March 2nd, 2009
Home of the Underdogs Revival Project
[UPDATE 2/3 PM: Fixed Excel file download link. Sorry folks 
]
Dear Home of the Underdogs fans,
I know it’s been almost forever since I last talked about abandonware or HoTU on this blog, forever since I last updated the site (3 years! How time flies). Now that HoTU is down permanently because our wonderful webhost (they *are* really wonderful; I’m not being facetious here) has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S., I think it’s time to update everyone on the situation, and how we can all help to revive the site 
First of all, I’d like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who sent me e-mails offering condolences, encouragement, pleas to get it back up, etc. All of you reminded me of the reason I started this site in the first place.
So here’s the current situation:
The games: as appalling as it may seem, I don’t have all the files anymore. I can probably try to find most of them on my archive CDs that are scattered around the house, but I suspect that getting them again from the Internet might be easier 
I have seen quite a few “HoTU games” torrents around the web.
The database content: I guess this was one major reason people came to HoTU. The good news is that ALL of the database content (game reviews, info, classifications etc.) is still intact (minus stats like download frequency, file size etc. that could be auto-generated again anyway) because I keep the info in one big Excel file – feel free to download the Excel master file here (14MB).
The web pages/organization: The site archive.org has archived some old versions of the site. But Mr.Creosote, a fellow “abandonware webmaster” has done one better by archiving site organization and so on – you can see his amazing efforts here: http://www.goodolddays.net/hotud/
Now that there have been quite a few kind souls who have offered to revive the site and keep it going, I think it’s time to make the discussion public – please join the HoTU Revival Project Google Groups if you would like to help. I will stop posting about HoTU here since this is meant to be just a personal blog.
I would like to also announce that I am leaving the huge (but hopefully not thankless) task of reviving HoTU in the competent hands of Dan Pinchbeck of Advanced Games Research Group at University of Portsmouth who just started a major game emulation/preservation project at his university. I will join the discussion on Google Group and help do whatever I can.
HoTU is no longer “my site” and it was never really mine to begin with, because without wonderful games there would never be HoTU. I always think of myself as only a caretaker of those games, although the site did naturally have to reflect my own tastes ;P
That said, I have a few basic wishes that I hope will be shared by the new caretaker(s):
1. The new HoTU should be a community-driven site that has Wiki-style content so that everyone can help update the games’ information, add their own reviews, etc.
2. Nobody should ever pay anything to download games (I had to use a lot of annoying banner advertising to cover bandwidth costs; I’m not sure how expensive/cheap webhosting is right now; it would be great if there could be fewer annoying pop-ups).
3. People should be able to add their own entries & files (subject to some editorial approval).
Looking back, I probably deserve the sorry fate of HoTU as I had been neglecting it for close to 3 years (in Buddhist terms we say “that’s karma”). But as clichéd as it may seem, life really did intervene in a big way and I have gotten myself preoccupied with many endeavors that eat up all of my free time. I shouldn’t complain, though, because I am not doing anything that I wish I weren’t.
I also still play games, although much less than before (my current favorites are Auditorium, Opera Omnia and Crayon Physics Deluxe. Indie games have really taken off). One of my columns (for a Thai indie film/art magazine) is even about “serious games”
Thank you again to all of you who helped give me inspiration to maintain HoTU for so long, sorry for having ‘disappeared’ for years, a huge THANK YOU to Dan, Mr.Creosote, and everyone who offered to help revive the site. Here’s hoping that we’ll see the revival of HoTU in some shape or form at some point in the future.
Hope to ‘see’ you on the HoTU Revival Project Google Group
Popularity: 11% [?]
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Thanks for this… All of it
i love(d) HoTU and learned tons of great new things about games through the site. Thank you so very much for it!
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:16 pm
I can’t download the Excel master file. ToT’
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:21 pm
did: oops, sorry– forgot an “s” in “/uploads/” ..fixed now; please try again
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Oops!!!,
Thank you so very much for the great information.
