News Archive

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October 1, 2005: Time definitely flies when you're having fun ;) Actually, I've got more free time now, but some of my time is spent on writing and translating articles (English to Thai mostly) for various people, a fun hobby I'd like to make a living with some day. All of my non-game writings/opinions are up at Fringer, a personal blog I started in August. Stuff I write about games will probably be filed under "Free Culture" category there, but most of it will be about non-game stuff. So, if you're interested in a Thai Buddhist's views on local politics, Buddhism, economics, Asian movies, and random stuff that most blogs are about, take a look :) I'm trying to update it every few days too, in my attempt to become a better writer. As for HOTU: I'm experimenting with a new 'schedule' - less games per update, but more frequent updates. I think this is what most of you want, judging from e-mails. So, I'll be trying to stick to a monthly interval, with 15-20 games per update from now on. Let's see how long I can stick to this one ;)

• In Action: Nomltest FS, Ocular Ink, Jabberwock, Guardian of Paradise, Pitfall, Snake Ultimate Version, Kumoon, Light Warrior, Food Force, Mutton Mayhem, The Interstate '76 Arsenal (new HOBF inductee), Adagio
• In Adventure: OnEscapee, Soviet Unterz�gersdorf, Emily Enough
• In Puzzle: Prisoner, Watomic, Hangman
• In RPG: 3059
• In Simulation: JFK Reloaded, Graduation
• In Strategy: Chess 88, Computer Dots, Monopoly [1985], Yatzee, Sleuth: A Murder Mystery

Latest modifications to existing entries:

• New version of exising downloads: Meteor, Gunroar, Deuteros, Afterlife
• Download added: Capitalism Plus (CD-rip), Arcomage (CD-rip), Stars!, Rob Blanc 3

Latest Documentation for existing games:

• PDF manuals: The Fourth Protocol, Fire and Ice (correct oopy protection codes)

July 18, 2005: Wow, amazingly enough, it's been over 3 months since the last site update - which means I *did* break my promise. Sorry about that, folks - lots of work and some personal headaches led to a severe loss of free time for me. But at least I hope that regular visitors have already had a chance to check out 70+ new underdogs that are announced here for the first time ;) I still have yet to integrate HOTU themes back to our forum, which means gamehost functions and comments still don't work properly (although it *is* possible to apply to become gamehosts - I have already accepted a few new gamehosts since May, 2005). As always, this update brings you a slew of new, abandoned, and freeware underdogs - including several Hall of Belated Fame inductees that will definitely occupy you for months to come. Okay, no promises this time as to when the next update will be.. but I definitely will work on improving the interval ;)

• In Gamebooks Collection: Fabled Lands: book #1, #3, #4, #6
• In Action: Driver, ArmJoe, Moon Child, The Reap, Dan! Da! Dan!, Genocide Sa-Ga, Fracas [Geckosoft], Crystal Towers, Splinter Source, Flatspace, Starscape (new HOBF inductee), Caveship, Zombie Smashers X2, Gunroar, A Game With A Kitty, Jailbreak, Sky Puppy, Wunda Flossy, Ork Attack, Kingpin: Life of Crime, Mall Monster, Tigershark, No Gravity, BreakQuest (new HOBF inductee), Privateer Remake, Giant: Citizen Kabuto
• In Adventure: Star Trek: Hidden Evil, Unshadowed, Mortville Manor [Atari ST], Goody Remake, The Ur-Quan Masters (new HOBF inductee), Invincible Island, The Young Gabriel King Chronicles, Saturday School, Wanted: Monty Mole
• In Interactive Fiction: All Things Devours, Mingsheng, Luminous Horizons, Earth and Sky, Blue Chairs, Goose, Egg, Badger, Square Circle, Sting of the Wasp, Bolivia By Night, Whom The Telling Changed, The Fire Tower, Facade, Peasant's Quest, Deranged Wizard's Castle
• In Puzzle: Silence of the Chicks, Babala, Mission Missyo, Lumines, Simple Sudoku, Skooter
• In RPG: Sweet Home [NES], Iter Vehemens ad Necem, Mount&Blade, Descent to Undermountain
• In Simulation: Flight Simulator Flight Shop, Oddballz
• In Sport: Total Knockout Boxing, Minigolf 1Shot, World Championship Soccer, KO: Ultra-realistic Boxing, F1 Manager 2000, Formula De
• In Strategy: Europa 1400 Gold (new HOBF inductee), Imperium Galactica, Deuteros: The Next Millennium [Atari ST] (new HOBF inductee), Robot Battle, Spice Trade, LeGame, Dvonner, Fearsome Floors, Arcomage, wxSpellcast, Transsib, RealmSpeak, El Grande, Puerto Rico, Shadow Watch
• In War: MegaMek

