List of warez groups
Encyclopedia
Warez group
s typically tag their releases with NFO
files. Due to the nature of the Warez
scene, not much is known about these groups. Listed here are many of the more significant warez groups, with a short introduction of when they were formed and what they have done. Note that there are many other warez groups that are not included here.
warez
organization founded by two individuals known under the pseudonym
s acid^rain and Viper in May 1997.
aXXo isn't a group, it was one person only, ripping movies all day.
. They released a lot of well known Amiga games and were one of the first to crack a new protection method, first used on the boxing game Ring Side. The group was disbanded end of 1989. Several members joined German group Vision Factory.
s, because they credited themselves with CGA
animation
s in their cracks. Lord Blix, the actual cracker, also wrote Gunbelt, a program for hacking long distance access codes.
in the early 1990s.
of films. Touting many "0-day" and "negative day" releases, Centropy has notoriously released and pre-released numerous films. Among the most well known is their release of The Matrix Reloaded
, before it was released to movie theater
s in 2003.
. They are a global group and have many members worldwide, often releasing "rip" games. The group ceased operations in 2004 after their 1,234'th release.
. Many members are now supposedly releasing under the group name HATRED.
.
games, such as Dreamcast ISO
s.
importer, cracker, distributor, and demo maker with connections to TRIAD, among other groups. They released only a handful of titles before the members moved on to bigger and better groups.
accepting VCD releases. Released American Pie
on the Internet 3 months before its theatrical release. Also released the first screener version of Star Wars episode 1.
, which almost killed their ISO division. Their Demoscene
division was not affected by the raid. FLT's Iso Division is still active in 2008 and is releasing from time to time new Game Titles.
mainly focused on cracking Safedisc
and Securom
. They were targeted as part of the Operation Site Down
raids in 2005.
to document their releases.
warez group established in March 1998 which specializes in the release and distribution of PlayStation
and PlayStation 2
ISO image
s, briefly moonlighting on the Dreamcast platform in mid to late 2000.
versions of major blockbuster titles. In the summer of 2006, the stream of maVen releases suddenly halted. The FBI had caught Gérémi Adam, one of the key members. The 27 year-old Montreal resident has been sentenced to two and a half months in prison and was also ordered to complete 100 hours of community service. He pleaded guilty to distributing two major motion pictures: Invincible
and How to Eat Fried Worms
After the bust, releases ceased and another group called maVenssupplieR immediately took up the slack. In April 2010, the 28 year old Gérémi Adam died of a drug overdose at the Pointe-aux-Trembles
home he shared with his girlfriend, Cynthia Laporte.
network. The group received 0-day VCD
releases via couriers and compressed them into the ASF
video format, which was more suitable for mass distribution in a time where most users had 56k dial-up connections. It also operated a subgroup, MrG-MV, which applied the same distribution mechanism to music videos.
Scene as a Demo/Release group. In 1994, led by Mason and Xerox, it split off to create the Motiv8 PC Section. In February 1998 Mason disbands the group. June 29, 1998 Motiv8 was reborn under the leadership consisting of Dogan and Highlandr. As of 2005, Motiv8 is currently still active.
. They have since spread to the PC and other consoles. They were one of the earliest groups to successfully crack Windows Vista
which was supposed to be a challenge for the hackers at the time of its release. They are one of the major warez groups still around today.
Phrozen Crew (PC), founded in 1993 by tKC, was one of the most popular groups of computer software
crackers
, with the tagline "We always get what we want!".
four weeks before it hit store shelves. PWA members were raided close after the passing of the No Electronic Theft
or "NET" Act.
by the United States Department of Justice
.
warez release organization which was founded on June 6th 1996.
