[rebel80]

Skid Row, a group founded in 1990 on the Amiga. A group of high profile sceners and considered as one of the best at the time. A couple o years later the group died.

Right before the death of the group, they tried to establish and PC section together with The Dream Team. In 1993 there was a weak attempt to revive the group on the PC, but in 1994 the Skid Row members abandonded the group and joined High Voltage.

In 2002 the group was rebuilded again, but after a few releases before they were declared dead again. Five years later, on the first of July 2007, they got oppetunity to once more give it a try.

After a decent start, then the group released more budget titles the first year, than actually major titles. 2008 was better, but far from the high quality they was known from on the Amiga. This gave them a bit of a weak look in the game ISO scene, but all that did change in 2009, as the group were improving on almost weekly basis. As Skid Row kept on improving, ment that they were gaining much of the respect from the old days back.

In the last half of 2009, they were winning titles and propering release of the other major game ISO groups, something they have continued with into 2010.

Skid Row have now established themselves as a major player in the current game ISO scene and they have managed to get the PC success they was seeking back in 1991.

Now on with the interview


TGSC: Hey there! Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. Anything you want to say before we start?

Skid Row: Hi and thanks for having this interview with me. First i want to send BIG greetz to my team members for all they hard work they do, and of course i speak for the whole group in this interview. The last year we have had some great improvements as you have noticed and we really enjoy all the feedback we got on it. This will motivate us even more to do better in the future!

Lets get the interview going!

TGSC:Why did you choose to participate in this interview?

Skid Row: Cause of the motivation factor i mentioned above, and also seeing other big game groups didnt seem to want to participate, for whatever reasons they have.

TGSC: Congratulations for winning 2009 of the The Game Scene Charts. Do things like that actually mean anything to a group like Skid Row?

Skid Row: I`ll be honest, to me personally no, of course i am happy that after a rough first year we are now fully accepted by the majority. What counts is my team members and the general group spirit.

TGSC: The last years, groups like Razor 1911 and Fairlight has got a redemption in the scene, why was is necessary to bring back Skid Row into the warez scene?

Skid Row: When we in Unleashed thought about a group name for pre'ing cracked or unprotected games, we thought if we should make a new name or use a wellknown an respected name, and seeing that one of my guys where high ranked in old Skid Row, why not ask for rights to use that name, we did and got the permission.

TGSC: Skid Row started a little pale almost three years ago in the game iso scene. Now you're one of the top groups. Have that made your life easier?

Skid Row: Alot, i am getting more laid now than before.... ;P, its alot easy now than when we started, i dont wish for others who join the scene to have to go through what we had to, cause i'll be honest, there where times where i thought, ah screw it, its not really worth it, lets pick a new name or just stick with Unleashed, but i am happy we didnt bail out, seeing where we are now.

TGSC: Scene groups have always been fighting and competing since the beginning of the scene, how do you compare the scene today and let's say 10 years ago?

Skid Row: In that aspect i dont see that it have changed that much, if any, there will always be competion, and i think competion is good for us all it makes us try harder to be better. If there was only 1 group and they released a game with a bad crack, and didnt fix it, who else to make a Proper?

About the fightings in nfo's, its not like we like to bitch in a nfo, but if i feel we get wrongly attacked, i dont see a problem defending ourself. You dont see us whine i another group made a valid proper of one of our releases.

TGSC: You have been under heavy fire for using the public available Assassin's Creed 2 values.vb content rom other sources, than your own. Razor 1911 even claimed they cracked Ubisoft DRM first and that yours ain't a real crack. Why protect your work, isn't that a sign of You trying to hide things, like those values.vb content and that your work isn`t anything more than an emulator?

Skid Row: The same people who say we stole values to make the Assassins Creed_II crack can perhaps explain how we managed to get Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction out the door 3 days after it was sold in shop`s?, i think that pre should be clear enough for all, that we didnt steal anything in the first place.

