Posted at 20:54 on March 2nd, 2008 | Quote | Edit | Delete | |
Member Master Gumby Posts: 82 | This is a video for those that are familiar with Home of the Underdogs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynwlIe-zu6w ----- |
Posted at 12:04 on March 3rd, 2008 | Quote | Edit | Delete | |
Admin Reborn Gumby Posts: 11098 | While there isn't really an excuse for letting a site lie dormant for so long without giving anyone else the rights to do administrative tasks at least, I seriously don't understand all the whining. The site is online, bills are obviously being paid. The site has loads of contents, and it's all available, regardless of the site being updated or not. Worse even: There are people on the forum there saying they'd love to take over maintainence, add games to it and so on if they got the chance. How silly is that? If there were so many people willing to produce contents, why don't they just start their own site(s), collaboratively or everybody on their own? If that's too much work for them, they can just join any other existing website. For fuck's sake, just come here if you don't know any other site! If all those whiners would actually do something, any site could grow larger than HOTUD in no time. But whining is so much easier, isn't it? ----- Now you see the violence inherent in the system! |
Posted at 16:47 on March 3rd, 2008 | Quote | Edit | Delete | |
Member Master Gumby Posts: 82 | Quote: Worse even: There are people on the forum there saying they'd love to take over maintainence, add games to it and so on if they got the chance. How silly is that? If there were so many people willing to produce contents, why don't they just start their own site(s), collaboratively or everybody on their own? If that's too much work for them, they can just join any other existing website. For fuck's sake, just come here if you don't know any other site! If all those whiners would actually do something, any site could grow larger than HOTUD in no time. But whining is so much easier, isn't it? Well, there have been a few people that have tried to start their own sites - most of those have devolved or never really got underway. I started a site revolving around abandonware ISOs in July 2006, to meet the gap I saw in abandonware, and it's still running. There's also a version of this that I started around the same time going on in Abandonia's forums. I agree there are a lot of people whining, and not doing much. However, Underdogs has not seemed particularly interested in authorizing people to do the work that needs to get done. I know I've offered and so have many others. Those few people that have server access are not active anymore. Every solution to current problems has involved band aids and duct tape. The purpose of the video is multi-fold and open to interpretation, but one of the main points I was making is that the HOTU site requires a leader. ----- |
Posted at 19:38 on March 3rd, 2008 | Quote | Edit | Delete | |
Admin Reborn Gumby Posts: 11098 | Quote: However, Underdogs has not seemed particularly interested in authorizing people to do the work that needs to get done. [...] one of the main points I was making is that the HOTU site requires a leader. Uncontested, because it's absolutely true. Don't you see, though. that this is basically how most common way for a website to go away? The one person in charge loses interest gradually. Newsposts along the lines of "Oops, sorry, it's been a while. I promise to do more again from now on." take over. Of course, this is the final nail in the site's coffin. Every time. Just that in this case, more people whine, because it's such a huge site. But who said can't fail because of the human element just like small ones? Time to move on, I guess. After all, who still remembers Cascade Abandonware (probably the most popular 'Abandonware' site of its day)? Quote: abandonware ISOs [...] the gap [...] in abandonware Again, quite true. However, crappy Yahoo Briefcases and 4shared accounts (which most people seem to use nowadays) won't fill that gap. That's like stepping back into the last millenium, when Abandonware sites 'hid' on Geocities accounts, being kicked constantly. ----- Now you see the violence inherent in the system! |
Posted at 20:23 on March 3rd, 2008 | Quote | Edit | Delete | |
Member Master Gumby Posts: 82 | 4shared is used because it's proven to be the most reliable and least likely - so far - to not remove abandonware content. It actually does work. It's not really stepping back, it's just the beginning, just as traditional abandonware had its beginning on Geocities accounts. I don't know if you remember Dexterus, but he donated 40GB of server space, so that is being used for ISO Art. All other links are 4shared, Megaupload, Mediafire and other misc sites and links. I would like to improve upon this at some point, but that will require money I don't have to spare. As you're probably aware, ISOs take a lot of space. ----- |
