Razor 1911 (RZR) 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. Shortly after, they
changed from 2992 to 1911 which translates to 777 in hexadecimal.
Between 1987 and 1988 the group began
to move away from the Commodore 64 and migrated to a new hardware
platform, coding demos and cracking games for the Amiga. In the very
early 1990s Razor 1911 made another transition, this time to the IBM
PC, foremost as a cracking group, but still continuing to release
cracktro loaders, demos and music.
Razor was a supply group on diskette
from 1992 until diskettes were abandoned for CD-ROMs. Throughout the
1990s Razor faced competition from many different groups, ranging
from groups such as Tristar & Red Sector inc. (TRSi), Pirates
with Attitude (PWA), The Dream Team (TDT) and Fairlight (FLT) in 1994
to Prestige, Hybrid (HBD), and others in 1995. Razor was revitalised
by new members gained from another group, Nexus, who brought with
them some UK suppliers and the leaders The Speed Racer (TSR), Hot
Tuna and The Gecko. Razor had a handful of others throughout the
1990s, such as Zodact, The Renegade Chemist (TRC), The WiTcH KiNG,
Butcher, SwiTch, Marauder, and Randall Flagg.
In 1995 diskette releases were rapidly
being supplanted by CD-ROMs, and Razor 1911 moved into the CD-ripping
scene. The crew that led Razor into this new chapter included members
such as TSR, Pharaoh, Fatal Error, Third Son, Hot Tuna, Beowulf,
Pitbull, Bunter, Manhunter, Vitas, and The Punisher.
Razor once again took on a new
challenge when the ISO scene was formed. Razor 1911 began to release
ISOs when they became the standard of the day, led most significantly
by The Punisher. He was instrumental in Razor's recovery and its
solid performance in the ISO scene. Following The Punisher's
retirement, Razor was led by various different people and underwent
some internal problems in the form of leadership challenges. This was
solved when Pitbull, an old Razor member from the 1990s, took over
the leadership role. The FBI claimed him to still be the leader of
Razor at the time when "Operation Buccaneer", an
international anti-piracy operation which led to raids at the homes
of over 60 piracy suspects worldwide in 2001, was carried out even
though NFOs and scene activity at the time points out The Renegade
Chemist as actual leader of the group.
Return
On June 22, 2006, Razor 1911 started
releasing games again. They have been releasing games fairly
consistently ever since, and as of 2010 are among the most prolific
groups at cracking new releases.
Shane Pitman (Pitbull) is no longer
involved with the group and has a role on the Neowin.net forums, as
part of their moderating and news posting team.
On April 22, 2011, Razor 1911's demo
division won the public choice award during the Scene.org Awards
ceremony at The Gathering for their 64k intro "Insert No Coins"
coded by Rez with music from Dubmood.