I dont see any problems about protecting our work. Why show everybody how we did the new Ubisoft DRM, incl. Ubisoft themself also.? If people think its just and emulator and we stole it from somewhere else, then be it, not gonna spend much time trying to explain why i am right and they are wrong, cause no matter what i write, there will always be some who think less of me/us anyway.

TGSC: What do you think about the Razor 1911 Settlers 7 crack?

Skid Row: Its kinda hard for me to say, i am not really a settlers fan and i dont plan on playing settlers myself to find out if its a good or bad crack, then again i believe there was some patches that corrects some of the stuff people have complained about, perhaps razor can release those and see if it fixes it

TGSC: Your nfo for the Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction really did go hard on Razor 1911 and RELOADED. Is the tension that rough on a daily basis, than we from the outside see?

Skid Row: Naa, not really, not to me atleast, but like i said before, if we get wrongly accused then i see no problem defending what i believe is right.

TGSC: You keep including cracktros with almost every release you do. Are cracktros important to what you believe the scene stand for?

Skid Row: It reminds me of the old days when i started in the scene, its not that i think they are important either, but i find them nice, i sometimes download Brewers dox's also, to hear the tune they have added in the trainer menu, some of these tunes are really nice

TGSC: Is the competition higher today, than before the tragic Fairlight busts back in 2004?

Skid Row: I think its the same, in the past you had DEVIANCE Fairlight, Razor1911 and iMMERSiON, today its Skid Row, RELOADED, Rozer1911, ViTALiTY and FAiRLiGHT

TGSC: Back on the Amiga there were mostly only games to release. The current warez scene has tons of sections and platforms to release in. Have it become too easy to become a scener and why are the Game ISO scene still the most intersting to be a part of?

Skid Row: I dont think its that easy to become a scener, if you dont know someone in it already, as to were the Game ISO scene is interesting to me, well i am pc gamer i enjoy to play a varity of games, lately its been FPS games, mostly cause i got kids now and i dont have the same time as in the past to sit down and play a RTS game, which i enjoyed in the past....my main problem is this, i have a list or games i want to play before i die, the problem is, the list gets longer and i get older

TGSC: If you were the interviewer of this interview, then what would be the optimal question you would ask yourself? and of course answering it too ; )

Skid Row: Question: Dont know if its and optimal one here, but i whould ask if i feel the warez game scene really hurt the game industrie as the claim we do.

Answer: No! look if a game only cost 1$ there will always be some who feels its way to expensive and will do whatever they can to get it for free. You cant really do anything about them, we released Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, same day u chould pick it up in shops, and look at the sales. I believe its the game sofare who sold the most and earned them a shitload of money and well deserved to the team for making a nice game, now sadly it seems they dont get the money they where promissed, i guess some will then blame the scene that the development team didnt get royalty they where promissed. My point is, if you make a great game, people will buy it, if you make a crap game then no one wants to buy it, its easy to make a crap game and then blame the scene for the reason why the game didnt sell as good as they wanted it to sell. Dont blame us for your crap games, spend more time making a kick ass game than to spend time making some hard protections.

TGSC: Where do you see Skid Row in a year?

Skid Row: No idea, hopefully the name Skid Row is still around and do well, but i am not so sure if i am. I am getting old and tired really, family is taking alot more of my time now, which i fully enjoy.

TGSC: The warez scene in general, will it die with evolving protections like Ubisoft DRM or do you think it will find strength to evolve again? Or do sceners just follow the flow and hope for better times?

Skid Row: Again its hard to tell, i dont know what kind of protections the future will present to us, i think the scene will adapt, but i nave no idea to be honest.

TGSC: Any last words you want to add, like greetings or something similar like that?

Skid Row: Dispite the angry nfo's at other group's from time to time, i dont hate any of the other crews at all, they do a kick ass job also in the scene, and i think there are a place for us all in here.

Sure we yell at each others from time to time, but if i need drama, i can get that easy in real life. In the scene its where i can have some fun with the crew and joke about just anything.

Greetings go out to all that make a contribution in the scene, no matter what section the group covers.

Last, but not least a BIG thanks to all Skid Rowdies, for the good times we have had and those to come