. One of their greater accomplishments was to actually speed up the Fraunhofer MP3
codec as well as cracking the copy protection. Radium were said to have offered better support for their releases than the companies who actually manufactured the programs. Several verses of the rap song Hackers and the Crackers" by Zearle are devoted to the group Radium. In 2004, it was discovered that some of the sounds included with the Microsoft Windows XP
operating system, such as WMPAUD1.WAV, were authored using a pirated version of Sound Forge which was supplied by Radium.
but also had a major presence on the Amiga
and the IBM PC
. They were subject to raid in Operation Buccaneer
and Operation Fastlink
.
4 days and a The Sims 3
beta version 15 days before their respective street dates. On February 29, 2008, RELOADED released a cracked version of Assassin's Creed
, a month before it was to hit the shelves on March 28. Although, this release was later nuked
for not being the final retail version as well as having crashing issues. The retail version was released by them more than a month later. They also released Battlefield 3, 4 days before the official release date. As well, released Modern Warfare 3 on the day that the game was released.
Outbreak. In October 1996, SHOCK successfully merged with The Corporation (CORP). In 1998, SHOCK surpassed 1000 releases and founded an ISO division: SHOCKiSO. By 1999, SHOCK had 1500 releases and 2000 releases by May 30, 2000.
SKiDROW has released their content since 1990, having originated on the Amiga out of the ashes of Paranoimia. Skid Row continued for two years on Amiga before internal conflicts led to them disbanding, with members like Blackhawk returning back to resurrect Paradox. Between 2004 and 2007 they seemed to have faded away, but since 2007 they have released many things: trainers, games and cracks. Although they were releasing many games, they truly became well known in the gaming community after cracking Ubisoft's first DRM version. Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic and Assassin's Creed II utilize this type of protection, and both have been cracked by SKiDROW, among many other games. Even Ubisoft's second DRM version has been cracked by them, in games such as From Dust and Shaun White Skateboarding. Their most recent release is Assassin's Creed: Revelations for PC that have been released with 9 days before the official date.
group which caters primarily to and is well known within the warez|warez scene.
demo coding and cracking group. TRSI migrated from the Commodore 64 release platform to the Amiga and IBM-PC, and eventually branched off into the console gaming scene before finally disbanding their warez division. In late 2003, TRSI became inactive and remains so today.
and the Farmington Hills, Michigan
police for credit card fraud.
, Operation Fastlink
, and Operation Safehaven
.
Warez group
There are many types of groups such as release groups and courier groups. Groups often compete about being the first out with a new quality release. Being the first to release a new quality release brings status and respect....
s typically tag their releases with NFO
.nfo
.nfo is a commonly used three-letter filename extension of ASCII or extended ASCII text files that accompany other files and contain information about them. Such NFO files can be viewed with text editors or dedicated NFO viewers...
files. Due to the nature of the Warez
Warez
Warez refers primarily to copyrighted works distributed without fees or royalties, and may be traded, in general violation of copyright law. The term generally refers to unauthorized releases by organized groups, as opposed to file sharing between friends or large groups of people with similar...
scene, not much is known about these groups. Listed here are many of the more significant warez groups, with a short introduction of when they were formed and what they have done. Note that there are many other warez groups that are not included here.
Apocalypse Production Crew
Apocalypse Production Crew (styled as aPOCALYPSE pRODUCTION cREW or aPC) was a major MP3MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
warez
Warez
Warez refers primarily to copyrighted works distributed without fees or royalties, and may be traded, in general violation of copyright law. The term generally refers to unauthorized releases by organized groups, as opposed to file sharing between friends or large groups of people with similar...
organization founded by two individuals known under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
s acid^rain and Viper in May 1997.
Australian Crackers United
Australian Crackers United were primarily based in Melbourne, Australia. They existed between 1987 and 1992 largely importing warez from overseas via standard dialup modem. They focused on C games and applications.aXXo
aXXo is also one of the most famous Movie torrent groups which releases decent quality (Although not in High-Definition to minimize file size) DVD rips which are very popular among torrent users.aXXo isn't a group, it was one person only, ripping movies all day.
