======================================================= _____ _ _ / _ / ___ _ __ | |__ __ _ _ __( )__ \// / / _ \| '_ \| '_ \ / _` | '__|/ __| / //\ (_) | |_) | | | | (_| | | \__ \ /____/\___/| .__/|_| |_|\__,_|_| |___/ |_| ___ _ / \___ _ __ ___ __ _(_)_ __ / /\ / _ \| '_ ` _ \ / _` | | '_ \ / /_// (_) | | | | | | (_| | | | | | /___,' \___/|_| |_| |_|\__,_|_|_| |_| ======================================= N E W S L E T T E R ======================================= Volume I Issue #2 November 16th, 1999. ======================================= Contents: 1. Intro 2. Featured Site of the Week 3. Featured File of the Week 4. Interview - THIS WEEK: Zachary Williams AKA Phantom Staffer 5. Puzzle/Quiz 6. Quote of the Week 7. Horoscopes 8. Outro -= Intro =- First things first. I'd like to thank everyone who participated in the puzzles contest and who gave me positive feedback on the first issue. It was a real treat to see that everyone liked it. The winner of the puzzle contest was Derek Williams. Congrats go out to him. Now, on to the good things. It's been a week since Believe was unleashed onto the world and a week since Zophar's Domain turned 3. We hope that it wasn't a major disappointment as we tried to ensure that it wasn't, however, we feel it was a success. Also, I'd like to announce that work is currently being done for a mailing list for this newsletter. We should get it up by issue #4. So, lets get on to the letter, shall we? -= Featured Site of the Week =- This weeks site is DarkMazda's Domain. This site is very good and is a smaller version of Zophar's Domain. It was started by Jason Kono (DarkMazda) on April 15th. 1998. Jason created the site because he'd always wanted to make an emulation site. He said to me, "I was always impressed by the work of Dave, Archaic Ruins, and Zophar's Domain." He said that there's no way that he could be as popular as the previous sites mentioned, but that he tries his best to get his site as close to them as possible. DMD has within its HTML code several emulators available to its visitors. It features emulators for Amiga, Apple II, Atari systems, Commodore 64, Genesis, Nintendo products such as Gameboy, NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, Virtual Boy, and it has arcade emulators. MAME is a popular arcade emulator that is available at DMD. It also offers frontends, translations, CD covers and more. The site is growing every day with new sections added regularly. So, add this site to your every day visitations. SITE: http://www.darkmazda.com -= Featured File of the Week =- ZSNES is the featured file of this week. It is an SNES emulator and was coded by zsKnight and _Demo_ (Pharos joined the team, later.) in ASM. It's the fastest SNES emulator available and with its crispy sound and awesome graphics, it makes it the best SNES emulator out there. The sound core matches that of the console 90%. It's got a nice GUI, customizable keys, 3+ resolutions to work with, Game Genie emulator build-in, and features scanlines that look like a TV set. This emulator gets my thumbs up. SITE: http://www.zsnes.com -= Interview =- ====================================== THIS WEEK: Zachary Williams aka Phantom Staffer IRC nick: lev| ====================================== I had the privilege of interviewing the notorious Phantom Staffer. He was the one that was responsible for all of us going insane during the weeks before the unveiling of Bloodlust Softwares return. He's the owner of Emulation World which services many sites in the emulation scene. His name is Zachary Williams, and currently resides in Michigan. Here's what Zachary had to say in an interview I conducted: Interview done by: Lycia (Stacey Flewelling.) ZD: How are you? Lev: Well, I would have to say 'I feel fine'.  (Spock, from Star Trek IV) ZD: How old are you? Lev: 21 and some. ZD: What role do you play in the emulation community? Lev: Heh, well, I am pretty much behind the scenes.  Most people would know me as the host of many popular emulation websites. ZD: Are you personally into emulation? If so, how long have you been into it? Lev: Personally, SNES emulation is my favorite.  It's basically where I started, and I also enjoy PSX emulation.  I found out about emulation about the same time I got hooked up on the internet, which was during the summer of 1996. When the snes emulators were just starting to become interesting. ZD: What's your favourite emulator? Lev: See previous. :)  But as for the emu itself, I'd have to say a toss up between ZSNES and PSEMU. ZD: The Phantom Staffer.  Who's idea was it to do that? Lev: Haha!  That was a REALLY crazy idea!  It was actually meant as a point to show a few people at ZD that the the news updater was functioning just fine. :)  However, Zophar loved the mystery so much, he encouraged me to make a post from time to time. ZD: Did you enjoy being the Phantom Staffer? Lev: Yeah, I think so.  It was fun reading what peope said about me, including guesses at who 'it' was.  And I hope everyone enjoyed the mystery.  It was nice posting on a website that so many people see.  (Feeling all high and mighty now. ;p) ZD: How did you meet Zophar? Lev: Zophar came to me one day, in need of a new host.  I was the last resort for ZD to stay alive.  Of course, it was Zophar, so how could I refuse?  But that was the initial meeting, just a few e-mails back and forth getting him and his crew setup. ZD: Was it an easy transition to move ZD to Emulationworld? Lev: Simple as pie.  There were a few snags here and there, but it was a fast, and successful move. ZD: What sites does your site host? Lev: Have a look at www.emulationworld.com if you want to see the full (minus a few) list.  Including places such as Retrogames, Emulators Unlimited, Darkmazda's Domain, PSEmu, The old site of Psyke.com, rainemu.com, system16.com, among others. ZD: What is your stand on the legalities of emulation? Lev: I say people on both sides of the war have good points.  