Quake - The 1996 Beta scandal | MVG

In 1996 scene/warez groups raced to be first to release the biggest release of the decade - Quake by id Software. In this episode we look at the lies and deceptions that surrounded one of the biggest scandals to rock the underground warez scene.
► Support the Channel - / modernvintagegamer
Thanks to the following sites for archive material
► TextFiles.Com
► Defacto2.Net
► Quake.fandom.com
Music in this Episode
► Second Reality - Purple Motion/Future Crew
► Alloyrun - Void / Reality, original by Maniacs of Noise
► WVChild - Neo Software
► Exposition - Wayne Kerr
► Quake OST Track #4 - Trent Reznor Nine Inch Nails
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#Quake #Warez #Underground

[@ModernVintageGamer]

Let me know if you want more content like this. Really enjoyed this one. If you were a scener affiliated with any of these groups, feel free to reach out

[@Kirix]

So rare to see early 90s scene readMe files that I've never seen before

[@raynorpat]

Definitely do more. Blood and it’s early leak of game and source via a computer repair store coke to mind

[@arsife5]

Yes this is good content please do more

[@PowerUpT]

@@raynorpat Yeah, Blood's awesome

[@gab_v250]

I kinda dig it. I'm pretty interested in.

[@offspringfan89]

There's so much romantism about the early warez scene, specially in the 90s: BBS, CompuServe, Usenet, FTPs, etc. There should be documentaries about these legendary groups.

[@yukisaitou5004]

Jason Scott of Internet Archive fame has made a few, definitely recommend watching them!

[@V3ntilator]

@@yukisaitou5004 I guess you missed out warez scene in 1980's?

[@edstar83]

@@V3ntilator kzbin.info/www/bejne/a2G6iHl7d9ianM0

[@deus_ex_machina_]

Proper documentaries might be a bit tough given that the subject matter is illegal, and the subjects you'd really like to interview have committed crimes, some of which are within the statue of limitations, but Overlord Gaming has a few videos that give an overview of scene dynamics.

[@fatfreddyscoat7564]

I remember a dude I know taking about 2 days to download a game on CD over dialup… warez newsgroups we’re the bomb.

[@BrianJones-wk8cx]

“No honor amongst thieves,” this is a really great examination of the underground scene and the Quake scandal, would love to see more content like this!

[@TheCFD_Dude]

Also applies to the group that was hacking major companies (some government ran ones too.) across multiple countries (mainly Brazil, UK and US,) in the early 2020s. You might best know this group for one of it's core members accessing Rockstar QA and proceeded to leak GTA VI.

[@dannastalski8628]

Would love to see more scene related content. It's a big part of internet history that isn't covered at all.

[@chrisakaschulbus4903]

Totally agree! Let the steak soak in wine!

[@livefreeprintguns]

1000%

[@Foebane72]

I care more about the creative Demoscene than stupid illegal software piracy.

[@chrisakaschulbus4903]

@@Foebane72 Well, one subject is much more "taboo" and even nostalgic for many. How much nostalgia do people have for funny demo-programs when in many childhoods the knowledge about no-cd cracks and so on was the hot stuff? When i became a gamer, i wasn't interested in what you could push the hardware to do... i was interested in games. And i'm leaning out the window here, but i'm sure i'm not the only one...

[@Statixize]

@@chrisakaschulbus4903 LOL at taboo and nostalgia, even if you cared more about games that doesn't mean everybody did and even pure gamers didn't give shit about who cracked what, cause AS YOU SAID you care about games only, not the crack scene, games weren't made by crack scene! Demoscene has much bigger legacy and true values, it is being added by Unesco as cultural heritage if you don't know. It has huge influence on digital art and future of gaming, probably majority of famous games were created by people from old demoscene. Crack scene biggest acomplishment is distributing games to wide audience and giving birth to demoscene. Crack scene groups were just that, an illegal distributor.

[@TehAwesomer]

9:52 - The note here ("CD beat to net, RZR to boards") shows that this event took place in the small window where both BBS systems and FTP servers were active and neither of them were centralized enough via a global dupecheck to establish definitively who had won a race. It is not surprising in this case that Razor 1911 won to BBSes, as their BBS curry team at the time was legendary.

