"What's New" in iCE Recently.

1.  In a move that started a lot of confusion amongst iCE aficionados
everywhere, two artists have left the group.  iCE Veteran of nearly a year
Quick Silver, and newer member Liquid Image, left iCE to form a new group,
Valiant, with Havoc.  The reason given by Mr. Silver and Mr. Image was that
there had been a lack of competition in the art scene as of late, and it
was becoming boring.  Although we all were friends with the two artists,
we must respect their decision no matter how little we agree with it.
Good luck to two of our more influential artists!

2.  A couple of artists believed that because of those two, iCE was falling
apart.  This is not so.  However, other artists to join the hiatus
bandwagon were: Dreamevil and iCY to Valiant, and Leper Messiah, who
accepted the ANSI President position in ACiD.  We hope they change their
minds, of course, but we wish them luck in their new positions.

3.  We would like to extend a warm welcome to two new artists on the ANSI
Trial side.  Welcome to Joker and Cyber-X!  Hope to see you on the
memberlist soon!

4.  iCE·VGA has now become a legitimate power in the demo world.  Hopefully,
within the next month or two (the FUTURE is NOW! -SK :), production and
coordination will take effect to show this.  One man has single-handedly
brought the largest collection of VGA and Coding talent together under
the banner of iCE.  That person is Syntax Error.  There simply isn't
enough room here to thank him adequately, so we'll just leave it at this:
He would make the consumate Senior Staff Member.

5.  While one person assembled and revived this collection of VGA artists and
coders, the work produced in this pack would not have been possible if it
hadn't been for two other people.  Getting work like this produced requires
innumerous hours on the phone with artists and coders, calling long
distance to pick up beta's of VGA's and demo's, sending them to coders, and
artists, just to hear them say "One part's not right, send it back", and
repeating the cycle as many times as it takes to get it right.  Late hours,
and often thankless devotion are required to direct a team of this size,
and iNSANE Creators Enterprise would like to honor our two VGA Directors,
Quazar (Logo man) and Vapor (he's SOOooo Cute!).  Thank you guys.

6.  To follow up on the previous note, iCE would like to welcome a whole mess
of new coders and and artists, and rather than inadequately list them
ourselves, we'll let Syntax do it here:

A.  Hi y'all!  Syntax Error here... wanted to spend a few minutes to talk
about my experiences with iCE for the past month.  I can't even begin
to tell you about the amount of fun I've had meeting some of the nicest
guys in the art scene.  It's nice to look at our VGA/Coding/MOD member
lists and be able to compare the talent with some of the foremost
designers in the world.  I sincerely hope that you enjoy this fresh,
new look for iCE's non-ansi departments!

B.  To get everyone up to speed with iCE VGA developments, I'll try to
briefly summarize what's taken place within the past month.  Among our
first acquisitions of talent, the three uzi-wielding Isrealies from the
group The Phoney Coders have joined iCE in what has proved to be a most
beneficial move for us.  Ford Prefect, Mr. Bug, and Codesafe Hawk all
bring along extensive talent in the coding arena.  Ford, eager to have
something put in this month's pack, released his 1.0 version of the
3dview utility.  With it, Ford has created a whole new art form for
iCE artists to explore.  The utility allows for art pieces, created
in 3-d studio, to be transformed into vectors, which allow for unlimited
angle and view observation.  Even though the program is in it's initial
stages, we are all excited to see what it will become in the future.
Mr. Bug also contributed to the iCE pack this month with two vector
demos: one with balls and one with dots. These don't even begin to
demonstrate the full scope of this coder's capabilities, so we also
look forward to his future projects.