Latest modifications to existing entries:

• New version of exising downloads: Flight Unlimited 2 (replaced Flight Unlimited with this much-better sequel), Gremlins 2: A New Batch (replaced file with working version), Zelda Classic, Apprentice, N, Seiklus, Project Xenophobe, Wire Hang Redux, GeneRally, AVS (formerly named Kakutuku), Dogfight, UFOs (replaced file with full CD-ROM version)
• Download added: Largo Winch (CD-rip), Lemmings Paintball (CD-rip), Lemmings for Windows 95, Quarantine 2: Road Warrior (CD-rip), Magic Carpet Plus (CD-rip), Imperialism II (CD-rip), Carnivores: Ice Age (CD-rip), Gobliins 2, Stargunner (CD-rip), Lost in Time (CD-rip), Aces of the Deep, Alien Carnage, Card Hunter Sakura 2 (CD-rip), Space Hulk, Worlds of Ultima: Savage Empire, Chuck Yeager's Air Combat, Wing Commander Academy, Seven Cities of Gold, Populous II, ShadowCaster, Forbes Corporate Warrior, Startopia (CD-rip)

Latest Documentation for existing games:

• PDF manuals: Gothic, Gone Fishin', Imperialism, Imperialism II, Computer Quarterback
• TXT manual: Heaven & Earth

April 10, 2005:

Finally! After 3+ months since the last update, definitely the longest interval in site history, we're back :) I'm sure that by now a lot of longtime HOTU regulars will know how to 'monitor' new additions without counting on this page update, though. If you don't want to wait for the next update of this news page, just watch that tally ;)

The combination of hacking attempts and very heavy workload at my real-life job was the culprit. As you can see, our forum is back up now, although I still have to integrate HOTU themes, which means gamehost functions still don't work properly. I'm trying to get that fixed in the coming weeks, so please be patient. I have also fixed all the PHP bugs I'm aware of (that actually *became* bugs only because we have tightened server/site security after the last hacking attempt that brought our forum down for over a month) - this means all the sort options (e.g. by subgenres) should work now. If there is still any problem with using the site, or if some features are still not working properly, let me know (aside from the gamehost functions, that is). In the meantime, check out 60+ new underdogs that include a couple of superb new HOBF inductees and, naturally, more rare oldies. See you next time - and I promise it won't be another 3 months! :)

• In Action: Nikujin, mono, Deadline [2004], Doukutsu Monogatari (a.k.a. Cave Story), Winged Gear, Ragdoll Matrix, Super Monster Painter Extreme, Wire Robo, Jonny RPG, Wandering Fighter, The Historical League of Bouncy Boxing, Squares X, Darwinia (new HOBF inductee), Bernard and Hank, Atomic Butcher, Vigilance on Talos V, Liquisity
• In Adventure: Abducted: 10 Minutes, Other Worlds, Project Xenophobe, The Misadventures of Tron Bonne [PSX]
• In Education: Tommy: The Interactive Adventure
• In Interactive Fiction: The Dreamhold, The Isle of the Cult, Future Boy!
• In Puzzle: 1993tris, Finger Flashing [PSX], Essence Child, Serai Puzzle, Tower of Goo Unlimited, DROD: Journey to Rooted Hold (new HOBF inductee)
• In RPG: DOOM: The Roguelike, Harvest Moon: Back to Nature [PSX], Laxius Power III
• In Simulation: Gene Pool
• In Sport: 1994pool, Manchester United: The Official Computer Game, Dolphin Powerboating Simulator III
• In Strategy: Akron, Qianhong, Beehive Solitaire, Clue: Murder at Boddy Mansion, Diam, Gate 88, Solitude for Windows, Rails, Modern Art, Homas Tour, Wizards, Ursuppe, Metro, San Juan, 1995card
• In War: People's Tactics, The Lost Admiral Returns