[@Fightosaurus]

Arrr mateys

[@MickNavarro]

yes sir

[@GUN2kify]

@@Dave-rd6sp that was wrong in the video dupes aren't stolen releases. DUPEs are releases from groups that does the same at the same time ... they are duplicates. The target is about who win the race. There are dozens of variations of a release ... the first working win the race, the others are dupe or iNTERNAL. Sounds obivous DUPE = duplicates ? May it be, that that is the cause of the short term?

[@wobblysauce]

@@GUN2kify Yep, but in most cases, it is referenced to the same work and wordings used, ways people code are like fingerprints or leave markers that you were there, as small 1 value changes could be the same but not all are like that.

[@GUN2kify]

@@wobblysauce Nope. Then the release must marked as STOLEN via the preDB. That is a slap and can causes bans and other consequences.

[@gustavs410]

Back in the day, I was a part of an FTP ring that had FLT and Razor1911 as members. It was an awesome time. It was fun to read the SSL encrypted mIRC chats. I was a hardware provider which gave me unlimited ratio. The funny thing is that I don't quite remember how it all ended. I think I got my first kid and a job then it all just fell in to oblivion...

[@SodomyHussein]

Man I wish I was a part of this scene back in the day! I had no idea how cool it all was

[@john_john_john]

My cousin was a part of one and I remember he downloaded 120gb of data in a month and I couldn't believe it. Every weekend he would visit me and bring a few burned CDs with all kinds of random stuff.

[@TheTekknician]

I remember becoming buddies with someone called "Mr. Donut" whom on a whim explained he enjoyed having a T3-connection for his company back in the day. Which back then was blazing fast. Suddenly he asked if I knew about "Rosevalley FXP", I said I knew what an FXP was but never heard of this board. "Well, I happen to be kind of a big shot on that board - hey, register here and here". Done so, told him. Suddenly I got promoted including a hidden promotion. I shouldn't "thank" nor "post", or he would have a bit of a problem. Suddenly the gates of warez-heaven opened up to me. Not even talking 0-days, but up 0-minutes, iirc. I saw people having positions in the upper-echelons from warez-groups, posting. I didn't believe what I was seeing! Still wasn't sure if it was one of "the" FXP-boards, but sweet jeez.. I saw releases on there that only came out days if not weeks later onto the public. The one thing I remember, fondly and funnily so, I would ask: "Mr.Donut, are you still playing moo-ing cow sounds in the adult playrooms on camfrog when you steal the microphone in chat?"

[@filleswe91]

@@TheTekknician Wow, what a great story. I have probably had similar access to the good stuff in the past, but maybe not this good. I'm a later generation though. At most I have had access to a certain private torrent tracker most people never get invites to in their lives. I still have it, but I don't use it. (I don't give out invites either, nothing you'd want to get banned for either). It was fun while it lasted. Too many years wasted in front of the computer though. I needed a better life as that was too unhealthy.

[@drd5455]

Make some videos man

[@tehf00n]

Man this made me feel old. I was 24 when this released and we spent most weekends on a 9600 baud serial lan playing. What was really fun was learning that whoever hosted the game had a 0 ping so the rest of us were at a disadvantage. :D

[@blameusa7082]

Ive always asked my self did i waste my life playing these games, or i did i do it right ? : /

[@tehf00n]

@@blameusa7082 Any time you are enjoying yourself and not hurting anyone else, you win the game of life.

[@TheDorianTube]

Dude, it's like I stepped into a Time Machine. The nostalgia is real.

[@livefreeprintguns]

FOR REAL!

[@xorinzor]

Oh man, that Second Reality demo soundtrack.. good memories.

[@Tony240zt]

Thank you, it was driving me nuts that I couldn't think of where I knew that from.

[@lsorense]

Yeah no mistaking that soundtrack. One of the most impressive demos back in the 486 days.

[@fonkbadonk5370]

@@lsorense I am 100% I had it run on a 368DX40 with a (mono!) SoundBlaster. While the 468 had been out then, the previous chippy did well, too. Well, mostly. For some reason it was of all scenes the bouncing girl on a bear image that brought this CPU to its knees =)

[@lsorense]

@@fonkbadonk5370 Well I know I ran it on a 486 with a gravis ultrasound when it came out. It had no issue running it of course.

