The Pirate Bay is about to turn 13, and in honour of the site becoming a teenager, folks like Torrentfreak are checking out the oldest content that has been continuously available since its launch back in 2003.
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2016/01/after-4419-days-the-worlds-oldest-torrent-is-still-being-downloaded/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/coxgjsbenreoobq5dw2q.jpg” title=”After 4419 Days, The World’s Oldest Torrent Is Still Being Downloaded” excerpt=”On December 20, 2003, a torrent file was created for an ASCII version of The Matrix. In January 2016, after countless other albums, movies and TV shows have come and gone, it’s still active.”]
While the oldest torrent in the world is a bizarre copy of The Matrix, among the 10 oldest on The Pirate Bay are two Ubisoft games: An Xbox torrent called Prince of Persia, which was made available on 29 March 2004 (which would likely make it Sands of Time), and Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, which was first indexed on 30 March 2004.
Note that these aren’t the oldest games on the site, they’re the oldest continuously available torrents, meaning that at least one person has been sharing them at all times for well over a decade.
I doubt there’ll be popped corks over at Ubisoft over the “achievement”, but anyone who worked on either of those games could at least take some small satisfaction from the fact people are so into their old games that they’re still seeding them in 2017.
If you want to see the full list, it’s over at TF.
Comments
13 responses to “Two Of The Oldest Video Game Torrents In The World Are Ubisoft Classics”
Those were the days, back when Ubisoft knew how to make games that weren’t crippled by the mess that is Uplay.
Some I know don’t believe me when speak of those days, days where the trademark Ubi swirl was actually a sign of quality.
I don’t blame them, it’s starting to feel like it was an age ago.
It was an age ago. I was in my early 20s when I was knuckling down on some sweet, sweet Pandora Tomorrow action.
Getting on to 15 years now.
While you’re at it, pour one out for Broderbund, (oldschool)Sierra, Maxis, Psygnosis, Westwood, Bullfrog, Black Isle, Origin, MicroProse, Infogrames, Vigil, THQ, Data East, Cavedog, Dynamix, Eidos, FASA, Spectrum Holobyte, Infocom, GameTek, JoWood, Lionhead, Midway, Mindscape, Maxis, Mythic, Atari, Neversoft, Ocean, Pandemic(/Auran), Parallax, Sensible, Shiny, Terminal Reality, Tradewest, Troika, and Interplay.
Oh, and Looking Glass.
Ain’t pourin’ nothin’ for THQ, unless it’s into the toilet. Humph!
(4eva salty over their buyout and shutdown of BlueTongue :P)
Also isn’t Infogrames just Atari now?
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Oh, there’s a bunch of reanimated corpses in the list, like Black Isle, Maxis and Atari, which are basically nothing more than shells of what they were with none of the same staff, none of the same development plans, and in many cases no retention of IP, just kept because of some value attached to the name. There were a few absorptions in there, too, before being quietly shuttered into non-development, retained for the purposes of IP only.
Those studios as they were – producing great games – no longer exist.
Something something Bioware?
(don’t actually know anything about it, just saw mention around the place and haha topical)
As would the Italians mentioned in one of the torrents out of that site’s list, surely.
I’ve never played either Ubi game mentioned, but the Splinter Cell games are a huge blind spot on my gaming resume. I should change that. The idea of an OG Xbox game played on a PC intimidates me however.
Splinter Cell has absolutely not aged well. Just be aware before you jump in.
Especially the first. Fundamentally unplayable.
Blacklist is excellent though and well worth your time. I loved it.
There’s some torrents for megadrive games and probably others that are ten years old and still going, highlights how important torrenting is for preserving old media, there’s no way you could buy those games legally anymore.
Technically, there is. However, none of that money would reach the companies that created them, so it’s moot and your point stands.
Hoorah for XBMC modded Xbox’s it seems.