Latest modifications to existing entries:

• New version of exising downloads: Aethra's Chronicles (v1.1), Tunnels of Armageddon (v2.0), Quiver (registered version), Marshmallow Duel (registered version), Bazaar (registered version), MindArms, Collex Plus (upgraded to Armada version, DROD: Architects' Edition (replaced with newest version), Notrium (replaced with newest version), PixelShips (replaced with newest version), HeroQuest (replaced with newest version), Warning Forever (replaced with newest version), MDDClone
• Download added: Alien Legacy, Dinopark Tycoon, Garfield: Caught in the Act, Monopoly Tycoon (CD-rip), Manx TT (CD-rip), Earthsiege 2, Dark Earth (CD-rip), Gunship 2000, Warhammer: Shadow of Horned Rat (CD-rip), Warhammer: Dark Omen (CD-rip), House of the Dead 2 (CD-rip), Wing Commander Academy, Redhook's Revenge (registered), The Legend of Kyrandia 3: Malcolm's Revenge (full CD-ROM), Little Big Adventure 2 (CD-rip)

Latest Documentation for existing games:

• PDF manuals: Gothic

Happy 2005 to our visitors. Here in Thailand we are still trying to cope with aftershocks of a massive undersea earthquake that, on December 26, 2004, killed thousands (the toll is quickly rising toward the 10,000 mark, as most of the missing are presumed dead) and left hundreds of thousands of poor people without homes. If you are one of the kind souls who have donated to this site or clicked on banners in the past - or plan to - please redirect your kindness to those who desparately need help: donate on-line directly to Thai Red Cross to help the ongoing disaster relief in my country, to or Red Cross international via Amazon.com honor system. Thank you in advance for your help, and let's hope the ravaged beaches of the Andaman Sea will one day return to their former beauty. Also, thank you for many concerned e-mails.. your kind thoughts are appreciated.

You may have noticed that our forum has been down for over a month - this was caused by a sustained hacking attempt that went on for weeks, and was semi-successful in harming our site and some of our affiliates. The forum will be down for another 2-3 weeks, since I have to upgrade our forum software to the latest version and make sure that all the security holes are plugged. As a result of the hacking attempt, we also had to change many variables in our PHP that resulted in some functions not working properly (e.g. outside links don't work, related game links produce error pages). These are being slowly fixed, so please be patient. My apologies for the inconvenience - but at least, rest assured that there WILL be a site update sometime before then ;)

November 27, 2004: It's been a month since my last update, but at least with over 40 new additions this time ;) If you haven't heard, the 2004 Interactive Fiction Competition has ended and the results announced. Congratulations to the winners, and watch for reviews of my favorite entries on this site in the coming weeks (including my most favorite 'underdog' of the comp: Goose, Egg, Badger by Brian Rapp). Results of the other competition of note, the Retro Remakes Competition should be forthcoming in a few days - definitely by the time this site gets updated again ;)

Still-relevant old news: please use BitTorrent option to download large files wherever available; the more people use it, the faster this site will be for everyone. Also, in the long run BitTorrent can help us (i.e. make this site faster for all) only if there are enough "seeders," i.e. people who leave the zip files they downloaded from this site around on their hard drive to act as 'peers' for current downloaders. So, the next time you are happy to find that 200MB monster game you've been looking for, and you are often connected to the Internet, please consider seeding for us. Thanks in advance :) I am also still getting considerable amount of e-mails regarding "empty zips" problem. Please read the FAQ carefully - this section in particular explains why it happens and how you can fix it. Til next time!