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:55 pm
[…] Eumel made a comment about this in the earlier post, but for those of you who don’t read the comments, Sarinee Achavanuntakul has made a public statement about the future of Home of the Underdogs. […]
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Thank you for all the great years. It was a great ride while it lasted and thank you for letting me be part of it!
March 3rd, 2009 at 3:00 am
Hi there,
First of all, thank you so much!: I remember Hotu since several years ago and I cannot express how I felt when I read your post today.
I knew Hotu since several years ago and I wanted to make a visit again last week, motivated by Steven Levy’s book “Hackers”. If you have some time, try to make a peek on it: the story of the first videogames and their makers is wonderful and very exciting.
Thank you for your help to rebirth this legacy!
March 3rd, 2009 at 5:43 am
I thought you stopped loving us.
Though I have grown bitter over the years, I still view HOTU was an important part of my life, which probably tells that I should have gone out more and went to touch grrrrls. Regardless, HOTU did a great service to the general gaming populace in keeping regards of the classics, and you and it deserves all the praises it gets for the effort from me and from others.
Even if you dumped us. >:(
March 3rd, 2009 at 6:14 am
This has really cheered me up greatly and it’s fantastic to hear that HOTU will live on in some form. It was a fantastic resource and a big thank you from me for what it’s worth for all the effort and time you put into it while you could.
It really has been appreciated by many, many gamers and old nostalgics.
A big thank you to the new crew for being able to help keep the HOTU going in some new form for the future. Best wishes to all.
March 3rd, 2009 at 7:52 pm
ขอบคุณครับ
March 4th, 2009 at 1:27 am
สารภาพว่าผมรู้จักคุณสฤณีได้ ก็เพราะตามลิงค์จาก Home of the Underdogs มานั่นแหละ
ตอนนี้นอกจากเป็นขาจรในบล็อกแล้ว ยังเป็นแฟนหนังสือด้วย
เกมแรกที่ดาวน์โหลดคือ Princess Maker 2 ปรากฏว่าผมเล่นเป็นบ้าเป็นหลังอยู่เดือนนึงเต็มๆ จนเกรดตก
สงสัยจะ “อิน” กับความเป็นพ่อมากไปหน่อย…
ช่วงหลังๆ ไม่เห็นมีเกมใหม่ แต่ก็ยังดาวน์โหลดได้อยู่ ก็ไม่ได้เดือดร้อนอะไรมากนัก
พอดาวน์โหลดไม่ได้ ก็คิดว่าเอาเหอะ… เดี๋ยวก็กลับมาน่า
แต่พอไซต์หายไปจริงๆ ก็ใจหายเลยครับ
ยินดีที่ได้ยินว่าจะมีการรื้อฟื้นไซต์ขึ้นมาใหม่ครับ
แถมจะกลายเป็น HotU 2.0 ด้วย ยิ่งดีเข้าไปใหญ่
จะติดตามด้วยความระทึกในหทัยพลันต่อไปครับ
และถ้ามีเกมไหนที่ขาด แล้วผมมีในเครื่อง (ซึ่งก็โหลดมาจากไซต์เก่านั่นแหละ) ก็จะช่วยอัพโหลดให้อีกแรงครับ
—–
For our foreign readers:
I am just reliving my good memories I have of the old HotU.
The first game I downloaded was Princess Maker 2. I played it like crazy for a month, and my college grades suffered as a result. Okay, that might not be a really good memory, but still.
The site also brought me to Miss Achavanuntakul’s intellectual works. I am now a fan of her books and this blog.
The demise of HotU is a tragedy. I’m glad to hear there’s a revival project going on. I’m looking forward to HotU 2.0 with high hopes.
March 5th, 2009 at 10:22 am
This is the best news I have heard all week.
Thank you.