[@Semmelein]

Thank you! That's what it was! It rang so many bells but I just couldn't put my finger on it! 🙏

[@pagb666]

I was in the scene like 20 years ago. Competition was fierce to get stuff up first, and sketchy releases like this one were not a rare thing. Some groups would also gladly DDOS your irc or ftp server if they found about it.

[@HorrorUberAlles]

Big fan of your gameplay vids! didn't know you were in the scene, wow!!

[@pagb666]

@@HorrorUberAlles It was a long time ago :P Glad you enjoy the content! :D

[@stevebanning902]

The late 90's era of PC culture like this, post BB systems was so amazing. So many 'groups' and 'clans' and different organizations floating around doing cool things, only knowing one another based on their callsigns.

[@faz323]

I still remember the excitement my son and I felt when we cracked the infamous LensLock protection on the Sinclair Spectrum so we could copy Elite onto a MicroDrive cartridge. Happy days!! Great article, thanks.

[@Bestwick1983]

The group names and the releases are such a nostalgia hit. Having no online presence at the time most of this behind-the-scenes info was not something I was aware of. More please!

[@lordanthrax2417]

More please! It immediately sparked lost memories! "always above the CLASS" "not just a MYTH" my teenage years where great because of 1911, technic, fairlight and many more. What was the name if that compression software again? Uharc? Dont know anymore. Getting a bunch of files with around 150mb and having a 1.5 gb after installation (while grooving to the tunes of the cracktro) was pure magic

[@XY-wy3rh]

oh damn i totally forgot about uharc and the stripped rips. Good old times, MYTH were great.

[@lordanthrax2417]

@Man of the Rain i usually brows around csdb because thats where it started for me... On the Commodore. But i would love to dig down memory lane of the pc cracktros. Any suggestions? I stopped playing modern games years ago btw so all i want are the cracktros

[@XY-wy3rh]

@Man of the Rain Nah i'm not a kid anymore, i have enough money now to pay for the entertainment i'm consuming. Still, as a kid it was great to get a new release ASAP.

[@PhuketMyMac]

ARJ was a popular compression format at the time

[@johnsimon8457]

@@lordanthrax2417 cracktros? There are vids on KZbin, but there’s also the pouët / hornet archives going back to 1987 for actual DOS demoscene stuff. Get dosbox and go to town Amiga stuff… Don’t know, interest is kinda dying out

I remember my friend showing me Quake right after the release. He was stuck on final boss, that took damage for a while and then stopped responding to anything. Some time after that, a new version appeared and the final boss fight was completely different (and did not glitch).

[@MrMario2011]

The nuke reasons being for a "kiddie game" at 3:50 are great LOL. Either way, fantastic look into this, had no idea this occurred. It took me a while to get through this video as well due to pausing to read all of the NFOs showcased here, loved this historical look back at it all 😁

[@Davivd2]

LOL yeah I noticed that too, Imagine if that were still a thing today: "Fortnite- 0 points (kiddie game).

[@drd5455]

I was also pausing many times to read haha

[@arnox4554]

I never understood though why they used the .nfo extension instead of just the regular .txt extension.

[@fireaza]

@@Davivd2 Fortnite was originally played by typical gamers, it only earned its reputation as being popular with kids later on. Since scene groups are all about early releases, they wouldn't have called it a "kiddie game" at the time.

[@2dfx]

Was a wild time out there. Good memories.

[@ProlificInvention]

Seems like yesterday, I remember those days well. I had a 386sx33 and Compuserve at home as well as access to many BBS... at my buddies he had a 486DX25 and Sierra Online. We downloaded literally everything, Doom 2, Duke Nukem, Quake, Rott--we even downloaded all the patches and modified the games and were waaaay ahead of the curve with all the Betas . I even remember RoR 😆

[@telengardforever7783]

I loved ROTT. I used to deathmatch my GF during that time on that game. Looking back, I should have let her win a few rounds.

[@iamdarkyoshi]

Please more scene stuff! As a younger individual, I pretty much missed this era in computing history and it's fascinating to learn about, albeit a bit on the harder side to find info about. Videos like this are fantastic, and I'd love to see more!

[@dravenlee4473]

I'd like to see you cover the Quake Demo CD crack. That was one of my fondest memories of the wild west days. For those that don't know, id put out a Quake demo/shareware CD for 1.99 in stores. If you liked the game, you would call a phone number and they would give you a code to unlock the full version. There were also several other games on the CD you could unlock like DOOM, Wolf3D and Heretic. Not long after, the CD was cracked and you basically got a full version of Quake and every id Game for 1.99. Not only that but it had the full Trent Reznor/Quake 1 soundtrack on the disc as well. Wild times...