• In Action: The Space Vegetables Corp., Valkyrie Fight, Light in the Darkness, Lemming Ball Z, Starfox [SNES], Mogura Reverse, Zero Tolerance [SEGA Genesis], Ecco the Dolphin, Sub-Terrania [SEGA Genesis], Super Secret Ninja, Ashes to Ashes, Eradicator, Afterlife, Mystic Midway - Rest in Pieces, Iron Man /XO Man o' War in Heavy Metal, Munch, Invaders, Sanction, Ribet, Jetpak - Solar Crisis, DUO, Cadaver, Cadaver: The Payoff, Xenon, Xenon 2: Megablast (new HOBF inductee), Bool, Glace, Torus Trooper, Crime Killer
• In Adventure: Two of a Kind, Animal
• In Education: Zargon Zoo
• In Puzzle: Gruntz, HitBlock, DUOTris
• In Simulation: The Sandbox of God
• In Sport: Unnecessary Roughness '96, Bruce Jenner's Decathlon
• In Strategy: Aquarium, Dungeon Keeper Gold (new HOBF inductee)

Latest modifications to existing entries:

• New version of exising downloads: The Amazing Spider-Man (more complete version, includes animated intro), Notrium, Magebane 2, Turbo Sliders, Lords of Magic: Special Edition (replaced download with correct version)
• Download added: Alien Crossfire, Return to Zork, Wargasm, Earthworm Jim, Sanity: Aiken's Artifact, Daikatana, Trog, NBA Jam: Tournament Edition, Reunion, Kaged (registered version)

Latest Documentation for existing games:

• PDF manuals: Galapagos, Seiklus (walkthrough)

October 26, 2004: It's been two months since our last update - how time flies when you're having fun! Or, more accurately in my case, when you've just been 'promoted' to a new-but-vague job description called "corporate strategy" which, as I quickly learned, is basically any project people want to do but don't want to waste time during their work hours to do it. So, I'm really sorry about this delay, folks - I promise you won't have to wait another 2 months for the next update ;) Also, check out entries in the 2004 Retro Remakes Competition and Interactive Fiction Competition - both with only weeks to go, and jam packed with quality free games!

• In Action: Obake, Titan Omega Revelations, Defender of Grim, Valence, Legend of Shadow, Arena Runner, Star Fox 2 [SNES], Metal Gear Solid, Haunted House, Push-Push Penguin, Restraint of Zero, Humphrey, Valkyrie Fight Tag, Detective Bogey
• In Adventure: Clock Tower [SNES], Famicom Detective Club Part II [SNES], Dizzy Remake
• In Puzzle: Baku Baku Animal, MisAdventures of Sir Randolph Doogleberry, British Explorer, Sensitive
• In RPG: Star Ocean [SNES]
• In Simulation: SimSafari, YS Flight, The Political Machine
• In Sport: Ski Xtreme, Gooch Grundy's X-Decathlon
• In Strategy: Moonbase Commander, St. Petersburg, Popscene

Latest modifications to existing entries:

• Download added: Lose Your Marbles, Battle Chess II: Chinese Chess, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, Columns III: Revenge of the Columns , Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire, Offensive, Fist Fight, SEGA Bass Fishing, Dark Disciples (latest version), Neverball (latest version), Gridrunner++ (latest version), Tango Strike (latest version), Dungeon Hack, Hillsfar, Eye of the Beholder 1, Eye of the Beholder 2, Eye of the Beholder 3, Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Secret of the Silver Blades, The Dark Queen of Krynn, Pools of Darkness, Sacrifice (cracked patch 3)

August 29, 2004: Another huge update - after the recent update we have much more hard drive space now :) Our bandwidth usage is still very much maxed out, though, so please be patient if the site is slow for 4-5 days after this update.