C.  Shortly after signing up the fellows from TPC, iCE soon managed to bring
about a merger with the famous folks at THG/FX.  Yes, that's right... we
would like to proudly welcome Sauron, Iridium (formerly Quick Silver),
ZigZag, and Renegade Bithead to iCE's expanding coding department.  I
can't even begin to describe how much of a pleasure it has been to work
these guys in the past month.  Their motivation, intuitiveness, and
knowhow are definite assets to the group no matter which way you look
at it.  Iridium contributed a real nice iCE loader complete with the
new DSMI sound routines and an original MOD by Mosaic (one of my
personal favorite MOD songs).  ZigZag did a mini-tribute to TDT with
his loader, complete with art by Eight Ball, and music by Mosaic.
Renegade Bithead, in addition, began the work on the iCE HyperView
engine, which allows for all VGA users to be able to view high
resolution art.  His engine can be found in three AWESOME original
pieces of art by Shockwave, Eight Ball, and Stealer of Souls...
breathtaking stuff :).

D.  In the continuing search for fresh talent, some other individuals were
welcomed to iCE's numbers.  Morpheus proves to be a very capable VGA
artist.  Even though she hasn't finished up with any of her releases,
her trial work caught me by surprise.  It seems as if we have a future
iCE Queen on our hands... :)  Also, in the coding department, we'd like
to welcome Deadbolt.  Known for his work in the Altered Reality VGA Mag,
Deadbolt obviously shows potential iCE quality.  Unfortunately, school
has limited him to what he could do for this month, so look for his name
in the future.

E.   Last, but not least, iCE would like to welcome Brian the Axe and The
WildCard to the coding staff.  These guys are subperb, and you can
sample thier work in the terrain demo that they entered into this
month's pack (Tempus, eat your heart out, big guy!). Their level of
enthusiasm is very encouraging and I can't wait to see what these guys
offer for iCE in the future.

F.   I'd like to wrap up by briefly thanking all of the old members for their
level of performance as well.  In the VGA art division, Eight Ball,
Stealer of Souls, Civil Disobedient, Shockwave, Repete Offender, and
Tech all produced some super artwork for the coders to get to work on.
In addition, The Shadow, Leviathan, and IBMMan also contributed their
efforts to the coding arena.  Thanks guys!

G.   Almost forgot. :)  We'd also like to make note of the friendly relations
that we have been maintaining with members of the Future Crew.  We look
forward to working with these folks in coding and ansi efforts in the
future!  Purple Motion, we're not worthy, we're not worthy!

7.  It should perhaps be noted that Tank's scale of excellence is now the
standard iCE looks up to.  Screw quality and all that uneccessary stuff. :)

8.  Articles are steadily being collected for the iCE Magazine.  After the
first issue is released, it's scheduled to come out about every three
months.  A monthly schedule was discussed but it didn't seem practical,
first, the pressure would be immense, and second, we didn't feel there
would be enough to report every month.  The first issue will concern iCE,
and consecutive issues will be more general with a section about iCE.

While it isn't possible for everyone in the group to produce the
magazine (the whole 'too many chiefs, not enough indians' thing), we're
trying to include as many iCE members as possible and get as much input
from them.  Please leave any questions, suggestions, or articles on
Hardwired, Sanctuary(tm), Rivendell (when it goes back up!!), or leave
Felony Netmail to Tempus Thales or Shihear Kallizad.

9.  iCE would like to announce a promotion!  Shihear Kallizad, who has
done an excellent job with the couriers and has been loyal to iCE since
the MiRAGE merger, is now promoted to the Staff.  Shihear will be joining
up effective May 1, 1993.

10. Lord Mischief has been listed as Member due to being incommunicado.  He's
still a cool guy though! :)

11. The final bit of news, and perhaps the worst, is also concerning the staff.
iCE announces that Senior Staff member of nearly a year (since the
reformation), Tempus Thales, has decided to leave the staff and resume
working as just 'an artist'.  Tempus has given 110% to iCE since he and
Lord Mischief, along with The Unforgiven, reformed iCE in mid-1992.
Especially recently, when the other three staff members were preoccupied
with personal life events, he singlehandedly kept the group in order.
Tempus has left behind him a legacy that no other staff member can boast.
He was the most fair, the most kind, and most understanding staff member
ever in the history of Art.  His ability to deal with people on a one-to-one
basis is unparalleled by any other.  Unfortunately, he was never able to
call out long distance except for conference calls with another member.
But, even that could not tarnish his record.  Aside from being one of
the best artists in the group's history, he showed his leadership qualities.
(Tempus GLOWED - :>) In any event, iCE wishes him well as an artist and
hopes he returns to the staff soon.  The current staff is: Force Ten,
Metal Head, and Shihear Kallizad.