The Band
The Band was formed in 1987 in Belgium by Duncan, Sir 004 & Gonthar (former members of WOW on the C64), and was one of Belgium's earliest and most famous cracking groups on the AmigaAmiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
. They released a lot of well known Amiga games and were one of the first to crack a new protection method, first used on the boxing game Ring Side. The group was disbanded end of 1989. Several members joined German group Vision Factory.
Bentley Sidwell Productions
Bentley Sidwell Productions is said to have made some of the earlier IBM PC cracktroCrack intro
A crack intro, also known as a cracktro, loader, or just intro, is a small introduction sequence added to cracked software, designed to inform the user of which "cracking crew" or individual cracker was responsible for removing the software's copy protection and distributing the crack...
s, because they credited themselves with CGA
Color Graphics Adapter
The Color Graphics Adapter , originally also called the Color/Graphics Adapter or IBM Color/Graphics Monitor Adapter, introduced in 1981, was IBM's first color graphics card, and the first color computer display standard for the IBM PC....
animation
Computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images....
s in their cracks. Lord Blix, the actual cracker, also wrote Gunbelt, a program for hacking long distance access codes.
Canadian Pirates Inc
Canadian Pirates Inc were a Canadian based cracking group with BBS boards in Toronto, Ontario started in 1983 releasing Apple products.The Cartel
The Cartel (also known as ThC) was a courier group that gave rise to The Speed Racer (TSR) as head of Razor 1911Razor 1911
Razor 1911 is a warez and demo group.-History:The group was originally founded as Razor 2992 by Doctor No, Insane TTM and Sector9 in Norway in October 1985 as a Commodore 64 software cracking group...
in the early 1990s.
Centropy
Centropy, founded in January 1999, was a warez group which specialized in the piracyCopyright infringement of software
Copyright infringement of software=The copyright infringement of software refers to several practices which involve the unauthorized copying of computer software. Copyright infringement of this kind varies globally...
of films. Touting many "0-day" and "negative day" releases, Centropy has notoriously released and pre-released numerous films. Among the most well known is their release of The Matrix Reloaded
The Matrix Reloaded
The Matrix Reloaded is a 2003 American science fiction film and the second installment in The Matrix trilogy, written and directed by the Wachowskis. It premiered on May 7, 2003, in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, and went on general release by Warner Bros. in North American theaters on May 15,...
, before it was released to movie theater
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
s in 2003.
cRACKERS iN aCTiON
cRACKERS iN aCTiON (also known as CiA), founded in 2000 by tKC, using IRC to communicateCLASS
CLASS (also known as CLS) was a prolific game warez group which has been the repeated target of federal raids such as Operation FastlinkOperation Fastlink
Operation FastLink is a coordination of four separate, simultaneous undercover investigations by the FBI, the FBI Cyber Division, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section of the Criminal Division and Interpol. The four different investigations have not...
. They are a global group and have many members worldwide, often releasing "rip" games. The group ceased operations in 2004 after their 1,234'th release.
DEViANCE
Subject to raid in Operation FastlinkOperation Fastlink
Operation FastLink is a coordination of four separate, simultaneous undercover investigations by the FBI, the FBI Cyber Division, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section of the Criminal Division and Interpol. The four different investigations have not...
. Many members are now supposedly releasing under the group name HATRED.
DEViSO
DEviSO was the very first video CD release group, founded in approximately 1997-1998, and went on to release some quality applications before morphing into other group incarnations.DrinkOrDie
DrinkOrDie (also known as DoD) released a pirated copy of Windows 95 before it was released at retail stores. They were subject to a raid in Operation BuccaneerOperation Buccaneer
On December 11, 2001, in an international operation known as Operation Buccaneer, law enforcement agents in six countries targeted 62 people suspected of software piracy, with leads in twenty other countries.U.S...
.
Echelon
Echelon is a warez group which specializes in the release and distribution of consoleVideo game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
games, such as Dreamcast ISO
ISO image
An ISO image is an archive file of an optical disc, composed of the data contents of every written sector of an optical disc, including the optical disc file system...
s.
