- The Charts #58 -
Edited by Jonatan "Macx" FG.
“Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”
- Winston Churchill
Welcome to another edition of The Charts. A section of this offline magazine that craves user participation in order to be valid and interesting. The Charts in a diskmag reflects the minds of the sceners in a much more dynamic sense than the top lists of aggregated votes over time at CSDb. However, in order for The Charts to be a sound and contemporary comment it is necessary that the readers fill out the votesheets that are sent out prior to the voting deadline. The sheet count for this issue was 23. One interpretation of the fewer sheets handed in this time could be that four times a year is a bit too often for the audience be motivated enought to lay their votes.
To secure you receive a votesheet for the upcoming issues of VN, send an email to macx64(*)gmail. The votesheet is usually combined with questions for the Opinion Poll.
Let me remind the participating reader that you are not allowed to lay a vote on yourself, your own release, your groups release or other members of your group or groups. Only what or who has received more than one vote is presented in The Charts. Otherwise it is pretty straight forward, so here we go. First up are the Top Lists associated with the Opinion Poll in this issue ("Cracked Broken").
TOP ALL-TIME CRACKER GROUPS:
Eagle Soft Inc. 148
Triad 136
Ikari 104
Fairlight 84
Ikari+Talent 48
Legend 44
2000 AD 36
Hotline 36
The Papillons Inc. 36
Chromance 28
Danish Crackers 28
Dominators 24
Avantgarde 20
A Touch of Class 16
Danish Gold 16
Dynamic Duo 16
Genesis Project 16
JEDI 2001 16
Talent 12
Many legends of the past are presented here and we can all recall the crackintros of these groups. It is our youth, history and part of who we are. If the votes for the cooperation of Ikari+Talent were to be included in the votes for Ikari in this toplist they would have beaten Eagle Soft Inc. off their number one spot. Both the commiekillers in Fairlight and the commies in Triad are part of the legendary legacy and receives good positions in this category. They are both active to this day, only the socialists are still active in the cracking business though. My old crew Chromance is presented, as is Genesis Project whom recently has become a returning star rising on the clear winter night sky.
Just missing out are Red Sector Inc., F4CG, Hitmen, Fusion, FBR and Nostalgia.
TOP CURRENT CRACKER GROUPS (including quality groups):
Nostalgia 176
Genesis Project 116
Hokuto Force 108
Triad 96
Avatar 48
Remember 28
Laxity 12
WOW 8
Nostalgia is a typical "quality group", competing with superior versions of old games rather than on the limited first release scene. It is well liked it seems. Onslaught has been removed. Genesis Project nicks number two and is definitely part of the current elite, causing both Sturm und Drang. Triad lags behind. Will they be able to withstand the rise of the hungry new?
Three groups were close enough only to be left out: Armageddon, Creators, Excess.
TOP CRACKERS:
Fungus 72
Mr. Z 72
GRG 68
S!R 40
Mason 36
Snacky 32
Antitrack 28
Sailor 28
Kaizen 24
Zyron 24
LA Style 12
The return of the old guards! Many have been voting for the original pirate material as The Charts this time included all-time cracking groups. However, also contemporary hardcore crackers are in the top intermingling with the heroes from the past. Slator received a good position but is left out as he is an Onslaughter.
Others not included are enthusi, PMK, Softtech, Jack Alien, Mitch, Burglar, Darksoft, Goat, Popey, Count Zero, Sunny, Weasel, King Fisher, Rough and Stormfront.
TOP DEMO GROUPS:
Booze Design 256
Fairlight 124
Offence 120
Crest 96
Oxyron 88
Arsenic 48
Camelot 48
Mahoney 44
Genesis Project 28
Triad 28
Horizon 24
Resource 24
Censor Design 16
Chorus 16
Plush 12
Booze Design remains far above everyone else, watching the stars from the clouds rather than the gutters. Arsenic, Fairlight and Offence is climbing. A warm welcome to Genesis Project. Mahoney is receiving votes both as a person and as a group.
Demogroups left out: The Supply Team, Wize 2005, Wrath Designs, 1001 Crew, Spirit, Focus, Hoaxers, Starion, Super Swap Sweden, Beyond Force, Bonzai, Hack N Trade, Samar, Smash.
TOP CODERS:
HCL 252
Cruzer 88
Crossbow 76
JackAsser 76
Graham 64
Mahoney 64
Axis 44
Pantaloon 44
Clarence 32
Kribust 24
Mr.SID 24
Ninja 24
MagerValp 16
Oswald 16
GRG 12
Krill 12
HCL has been the king of the hill in this category during all of 2011. Will he defend his position in the year to come? A lot of expectation is also put on JackAsser, Mahoney, Pantaloon and Cruzer from whom we expect the good stuff in 2012. Why are Crossbow and Graham still in the top five? It is nice to see Mr.SID receiving recognition for his great conversion of Prince of Persia in this chart. As it seems it is likely that more quality game programmers will gain positive status in the Top Coders category in the future.
C64 programmers receiving too few votes this round are Glasnost, Kaze, King Fisher, Firehawk, Hollowman, Maduplec, AEG, Ian Coog, Skurk and FMan.
TOP GRAPHICIANS:
Archmage 164
Mermaid 128
Veto 88
Mirage 72
PAL 48
Carrion 44
STE'86 40
Duce 28
Jailbird 28
hedning 24
Sander 24
Yazoo 24
Leon 12
Ptoing 12
DeeKay 8
The top four consists of the same top four as last time. Joe received plenty of votes but is left out as he is part of the staff. PAL is climbing the charts as expected. hedning of Genesis Project is another rising star becoming famous, reaching the top list for graphic artists for his effort.
Left-outs are Blitz, Dane, Frost, Valsary, Biz Kid and RRR. THE RRR, that is. The vote which remains anonymous came with a smiley.
TOP MUSICIANS:
Jeff 100
Drax 72
Dane 68
SIDwave 40
GRG 36
Jeroen Tel 36
Laxity 36
Geir Tjelta 28
Linus 28
Randall 24
Stein Pedersen 24
Tim Follin 24
Wiklund 20
Zabutom 16
Jeff, Drax and Dane in the top three just as in the last issue. Their internal order is different though, with Jeff being the legible winner in this round. SIDwave keeps climbing and Tim Follin oddly enough makes it into this list of currently active musicians. Brilliant as Mr.Follin's music is, he has not composed SID sounds for two decades and does not really fit into the picture above.
Voted for but not included are numerous: Agemixer, Charles Deenen, Ed, Johannes Bjerregaard, A-Man, Deetsay, Hein, Rob Hubbard, Aleksi Eeben, Magnar, Martin Galway, Danko, Fanta, JCH, RadiantX, Sonic, Goto80, Intensity, Jammer, Knatter.
That concludes The Charts for issue 58 of your favourite Commodore 64 disk magazine. These top lists reflect the current ongoings in the scene and is for this reason something much different than the votes at various online fora. The total amount of votes over a much longer period competing with fever votes for a new release can make the list seem unjust - a problem you will never encounter in The Charts as a reset button is pressed with each new issue. Make sure you sign up for receiving the ascii votesheets in time for the next voting deadline, it is imperative in order to make this chapter valid. See the introductory text for further details.