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Intervista a DNS, del 2703 Group

Interview taken from Video News # 42 (February 1987) p.. 10

INTERVIEW WITH A PIRATE

We all know what it means to be a "pirate" software, and through the various acronyms (found in the screens of the "hard-game") we know the existence of these "mysterious beings" . But how many of you know why you become a pirate, as "works" and what it feels like to be considered "illegal"? Let's find out in this interview, carried out with the help of Joseph Porretti still valid.

15 Hours: I just talked by telephone with DNS, 22, a member of the now famous 2703 Gr He seemed calm, confident and happy to lend itself to an interview that should help us discover all its secrets ( has issued a last month in a French magazine). Where to meet? His proposal does not make me excited, but a bar in the center is a place as another (but who pays for the drink?).
18 Hours: I am sitting at a table for about five minutes, and still do not see anyone. Ah, here it is! Greetings, introductions, and after a deliberate joke about "why are not you wearing a black hood on his head," we begin our interview, VG news challenge a pirate!

LM: How did you become a pirate and why?

DNS: To hobby ... and to gain!

LM: And how much you earn?

DNS: I'm not complaining. It 's like having a fixed salary.

LM: But you do not feel "outlaw"?

DNS: No, because there is no law.

LM: But at your age not aspire to something more constructive?

DNS: But we are mad? With what you earn!

LM: Why not use your abilities to plan?

DNS: Perché ci vuole troppo tempo e si guadagna di meno.

LM: Visto che per te è solo una questione di soldi, se ti offrissero la stessa cifra per programmare?

DNS: Non credo, perché è più difficile, e poi, con i pirati in circolazione!!

LM: Cos'è per te un videogioco?

DNS: Un buon cinquantamila! (ride!)

LM: Ma lo trovi il tempo per giocare?

DNS: Molto raramente. E mi dispiace.

LM: A che cosa è dovuta la tua sigla?

DNS: initial of my name and that of my partner, followed by soft.

LM: So there you have to say how many members there are in your "organization."

DNS: Well, besides the two of us are members of other groups with whom we have frequent contact.

LM: But do not you compete?

DNS: course, but it is never made with malice.

LM: I thought you'd responded that respects the work of others. Go ahead. What do you use and how long it takes to unprotect a program?

DNS: Typically you use multiple monitors or cartridges on the market, the time varies between twenty and thirty minutes.

LM: If you were to stop, how do you defend?

DNS: Do not ask me this possibility, and then would be a waste of time for everyone, is not it?

LM: Who resell the software to copy?

DNS: usually individuals, but we have contacts with distributors and stores.

LM: And I think it is useless to ask you to name names! How did you get the programs?

DNS: directly from England. It 'the only valid system.

LM: In case of approval of any copyright law, speak out against your friends for money, since you seem quite fair market?

DNS: I should point out that video games are for me a job (and hence gain) but never get that far.

LM: Let me know what you think of -cassette programs that invade newsstands.

DNS: I can not help but talk about it too, as are the main part of our work!

LM: how to solve the problem of copied software?

DNS: One method would be: it would suffice for the tapes cost less, so as to remove those from the pirates profit margins that drive them to work.

LM: So Mastertronic's attempts to import original price no longer prohibitive, can be considered valid?

DNS: Of course, the initiative is successful, but from what I've seen so far is at the expense of quality. When allowed to offer programs such as World Games, Championship Wrestling and others at prices lower than 5000 pounds, then we can talk it over.

LM: last question: read the interview on the news pages VG?

DNS: Definitely . Why not send me a copy?

LM: Willingly, but where?

DNS: You're right. Give me your address.

LM: And why do not you give me yours?

DNS: Look, it does not say "merry"! (Points to his forehead and laughs like crazy).

LM: Forget it. Through the interview then!

DNS: imagine. Hello guys. See you soon. (He gets up and walks away).

GP: We have not forgotten anything?

LM: not think so, why?

GP: Why we should pay us the bill! (Laughter). Thanks

DNS!