The Elite Council
TEC was formed in late 1987 as a full function Commodore 64Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
importer, cracker, distributor, and demo maker with connections to TRIAD, among other groups. They released only a handful of titles before the members moved on to bigger and better groups.
EViL
The iSO division (EViLiSO) was one of the first groups to release movies, eventually leading to many topsitesTopsite (warez)
Topsite is a term used by the warez scene to refer to high-speed FTP servers used by release groups and couriers for distribution, storage and archiving of warez releases....
accepting VCD releases. Released American Pie
American Pie (film)
American Pie is a 1999 teen comedy film written by Adam Herz. American Pie was the directorial film debut of brothers Paul and Chris Weitz, and the first film in the American Pie film series...
on the Internet 3 months before its theatrical release. Also released the first screener version of Star Wars episode 1.
Fairlight
Fairlight (also known as FLT), One of the oldest groups in warez scene, founded in 1987. While still active, the group focuses on demos. Fairlight was subject to raid in Operation FastlinkOperation Fastlink
Operation FastLink is a coordination of four separate, simultaneous undercover investigations by the FBI, the FBI Cyber Division, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section of the Criminal Division and Interpol. The four different investigations have not...
, which almost killed their ISO division. Their Demoscene
Demoscene
The demoscene is a computer art subculture that specializes in producing demos, which are non-interactive audio-visual presentations that run in real-time on a computer...
division was not affected by the raid. FLT's Iso Division is still active in 2008 and is releasing from time to time new Game Titles.
FiRM
The FiRM was a notable PC cracking group from 1989 to the early 1990s. They mainly released cracked games but also created several utilities such as PkUnlite which unpacked executables which were compressed using Phil Katz PkLite.Hoodlum
HoodlumHoodlum
Hoodlum is a 1997 crime film that gives a fictionalized account of the gang war between the Italian/Jewish mafia alliance and the black gangsters of Harlem that took place in the late 1920s and early 1930s...
mainly focused on cracking Safedisc
SafeDisc
SafeDisc is a CD/DVD copy protection and digital rights management program for Windows applications and games. Created by Macrovision Corporation, it aims to prevent the copying of discs for casual or commercial use....
and Securom
SecuROM
SecuROM is a CD/DVD copy protection and digital rights management product developed by Sony DADC. SecuROM aims to resist home media duplication devices, professional duplicators, and attempts at reverse engineering software. It is most often used for commercial computer games running under the...
. They were targeted as part of the Operation Site Down
Operation Site Down
Operation Site Down is the umbrella name for a law enforcement initiative conducted by the FBI and law enforcement agents from ten other countries which resulted in a raid on targets on June 29, 2005. Three separate undercover investigations were involved, based in Chicago , Charlotte and San Jose...
raids in 2005.
The Humble Guys
The Humble Guys (also known as THG) were the first warez group to make use of NFO files.nfo
.nfo is a commonly used three-letter filename extension of ASCII or extended ASCII text files that accompany other files and contain information about them. Such NFO files can be viewed with text editors or dedicated NFO viewers...
to document their releases.
International Network of Crackers
International Network of Crackers (also known as INC) was one of the premier cracking/releasing warez groups for the IBM PC during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The majority of their releases during 1993 were educational games for children. By early 1994, INC had completely disappeared from the warez scene.Kalisto
Kalisto is a consoleVideo game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
warez group established in March 1998 which specializes in the release and distribution of PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
and PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
ISO image
ISO image
An ISO image is an archive file of an optical disc, composed of the data contents of every written sector of an optical disc, including the optical disc file system...
s, briefly moonlighting on the Dreamcast platform in mid to late 2000.