Posted at 21:59 on March 3rd, 2008 | Quote | Edit | Delete | |
Admin Reborn Gumby Posts: 11098 | I'm not claiming it's easy. However, it just has to be possible without being forced to upload (and download) games split in several chunks. Back then, we even renamed zip files to bmp, and visitors had to rename them back before they could use them. That's just not something I'm prepared to do anymore. If more people would just do a simple contribution like Dexterus did, basically everything could be served to everybody at decent speeds. The way it is, the few people offering stuff have their connections clogged by the one-way leechers. Which only makes the whole thing annoying. Anyway, as you're probably aware there is quite a number of full CD games for download here on this site. I'm planning to expand this further, as so far, there isn't the slightest risk of costs getting out of hand. As usual, it's more of a problem of finding the time to give the games the treatment they deserve than getting around technical or monetary issues. Which brings us full circle to people whining for (or even demanding in some cases) more games, but not helping things. Seriously - how much can you or I do on our own compared to the number of people who think they have a right to get these games from us? ----- Now you see the violence inherent in the system! |
Posted at 22:50 on March 3rd, 2008 | Quote | Edit | Delete | |
Member Master Gumby Posts: 82 | Originally posted by Mr Creosote at 21:59 on March 3rd, 2008: I'm not claiming it's easy. However, it just has to be possible without being forced to upload (and download) games split in several chunks. Back then, we even renamed zip files to bmp, and visitors had to rename them back before they could use them. That's just not something I'm prepared to do anymore. Well, nowadays it's easier than that. Most people prefer 4shared over torrents because they are often too slow in comparison. Quote: If more people would just do a simple contribution like Dexterus did, basically everything could be served to everybody at decent speeds. The way it is, the few people offering stuff have their connections clogged by the one-way leechers. Which only makes the whole thing annoying. I think it works like this: if one person is already filling a niche, nobody else feels the need to help with it. For example, is anyone else running a site like this? I've seen him ask for help before but I guess no one is really interested. If such a site disappeared it would be a pretty major blow, I think. Other than Ermuli uploading nearly everything ISO-wise, it's hard for me to get any help too. I'm just doing this as a hobby - I can't and won't dedicate all my time to it. I started because want I wanted was something no one was really providing, and if they were, it was usually not the main focus or an incomplete one. Quote: Anyway, as you're probably aware there is quite a number of full CD games for download here on this site. I'm planning to expand this further, as so far, there isn't the slightest risk of costs getting out of hand. As usual, it's more of a problem of finding the time to give the games the treatment they deserve than getting around technical or monetary issues. Actually I hadn't looked at your downloads for quite sometime, so I wasn't aware of this. Do you have some examples? Your site is geared more toward evaluation and review (which is great), but I've decided to focus purely on trying to preserve ISOs as I'm not much of a reviewer anyway. I'm not sure, but maybe we can both do something to improve the situation as is apropos to our site's purpose. ----- |
Posted at 23:29 on March 3rd, 2008 | Quote | Edit | Delete | |
Member Retired Gumby Posts: 936 | That video is really creepy and I don't really blame her for never talking to anyone related to abandonware ever again if she had to put up with that before. ----- Keep your stick on the ice |
Posted at 00:32 on March 4th, 2008 | Quote | Edit | Delete | |
Member Master Gumby Posts: 82 | Eh, that video was made two weeks ago. And as far as I know she's never even seen it. Everyone seems to interpret the video differently. It's interesting to see what's swimming around in people's minds. At least one person has said it's creepy before, so you don't win the original remark award. ----- ----- Edited by Gargantuan Orangutan at 00:33 on March 4th, 2008 |
Posted at 08:57 on March 4th, 2008 | Quote | Edit | Delete | |
