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[team_q]

So the corporate masterminds(Hearst) of the UGO Network began a merger of the 1-up network, culling all pod casts and web TV.

More unsettlingly approx. 40 people are now without jobs. Including a most of the major personalities that people have come to love.

I've come to be a big fan of the 1-up network of podcasts, I regularly listened to 3 of them. They were one of the first major games Journalists to call out shitty games before they were released, the repercussions of this being that Ubisoft stopped sending them review copies, but their previews were better for it, it felt more like a real first look and not a press release.

Check it on Joystiq
Somewhere in the bowels of of an office tower, an ugly man in an ugly suit extends a gnarled greyed finger and with a coy smile, slides a bean away from the red side.

Edit: also EGM was the magazine I grew up with, my buddies always had issues lying around, so its sad to see a relic of my child hood die. I think a lot of the voice that 1-up had up until now takes its roots from those times.

[Edmund]

0-up

[Gainsworthy]

...This is awful. After discoving 1UPFM this year, I always waited for their podcasts. Such nice coverage, a good sense of humour, actual news. I just finished listening to 1UP FM's preview of 2009's games. Was wondering what the next backlog was going to be. So... they're all fired? As in, "good bye, find another source of income" fired?

I'm an Australian, so I never read EGM, but I do like gaming magazines. Something very nice about quantised, printed media. Hearing of one - a good one, by the sounds of it - being axed? Nasty.

READ SOME MORE: So, essentially, UGO has consumed 1UP, but will continue wearing its shell? Time to leave, I suppose. Where else can I find decent game news? I want no part in this.

[team_q]

READ SOME MORE: So, essentially, UGO has consumed 1UP, but will continue wearing its shell? Time to leave, I suppose. Where else can I find decent game news? I want no part in this.

This, I dunno, I've been trying Giant Bomb, but I find them a bit more abrasive. Its a little early to say, but I've read some rumours that the axed-editors would like to resurrect the pod casts but with smaller production overhead, but this went down today, so who knows.

[Gainsworthy]

A Podcast revive would be sweet, a good-case scenario. It'd be nice to continue to hear from those who I've quickly come to associate as voices of gaming. Buuut they'd still be without their jobs. And considering that FOURTY people were fired, how many games journalists does the rest of the media need?

Hrmm, Giant Bomb ey? I'll check them out.

EDIT: Also, didn't the 1UP guys do a bunch of interviews with members of TIGSource (and, uh, the general indie scene too)? "Indie Kids are Alright" or something?

[YagerX]

Ah it's a shame about 1up...I love their podcasts...
But there is still Dtoid right?

[team_q]

EDIT: Also, didn't the 1UP guys do a bunch of interviews with members of TIGSource (and, uh, the general indie scene too)? "Indie Kids are Alright" or something?

yeah Check it

[Levin]

Hrmm, Giant Bomb ey? I'll check them out.

yup, it's the website founded by Jeff Gerstmann. Sounds new?  (although I don't like it so much)

[Lurk]

That's too bad. I grew up going to the main 'village' with my bicycle to buy a copy of EGM (or Gamepro, depending on which had the best looking cover). In those times long gone, there was'nt as much obnoxious ads in the magazines, they were smaller and kind of naively explained what the game was about, instead of printing pr from the marketing department of the game's publisher.
 

[Lukas]

Fuck you, corporations.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUU     

[Movius]

moar liek KKKorporation

[team_q]

Knee-jerk, "I loved how it was, why is it changing" aside. This is probably best for all that is involved. 1-up wasn't making money, Ziff needed to offload it to stay afloat, UGO needed a way to try and make them relevant over other gaming news portals that are similar, IGN, etc.
The people who lost their jobs yesterday would've soon if the whole thing tanked, the direction it was heading. It isn't like the quality of life for them could've been very good, I think most of them lived together.

EGM had to die, Print Media is a dieing, and unfortunately EGM for what it was, was nothing more then a magazine.

[Zaphos]

1-up wasn't making money, Ziff needed to offload it to stay afloat

[citation needed]?
edit: http://www.joystiq.com/2009/01/07/1up-director-sam-kennedy-says-ugo-is-not-the-bad-guy/ there we go

But regardless of the reason for UGO gutting 1up, it's still sad that 1up is dead.

[Valter]

This sucks. I liked EGM, and I begin to wonder what's going to happen to my subscription. Still, online news is rapidly obviating print media, as TeamQuiggan said.

I use destructoid for gaming news now. They have a lot of nice features, and they also have a weekly post on indie gaming.

[fish]

all the 1up show guys have been sacked.

thanks UGO.

coming up on 1up: the top ten nicest tits in gaming!

[The-Imp]

all the 1up show guys have been sacked.

thanks UGO.

coming up on 1up: the top ten nicest tits in Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball!

Or Soulcalibur.

[esc]

1up was really the only major game site that took indiegames seriously, take their coverage on IGF 08 for example:
http://www.indiegames.com/blog/2008/03/interview_igf_finalists_1up.html
really a shame 3/4 of the public faces were laid off.

and Ironicly, this is what their message is on UGO.com

"First of all, let me come out and say that there is no other gaming site like 1UP. Unlike some of the lumbering, impersonal behemoths out there, 1UP is all about its personalities, and its fans are awesome, passionate and willing to fight to the death over whether Final Fantasy X2 was an abomination or a triumph. It’s an honor to bring that passion into the UGO fold."

http://gamesblog.ugo.com/index.php/gamesblog/more/ugo_acquires_1up/

[ஒழுக்கின்மை]

I stopped reading EGM about the time Sushi-X stopped reviewing games.

My first magazine subscription was to the Nintendo Fun Club (precursor to Nintendo Power), anyone else remember that?

[team_q]

I remember reading about it, I've never actually seen it. While I played a lot of console games, I was a lot more into PC gaming, I had a Subscription to PC Gamer up until about the time Garry Whitta stopped being the EIC there. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised of we see more Mags die in the next year or so.

[Corpus]

Join me in seeding the Rebel FM torrent