Full, Uncensored Interview with DC Code Crackers Utopia

Thanks to Megaman/Yunan of the DC Tech Pages, The Sonic Scene has obtained a full copy of an interview with Utopia, the group that is close to being busted for breaking the GD-ROM code, and starting to make pirated games for the Dreamcast. We believe that this might have come seom a site called DC ISOS, but at this time, the site can not be accessed, so it can not be confirmed yet. In any case, here we go:
ttol: Can Utopia overcome the obstacle that Kalisto seemed to have trouble coming over?
Utopian: Utopia overcame the obstacle of the Dreamcast GDrom protection and booting normal CD-Rs. You think this “obstacle” of bigger games even applies to us? Kalisto had their hour, they can read games and burn them, that’s all. Imitators not innovators. Straight from the horses mouth:

when you release a game, I’ll just copy your method
yeah I know
you are so super lame
all you did with this release is speed up my work
I would’ve done it myself, I just didn’t have enough time…
dude, you got any idea how lame you are sounding?

Utopia is a group of nice people, in fact we are all friends, but we were blown totally away by all the lamers who stormed our channel. Also we were a little unhappy with the reaction we had. Not a single thank you for bringing the key of 6 months sleepless nights of reverse engineering. Instead a lot of people demanding this and that… but who cares about that anyway. Anyway, miracle days is not over, they have just begun.

ttol: Why hasn’t Utopia been releasing as much?
Utopian: Holiday time is here, weather is fine, sun is shining, girls are wearing miniskirts, people are falling in love, and we all needed to relax after doing the “impossible” 😉

ttol: Does it take extra long to do it, rather than the Kalisto way of cracked firmware?
Utopian: No, our method is just as fast, and gives us much more power than Kalisto’s way, we can actually code on this wonderful machine!

ttol: Could you essentially replace any aspect of the game?
Utopian: I’m not sure if I understand your question, please elaborate a bit?

ttol: Could you change the game graphics, like change Sonic into Barney?
Utopian: Ahh yes surely 😉 Well that the idea that we wanted to change Sonic into Barney, Sonic is a 3d game, all that would be needed was to figure out the data format for the game, and then insert a new 3D mesh. Now why on earth someone wanted to change Sonic into Barney is quite another story 😉

ttol: How do you solve games that require mostly all the data on the GD-Rom and there’s nothing to rip?
Utopian: Well there are two options, 1. Dual-disk the game, or 2. Compress the data. Sega have taken steps to make packing/compression on the GD-Rom/Dreamcast quite hard, but certainly not impossible!

ttol: Dual-disk…can you go into detail?
Utopian: Well not so much to it really, split the game over two CDRs, and a nice “please insert CD #X” popping up when the user needed to change the CD. I mean its not such a big deal really, people are speculating in 99 minute CDR and Sony double density formats, why not just split the shit over two CDs, and make all people happy? Even the ones with normal older burners (most of us all anyway).

ttol: Okay…What about games like Resident Evil Code: Veronica (2 CDs)?
Utopian: Coming most soonish to a FTP site near you 😉

ttol: What’s up with Tony Hawk?
Utopian: Nothing, it’s a great game. Just to big for Kalisto to do it, brains needed for this one ;P

ttol: And is dcisos.com your source for the latest dc news? 😛
Utopian: Well, I check it out daily though, its a nice nice site, but since we are the news, its hard to say that ;P You know, it works like this, whenever we move our lazy asses we ARE the news 😉

ttol: Why don’t you right now? It’s a key moment to do so. Also, what’s new in the new boot loader?
Utopian: Patience my dear Watson, as I said this is just the beginning, nice big stuff coming! I should also be most surprised if we didn’t also see some true groups, unlike Kalisto, kicking it on DC soon. Intro’s and trainers are a missing element being taken care of. Also there will be a major revision to our bootl oader soon.

ttol: Nice…better graphics I hope? 🙂
Utopian: Better graphics of course, and some nice new features (which I will not reveal). Oh yeah, I would like the world to know that UTOPiA is a NON PROFIT organization, no cash is involved except the ones we spend on beer, cigarettes and girls.

ttol: When’s the ETA (Expected Time of Arrival) for the new boot loader? And can you give away one key feature?
Utopian: ETA hmm, when we are kinda satisfied with the result. No real dead line planned. One main feature would be support for WinCE games (which it lacks now). Also maybe some nice stuff like VCD and MP3-playing support if we care to implement, but this has not been decided yet and is up to the team of skilled coders (especially wildlight) to decided if it should be done…

ttol: So VCD/MP3 support coming maybe?
Utopian: Perhaps, maybe in next version, maybe in a later revision, it will come eventually for sure.