[@awilliams1701]

yeah I had that as well. I was disappointed it didn't have strife. Eventually I found out one of my friends had it and he sold it to me. So Strife was the first ID Tech powered game I purchased legally. Eventually I did buy all the others on steam.

[@Sparkmovement]

it's thing like this that made me a PC gamer. I grew up really poor & our computer wasn't even that good. But when I couldn't rent a game, things like this kept me occupied.

[@mattb9664]

Same here! Was going to ask for the same type of topic coverage! As a poor high schooler whose parents didn't like or support video games, the Quake Shareware disc was like handing out gold to me as a teenager. Almost the same as when MP3 encoder began to proliferate.

[@Fernando-Rodriguez]

What a stupid move by Id Software 😂 did they think for a moment that it would be cracked?! Nope it didn't even cross their minds.

[@awilliams1701]

@@Fernando-Rodriguez they were doing fine, so I doubt they were that worried about it.

[@Dan.R.A]

I remember all of these groups from the 90s, but didn't know the competition was fierce like this, damn. Thanks for the video MVG, it certainly brought back memories.

[@royalkumar795]

But, sadly Infamous scene group *CODEX and PLAZA* have announced their retirement after they have releasing game since 2014-2022 over 7300 release by CODEX and 5300 release by PLAZA with (0.3% nucked) we should be grateful o their services who have been provided us releasing the game though the years *They are also one who Removed Denuvo Malware DRM from assassin creed origin completely , which improves loading time , performance, Frame rate and able to play offline* .. goodbye CODEX and PLAZA you always be remember..

[@LanDiEvil]

Those tunes at the start activated pleasant 90's keygen nostalgia... And then "This circumvention is known as software piracy"... What a rollercoaster of emotions I'm suffering right now. It's like feeling happy about my collection of Dreamcast CD-Rs and then watching in horror as SEGA bleeds out on the footpath.

[@bjwoodruff]

This should be a new series. Love these stories. As being a user of warez in the 90s but not knowing anything about the cracking side it's really cool to hear these stories.

[@TheMaristBoy]

This is so cool to hear about. I was too young and less tech savvy in the early 2000's to understand any of these. But the day I first figured out how to apply a crack to a game and open an NFO file, it definitely felt amazing. Really cool to learn the bts of what goes on to make these cracks happen!

[@ET_Videos]

Love these "old" internet history lessons!! I used to hate all those stupid password wheels and other copy protections!

[@Housesider]

I had no idea Razor had been around that long, pretty nuts. I used to see cracks from those guys all the time back in the day.

[@kosmosyche]

Dude. Razor started in the 80's on C64 I think. I remember their cracks since my Amiga days (early 90's), and even then Razor 1911 was already a legendary, one of the most respected group on the scene.

[@rOxinhoPKK]

Razor1911 released skyrim one day before the official release

[@NaokiWatanabe]

Dude. You made me shout “second reality!“ at the screen. Loved the trip back in time!

[@roygalaasen]

And I can hear the music in my head just reading your post 😂

[@hellman9655]

Tales from the Underground would be a great series. I love these stories!

[@livefreeprintguns]

THIS PLEASE!!!

[@reloadfast]

You have just brought back a fck ton of memories. I was always so amazed about these groups, who were they? how did they get the games even before they were released?, how could be part of one?!. Soooo many memories. Thanks MVG for making these videos, yes! we want more =)

[@cyclonmaster]

The most amazing one is GBAEmu....GBA emulator that release before GBA even out. I hope MVG will tell the tale next.

[@gamingthunder6305]

i was a trader and for a time a BBS sysop. we usually got contacts into the distribution systems and payed somebody to get us a copy easily. sometimes we hade somebody on the inside of the developer studio. mostly testers or QnA teams. fun times. what i miss most from that time was the copy parties. i got out when people where starting to sell backup tapes of there BBS and when blueboxing got harder and harder and the scene switch to calling cards/credit cards.

[@beardalaxy]

@@cyclonmaster isn't that the one that was made by Nintendo?