Admin Reborn Gumby Posts: 11098 | Yes, now that you mention it, the video does have a certain stalker quality to it Quote: Do you have some examples? Sure: The Case of the Cautious Condor, Murder Makes Strange Deadfellows, Noctropolis, the Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective games, Dracula Unleashed, The Shadow of the Third Moon, Psycho Killer and the very latest game added recently, too. To name just a few. The point is just that I don't see the distribution medium of a game (CD versus floppy versus tape versus modules) as a primary concern. I care about games, no matter in what way they were / are distributed. So setting up an 'ISO site' makes about as much sense to me as an 'emulation site'. What do I care how other people play a game (emulated or native)? What counts is that they play the game, regardless of format. And if the only applicable format requires a CD image, I'm perfectly willing to offer one. ----- Now you see the violence inherent in the system! |
Posted at 19:20 on March 5th, 2008 | Quote | Edit | Delete | |
Member Master Gumby Posts: 82 | Well, the format is important to me. There are many people interested in ISOs and emulation because these are the ways many people prefer to play a game - in its complete state, and not as a substandard port. Just off hand, Resident Evil is an example. While there is a PC version, it's much better to play through emulation (even if you have a PS1/PS2). I don't suppose you have an ISO (specifically the audio tracks) of a PC game called Crystal Hammer? There's also an amiga version, but that's not what I'm looking for. ----- ----- Edited by Gargantuan Orangutan at 19:22 on March 5th, 2008 |
Posted at 21:20 on March 5th, 2008 | Quote | Edit | Delete | |
Admin Reborn Gumby Posts: 11098 | I think there's some kind of misunderstanding here. What I'm trying to say is that I'm always trying to choose the appropriate version of a game available. Usually, that's the original or 'best' one. However, what format that game is in is unimportant for it to be covered. If it's a CD game, a CD image is certainly appropriate, but a tape image is appropriate for tape based games. Technically, both are pretty much the same anyway. Which is why I'm fairly sure that you're not actually interested in the actual technical format ISO(-9660, I presume) yourself, but rather in the games which are from a time when basically everything was released on CDs. I don't see you offering tape images, but just CD images. If it were really the format which mattered, you'd have both. My comments about emulation are meant in the same vein. A site dedicated to 'emulation' would, by the only definition which makes sense in my opinion, concentrate on presenting emulators, explain the technical aspects of emulation and give practical help how to emulate different systems on other systems. None of this is really relevant here on this site. Another common, but completely nonsensical definition of an 'emulation site' is to classify it by the systems it covers. However, how exactly do you derive the 'emulation' attribute from the system a piece of software is for? I happen to own all of the computers this site is concerned with, so none of this is an emulation issue for me. It might be to others - however, which systems everybody emulates and which ones not is entirely an individual question with absolutely no relation to the site. I can't comment on the specific example you mentioned (Resident Evil and the Playstation are way beyond my scope of interest), but I've yet to see a case of emulation surpassing native running. However, if emulation floats your boat, fine with me. To sum up: Never compare apples and motor oil brands. 'ISOs' and 'emulation' are purely technical terms and processes. If one is interested in such technical processes, fine - make a site about technical processes. I'm not doing that here (although the engineer in me is tickled by the technical details, of course ). Quote: I don't suppose you have an ISO (specifically the audio tracks) of a PC game called Crystal Hammer? No, sorry, I can't help you there. That's a pretty new one, my interest in new games was already waning extremely in 1995. Which, on a somewhat related note, is another tough one these days. When I added a new game every day last month, I intentionally spread the selection across as many years as possible. The entries ranged from 1982 to 1995. Sure, you're probably interested in even newer games judging from what you've said so far, but that's out of question for me. Putting that aside for a moment, it's still quite different 'generations' of games in that span already. That period pretty much sums up my period of interest. Now I wanted to see what the visitors are interested in within this period, i.e. where my personal motivation best meets that of the visitors. Unfortunately, I didn't learn anything, as apparantely neither the simplistic arcade games from the early 80s, nor the full CD games of the mid-90s (and also not the furious and flashy action games of the time in between) met with any reaction of the positive or negative kind. Which doesn't exactly make it easy to focus. What do people want? As long as nobody speaks up: no idea. Should I dig deeper into the vaults of time when computer gaming was in its infancy? Or try to explore my vast collection of mystery adventure games from more recent times (again, I mean the mid-90s with that), for example? People on the Internet these days are just too passive - they don't understand that they don't just have to be consumers, but that they can shape it themselves. And that, once again, fits with my general rant about whining, but inactive people at the beginning of this thread. If something's not going as you want it, just take care of fixing that yourself! Ideally by doing the work yourself, or at the very least by influencing existing offers like I talked about. ----- Now you see the violence inherent in the system! |