ttol: What’s the deal with these RGB checks? Will they be removed? Will patches be released to fix up the Kalisto released ones?
Utopian: Surely, you will never see anything not 100% cracked from Utopia 😉 Hmm about the checks, why don’t you ask Kalisto, I think the answer will be no, maybe Utopia should help out really.

ttol: And have you been following up on the dummy file thing? Will Utopia include Zipped up dummy files? (about a few hundred kb)
Utopian: Hmm, the dummy deal, we have been talking about making an automatic bin file dummy injector/calculator, eg. run it on your bin, specify 74/80 min, and burn the corrected bin file. Personally I think this will be a much more elite approach 😉

ttol: What’s the chances of that happening?
Utopian: Ahh chances, its a time issue that’s all.

ttol: So that’ll definitely be implemented?
Utopian: For sure, we will release such a tool, that’s if someone doesn’t think of it before us of course, anyway, I believe it’s a needed thing, and count on seeing it in a short time. Like anything else we’ve done so far (yes it was hard to keep the Dreamcast boot thing under wraps for many months) that will be a very pleasant surprise for everyone 😉 Even SEGA who are now selling consoles like never before!

ttol: So now that Kalisto is out, do you think you’ll be as proliferate as them?
Utopian: Kalisto out? I don’t think so, and I even don’t hope so, I like to see some action and people using our stuff. Anyway, Utopia will resume to normal in some days when people get back from holidays, festivals and wild parties 😉

ttol: Kalisto is using your stuff?
Utopian: You didn’t read that log which I pasted in the start? Anyway, at least they are using our boot loader and giving us credits, and I find that just fine! I don’t like Kalisto, but I don’t hate them either. Kalisto went berserk and made a lot of releases with games which needed no modification. Yet they have a big problem now that they face the fact that engineering skills are needed 😉

ttol: Why do you think Kalisto slowed down in the last few days?
Utopian: Hehehe, I just answered your question dude.

ttol: Yeah lol, and what do you think about NBC?
Utopian: Ahh, I don’t think so much, NBC IS Kalisto! 😉 NBC is Kalisto’s second group for releasing unplayables or lame titles. Just like we have Interpol and others in the PSX scene.

ttol: And uhm..so the way you’re doing it is not the way Kalisto is doing it right? (firmware etc)
Utopian: ttol, right on that one you are 😉

ttol: What’s your view on other companies selling your games?
Utopian: I really hate that. That is what is damaging the scene! Not us! We are strictly doing this for fun and friendship (and maybe a little big of ego boosting) but resent those lowlife money makers. Again, another reason why we don’t like Kalisto 😉 We have no dealings with silver factories in HK or in Singapore or the like, and maybe that means we can’t pay suppliers cash for their work, but then be it, we will not rock on our old scene laws of freedom of information, and that it should be for fun and not for profit.

ttol: Okay. And what would you say about Sega’s comment regarding the ‘piracy limited edition’ of 200,000 units?
Utopian: Let’s just say that Utopia was prepared for this before we released a boot loader, no worries 😉

ttol: So what if Sega somehow locks out the new Dreamcasts that are in production right now…would Utopia release a special version?
Utopian: I don’t think it’s bullshit, I think and know it’s very real, but a solution is already available should it be needed.

ttol: But Sega said only 100,00-200,000 USA units work…there are millions out. Do you think that’s true?
Utopian: No that is bull shit. Our current solution works for all released Dreamcast to this day, all over the world. The current boot loader.

ttol: Is it likely to see something from you guys by the end of this week? (July 4th week)
Utopian: Hnmmm, time will show, I would call it very likely though ;D

ttol: And what sort of role do you play for Utopia? Cracker/Supplier/Gimp
Utopian: Ahh I play the cracker role 😉

ttol: What else has utopia cracked besides Dreamcast?
Utopian: Well, we like to crack dongles 😉 or any hardcore protection out there basically, anything that is uncrackable appeals to us.

ttol: You like Mission: Impossible huh?
Utopian: Hehe we do yes, its for the Zen in the crack, and not for the “ware” we do this.

ttol: Do you have any last words to anyone? greetings? shout outs?
Utopian: Yeah I do, here goes…

to my old man, lukullus and freefall, ttl, yasc, avh, sor, hein, maximillian, oner, psikopat, deature, desai, nagra, uxorious, steve, high society, gamefreax, eurasia, paradox, hitmen, capital, aggression, MUPS, wackyiso, oldskool, lightforce, ninja, brainwalker, icarus, and many many more who I forgot, all the persons who keep the spirit alive!

There you have it. The Sonic Scene will continue to have coverage of the potential arrest of Utopia.