[@lemagreengreen]

Closest I ever got to answering those same questions was making a friend who was a courier, gave me a little crash course in what they did but it still left some big questions and of course couriers were the end of a big chain of people. From memory he didn't have all the answers, the files mostly just appeared but I did get a little lesson in how distribution works and it did get me access to an FTP where all the latest stuff appeared - it was a server running in a university lab, universities at the time had the most reliable high speed internet connections... and students willing to hide a server.

[@tamoghnapal6619]

Release groups in 1990s : We crack for the competition Release Group(s) in 2022 : Please Pay 500$ for Denuvo cracks , please don't ask when cracks would be released.. Literally the whole underground scene now has lost all their respect

[@darkminax0174]

I loved the 90s! Zeus and I ruled the original supplier scene.

[@tamoghnapal6619]

@@darkminax0174 The whole gaming industry was less toxic in the 90s.. Nowadays you can't purchase a game , you only get a license for it.. And if the company decides to shut down authentication servers, you can't play it anymore..

[@royalkumar795]

I know who you are talking about it's EMPRESS , quick note: she's P2P not group... She doesn't follow and any respect on that group .. specially Skidrow which have accused of stealing someone's method to crack the game , CODEX was only group who respects others group like Steampunk , CPY etc. Not empress she's greedy b.. but you should admire her talent who cracked red dead redemption 2 and updates Ubisoft Denuvo games...

[@royalkumar795]

@@tamoghnapal6619 these days, company use malware called Denuvo DRM who only hurt legal customer where pirates can enjoy the game After many months with fully patched and updated

[@tamoghnapal6619]

@@royalkumar795 Yeah Ik she's P2P , but she's the only one still interested in cracking Denuvo and it seems like she doesn't even want to do so anymore..

[@sneakingelephant]

This was a really interesting episode. My knowledge of scene groups, cracking and distribution only really extends a bit to the early 2000's and it's awesome to have such a detailed story about something like this. I know it might not end up being the most popular content you publish but I find it fascinating and would love to see more of it

[@ChristianMiersch]

Intro Music is 2nd reality by Purple Motion, used in the Second Reality Demo from 1993 by Future Crew. Just in case anybody is wondering.

[@JeffBarberDigideus]

This takes me back to the days of the Amiga games being distributed as "shareware". then came the Amiga "demo" scene.... Scoopex, Budbrain and the like all had these technically excellent demos that just played tracker music and had snazzy visuals. Im pretty sure a lot of the cracking groups also did demo releases

[@lolocaust4967]

Yeah they did. Fairlight who are huge in the demoscene had an arm of the group the did cracking as did a few others. If you go to pouet.net there's actually an archive of cracktros from those groups.

[@phuzz00]

The entire demo-scene started with people making cracktros, which had to both be flashier than anything the other groups were putting out, and also small enough to fit onto a disc alongside the cracked game. I'd be interested to know when the first demos were released separate from cracks, definitely pre-Amiga. Although I'll argue that the best demos were on the Amiga, as it was platform that rewarded programmers who really knew how to make it's hardware sing. I might be biased though ;)

[@Patrick-db2zs]

Would love to hear more stories about the warez scene.

[@JordonBeal]

Holy shit, when you first mentioned Ash's name, I was like "there's no way it's the same guy." That is some fun little trivia about him. His record label (Sumerian) is fantastic, incredibly supportive of their artists, and amazing to work for as an outside contractor.

[@livefreeprintguns]

BRO WHAT?!?!? Sumerian is a monster label! That's the same person?!?!?

[@SpaceMarine500]

@@livefreeprintguns yes

[@GreenChillZone]

This is a part of gaming history that I haven't heard much about. I'd love to hear more. I do have to wonder how many prototypes have been lost because of the "no betas" rule. Think of all the TCRF pages that could have been! I guess preservation wasn't really on gamer's minds back then.

[@GreenChillZone]

@@poetryflynn3712 It's still interesting, though.

[@cydragon2.099]

Well this was interesting... Hearing any more of these tales of PC pirating would be a nice thing to add to the mix of other videos you've put out

[@KieranShort]

That was awesome. A lowdown on Fairlight would be awesome as they go back a long way.

[@Galahadfairlight]

You have great taste

[@KieranShort]

@@Galahadfairlight love your work mate. You with scoopex now? I was a scener waay back.

