Kalisto is a console

Video 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

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....

 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...

 (PS1) 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...

 (PS2) 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.

Kalisto and the Dreamcast

Kalisto first entered into the Dreamcast scene on June 26, 2000 with the release of the title Evolution: The World of Sacred Device

Evolution: The World of Sacred Device

Evolution: The World of Sacred Device is a console role-playing game for the Dreamcast console. It was developed by Sting and published by Ubisoft in North America and Europe. In Japan it was published by ESP .Evolution is a dungeon crawling game that follows the adventures of Mag Launcher...

. By August 19, 2000, Kalisto had determined how to rip and redistribute Dreamcast GD-ROM

GD-ROM

GD-ROM is the proprietary optical disc format used by the Dreamcast games console, as well as its arcade counterparts and the Sega/Nintendo/Namco Triforce arcade system...

s as CD-ROM

CD-ROM

A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....

 ISOs without the need for a swappable "bootdisk" CD-ROM. A few weeks later, on September 2, 2000, Kalisto claimed that Sega provided a financial incentive for them to stop releasing games for the Dreamcast platform:

Sega has offered us stock options to stop releasing DC, so this will be it, our last release. Thanks to all who have supported us throughout our stay in the DC scene. Take note this is NOT a joke. We are really stopping all DC operations with this release. We will continue on with the PSX

PSX

PSX may refer to:* PlayStation , sometimes referred to unofficially as PSX** PSX , a PlayStation 2-based digital video recorder** pSX, a freeware PlayStation Emulator for the Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems...

. Bye.

While the claim of stock options was allegedly a joke, Kalisto ceased all releases for the Dreamcast shortly after and focused entirely on PlayStation games. Immediately after, a new group called Echelon

Echelon (warez)

Echelon is a warez group which specializes in the illegal release and distribution of copyrighted console games, such as Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 ISO images...

 emerged on September 4, 2000, picking up the slack to later become the number one release group for the Dreamcast. At the time of this transition, there was much speculation that Kalisto and Echelon were one and the same. It was later revealed on November 15th 2005 in Echelon's Dragon Quest VIII USA PS2 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...

, that Echelon was indeed Kalisto. The nfo stated We errr Kalisto released it on November 2nd 2001 as Dragon_Warrior_VII_USA_PS1-KALISTO, referring to the previous game in the series and then the nfo ended with -- the dragon warrior of KALiSTO.

Operation Fastlink

In 2004, Kalisto was named as one of six groups targeted as part of 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...

 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...

. The group lost a major archive site that was located in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. Their leading supplier Seth Kleinberg a.k.a. Basilisk was busted in the process.