Maven
maVen is a pirate movie release group that was active from July 25, 2004 till 2007. The group was known for releasing high quality telesyncTelesync
A telesync is a bootleg recording of a film recorded in a movie theater, often with a professional camera on a tripod in the projection booth , with a direct connection to the sound source...
versions of major blockbuster titles. In the summer of 2006, the stream of maVen releases suddenly halted. The FBI had caught Gérémi Adam, one of the key members. The 27 year-old Montreal resident has been sentenced to two and a half months in prison and was also ordered to complete 100 hours of community service. He pleaded guilty to distributing two major motion pictures: Invincible
Invincible (2006 film)
Invincible is a 2006 family film directed by Ericson Core set in 1976. It is based on the true story of Vince Papale, who played for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1976–78. Mark Wahlberg portrays Papale and Greg Kinnear plays Papale's coach, Dick Vermeil...
and How to Eat Fried Worms
How to Eat Fried Worms (film)
How to Eat Fried Worms is a 2006 American film based on the 1973 children's book of the same name by Thomas Rockwell. It was produced by New Line Cinema with Walden Media. Development began in 1998 and theatrical release for the U.S. and Canada was August 25, 2006. The DVD for the film was released...
After the bust, releases ceased and another group called maVenssupplieR immediately took up the slack. In April 2010, the 28 year old Gérémi Adam died of a drug overdose at the Pointe-aux-Trembles
Pointe-aux-Trembles
Pointe-aux-Trembles was a municipality, founded in 1674, that was annexed by Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1982. This was the last city to be merged into Montreal until the 2002 municipal reorganization of districts and municipalities as boroughs....
home he shared with his girlfriend, Cynthia Laporte.
MiRaGe
MiRaGe (also known as MrG) was a prominent encoder group in the late 1990s, which operated through its IRC channel #movie-central on the DALnetDALnet
DALnet is an Internet Relay Chat network that is currently populated by a stable population of around 30,000 users in about 18,000 channels, with 40 servers making up the network....
network. The group received 0-day VCD
VCD
VCD is a three-letter abbreviation with multiple meanings, as described below:* VCD Athletic, semi-professional football team* Video CD* Voice command device* Value change dump * Vocal cord dysfunction* Visual Communication and Design...
releases via couriers and compressed them into the ASF
Advanced Systems Format
Advanced Systems Format is Microsoft's proprietary digital audio/digital video container format, especially meant for streaming media...
video format, which was more suitable for mass distribution in a time where most users had 56k dial-up connections. It also operated a subgroup, MrG-MV, which applied the same distribution mechanism to music videos.
Motiv8
Motiv8 (also known as M8) was born in early 1991 in the Commodore 64Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
Scene as a Demo/Release group. In 1994, led by Mason and Xerox, it split off to create the Motiv8 PC Section. In February 1998 Mason disbands the group. June 29, 1998 Motiv8 was reborn under the leadership consisting of Dogan and Highlandr. As of 2005, Motiv8 is currently still active.
Myth
Myth was a warez group, focused on cracking and ripping PC games. Besides ripped games, the group also released trainers and cracked updates for games.National Elite Underground Alliance
National Elite Underground Alliance (also known as NEUA) was an IBM PC warez release organization largely based out of New York which operated during the early 1990s.PARADOX
PARADOX (also known as PDX) was founded in 1989, mainly cracking/release games for the AmigaAmiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
. They have since spread to the PC and other consoles. They were one of the earliest groups to successfully crack Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
which was supposed to be a challenge for the hackers at the time of its release. They are one of the major warez groups still around today.
pHAZE
The true top curry group in the scene, they were one of the most long lasting curry groups around, starting in the early 1990's and lasting until at least 2005 they were a constant #1 when it came to racing releases on the highest rated topsites in the Scene.Phrozen Crew
Computer software
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....
crackers
Software cracking
Software cracking is the modification of software to remove or disable features which are considered undesirable by the person cracking the software, usually related to protection methods: copy protection, trial/demo version, serial number, hardware key, date checks, CD check or software annoyances...
, with the tagline "We always get what we want!".