[@Galahadfairlight]

@@KieranShort Yes, we've been busy porting ST games and cracking stuff that either wasn't done properly back in the day or wasn't done at all. Check out English Amiga Board ;)

[@Galahadfairlight]

Another awesome video, just a pointer though that a DUPE release is not where a rival group steals another groups release, it means DUPLICATE, I.e. it offers nothing more than the original release of the first crack so is usually removed, but usually no suggestion they literally stole the release, that is far more serious and would lead to similar ROR sanctions.

[@wcarlee]

Would love more of this. I was always on the receiving end of the scene rips and crack exploits. Learning more about the scene world, the drama, the "First!" showboating would be truly eye-opening. I've never fully grasped their motivations and highly competitive spirit. Does it really just boil down to street cred?

[@tomstur119]

I think so ... much like that 'tklp' guy from this video, he's still boasting about it while running his 'successful' record label, apparently. - his connections somehow may have helped him along the way these last 23+ years.

[@Filmipatkis]

Unreal II by Purple Motion; nice choice of tunes to start the video with

[@Throckmorton.Scribblemonger]

UnreaL ][

[@RetroJack]

I was around for a lot of this, but hearing the behind-the-scenes is always interesting!

[@B1tterAndThenSome]

I almost fell out of my chair when you said TKLP was Avildsen. I remember this story from back in the day, but never knew the connection. He also used to sing in a pretty good band, Reflux, with the guitarist from Animals as Leaders. Ironically I pirated their album.

[@PaulFisher]

So either his band was named after his old scene crew, or by incredible coincidence he fell in with some people who were already doing a band of that name. Either way it’s a great story.

[@kurzackd]

Since you happen to know him personally, let me ask you this here: Do you suspect that he may have acted as a... *"fall guy"* in that scandal back in 1996? According to online sources, he was only 14 at the time... Yet he was *in charge of a cracking group* at THAT age ?? Honestly, sounds like the guys at id just wanted to find someone "guilty" in order to try to scare the sceners into getting the fuск away from their game... The fact that it's never really answered in this vid *HOW exactly he even GOT HIS HANDS on that BETA 3* -- -- and that id officially refuted his own connections with him seems to point exactly towards that idea... .

[@PXAbstraction]

That intro tune fired up so many dormant neurons in my brain. Second Reality FTW!

[@giannisc.5254]

This was VERY interesting, please do more of these ! Great video !

[@CompleteAnimation]

Please make more videos like this one! I love hearing stories like this, from back when the internet was in its infancy, and the drama that unfolded through cracked software and dial-up modems.

[@FatManDude13]

Man, I love these! Makes me imagine MVG as some kind of 90's vg gangster, telling the tales of his hectic youth and rival gangs.

[@TechGuyBeau]

This was fascinating! We want more, much more. Keep it up good sir These are the “hidden” stories of the gaming scene that the average person wouldn’t know about without disseminators like yourself

[@MrNachoChannel]

All for more content like this. It is something I know very little about but also something that will be increasingly harder to cover as time goes on. We struggle as it is with game preservation but the culture of the time is also equally important to me to give it all proper context. I also feel that you need to keep the conversation about our gaming history in the public eye that the discussion on it's importance can continue.

[@ibapreppie]

I ran a BBS running WWiV in the early 90's. Was called Underground of Hell aka (UoH). Wow, brings back memories. Thanks for the flashback. I also offered Doom, DOOM 2, Heretic, Hexen, etc... Imagine downloading those with a 14.4k modem lol. I later upgraded to 28.8k and that was blazing fast. IRC I was on EFNet, was once a courier.

[@telengardforever7783]

My original goal in studying Computer Science was to learn how to write a BBS. So much for that idea, huh? I now do web development, but it's not the same feeling.

[@nostalgicfeeIs]

I like the attention to little details when KZbinrs edit their videos, like how when MVG says "dead on his tracks", the Enforcer shoots the Ranger dead in his tracks. Great video as always!

[@livefreeprintguns]

I love the early 90's demos that came with software (either through standalone demos or in the actual crack/keygen). I can't tell you how many cracktros I would leave running in the background just for the music.

[@jess648]

tracker tunes are awesome

[@bestonesps8735]

This video was extremely fascinating!! I was in high school at this time and was very into downloading cracked games and always wondered about these groups. Please do more of these videos MVG!!