March 5th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
I have a few of the games still in compressed files if you need them. ill check back
Tyler
March 6th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Well darn. After all that effort to get my account re-activated, only to have HOTU go down. I will really really miss it. Here’s hoping it comes back in some form or another.
March 6th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Ca c’est cool !
March 7th, 2009 at 5:16 am
[…] Crayon Physics is a fascinating 2D physics sandbox/game, which came to my attention today when I was reading Sarinee Achavanuntakul’s blog entry about the sad HotU (Home of the Underdogs) demise and, more than welcomed, revival. Sarinee mentioned Crayon Physics Deluxe in her blog post, and I checked it out. What I saw in the flash video was jaw-dropping. Crayon Physics is not just an indie game, but imho a great educational tool in which you really get to experience “what it would be like if your drawings would be magically transformed into real physical objects”. I wonder, is there an open-source counterpart for creative use of physics? […]
March 8th, 2009 at 1:29 am
Hi. Just wanted to stop by and say thanks for your good efforts on the site when it was around
It was a bastion of my younger years, and I learned alot from it (of which I guess I mean you), the way it was run, and from the community (well…. at least some of them 
).
March 8th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Hello Ms. Achavanuntakul,
I too loved the site, especially the reviews and forums. Thank you for all of your efforts, past and present. Could you talk a little more about how/why your interests changed so? To go from an encyclopedic knowledge of gaming to playing very little is a big shift - is it the modern games themselves or simply a reduced/replaced interest? Thank you, from a big fan.
March 9th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Just a few days before the site went down for the last time, Hartmann posted in the new “And Which Country Are YOU From?” thread on the HOTU forums. How fitting that someone who had been such a big part of the HOTU community early on would reappear after so many years and post a final message shortly before the Home of the Underdogs was lost forever.
I will miss the Home of the Underdogs after having spent so much time there all those years. All I am going to say, however, is thanks for the memories.
March 11th, 2009 at 7:32 am
Having stumbled across your blog, I just want to say thank you so much for hosting HotU; it was absolutely one of my favourite bits of the internet. Thank you!
March 12th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
[…] Former HOTU boss Sirenee popped up a post recently revealing that there are revival plans for the site - somewhat complicated by the fact she no longer has copies of all the games she used to host. So, to get the place up and running again would involve, as well as jumping through hosting and law-dodging hoops, someone aggregating all the former content. That’d be these guys, then. […]
March 13th, 2009 at 2:03 am
Awesome and thanks for everything through the years. I love everything you’ve done for me as well as the gaming community as a whole
March 13th, 2009 at 2:29 am
Just another grateful HOTU fan, wanting to thank you for your fantastic efforts over the years, and to wish you the best with your other endeavours!
March 13th, 2009 at 11:24 am
many thanks for many years of fun. i will forever be grateful for your help in shaping me into who i am now.
March 14th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
I have always been a tremendous fan of HOTU and wanted to thank you personally for the many years of allowing me to relive my childhood. I hope the revival goes well!
March 16th, 2009 at 2:27 am
I also wanted to thank you for your incredible engagement, you´ve done so much for the Gaming Community it´s unbelievable.
Best wishes from Austria.
March 16th, 2009 at 3:46 am
[…] Happily, discussions have begun on reviving the HotU website. Sarinee herself has talked about it on Fringer, and has handed over the reins to her “successor” Dan Pinchbeck. She said she will be joining the discussions over at Google Groups and help wherever she can. […]
March 16th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
More or less each six months (or whenever I feel nostalgic) I type “Home of the Underdogs” in Google… and today I got this really big and good surprise.
How could I expect this awesome news? I’m really glad all this is going on! All the praise you receive for your contribution to the gaminG community will never be enough.
Thanks!
March 18th, 2009 at 11:44 am
HoTU was one of my favorites! No wonder, since it gave me System Shock 1 and 2 -and some of the best gaming experiences I’ve had. I’m very happy about this! Thanks for all your efforts!