Pirates With Attitude
Pirates With Attitude (also known as PWA) were a major international warez release group from 1992 until 2000. The group was formed by two former INC members known by the pseudonyms Orion and Bar Manager. PWA made global headlines by releasing Microsoft Windows 98Windows 98
Windows 98 is a graphical operating system by Microsoft. It is the second major release in the Windows 9x line of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on 15 May 1998 and to retail on 25 June 1998. Windows 98 is the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid...
four weeks before it hit store shelves. PWA members were raided close after the passing of the No Electronic Theft
NET Act
The United States No Electronic Theft Act , a federal law passed in 1997, provides for criminal prosecution of individuals who engage in copyright infringement under certain circumstances, even when there is no monetary profit or commercial benefit from the infringement. Maximum penalties can be...
or "NET" Act.
Project X
Project X is a scene release group that exclusively released games for the Xbox. The group was active from May 2002 until November 2006. In 2004, Project X was named as one of six groups targeted as part of Operation FastlinkOperation Fastlink
Operation FastLink is a coordination of four separate, simultaneous undercover investigations by the FBI, the FBI Cyber Division, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section of the Criminal Division and Interpol. The four different investigations have not...
by the United States Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
.
Rabid Neurosis
Rabid Neurosis (RNS) was an MP3MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
warez release organization which was founded on June 6th 1996.
Radium
Radium (also known as RDM) is known primarily for cracking and releasing high dollar audio editing software such as Cubase VST and Pro ToolsPro Tools
Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation platform for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, developed and manufactured by Avid Technology. It is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, film, and television...
. One of their greater accomplishments was to actually speed up the Fraunhofer MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
codec as well as cracking the copy protection. Radium were said to have offered better support for their releases than the companies who actually manufactured the programs. Several verses of the rap song Hackers and the Crackers" by Zearle are devoted to the group Radium. In 2004, it was discovered that some of the sounds included with the Microsoft Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
operating system, such as WMPAUD1.WAV, were authored using a pirated version of Sound Forge which was supplied by Radium.
Razor 1911
Razor 1911 (also known as RZR) was founded in 1985 on the Commodore 64Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
but also had a major presence on the Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
and the IBM PC
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981...
. They were subject to raid in Operation Buccaneer
Operation Buccaneer
On December 11, 2001, in an international operation known as Operation Buccaneer, law enforcement agents in six countries targeted 62 people suspected of software piracy, with leads in twenty other countries.U.S...
and Operation Fastlink
Operation Fastlink
Operation FastLink is a coordination of four separate, simultaneous undercover investigations by the FBI, the FBI Cyber Division, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section of the Criminal Division and Interpol. The four different investigations have not...
.
RELOADED
RELOADED (also known as RLD) was founded in June 2004 from the ex-members of DEViANCE. They released and cracked SporeSpore (2008 video game)
Spore is a multi-genre single-player god game developed by Maxis and designed by Will Wright. The game was released for the Microsoft Windows and Macintosh operating systems in September 2008 as Spore...
4 days and a The Sims 3
The Sims 3
The Sims 3 is a 2009 strategic life simulation computer game developed by The Sims Studio and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to the best-selling computer game, The Sims 2. It was first released on June 2, 2009 simultaneously for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows...
beta version 15 days before their respective street dates. On February 29, 2008, RELOADED released a cracked version of Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed is an award-winning historical third person, stealth action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The bulk of the game takes place during the Third Crusade, with the plot revolving around a sect known as the Secret Order of...
, a month before it was to hit the shelves on March 28. Although, this release was later nuked
Nuke (warez)
In the warez scene, nuke refers to labeling content as "bad", for reasons which might include unusable software, bad video/audio quality, virus-infected content, deceptively labeled content or not following the rules. Also duplicates and stolen releases from other pirates that do not attribute the...
for not being the final retail version as well as having crashing issues. The retail version was released by them more than a month later. They also released Battlefield 3, 4 days before the official release date. As well, released Modern Warfare 3 on the day that the game was released.