[@Underestimated37]

This was really good, and diversifies your content, definitely do more!

[@_notch]

Oh yes, please more of this. While I was an end user of these releases when I was a kid, I never had any real insight into how they operated. I just knew they were cool and came up with terms like "graphician". I mean that's just gold.

[@torafuma]

+1 for the Second Reality demo song at the beginning! Love the vid! Such nostalgia of my days in High School and College. Fun times!

[@mgrsdgfsdafsdgrsdgfsdg6980]

I heard MVG used to be known as, "ZeroCool" back in the day.

[@MultiZ100]

Thanks for the nostalgia trip. Your videos are the best part of my Mondays

[@dslfreak69]

MVG! MORE!!!! I love these stories from my childhood.... I barely understood the full going ons at the time and it's awesome to look back and get the full story!

[@petergalindo5549]

Honestly the only channel I look forward to content on. Every Monday on my way into work I listen to new video (sometimes glance at screen 😏) Love what you do, best content on YT.

[@AccessDEANied]

this was a good watch. hearing that scene groups were part of the SPA and that they also had a 'code of ethics' so to say when it comes to releases was interesting.

[@Leahi84]

This was really interesting. Would definitely like more stories like this in the future.

[@RonJomero]

A retro video talking about Quake, I knew I was going to like it. But when it opens with Future Crew's "Second Reality" opening song? I knew I was going to love it. (Side note, it's crazy to me the composer for those demos, Purple Motion, was only 16 years-old at the time)

[@leajtick1983]

Fantastic video! Seeing all of those scene pre-rolls took me right back

[@justinnamilee]

Scene history is fascinating, would love to hear more!

[@julien2983]

This was so cool! I love learning about demo and crack scene history, I think it's important and needs to be preserved somehow.

[@youngwaveaudio9390]

These kinds of videos are my favorite by a long shot, I love when you dive into happenings of the old cosy world of emu dev and the crack scene.

[@FamousWolfe]

*System requirements: Win95, 8MB RAM, 25MB system space* Me, who remembers fondly being a pre-teen in 1996 and recalls the gaming scene back then: How do you do, fellow kids?? Jokes aside, this was a damn good video MVG! Seriously sent me on a trip down memory lane. I'll never forget logging on to the internet via dial-up in '96, browsing websites for cheat codes and news about games, and playing amazing games like Mechwarrior 2 (and its sequel, Mech2: Mercenaries), Tomb Raider 1 & 2, Interstate 76, Doom 1 & 2, Commander Keen, Shadow Warrior, Gex, Duke 3D, and of course SNES/Genesis emulation on our Pentium 166MHz w/ 8MB of RAM lol. If you'll excuse me, I'm off to shout at kids to get off my lawn xD

[@AlMiGa]

Amazing content. This like getting a behind the scenes of teenage years.

[@boydpukalo8980]

Really fascinating history. I would love to hear more stories like this.

[@jonas-fr]

Documenting scene in (bite-sized or longer) videos is totally awesome and I enjoyed watching this one. Please continue and, while I'm at it, thanks for all your work, your channel is really rad and informative!

[@bilibilil]

More videos about the cracking scene is always appreciated, I find them to be some of your most interesting videos. Growing up in the 80s meant I had a lot of experience using their releases back in the day using programs such as X-Copy on the Amiga to make my own and my parent's hi-hi system to copy Commodore 64 tapes for all of my friends! I think you could easily warrant a feature length movie dedicated to how the cracking scene has evolved over the last 30-40 years, it's all so incredibly fun to hear about!

[@TheChooseAName123]

I could do with more such tales, indeed. One question: Does "dupe" really mean that a previous release was repackaged? I though it just meant that there is a previous release, which makes the new one unnecessary, even when it comes from a different source.

[@fonesrphunny7242]

"Dupe" is just short for "duplicate", which by definition means an exact copy. So, if you just copy someone else's release you're "duping".

[@TheChooseAName123]

​@@fonesrphunny7242 Yes, sure, but what if I get my hands on the same content that someone else has released, but I get it from a different source, and release that? Then I didn't copy the other release, but still my content is a duplicate of, as in 'identical to', the content of that other release. But does it count as a "dupe"? I mean there should be a difference between "you're late" and "you ripped someone else's work off". (I'm not a native speaker, so this may read more convoluted than intended. Sorry)

[@fonesrphunny7242]

​@@TheChooseAName123 It's about the content (specifically the cracked files), not the source. If you download a cracked piece of software and share it elsewhere, that's just regular distribution. Hundreds of sites do this. If you modify anything to make it look like you cracked the game, that's a dupe.