Posted at 03:42 on March 6th, 2008 | Quote | Edit | Delete | |
Member Retired Gumby Posts: 936 | Also, what is the Abandonware Empire? My favorite games comes from the 88-93 era. Think Microprose/Accolade/Sierra. I think it coincides with the arrival of 256 colors on PC and ending with the proliferation of CDs and their useless multimedia content extravaganza. I think my love affair with computer games officially ended when I got a 'game' called Maze. It was suppose to have realistic mazes from around the world in 3d. The mazes were worse than the crappiest user made Doom level, and most of the CD was encyclopedia like information about mazes and jpgs of things. Anyway Adhoc covered a lot of the games I enjoyed, if thats any indication. ----- Keep your stick on the ice |
Posted at 08:56 on March 6th, 2008 | Quote | Edit | Delete | |
Admin Reborn Gumby Posts: 11098 | Sorry, but I probably won't be covering many flight sims. If I did, the Originally posted by bob at 12:25 on October 30th, 2004: I think you just cant appreciate this game for some reason, so please dont review it. crowd would skin me alive This always works best if there are active people with complementing tastes. It worked with Adhoc concerning sims, and these days, it's working great with Wandrell and his RPGs. However, the sim niche is deader than a doornail until someone else fills that gap (hey, I can dream). Anyway, it's still a useful indication of the time. Where Adhoc and I met was cryptic strategy games (Imperium, Conflict Middle East), so maybe I'll just have more of those Edit: I posted a poll on the front page - maybe that'll provide some insight. ----- Now you see the violence inherent in the system! ----- Edited by Mr Creosote at 10:41 on March 6th, 2008 |
Posted at 18:02 on March 14th, 2008 | Quote | Edit | Delete | |
Member Master Gumby Posts: 82 | Quote: Which is why I'm fairly sure that you're not actually interested in the actual technical format ISO(-9660, I presume) yourself, but rather in the games which are from a time when basically everything was released on CDs. I don't see you offering tape images, but just CD images. If it were really the format which mattered, you'd have both. Actually, the format doesn't matter, it's just that complete games are not something the abandonware community has cared too much about until more recently (possibly after I made a big deal about it knowing that's what users really wanted). There are some floppy images on the ISO Art site. The reason there are mostly games on CD is that there are a lot of large games that come on CD. There are also some DVD images as well on the site. There would actually be hundreds more entries if the entire backlog was included, but I haven't got around to adding them yet. Unless someone requests something there's not much incentive for me to add anything other than a feeling of "well, it's a larger list than before." Quote: I can't comment on the specific example you mentioned (Resident Evil and the Playstation are way beyond my scope of interest), but I've yet to see a case of emulation surpassing native running. However, if emulation floats your boat, fine with me. In the case of RS, due to 3D drivers, it looks much better through emulation. Also - if you are sometimes frustrated by the console save system save states can be a godsend (although it can be seen as cheating). I'm surprised you would say you've yet to see a case, as there are many. Even with DOSBox - I much prefer to run that on my P4 then drag out my old 133Mhz clunker and fiddle with configuration settings as is necessary for some games. Quote: Sure, you're probably interested in even newer games judging from what you've said so far, but that's out of question for me. My interest in games doesn't really fixate on a particular period. I don't believe that games are getting worse, or even getting better. Now, as in the past, there are a lot of bad games (I'm sure many of them are up for download on our respective sites just waiting to be "rediscovered" by some poor soul). Quote: And that, once again, fits with my general rant about whining, but inactive people at the beginning of this thread. If something's not going as you want it, just take care of fixing that yourself! Ideally by doing the work yourself, or at the very least by influencing existing offers like I talked about. I agree, but most people are lazy and unwilling to do anything except talk. For example, off all the people talking on Hotu about "carrying on the legacy" I'm the only one that actually put up an abandonware site and stuck with it. Of course, I wasn't interested in just copying Hotu, but sought to do something Hotu (and other abandonware sites) were lacking. ----- |
