL8:Conclusion

CL1:The  results  should be more excellent
Amiga  productions.   A  new  world of
opportunities   are   opened  for  the
scene,  it's  just the Amiga community
that  has   to grab this chance.  This
is  also the chance for Amiga users to
join  the Amiga scene and take part in
forming our new scene.

CL0:It's  at  least  certain  that the new
productions  will look a bit different
than   the   past  productions.   With
AmigaOne  for  instance, the sound and
graphics in the productions should improve greatly.  I think we will get used to
many  3d  based  demos for the Amiga in the future.  But I do also hope that the
creativity  and  innovation  will  continue  in  this  new scene even though the
hardware is improved.

CL1:No one can be truly certain about which direction the scene will take.  Whatever
may happen, some exciting times are ahead for the Amiga scene for sure.  Whether
the  scene will move in a positive or negative direction this year, is yet to be
seen.  The facit we'll be able to see in around 12 months!
PIC:EcLogoFish2.iff