Risciso
Risciso (stylized as RISCISO) was an online warez group, founded in approximately 1993, dedicated to distributing newly-released copyrighted software, games and movies.RiSE
FXP Scene Group focuses on warezing applications developed by members of The Business Software Alliance.RTS
Request To Send (also known as RTS) is one of the oldest still existing courier groups. The group began in 1994 and is still currently active as of June 17, 2008. On September 21st, 1994, RTS beats RiSC on #warez with Wing Commander Armada. The significance of this event was massive attention drawn to RTS. That fall was rough, though, with many narc attempts on people in the scene. Many of the top boards were forced to go down during this period.RiSC
Rise in Superior Couriering (also known as RiSC) was one of the largest courier groups during BBS era.SHOCK
SHOCK was founded in July 1996 from the defunct group CiA by someone going by the aliasPseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Outbreak. In October 1996, SHOCK successfully merged with The Corporation (CORP). In 1998, SHOCK surpassed 1000 releases and founded an ISO division: SHOCKiSO. By 1999, SHOCK had 1500 releases and 2000 releases by May 30, 2000.
SKiDROW
SKiDROW is a cracking group known for breaking the UbiSoft DRM protection.SKiDROW has released their content since 1990, having originated on the Amiga out of the ashes of Paranoimia. Skid Row continued for two years on Amiga before internal conflicts led to them disbanding, with members like Blackhawk returning back to resurrect Paradox. Between 2004 and 2007 they seemed to have faded away, but since 2007 they have released many things: trainers, games and cracks. Although they were releasing many games, they truly became well known in the gaming community after cracking Ubisoft's first DRM version. Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic and Assassin's Creed II utilize this type of protection, and both have been cracked by SKiDROW, among many other games. Even Ubisoft's second DRM version has been cracked by them, in games such as From Dust and Shaun White Skateboarding. Their most recent release is Assassin's Creed: Revelations for PC that have been released with 9 days before the official date.
Superior Art Creations
Superior Art Creations (SAC) is an underground artsceneComputer art scene
The phrase computer art scene, or artscene for short, refers to a community of individuals and groups that are both interested and active in the creation of computer-based artwork.-Early computer art:...
group which caters primarily to and is well known within the warez|warez scene.
TECHNiC
TECHNiC is a small group from France, mostly active around 2004. They specialized on ripping games but they reportedly released stolen cracks. The group was known for releasing rip versions of games which would not be released by the more 'accepted' groups due to size limitation rules introduced in the S.R.R.Tristar and Red Sector Incorporated
Tristar and Red Sector, Inc. (also known as TRSI) began as an alliance between two warez groups: Tristar and Red Sector Incorporated. They were formed in 1990 as a cooperative Commodore 64Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
demo coding and cracking group. TRSI migrated from the Commodore 64 release platform to the Amiga and IBM-PC, and eventually branched off into the console gaming scene before finally disbanding their warez division. In late 2003, TRSI became inactive and remains so today.
United Software Association
The United Software Association (also known as USA) was a prominent IBM PC games and applications warez group during the 1990s. USA formed an alliance with the PC warez division of Fairlight which was known as "USA/FLT". In late January of 1992, several members of USA were arrested by the United States Secret ServiceUnited States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
and the Farmington Hills, Michigan
Farmington Hills, Michigan
Farmington Hills is a community in southeastern Michigan. It is the largest city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Its population was 79,740 at the 2010 census...
police for credit card fraud.
We Love Warez
We Love Warez (also known as WLW) was subject to raid during Operation BuccaneerOperation Buccaneer
On December 11, 2001, in an international operation known as Operation Buccaneer, law enforcement agents in six countries targeted 62 people suspected of software piracy, with leads in twenty other countries.U.S...
, Operation Fastlink
Operation Fastlink
Operation FastLink is a coordination of four separate, simultaneous undercover investigations by the FBI, the FBI Cyber Division, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section of the Criminal Division and Interpol. The four different investigations have not...
, and Operation Safehaven
Operation Safehaven
Operation Safehaven was a fifteen-month investigation conducted by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement in conjunction with the U.S...
.