tItaly`s getting smart!tThe Rippertfpf1s2c10 ITALY'S GETTING SMART! c09 by The Ripper 07PRELUDE c08It was a time when names such as Zerodefects, Resolution 101, Divina, I.b.b., Nightfall, Chronos could rise in the heart of a Italian scener a sudden sense of pride. More or less all these groups were active and could feature productions of a decent level. Then, darkness. c07ne by one they all died. c08But now, right from the deepest corner of this black darkness, two groups seem intentioned to bring a breath of fresh air, shouting a door which has been closed for so many months. Darkage and Elven 11 is their names. We had the opportunity to chat with the main men behind these young team, Modem, Parsec and Dip, who seem to have the right motivations to underline their groups' presence inside a really alive Scene. c07MALA TEMPORA CURRUNT c08When we asked about the origins of the name Darkage, Modem calmly answered: f4"We had to find a name just in time for the Berzan party, and we were discussing about Atome and Darkpact... Then Darkage came out, and we found it quite nice, characterizing the places in which we live..."f1 Yes, as you probably know, most of the Italian members of Darkage live in Umbria, a beautiful land worldwide famous because of its medioeval towns. c09Here is the memberlist, anyway, just in case you would like to know names behind Darkage. c101..MODEM...............Coder, Organizer..........ITA c092..WASHBURN............Coder.....................ITA c083..LANCH...............Graphician................ITA c094..DECIBEL.............Graphician................SWE c105..FBY.................Musician..................ITA c096..CORROSION...........Musician..................ITA c087..AUD.................Musician..................ITA c098..TLM.................Swapper...................SPA c109..NORK................Swapper, Musician.........SPA c0910.KAOSMASTER..........Editor....................ITA c08Since its birth Darkage has shown a great interest in 40k competitions, releasing almost one intro in every main European party. One of the best result they had has been obtained with "Fantasy" at the Symposium party, in Fallingbostel, Germany. There, the Italian team reached the fifth place, and particularly some routines got warmly clapped. f4"Yes, Fantasy featured an env object morphing realtime with dinamic light! 25fps on a 030,in 1x1, ofcourse"f1 proudly stresses Modem. But the whole team seems to be not interested in resting on its own's laurel so, every member is working hard on future projects. Some of them? f4"We should release Planet, a new diskmagazine, and it's quite promising, as even Kaosmaster, previously Showtime editor, has decided to join us" pompously adds Modem "and of course we'll keep on compiting in 40k's... Next one? Just in the next party!"f1 Will they keep on having so much energy? Time will tell... c07ONE MAN, FIVE MODULES, FOUR DEMOS c09Eleven Eleven. Born around October 1996, this Italian group has its roots deep inside the soil of other two groups: Vajrayana (3rd way to heaven) and Byosinthetic Design. Main members, infact, are Manta (previously called Aga) Dip and Rio together with Parsec. The famous musician and R.o.m.'s editor, considered by the masses as an eclectic spirit and a brilliant organizer, due to his multiple interests and his talent, gave us the chance to share some words with him. f4c08"Symposium has been the place where Elven 11 had its baptism. It's true that we released a 4k intro at The Party VI, -Rainy-, but we were not present there, and even if it got the 5th place we did not enjoy, in the real sense, it, as we did not watch it on the main screen!"f1.c09 We've not even asked anything and Parsec is already speaking, while he tries to make us listen to some of his latest modules. Then he goes on f4c08"At the Symposium'97, as I said, we released -Smart- which got ranked 5th, I got ranked 3rd in the multichannel compo, I did the music for other three, and I underline three, demos, and had the join of one great coder, who has already shown to both me and Manta some marvellous routines... Could I get anything else?"f1c09 Well, no doubts our Parsec's right. Future plans then? f4c08 "Difficult to say. We are working on another demo, but actually we don't know when we'll have it finished. Most of our members are studying hard lately, and I guess they have not so much time for the Scene..." f1c09Quite common situation, we think... c07BIG HOPES, THEN... c10All in all, even within the borders of the Italian peninsula things are going on. Maybe the golden times are over, but the technical progress our Scene has reached does not allow the release of lowquality productions, those done in few hours, which characterized past years. Good work, then, to every scener.