A timeline of RE15's history and the hunt for it (1996-2013)

[RMandel]

Just the kind of stuff I needed to know! Thanks, Rombie. And thank you too, Mark. I thought "Mark Grass" was an online alias or pseudonym. My apologies.

Like I said before, this is a work in progress. There's a lot of stuff I've missed, and as it turned out I AM guilty (as I feared) of not correctly connecting all the dots due to incomplete data. This story is YOURS, guys -- not mine. I want to make sure I get it right -- or at least set in a form on which most of you can (or will?) agree.

I've been involved with acquiring rare games back in my youth - I once owned an original Phantasy Star MD cart, for example, in mint condition complete with the packaging - but the story of RE15 is unlike anything I've ever seen or heard about with regards to rare games. I know there's some rare games out there that have had just as much drama, but perhaps not as publically or for so long. Some of you have already talked about them in other threads. THIS just stands out above all the other hunts. Even the academics have taken note of it, and that's why I had that quote from Professor Hantke's book. Somebody else is bound to want to learn the whole story - or, maybe to be more accurate, as much as can be (or might ever be) told. I'm a guy who believes in "living history," as told by the people who experienced it - like Heroditus, or William L. Shirer, or countless other examples. No, the hunt for RE15 isn't a world-shaking event, but I believe it's unique in videogame history. That's why I want to document it - NOW - while I can, while most of the principal actors are still present and their memories are still fresh.

I'd eventually like to write a proper narrative history, of course - an online book complete with illustrations, like some I've done in the past. Gotta lay the foundation first, of course. That's where this outline comes in. Once everything's lined up and ready, THEN the rest can follow.

Oh, and thanks for the suggested book cover, Zombie_X. You're really good. Now I know who I can turn to for graphics in the future.

I've got a couple of days off coming up in my real-world job. I'll try to read everything and update the sections then.

Thanks, everyone - including my critics. I mean that. It may raise my hackles at times, but I'm honest enough to admit that good criticism always helps make a work better.

[Rombie]

Thoughts... excuse me these are just written at random.

Any references to "Google Groups" prior to any possible posts from the last 5 years should be replaced, Google is just running archives of Usenet, which is what all internet communication started on in the 80's - it predates modern internet itself. The group in particular where all those posts were was alt.games.resident-evil (which I was a mod on few a few years until online boards replaced most of their use).

On a personal note, I started Resident Evil A New Blood in 1999 after unsuccessful attempts working for other sites that went no where, I didn't create REFan - Roody did. I mearly merged with it in 2003 when I was stuggling to host a bandwidth hog of a site (visitor numbers were in the hundreds of thousands per month at that time and page impressions in the millions - average views were 6.something pages per visitor, it was absurd how much bandwidth was going and crippling my host). Roody was looking at closing and we kept both sites afloat that way. Project Omega now technically owns it. On that note in case anyone cares - RESitez started because Evil Online ran a webring which was very restrictive and elite with selected sites, so I wanted to support the community better which worked. RESitez closed in middle of 2004 simply because of server hosting issues, we couldn't afford to run the page impressions on REFan and RESitez off the same server.

SurvivHor's been around longer than you stated. imacwesker will tell you the specifics, but I'm fairly certain it goes back to later part 1998 at least.

Ditto on THIA itself. DotCal took over from Ice and it's been up since at least the very end of 1999 or start of 2000 as well. Ice and I used to trade materials here and there for quite a while. The Jan 05 thing was kinda of a relaunch with DotCal in charge only I believe. I also want to mention Marco from Totally RE (1999-2005) and Pure Evil (Milton) (who got me my first proper website space) who were also big prototype and community enthusiasts as well, and need to be mentioned in the early days because they, along with imacwesker, were some of the more sane people around the community with interest in early builds in those days. Along somewhat with Rammy from Biohazard Extreme of course.

I'd love to know who sourced TRG's Beta 1 shots back to 1999 as well. I don't recall them appearing until the site redesigned and joined Evil-Online in early 2000, but I might be mistaken. Scream may know but I don't even know if he was involved with the site back then.

Evil Online itself lasted for at least another couple of years.... it impoded mostly from it's community and Darkness (different than the one here I am always assuming), who was one of their mods, ran his own site off the back of it, Dark Legacy. He and the site was another one that Colvin used to have issues with for unknown reasons (he name checks them both in his rant in April 04 you quote).

It's worth mentioning that one of White Umbrella's biggest pulls for the short time it lasted was the fact that most of the early games and regional variations of them were ripped and hosted as fully downloadable ISO's. I'm not sure how happy people would be of me mentioining this, but it's true.

- One of EGM's reporters is visiting Capcom Japan at this time getting details on
RE3 - the newest installment in the franchise. He asks about RE15, and is both
shown the disc of the 80% build AND gets to play it for a limited time. He is
so excited about this that he forgets to write down any details about what he
experienced. Years later, he has to use the Bioflames collection images to
remind himself of what happened, and he is unable to remember anything more
beyond what is shown in those images.
[THIA user Rombie, quoting CVXFreak from one of the 8-4 podcasts]

Thats actually Mark M and John R who you mention via a 2005 post in the first file. CVX joined Mark for a Biohazard/RE Special podcast and they again discuss the 1.5 play they managed. If you can listen to it, it's worth grabbing the exact quotes for this document I think.

I think thats all I can add. I stepped away from the drama at the very start of 2007 for personal reasons and just dabbled in staying in touch with the community and being a voice in the background, so I'm sure everyone else here knows far more about more modern events than I.

[MeganGrass]

Interesting read.

