Home Of The Underdogs Goes Under

[Andy Chalk]

Home Of The Underdogs Goes Under

Home of the Underdogs, the most widely-recognized and enduring abandonware site on the net, is no more.

The bad news came in the form of a Flash of Steel [http://twitter.com/] notes, the site's demise has been a long time coming; it was, perhaps a touch ironically, abandoned by Achavanuntakul, who last updated in 2006. But the game information, the reviews and the commentary all remained intact and it stayed a popular destination for people seeking out old and obscure games from days long ago.

Unlike conventional gaming sites, Home of the Underdogs was as much as museum as it was a download site, focusing exclusively on older and little-known games. Entries on the site typically included detailed information about the developer and publisher, system requirements, reviews, ratings and more, while various "how-tos" and links to old game manuals and related sites were also featured.

The site drew significant hits in its heyday, claiming more than 50,000 unique visitors daily and an average of over eight million page views per month. And although it was rescued from oblivion after briefly going offline in September 2008, that seems unlikely to happen again. Other abandonware sites will help ensure that the great history preserved by HotU remains accessible, but it's nonetheless a sad loss for gamers with a love for the classics.


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[sunami88]

I shed a tear for this site. A man tear, but still a tear. Back in the day, it was a site I frequented at least twice a week (sometimes during class ).

RIP Underdogs. You will be missed.

 

[Tiamat666]

Damn, that sucks. I've looked up stuff on HoTU numerous times. To me, it was the Wikipedia of DOS games. (Other games also, but I looked up mainly old MS-DOS titles)

 

[Mokuren]

Man, this sucks, I've used that site countless times in the past and had so much fun.

What saddens me more is that its Most Wanted list will remain unfulfilled, I was so terribly curious about some of the entries...

 

[Abedeus]

Gah, a great page lost...

The best source of abandonware informations on the Net is gone.

 

[Pipotchi]

Ah good times with that site, made me feel like a right elitist knowing how many of thoese games I had played

RIP HOTU

 

[Airhead]

I`ve been visiting this page since so many years ago. Found many good, little-known games. Sad.

 

[LesIsMore]

Moment of silence indeed. This site actually served as the inspiration for my feature on abandonware back in November, The Vintage Game Preservation Society. While it didn't have any current updates and therefore wasn't mentioned too heavily in the article beyond the introduction, it was a strong example of the culture abandonware was in support of.

 

[StartRunning]

I didn't go there often, but I always appreciated it. For, you know, just being there for me.

 

[nww02]

That's a damn shame. I loved HOTU. I hope the code / site can be resurrected elsewhere some day. Nowhere else was a patch on it.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

HOTU was one of a kind in a sea of imitators.

 

[Milkman Dan]

The end of an era. I think that even when it was still updating, toward the end I stopped downloading anything and instead just read the new entries. It helped me discover games I'd never even heard of, and which I loved. The Magic Candle games is one of my all-time favorite series, but I'd never even heard of Bloodstone: An Epic Dwarven Tale until I came across it on HOTU. What a find!

 

[Yog Sothoth]

I too feel that I should pay my respects with a moment of silence for Home of the Underdogs. I really loved that site, and will miss it dearly.

 

[Art Axiv]

Fuck.

Now I will have to pay for oldies :/ Old games should be counted as our cultural goods and history.

 

[Blank__]

Yeah, it long since stopped being a go-to place to download old games (torrents and HotU clones make it redundant), but the information contained within was fantastic, right to the end. It's a darn shame to see it close its doors for good. I learned of, played, and purchased many, many games based on his recommendations. They were almost always spot on.

 

[sharp_as_a_cork]

goodbye, HotU...

 

[Elurindel]

Oh, that's awful. I used the site once, but I found it to be a good site.I'm all for the preservation of games whose day has gone, so I really hope other sites will help pick up the data on HotU.

 

[Liverandbacon]

This is tragic. HotU was a great site, even when it stopped getting updated. It helped me discover a bunch of games I had missed out on.

 

[Bongo Bill]

The games weren't the really important part of this. Abandonware sites come and go, and HotU really didn't have enough bandwidth to host all of those otherwise-unavailable games. But, in the days before Mobygames [http://www.mobygames.com/]' database got really substantial, it was a gold mine of information: the games were described, categorized, and reviewed, with information not just about the release date, platform, publisher, and developer, but also grouped into very precise genres, sorted according to theme, and cross-referenced with similar games. If I wanted to know something about an old game, oftentimes I'd check HotU's page on it first.

 

[Captain Blackout]

Fuck.

Now I will have to pay for oldies :/ Old games should be counted as our cultural goods and history.

Start a political movement. Call up the pirate party (yes, they really exist, look 'em up. I'm a card carrying member.)

If you can get old games politically recognized (good luck) or some such as cultural history, you might find a way to continue preservation ad infinitum.