[@TheChooseAName123]

@@fonesrphunny7242 ok, learned something, thanks

[@viktor.johansson]

No,@@TheChooseAName123is absolutely correct. It’s a race between the competing groups, and only the first working release to reach the FTP distribution sites is deemed valid to the scene. Any attempts coming in later are considered duplicates of the first release, and thus “nuked”, aka disqualified. That’s all.

[@fardy316]

Of course we want more. So interesting hearing about those underground groups.

[@jdmahle]

Even though o have no idea about what was talked about, it was very informative and great video. I learned a lot of history in the 12mins, thanks. I'll continue to watch every video you upload and give it a like. Great video, really enjoyed it.

[@tronster]

Great video; learned more about the scene I was completely unaware of. Also got chills with that Second Reality opener - nice touch!

[@zemaj0]

I first encountered these groups on the Atari ST and Amiga I would always amazed that games that was two disk w they could put onto one disk with other games with cheats .

[@darkminax0174]

2nd Reality! Love Purple Motion!

[@jasonblalock4429]

I didn't think I could possibly like this channel more . . . and then you start off a video with the 2nd Reality soundtrack. Well played! And yes, I'd absolutely like to see more scene content!

[@ES_Solace]

You know the vid is gonna be good when it starts with second reality by future crew.

[@imfractured]

that future crew tune in the background brings back sooooo many feels!

[@MrENT18]

I loved this content, more would be welcomed.

[@Prizm44]

That intro music, I almost cried 🥲 It’s Unreal II by Purple Motion, made for Future Crew’s Second Reality megademo.

[@jess648]

the best to ever do it

[@deansundquist9601]

Really enjoy these classic scene videos. Also I always look forward to the music you include in these wonderful videos. It’s all so nostalgic, love it.

[@MagikGimp]

Until this video I had never even heard of the whole credits system BBSs used or the SPA. I think going into that facet of the scene would make for an interesting video. Also, I want to know which group you were a member of, MVG! ;)

[@djbassaus]

I'm not even sure what they cracked, if I recall the installer used a key, after that you could just copy the entire game directory and distribute it as you please.

[@barrybritcher]

Well you could still do that with Q3 lol

[@ramakrishnamishra8179]

Loved this video! Brings back memories! Please share more such Stories!

[@T200026]

I love videos like this, back in the day, loading up a copy on any system and watching the intro was great, please keep them coming MVG.

[@DenkyManner]

Everyone holding their chins and nodding, pretending to not have heard of those scene group names.

[@TheUAoB]

I was never a member of the scene but the first thing I always did with a new game was crack the copy protection before I even played it! I couldn't stand having to constantly juggle the original floppies, but the main reason was the challenge! ;-)

[@godslayer1415]

bullshit

[@JohnGodwin]

You know damn well MVG was deep in this scene back in the day. This might be my favourite channel on KZbin.

[@kebanjo]

You definetely should do some more of these! Really enjoyed this one.

[@Jaimonster]

Loved this episode! I would love to hear more from this scene!!

[@aaronkoller8811]

Love your insights into the 'scenes'. Please keep these coming!

[@oahupc4688]

AWESOME VIDEO! Please make many more like this. quartex and fairlight were the biggest from my memory

[@SummonerArthur]

I remember asking for more content like this some months ago, and it was definetly worth the wait!

[@dave_s_vids]

So many memories! Also, excellent music choice with that Future Crew tune!

[@3vi1J]

Fascinating! I was into the scene in the mid-80's.... but got out before Quake. It's really interesting to hear what happened afterwards. One of the biggest Commodore 64/Amiga piracy BBS's you never heard of was run out of a military base in the deep south. Good times.

[@Bakamoichigei]

MORE PLEASE! I (mis)spent so much of my youth following scene releases with quite a bit of zeal, but only insofar as it related to _consumption_ of said releases. I'd love to hear more of these tales!

[@Gh0sTlyD3th]

DEFINITELY would love to see more scene videos. These have always been interesting topics to me!