• In Action: Ambush in Sector 9, Shark! Hunting the Great White, Jumper 2, Tango Strike, Redcat 2, Guldkorn Expressen, The Simpsons: Virtual Springfield, A Boy and His Blob: Trouble in Blobolonia [NES] (new HOBF inductee), Over Horizon [NES], Thunder Brigade, Metroid Redemption, Front Mission - Gun Hazard [SNES], Infestation [2000], Dim, Guimo, Lucky Luke, Spirou
• In Adventure: Sentient, Kana - Little Sister
• In Education: Typogun, Letter-Go-Round, Comic Book Confidential, Widget Workshop
• In Puzzle: Fish Fillets, Kaiser Kitty
• In RPG: SD Snatcher [MSX2]
• In Simulation: Search and Rescue, Falcon 4.0 (new HOBF inductee), F/A-18 Hornet 3.0
• In Sport: Rollcage, Supercars, Shane Warne Cricket, Rush Hour, Kunio-kun no Dodge Ball Dayo Zenin Syuugou! [SNES]
• In Strategy: Liberation Army, Seafarers of Catan 3D (a.k.a. Sea3D), TZ-Colony, Battle Chess for Windows, Oxford Games, Diggles: The Myth of Fenris (a.k.a. Wiggles), Star Trek: Starfleet Command III
• In War: 101 Airborne: The Airborne Invasion of Normandy

Latest modifications to existing entries:

• Download added: Darklands, HyperBlade, Hind, Take no prisoners, MDK, Tyrian 2000, Great Battles Collection, Plane Crazy, Perfect Assassin, The Fifth Element, Pandemonium 2, Leonardo Da Vinci, Virtua Fighter PC, Close Combat

Latest Documentation for existing games:

• PDF/HTML manuals: No Greater Glory

August 6, 2004: Due to an imminent server upgrade this site will be taken offline at anytime between 5 pm EST Sunday, 15 August 2004, and 11 pm the following morning, Monday 16 August. We don't anticipate the upgrade to take more than 3-4 hours at the most, but in case you can't find us between those times, don't panic and just come back a bit later :) The next site update will be in 9-10 days from now. Thanks for your understanding.

From last update: we've finally reached the 5,000 mark for the number of underdogs reviewed. This means I have added an average of 2.34 games per day for the past 2,135 days (5.8 years) the site has been online. Scary :) This magic number means this site is currently one of the largest game review sites on the Internet by my count... and probably the second largest among "hobby" sites, right behind MobyGames. And if you narrow the definition a bit further, HOTU is probably the largest hobby gaming site on the Internet without user-submitted content :) (although we do have a lot of user-suggested content, thanks to all your suggestions). We also finally added BitTorrent as a download option for large files. However, BitTorrent can help us (i.e. make this site faster for all) only if there are enough "seeders," i.e. people who leave the zip files they downloaded from this site around on their hard drive to act as 'peers' for current downloaders. So, the next time you are happy to find that 200MB monster game you've been looking for, and you are often connected to the Internet, please consider seeding for us. Thanks in advance :)

In older news: I am also still getting considerable amount of e-mails regarding "empty zips" problem. Please read the FAQ carefully - this section in particular explains why it happens and how you can fix it. Til next time!

• In Action: Captain Pork's Revenge, Hard Hat: The Rebellion, Hard Hat 2: War Ensemble, Resurrection: Rise 2, Round 42, Stick Soldiers 2, Virtua Cop, Beats of Rage, Claw
• In Adventure: 7 Days a Skeptic, Elder Scrolls Adventure: Redguard, Apprentice II: The Knight's Move
• In Education: The Typing of the Dead
• In Interactive Fiction: Necrotic Drift, Adventure 770, To Hell in a Hamper, The Act of Misdirection, Dead Reckoning, Dangerous Curves, Castle Ralf, GC: A Thrashing Parity Bit of the Mind, Return to Ditch Day, ASCII and the Argonauts, Gumshoe, Little Pythagoras [Macintosh]
• In Puzzle: Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, Columns III: Revenge of the Columns, Tile World, Timekeepers
• In Sport: Ski Stunt Simulator, Mad Trax
• In Strategy: Parkan: Iron Strategy, Sacrifice (new HOBF inductee)

Latest modifications to existing entries:

• New version of exising freeware game: Garfield: Attack of the Mutant Lasagna, Gal Pani X (replaced download with freeware (formerly shareware) version), Stick Soldiers


• Download added: Chasm: The Rift (add-on added), The House of the Dead, Battle Isle, Battle Isle II, X-COM: Apocalypse, Clockwerx, System Shock 2 (replaced download with full CD-ROM version), Road Rash, B-17 Flying Fortress, SubTerra