March 19th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Hey there,
I was just trying to visit HotU, and realized it was gone! Found out what happened on wiki, and I’m very sad. I discovered it a few years back and loved what you were doing. Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for the relived memories. Hope all is going well with you
March 20th, 2009 at 3:51 am
I’d love to see that!
March 28th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Late as always, but great news anyway.
Anyway, I’ve booted up the old computer again, and it’s working fine as always, so if anyone’s looking for missing sports game, get in touch with me, as I might have it.
March 31st, 2009 at 12:36 pm
[…] the underdogs shaped my own attitude toward free culture as it applies to games. it was the place where the scratchware manifesto was first posted. it hosted my earliest games. the good news is that while the files themselves were lost (meaning that some less-known games may have been lost forever), the texts on those games - the history - has been preserved. the difficult work of reconstructing the library has begun. […]
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:10 am
Thank you very much.
I found HotU before fringer.org and didn’t know in the first place that the owners are the same person.
Now that I’m a big fan of Fringer,
but I won’t forget HotU.
I’ve enjoyed the information on HotU very much.
April 4th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Thank you very much…
Que les cieux vous soient cléments pour des milliers et des milliers d’années
April 5th, 2009 at 3:12 am
Thank you for your time, your effort, your devotion, your utter selfless generosity in creating and maintaining the site as long as you did.
April 7th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Good to hear all the abandoned games won’t truly be abandoned!
I do miss that site and forum, always nice to talk to like minded people and fellow procrastinators searching for ever more obscure games to trial
Good suggestions on getting HOTU up and running again, I think it might just take a whole community of people to bring the same drive that a single sarinee brought to the place
April 9th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Man, it sure was sad to see that the old HotU had disappeared
Nice to hear that it is being reconstructed/revived elsewhere though 
I’ve been surfing to the HotU site since it’s early days, and the original will surely be missed.
April 11th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
[…] El 2 de marzo de este año, Fringer publicó por primera vez en su blog noticias sobre el proyecto de revival del site original (hay un grupo en Google). En el post, anuncia que pretende mantenerse al márgen, y dejar el grueso del proyecto a Dan Pinchbeck (no el del LSD, el de Chinese Room). En el post además, hay un enlace desde el que te puedes descargar un excel con toda la información del site original, y cuando digo toda, quiero decir toda: reviews, fichas de los juegos, comentarios, etc… Una joya. […]
April 16th, 2009 at 7:13 am
Thank you so much for the endless amount of enjoyment I got from your site over the years. It’s real value was not only in it’s archives, but in your personal reviews and recommendations. I learned so much by investigating what you had deemed “Top Dogs” and I can’t thank you enough for that. I treasured your site and will do all I can to help with it’s revival.
April 23rd, 2009 at 9:47 pm
I am so pleased to see the revival of HOTU becoming real !
I remember discovering the site in its black layout back in 1999, downloading awesome games with my mighty 56k modem.
I always came back to the site for abandonware and tries to contribute with a game (in French so not really helpful though). When HOTU went down, I thought it was the publishers who as killed it. I am so glad it was not the case and that HOTU is going to live again!
Fringer, you are my personal web heroin! What you started and how it became huge before dying at the peak of its glory is a fantastic piece of internet history imo.
April 28th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Fo years HOTU was my fave site. Thanks a million for the amazing work.
XX!
September 5th, 2009 at 6:56 am
September 24th, 2009 at 10:08 am
Ms. Achavanuntakul, Thank you for all your efforts over the years with HoTU. Many countless hours have been spent on that site!
February 23rd, 2010 at 8:49 pm
Dear Sarinee,
Thank you for all you did for HOTU! Thanks to you I found some lost games I thought I would never find again!
Im happy to see that your legacy is still alive
Wish you all the best!
June 10th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Ms. Sarinee,
Thank you for your efforts! Over the past decade, you brought happiness to more people than you probably imagine.
Wish I could read your postings in Thai…
- Greetings from Korea