I never would have imagined that someone would have gone to such lengths in order to produce something like this... it's... amazing, but in a good way. There's quite a lot of stuff that's happened through the years that could make for an interesting read, most especially the juicy stuff that's never been revealed.

...just a few things:

"RE uber-PMOdding expert Mark Grass also has fond memories of White Umbrella. He was new to the RE scene at the time, and for him it was a dream come true."

I wasn't new to the scene, at that time (unless one would consider 2+ years to be new). In fact, I was a staff member of the 'Neo' version of White Umbrella (Neo-WU). Scream can give much more information about Neo-WU, and the history of Neo/White Umbrella.

Also, not too fond of the "RE uber-PModding expert" prefix... In spite of the fact I've created the first tools this scene ever had (and personally developed the fake ego/character that comes with all that attention), I have never produced a single mod - none that were publicly released, anyway. I obviously can't tell you how to write your own piece, but that prefix is too much, even for me.

...and one last, small request. If you're going to use my real name, Mark Grass, you'd might as well throw my middle initial in there (Mark E. Grass). My 'alias'/alter-ego, MarkGrass, works too. Sorry, I'm just kinda picky about that.

...otherwise, you deserve some spanking/praise for your research.

On the subject of Colvin, while I agree with News Bot that he has contributed much more than your average user, he brought all the negative attention upon himself. No one can change or defend that. Also, how old is Joel, really? When I talked to him (in-depth) around 2007-2008-ish, he told me that he was my age (even went as-far as to provide pictures of himself). And now, I find out he was a 14 year old kid?! If that's the case, I feel especially weird and very uncomfortable, given the conversations we had.

[Zombie_X]

Here should be the cover of the book:

[Renard]

Really great work on this, it's very interesting. I've only read the first one, but I'll read the others later because my eyes are BURNING.

It's interesting, Mikami and the other guy don't seem too negative towards 1.5. But the director, Kamiya, has even gone so far as to call 1.5 "garbage".

You should give it a name like "In the darkness of RE1.5", the unofficial true story by Rmandel !

[Rombie]

I've skimmed over and seen a few issues. I'll need to re read later for more specifics. I suggest too making a fifth file which is a glossary of terms and people involved for reference due to the size of the other documents.

[Dark Biohazard]

Looks very interesting, thanks RMandel!

[Ohmycod]

This is incredible! The amount of despair, betrayal, and drama all for this one beta.

That made for a very interesting read, furthermore I also like your 1.5 what if video's that you've uploaded. I always enjoy anything new you have to Offer Richard, keep it up.

[RMandel]

Thanks for the info on Project Umbrella. Have updated and corrected accordingly.

[News Bot]

I'm afraid I take particular issue with this passage in the third file:

- Colvin (aka Joel Welsh) finally succeeds in rebooting the old White Umbrella
server and transforming it into his vision of what should be the best RE site
on the Internet. Now renamed Project Umbrella, its chief focus is on the
history told within the games and how they all interrelate with each other in
a "canon" form. Thus, after its own fashion and according to its own
particular idiom, Project Umbrella becomes possibly the best RE reference site
"for all things canon."
[THIA's Newsbot is one of the site's major contributors. To be fair, it REALLY
IS a good site for RE canon research. You'll find things there you won't find
anywhere else - if that's what you're into. Colvin may have started the thing
out of spite for Steam regarding their old TRG feud (and he had a hellua head
start in resources with his personal copy of the old White Umbrella archives,
but Project Umbrella eventually grew beyond its questionable origins. That was
and is thanks in no small part to the people who came in and helped him build it
up. People like Newsbot, for example. You'll also see a lot of familiar names
in the Project Umbrella forums ....]

1) Project Umbrella has no relation to White Umbrella. Literally nothing. I wasn't even on the Internet when WU was around.

2) I am not a PU contributor. I am the owner.

3) PU was started by myself and Krispy in 2006 after we met on reHorror and initially wanted to do a "Resident Evil Media" hub before the idea expanded, and we brought on other reHorror members Neptune and Chimera, and El Bastardo and Mr. Spencer from Metal Gear Solid: The Unofficial Site.

4) Colvin offered to contribute in about late 2009. He was not involved with the site's formulation or foundation, but has since become a major contributor. He has no control over the site itself. I am the only one with control over the site, although I give most of the staff free reign on things like the podcast, moderation etc.

I'm disappointed in that, especially when the site's origins are detailed in the FAQ. Regarding Colvin himself, despite some very disappointing missteps over the years, he has contributed more to the community than most people can ever claim to. He was 14 at the time of most of the "original drama" of the community, so I personally don't think it's fair to judge him based on those. That said, I am never pleased when he messes up in the community in current times. Despite that, he still does more work than most and is very dedicated to what he does (to his own detriment at times). He's currently working on a "Making of BIO HAZARD" book and has conducted or helped to conduct countless interviews with CAPCOM staff. Even a small portion of what I've seen from the book will blow people away.

[RMandel]

Added Part 3, dealing with the whole Curator business and the public aftermath of all that. Go to the first post for the link. I also need to correct an error in Part 2 on the entry for the Biohaze website. "Yama" is not the same as "yami," the guy who did the initial background work for Dominion's Dark Biohazard PMOD. My apologies for that goof.

[Deathlygasm]

Amazing how much I am learning about 1.5's history through this

[ajrich17901]

Very well written thanks a lot dude, reading the second part now.

[Enigmatism415]

At the rate you're going, I'll soon see your face on the business end of a hardcover publication entitled "The One That Got Away: Join Richard Mandel as he here provides an exclusive in-depth look at the history and the mystery behind the most elusive prototype to date". I see a book deal in the making!