Wired was a
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
annual
demoparty which ran from 1994 to 1998. Typical competitions included
PC and
Amiga demos and intros, handmade and
ray traced graphics, music and surprise competitions (where theme and rules are announced around two hours prior the deadline).
History
The first edition took place at the
Université de Mons-Hainaut in
Mons from 29 to 31 October 1994. It was organized by ''Antares'' and ''Babylon 5''. Ten demos entered the
PC competition but only two
Amiga productions were presented. ''Necronomicon'' by ''Imagine'' won the PC competition. Unusually for a
demoparty, a ''
Doom
Doom is another name for damnation.
Doom may also refer to:
People
* Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed
* Daniel Doom (born 1934), Belgian cyclist
* Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitcher
* ...
'' tournament was held at ''Wired '94''.
One year later, ''Wired '95'' was held from 3–5 November 1995 at the same place and organized by ''Antares'',
Imphobia and
TFL-TDV. This time, no more Amiga competitions were held, ''Wired'' became a PC only party, but additional categories were introduced: 4k intro (which previously occurred as a surprise competition only) and
ANSI
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI ) is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organi ...
. The PC demo section saw 17 entries and the victory of ''Valhalla'' with ''Soltice''. Another remarkable production was the 64k intro winner: ''Magic Carpet'' by
Keen Like Frogs. This
group
A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together.
Groups of people
* Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity
* Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...
managed to code an engine similar to the one used ''
Magic Carpet
A magic carpet, also called a flying carpet, is a legendary carpet and common trope in fantasy fiction. It is typically used as a form of transportation and can quickly or instantaneously carry its users to their destination.
In literature
One o ...
'' in 64 kilobytes only, complete with textures and music. A French TV channel also chose this event to record a report on
demoscene
The demoscene is an international computer art subculture focused on producing demos: self-contained, sometimes extremely small, computer programs that produce audiovisual presentations. The purpose of a demo is to show off programming, visual ...
.
For its '96 edition, which took place from 1–3 November 1996, the place changed to a sport-hall in
Wasmes
Wasmes ( wa, Wame-e-Borinaedje) is a village of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Colfontaine, located in the Hainaut Province, province of Hainaut, Belgium.
In January 1879 Vincent van Gogh temporarily moved to the village, in the h ...
, a little town near
Mons. Organizers were
Imphobia and ''Antares''.
In this new location, the event gathered about 600 demosceners from all over Europe. Again, the 64k intro competition revealed a ground breaking production: ''Paper'' by
Psychic Link & ''ACME''; this prefigured an effect that would become known as
cellshading. This edition introduced the
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...
drinking contest, where each contestant would have to drink a 1.5 L bottle as fast as possible.
In 1997, the place stayed the same but the party date moved from winter to summer (being held on 18–20 July). Imphobia was joined by ''Bomb'',
Pulpe,
Smash Designs and ''W.O.W.'' in its organizing efforts. This edition marked the return of Amiga and even
C-64 competitions. The winning PC 64k intro stand out again. This time, it was ''Jizz'' by The Black Lotus introducing the generated objects and textures system to the PC world. The Magic Carpet engine was coded in 4k this time by
Dawn of a New Age. For the first time, a 100kb PC game competition was held.
''Wired '98'' took place on 17–19 July 1998 and attracted 800 attenders. Organizing team was composed of Imphobia, Melting Pot, Pulpe, W.O.W. and Role.
Since it was announced as the final edition, a very strange atmosphere overwhelmed the party mood. Only a few Amiga productions showed up. The PC demo competition was won by ''Cocoon'' with the heavy ''Syndrome'' demo, and the PC 64K intro competition was won by ''Quad'' with ''Theta''.
Future
A ''Wired'' was to be held in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
in 2000, but the idea was eventually dropped.
A
demoparty called ''
Rewired'' was planned for 2008 in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
, but there is no link with the original ''Wired'' (a different place, different organizers and a much smaller capacity of 250 people).
References
{{Reflist
External links
''Wired '94'' report by Sleeping Dog / The Natives''Wired'' demoparties results, reports and productions download
Demo parties
Entertainment events in Belgium
Recurring events established in 1994