Luca Mantegazza

Bionicle Building Instructions For Kardas

2030 Radio Killer, un lost game italiano

Review is Video News from No. 39 (November 1986) page. 16

2030 RADIO KILLERS

Manufacturer: Lago (Italy)
Distributor: Lake
tried System: ATARI 130
Compatibility: ATARI 800
Price: L. 19,900

Finally a subject unusual. For too long we had only fossilized in solving puzzles about magic, spells, treasures, and so on.
The most interesting of this adventure, the fantasy of two Italian authors, is in fact the originality and relevance of the plot.
After loading the program, we are projected into the future in a New York dominated by technology and where the "war" between the major private radio stations in that city is on the basis of the enigma which we, in the guise of a young university student, we need to light.
The action starts from within the headquarters of Radio "Mysteria", owned by a wealthy and powerful businessman unscrupulous, in order to obtain economic benefits from a higher audience rating, has boycotted all criminally its competitors.

Evidence of this scam must be found quickly, before anyone is aware of our presence intriguing.
commands: the mechanism is the classic game of all adventures. The computer displays a scenario and gives un breve commento sul luogo in cui ci troviamo per mezzo di testi sintetici (anche troppo) e descrittivi. Poi tocca a noi digitare i comandi.
Conclusioni:
'2030 Radio Killer' non è affatto una brutta adventure, ma purtroppo la mancanza di una certa velocità d'esecuzione unita ad una grafica non proprio all'altezza, (sarebbe stato utile un comando per disinserirla) penalizza alquanto il reale valore del gioco. Siamo ancora piuttosto lontani dalle raffinatezze di particolari a cui ci hanno abituato taluni prodotti esteri; va sottolineato tuttavia che la fantasia e la volontà di migliorare i banali precedenti italiani si notano in maniera rilevante.

Claudio Balzi

GRAFICA: 4
DIFFICOLTA': 9
ORIGINALITA': 7
CONVENIENZA: 7

Intervista tratta da Videogiochi News numero 41 (Gennaio 1987) pag. 10

PROGRAMMERS: Adventures made in Italy.

Nel numero 39 di VG news è stata pubblicata la recensione di "2030 Radio Killer", un'adventure per Atari 130 e 800. Malgrado il gioco sia ambientato a New York e il suo titolo suoni un po' esotico, esso è stato concepito e realizzato da due italiani ed è prodotto e distribuito dalla Lago, software-house anch'essa italiana, che non ha più bisogno di presentazioni (v. intervista nel n. 39 di VG news).
Trovare un videogioco nostrano tra i mille stranieri è cosa piuttosto rara: dagli USA, dalla Britain, Germany each month come cartload of adventure, simulation games, etc.. While at home it seems nobody thought to program one. Of course, no one but the two authors of "2030 Radio Killer": Dorian Benavides and Daniel Guarino.

Dorian is 34 years old, married with children, live in Monza and works in a bank. Daniel, however, is the youngest: 24 years old and has a degree in economics at the bank Univesità Catholic University of Milan.

VG - Forgive curiosity, but we feel that your activities c'entrino little video games. How did you come to mind to one?

Daniele - In fact, the idea is not mine, but Dorian and he wrote the story and designed various frameworks. I have helped in developing the technical support program: load routine, user interface ...

Doriano - It 's true that I wrote the story and produced the graphic pages, but without the help of Daniel - which bears a very good programmer - I could do very little.

VG - In general almost all the adventures are set in fantastic dimensions, in enchanted worlds populated by monsters, witches and wizards, beautiful maidens to save and fabulous treasures to be recovered. Instead, the story of "2030 Radio Killer" takes place in New York, in a not too distant future. You may ispirrato the subject of some book or film to create your story?

Doriano - No, I would say that is all my own bags. However, admit to being an avid reader of comics, all sorts of my house is full. Among the many prefer the adventures of Flash Gordon and I really like the characters of Marvel Comics: Daredevil, the Fantastic 4, Spider-Man.
From the history of "2030 Radio Killer" I even get an opportunity to write a book, but the work does not leave me much free time.

VG - Have you encountered many difficulties in achieving "2030 Radio Killer"?

Daniele - Soprattutto difficoltà tecniche. Non siamo certo programmatori professionisti e nessuno di noi due pensa certo di vivere facendo videogiochi.
"2030 Radio Killer" è scritto in BASIC, non c'è animazione e, rispetto a certe adventures straniere, l'interfaccia utente è molto semplice. Comunque, realizzare "2030 Radio Killer" è stata un'esperienza utile e ci servirà certo per il futuro.

VG - Avete già qualcosa nel cassetto o pensate ad una nuova release di "2030 Radio Killer"?