Posted at 19:01 on March 14th, 2008 | Quote | Edit | Delete | Delete Attachment | |
Admin Reborn Gumby Posts: 11098 | Quote: if you are sometimes frustrated by the console save system save states can be a godsend You're right there, however, I'm not really a console gamer, so that rarely occurs to me. The WHDLoad guys are usually doing a great job in fixing games and letting me use various cheat modes - independent of whether I'm running the games on real hardware or under emulation. Quote: I'm surprised you would say you've yet to see a case, as there are many. Even with DOSBox - I much prefer to run that on my P4 then drag out my old 133Mhz clunker and fiddle with configuration settings as is necessary for some games. Old myths die hard. Although MS-DOS was an anachronism even in its own time (and memory management was horrible), the boot options of version 6 at least let you configure 'typical' cases. I have five of them, and that covers every game I want to play on that machine. So running each of them is - at most - a reboot away. Quote: I don't believe that games are getting worse, or even getting better. Now, as in the past, there are a lot of bad games (I'm sure many of them are up for download on our respective sites just waiting to be "rediscovered" by some poor soul). Perfect opportunity to post the revised version of my perfectly objective and scientific curve of average game quality in relation to year of release again Seriously, though: 90% of everything is always bad! As I said so many times over the years, sites like these only take a distorted look at the past, because they cover the good way more than the bad. However, I'm trying. I have reviewed King's Quest By the way: Notification in English this time? ----- Now you see the violence inherent in the system! ----- Edited by Mr Creosote at 19:01 on March 14th, 2008 |
Posted at 19:55 on March 14th, 2008 | Quote | Edit | Delete | |
Member Master Gumby Posts: 82 | It's true MS-DOS 6 does offer that, and I have at least two settings that cover most games. However, when running a DOS app or game, I prefer to use DOSBox these days. It's not just the convenience, but DOSBox also emulates sound hardware that I don't have. All I have is an 8-bit soundblaster pro for that 133Mhz clunker. There are DOS games that support better, and it's nice to be able to hear those offerings. For the notifications I received two like before (note the different times): 11:29am Quote: Im Thema "Board Error" gibt es eine neue Antwort. Benutzen Sie bitte folgenden Link, um direkt dorthin zu springen: http://www.goodolddays.net/forum/topic.php?id=2084&page=1 The Spam Club Team 12:01pm Quote: There has been a reply in the topic "Underdogs and the Abandoned Abandonware Empire". To jump directly to it, use this link: http://www.goodolddays.net/forum/topic.php?id=2082&page=1 The Spam Club Team ----- ----- Edited by Gargantuan Orangutan at 19:56 on March 14th, 2008 |
Posted at 20:03 on March 14th, 2008 | Quote | Edit | Delete | |
Admin Reborn Gumby Posts: 11098 | Quote: For the notifications I received two like before Heh - those are two different notifications, the first one being for the topic 'Board Error' (sent out before the fix, thus in the wrong language), and one for this topic (sent out after the fix, and in the correct language). Both are correct, because I replied to both topics ----- Now you see the violence inherent in the system! |
Posted at 20:09 on March 14th, 2008 | Quote | Edit | Delete | |
Member Master Gumby Posts: 82 | Oh right, I forgot there was another thread. ----- |
Posted at 12:40 on April 3rd, 2008 | Quote | Edit | Delete | |
Member Master Gumby Posts: 82 | Originally posted by Mr Creosote at 08:57 on March 4th, 2008: Sure: The Case of the Cautious Condor, Murder Makes Strange Deadfellows, Noctropolis, the Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective games, Dracula Unleashed, The Shadow of the Third Moon, Psycho Killer and the very latest game added recently, too. To name just a few. Would it be possible for you supply a complete list of these from your site and the links to those pages? I try to link to other abandonware sites when I get a chance. This will probably generate some additional traffic to your site. If I do that, I'm wondering if you would mind linking back to mine? I never actually ask, but if I add the links I want to have some kind of incentive to complete the task. Nevermind that I'm running late on this line of inquiry ----- |