However, a comprimise must be made at some point, as to when a game has passed its 'usefull' money making state.  I would have to say, that after a few years, it should be perfectly legal to download games off the 'net, and play them. Official sites could use banner advertising to gain revenue from the downloads, and put that money into the development of new games.   There are many possibilities, and some are being explored as we speak.  As of now, we are at a good point, where emulation is fairly small, and regardless of what the IDSA says, does not cost the industry THAT much money.  It's good press for game companies, and nintendo is really the only one making any stink. ZD: Where do you think emulation is going?  Is it slowly dying or is it just heating up or is it riding its peak? Lev: As much as I would love to see the future, I can't.  If anything, it's just in its beginning stages as far as the public is concerned.  Sure, many things have been done, and there are fewer and fewer systems to be emulated. But, as time goes on, more systems arrive, and other advances help make things faster and closer to the original game.  So, anyone out there that thinks the 'Scene' is dying, well, it's dying at about 5000 new visitors per month.  So, we'll have to see how long this 'death' streak continues. :) ZD: Do you have any last comments? Lev: For a guy who loves to talk... I actually don't have anything else to say. ;p ZD: Thanks for doing this interview. Lev: No problem. -= Puzzle/Quiz =- Well, here's this weeks puzzlers. Have fun. This weeks prize will be a mention on Zophar's Domain and a $20 dollar check! Before we get into the fun stuff, I urge you to read the rules for entering the puzzle/quiz of the week. They're there for a reason. Anyway, enough of the chatter. Let the games begin! SUBMIT ANSWERS TO: lycia@zophar.net Question No.1 What letter should come next ? M Y V S E H M S J R S N U S N E P ? Question No.2 Details of a check at a stationers are shown below. 78 - Pencils 152 - Paint Brushes 51 - Files 142 - Felt Tip Pens ? - Writing Pads How many writing pads should there be ? Question No.3 v > ^ v < v < > v > ^ > ? > v > < v ^ > v > < v ^ In which direction should the missing arrow point ? Missing arrow == ? Question No.4 A man received a cheque. The pounds had been transposed for pence and vice versa. He went out, spent 5 pounds and 42 pence but discovered that he now had exactly six times the value of the correct cheque. What amount should he have received ? -= Quote of the Week =- Bloodlust's own ][ellbent contributes to this weeks quote: <][ellbent> dammit how am i supposed to update my page if i can't get in due to bandwidth? hahah -= Horoscopes =- Read your horoscope and find out what's in the forecast for you! ARIES - March 21 - April 19 What? Do I smell smoke? Well, you'd better put that joint out before your parents catch you smoking weed. Smokings bad for you, you know? Of course, on the other hand, you have some hits of acid. Could be a promising week of fun. TAURUS - April 20 - May 20 Taurus, Taurus, Taurus, Taurus. Sheesh, you gotta lay off the beans every now and then. All that noise you're making over nothing is gonna get you stinking up every situation you come across. In other words, LIGHTEN UP! GEMINI - May 21 - June 21 Seems that you'll be leading a double life this week. One will be all goody-goody, the other will be bad to the bone. Why not combine the two and go kill your brother/sister for that stint he/she did to you last week? CANCER - June 22 - July 22 Alas! Love is in the air. I think that you should spend some quality time with your hand. Might turn out to be a promising evening, no? LEO - July 23 - Aug. 22 Your father is a lawnmower and your mother wears army boots. Seems to me that mommy and daddy have been on your case the last few weeks. Here's the solution to getting them off your case: Wear army boots while mowing the lawn. Ah-hahaha! Look! I made a funny, . . .erm. *Ahem* Sorry. VIRGO - Aug. 23 - Sept. 22 So, last week you got caught with your porn, and now your friends all think you're a pervert. Well, why not prove them wrong and abstain from your dirty treasures for this week? They'd get off your case a LOT faster, you know? LIBRA - Sept. 23 - Oct. 23 Sex is on your mind this week, but you're too busy wondering about if your bf/gf wants some. Well, why not just jump him/her and see what happens? SCORPIO - Oct. 24 - Nov. 21 You will have hot sex five of the seven days this week. Wait? Wasn't that last weeks horoscope? Oops, sorry. This weeks horoscope says that you WON'T have hot sex this week. Sorry about that. SAGITTARIUS - Nov. 22 - Dec. 21 Fire!!!!!! Your boy/girlfriend is after you now! Quick get the fire extinguisher before its too late! This week you should concentrate on mending ties with your special someone. *G* CAPRICORN - Dec. 22 - Jan. 19 Did you do your dishes yet? If not, hop to it. You might get guests this week. How would you feel if they talked about you behind your back? "Gee, Fred's place was a real pig-sty, wasn't it?" AQUARIUS - Jan. 20 - Feb. 18 Okay, okay, okay. I'll let you have your E this week, but don't tell me I didn't warn you. Just drink plenty of fluids and. . . HEY! PUT THAT JOINT DOWN! PISCES - Feb. 19 - Mar. 20 Do I smell fish or do I smell fish? Seems to me you've been a real stinker lately. Time to clean up the boat and make sure everything is squeaky clean for this week. Hey, you! Put that mop down, I didn't say clean now, sheesh. The nerve! -= Outro =- Well, there you have it. Your second newsletter. We hope you enjoyed this second issue of the Zophar's Domain newsletter. More issues are to come, so sit tight. We'll start distributing them as soon as we can. In the meantime, keep coming to ZD! We are glad you've chosen us. ======================================================= Credits: Created by: Lycia (Stacey Flewelling) Thanks go out to Zachary Williams for doing the interview. ======================================================= © 1996-1999 Zophar's Domain All Rights Reserved