Doriano - Non abbiamo niente di pronto, ma stiamo lavorando intorno all'idea di un altro adventure. Personalmente sto preparando la grafica e l'interfaccia utente per un programma Chess for the Atari 800 and 130XL and I'm going to try to write graphics programs ever to Atari. A
an improved version of "2030 Radio Killer" we have not thought: maybe we will prepare later.

VG - In Italy, people like you who engages in the production of video games at some level there is very little. Do not you feel the white flies?

Daniele - Create a video game is not as difficult as you think. Of people with the necessary technical capacity and imagination surely there are many in our country. There are other much larger problems, such as piracy. It is no mystery here in Italia, più che all'estero, da quando esce un nuovo prodotto non passa molto tempo che tutti ne hanno una copia; di conseguenza i negozianti comprano pochissimo e il mercato non decolla. Chi è in grado di fare un videogioco di ottima qualità ci rinuncia, perché sa in partenza di non guadagnarci niente.

VG - Ma voi il vostro videogioco l'avete realizzato e avete trovato chi ve lo commercializza.

Doriano - Con quelli della Lago ci siamo intesi subito; si sono dimostrati disponibilissimi e ci hanno dispensato suggerimenti preziosi. Per loro produrre un videogioco tutto italiano è stato un esperimento utile, come per noi farlo.

Daniele - In effetti, la nostra si può considerare un'esperienza pilota.
Siamo anche impegnati in altri fronti. Doriano ed io siamo soci di un Atari Club, con sede a Monza. Al contrario di molti altri club, veri e propri covi di "pirati" del software, nel nostro lo scambio di programmi è limitato a quelli realizzati dagli stessi soci, mentre si organizzano attività di tipo didattico come riunioni, corsi, ecc.

Giorgio Goria

Imagen De Unos Segundos Quieto En El Contraluz

Thunder Castle


Titolo Completo: Thunder Castle
Software House: Mattel Electronics/INTV Corporation
Anno di pubblicazione: 1982/1986
Genere: Arcade

Ci sono games that have become popular even in mainstream icons of themselves and of an entire generation, memories of facts to swallow balls, cans, hammers and umbrellas, while others arrive at the wrong time, too late, and end up being forgotten.

The most recent memory is of Heart of Darkness by Eric Chah, glorious creator of Another World, with this title was perhaps created a milestone for PC, with regard to the platform playability coupled with cut-scenes do not interactive, long time but ended up working it out at a time when people craved now only the third dimension polygonal Tomb Raider.

Castle Thunder is also a of those unlucky games: if it were actually released in '82-83 as had to happen, would undoubtedly have been a big success, but then the Big Crash, the abandonment by Mattel Electronics Intellivision, and many other negative factors, eventually Thunder Castle oblivion order up to 86, when it was finally completed and sold by the "heirs" dell'INTV Corporation. The second youth Intellivision, which lasted until the late '80s, however, was a purely American phenomenon, and few reports of these new games in Europe now came under the dominion of the Commodore and Sinclair home computer.

But the history of Castle Thunder is primarily the story of two characters that have created a she and a him, she is Connie Goldman, talented programmer but especially animation and graphics, which won an internal competition Mattel to create a themed game "magic".

This initial approach created an idea called Magic Castle, which became in process Mystic Castle. "He" is the great David Warhol, former programmer Mind Strike, Connie that help to complete the game, who took it was renamed Castle Thunder. Shortly before the game went into production Mattel shut and, as mentioned earlier, fell in limbo until 86, when the resurrection occurred by dell'INTV

Corp. While there is no news of further production of Goldman, Warhol became a popular programmer and musician, coming to work with companies like Electronic Arts and Lucasfilm Games, and then founded his own software development house independent, Realtime Associates.


Looking at the packaging of the original game, it is the poorest of the sumptuous book boxes to which we had become accustomed was the first Mattel glorious, as is the case for any production INTV Corp: The manual is a fold in a poor black and white while the cover, instead of presenting an original artwork, is actually borrowed from an old advertising for Mattel Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Treasure of Tarmin.

Despite all the misfortunes and delays have to say that the game is incredible, both in terms of the graphics, sound, and for the gameplay.