a.  SK here... I'd like to throw in my two cents here at the last moment
pertaining to the above notice.  The entire reason I wanted to join iCE,
and eventually merged MiRAGE with iCE was, Tempus Thales.  Seeing what
he did with iCE in such a short time, totally turning the group around,
taking it to levels it'd never been before, and pretty much setting the
standard for which all groups would be judged in the here and now, I
just had to respect that.  He is by far the heart and soul of iCE, and
the things he has brought to it and will continue to bring to it even
durring his "time off" from Staff are simply unmeasurable.  Without
Tempus, iCE would not be what it is today, and probably would have just
faded away durring the second iCE/ACiD merger (stunt) pulled by VenoM.
What Tempus has accomplished as Staff is paralled only by his
accomplishments as an Artist, his status as the newest of the TRUE
"imortals".  His name, due to his talent, now rests in the ANSI Hall
of Fame, to be spoken in the company of the likes of Marshal Law and
Jed.  Together, the three of them are the most well know by all of
those within the Scene, as those who don't know squat of it DO know
thier names.  Tempus has been and is by far the most valuable
individual in any ANSI group.  While the temperary loss of Tempus the
Staff member may be a tough pair of shoes for ANY of us to fill, the
gain of Tempus the "Full Time Artist" will surely inspire us all to
continue to raise the Quality of the art in iCE today.  Tempus, like
iCE, is FAR from DEAD.  With his return on the foreseeable horizon,
the BEST is yet to come.  (Gee, FT, does this sound like we're burryin'
him, or what?! ;)

12. Just as an aside, FT will be (trying to :) -TT) handle the .NFO files now.
But, being that FT am indeed the drooling psychopath, don't always expect
them to be coherent.  I mean, Sonic says I am, so it *MUST* be true! :>

13. SK again..  As the official PackPutterTogetherer I'd like to thank Syntax
Error, Quazar, Vapor and Corigan for putting a SHITLOAD of time, effort
and work in helping me get things together.  We're a couple days late with
the Pack due to some minor problems which were totally *OUR* fault.  We
appologize to anyone who may have been inconvienced by the delay, but I
am quite sure once you see the material within, both ANSI and VGA, you
fell as we all do, that it was well worth both the effort and the wait.

- Farce Zero, Tampon Thales,
Sintax Error & Shithead Kallimazoo
[ Quartet of NiCE Guys ]

Greets to:  Tempus    - The man we'll miss most.  More art, then, damnit.
Civil D   - I'm still waiting.
Mitch     - TCSNet/CCiNet host now.  Glad you'll be helping more.
Dreamevil - No, you wouldn't be a group-jumper if you returned.
& Icy     Do what you want, not what people dictate.
Havoc     - Out of the scene again? What will happen to Valiant?!
Quick S   - Hmm. You've changed.  Just isn't like you...
Marshal L - We want more like ML-SANCT.ICE... more, PERIOD! ;)
Leper M   - The door's still open.
Cardiac A - Indeed, you seem to be thinking twofold. You know
OUR position.
Tank      - More bricks.. soon, you'll be able to build a city.
Lord M    - "..and that's where you're gonna find me-incommunicado!"
Metal Head- Another re-active staffer!
Shihear K - Our official button pusher!
Robinn,   - We
Gore &         Await
Purple M             the FUTURE...
Gen. X    - Thanks for all the Telcommunications help!!!
Ford Pref - You were RIGHT!  HA!  Stunt Island! ;)
Mel       - You want that Staff possition or what!!! ;)
Everyone  - Thanks for supporting iCE!

Thanks to all the iCE Artists and Members who contributed this month.