In terms of gameplay, Castle Thunder is essentially a maze game, a direct descendant of Pac-Man, but with an unusual ability to combine the ambience and personality of the enemy, to borrow the maze of furniture and Lady Bug Mouse Trap and the iconography of heroic-fantasy that has its archetypes into monsters, wizards and dragons.

unfortunately are only three levels that cycle with increasing difficulty, but this is mainly due to the limited capacity console memory of that time, and anyway it was a winning choice, given that it is better to have a few very distinct and specific levels, rather than a long sequence of repetitive screens. Moreover, they were coded with a reasonable degree of randomness in the arrangement of objects and obstacles, certainly a very effective way to increase longevity and variety.

The three beautiful full-screen moving images made by Goldman, as the splash-page worthy of a golden age of Marvel comics, introduce us to the top in a forest with bushes "changing" surrounding a mysterious castle, while a menacing dragon winding through the wildlife corridors. Our poor knight blemish and without fear at the beginning is also unarmed, helpless in the face of menacing dragon, which can only escape. His only options are few fairy creatures that touch, give the "power" to kill the opponent's turn, which was replaced twice by a fellow most powerful and fast, before they can pass the level. The power has a very limited duration, and is given in the first case of two bats, the second of a mouse and the third fastest by an enigmatic skull.

After killing the dragon's third city welcomes us a labyrinth, probably inside the castle, which they saw before, the territory of two evil wizards, wicked magicians of the ancient world. The challenge then is concluded con un'elegante discesa negli inferi, dove la nostra vita sarà questa volta minacciata da tre demoni, con tanto di coda e forcone.


Oltre alle creature fatate, vari bonus compariranno durante il nostro percorso, alcuni veramente preziosi per la nostra sopravvivenza: come nota di colore possiamo dire che l'unico bonus negativo, che dimezza il punteggio corrente, è a forma di pettine... Che il nostro sfortunato cavaliere abbia anche problemi di calvizie?

Sognavo di provare questo gioco sin dall'83, quando scrutai uno screenshot di Mystic Castle sul catalogo italiano Mattel di allora. Le mie ricerche nei negozi ebbero ovviamente esito negativo e, da piccolo estimatore del fantasy genre, I had to settle for a few games at the old Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. After an eternity and a half, first through emulation and then finally finding an original cartridge for sale on a popular auction site, I can finally close this "painful" chapter of my life video game. The wait has been fruitful, however, and certainly I can say in retrospect that if I had Thunder Castle at an early age, I would have played to death and total physical exhaustion.

It was never seen anything so beautiful sull'Intellivision graphically, as well as the fund is sound at the highest levels, whereas then there was a tendency to simply create a couple of jingle and a bit 'of effetti sonori, qui è presente un intera partitura creata da Warhol partendo da temi classici, volta a sottolineare ogni azione positiva e negativa.

Non credo ci sia molto altro da dire, se non che spero che questa recensione serva a far (ri)scoprire a qualcuno di voi questo classico prodotto per la console Intellivision: sicuramente anche nei miei prossimi scritti cercherò di presentarvi giochi "dimenticati", perché ritengo che sia troppo facile parlare sempre dei soliti noti, e che il compito principale di chi si occupa di retrogaming sia far crescere la cultura videoludica generale, piuttosto che partecipare ad una mera celebrazione dei vecchi tempi, a cui troppi siti (italiani e non) ormai ci hanno abituato. Vi lascio però with a small final game: in every splash page designed by Connie Goldman (relating to villain Dragon, Wizard and Demon) is hidden within the design signature of the author; to you to locate it in the difficult task of all three images.

Andrea Packages

NOTE: This review originally appeared on Still Alive n.6

Red Dot Bushnell Magnifier

Mappa del sito

Reviews

The Castles of Doctor Creep (Commodore 64)
Henry's House (Commodore 64)
Mr. Mephisto (Commodore 64)
Orc Attack (Commodore 64)
Castle Thunder (Intellivision)

Speciali

La storia delle riviste di videogiochi
Parte I - Videogiochi (Jackson)
Parte II - Zzap! (Edizioni Hobby/Xenia)
Parte III - K (Glénat Italia/R.C.S.)

Archivio storico

2030 Radio Killer, un lost game italiano (Videogiochi News nn. 39-41)
Speciale: come nascono i videogiochi (C+VG nn. 6-7)
Intervista a DNS, del 2703 Group (Videogiochi News n. 42)