Ign layoffs, 1up,ugo and gamespy shutting down

richymcdermott

http://www.polygon.com/2013/2/21/4014196/ign-layoffs-1up-ugo-and-gamespy-shutting-down

Sorry retr0

Mr E

Anyone who has been following games sites for the last few years has come across one or more of these sites. I remember waaaaaaay back when emulation started, davesclassics.com (hosted on UGO) was on my daily visitation list.

In more recent times, 1UPs "Games, Dammit" and Retronauts podcasts have been regular downloads on my ipod.

The sites are still up, but wind-down proceedings are starting shortly. Ziff Davis are putting all their eggs in IGN's basket.

http://kotaku.com/5986027/ziff-davis-shuts-1up-gamespy-and-ugo

Mr E

Dammit Richy, that's what I get for typing a decent length post about it. :pac:

Threads merged.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

they're looking to sell off IPL their esports league too, interesting times ahead.

richymcdermott

Mr E wrote: »

Dammit Richy, that's what I get for typing a decent length post about it. :pac:

Threads merged.

Sorry :pac:

dreamers75

Used to work for one of the sites IGN bought.

It was created to be sold. Never really went onto any of those sites due to that.

Sephiroth_dude

**** gamespy are going :-|

VinLieger

Ziff Davis at it again

Retr0gamer

Sad day for games journalism. I knew something was up since Jeremy Parish's own site telebunny hasn't been updated in a long while. Was talking to Kurt Kalata over in New York during the summer. He was saying it's ironic that Jeremy Parish finally got his dream job as editor at 1up when there was nothing but a skeleton staff left.

Ever since they were bought by the same company as IGN they were on life support. They tried to differentiate themselves from IGN by concentrating on some wonderfully written opinion pieces and articles. Of course there's not an audience for that stuff.

I'll be sad to see them go, there writers are usually some of the best in the industry and then there's the podcasts. Games Dammit is excellent and much more mature and informed than the juvenile Giant Bombcast. Then there is retronauts which for me has always been far and away the best podcast about videogames out there. Kat Baileys ATB is quite simply the best RPG podcast out there. I hope retronauts and ATB find a new home.

Hopefully the people that are left land on their feet. Bob Mackey, Jeremy Parish and Kat Bailey to name three and some of the best journalists out there when it comes to videogames and extremely well informed and knowledgeable.

So all that will be left behind is IGN, a site that sums up everything wrong with videogame journalism.

First Kenji Eno dies, now 1up closes. It's been an awfully ****ty day for videogames.

richymcdermott

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Sad day for games journalism. I knew something was up since Jeremy Parish's own site telebunny hasn't been updated in a long while. Was talking to Kurt Kalata over in New York during the summer. He was saying it's ironic that Jeremy Parish finally got his dream job as editor at 1up when there was nothing but a skeleton staff left.

Ever since they were bought by the same company as IGN they were on life support. They tried to differentiate themselves from IGN by concentrating on some wonderfully written opinion pieces and articles. Of course there's not an audience for that stuff.

I'll be sad to see them go, there writers are usually some of the best in the industry and then there's the podcasts. Games Dammit is excellent and much more mature and informed than the juvenile Giant Bombcast. Then there is retronauts which for me has always been far and away the best podcast about videogames out there. Kat Baileys ATB is quite simply the best RPG podcast out there. I hope retronauts and ATB find a new home.

Hopefully the people that are left land on their feet. Bob Mackey, Jeremy Parish and Kat Bailey to name three and some of the best journalists out there when it comes to videogames and extremely well informed and knowledgeable.

So all that will be left behind is IGN, a site that sums up everything wrong with videogame journalism.

First Kenji Eno dies, now 1up closes. It's been an awfully ****ty day for videogames.

Kenji eno was a great man , i read he said to sega he make his game exclusive to the system if they donated 1,000 saturns to blind people.

What a great man

Retr0gamer

I have fond memories of 1up yours and retronauts. They kept me sane when I was writing my PhD thesis. I was working from 9 in the morning and home at 12.30 at night and the only thing that kept me going was knowing I had them to listen to in the car going in and on the way home.

richymcdermott wrote: »

Kenji eno was a great man , i read he said to sega he make his game exclusive to the system if they donated 1,000 saturns to blind people.

What a great man

He also held Michel Nyman hostage in his hotel room until he agreed to do the Enemy Zero soundtrack (and I'm not making that up).

Magill

Ahhhh Gamespy arcade.. the site that started it all for me. Brings back a lot of memories. RIP

johnny_ultimate

As even Parish admits in his obituary for the site, 1up had for many become a shadow of its former self. A number of years ago it was a go to source for opinion for me, but when it was bought up and torn apart it was never the same. Barring a few good one-off features, I know I've been disappointed many times I've stumbled onto the website in recent years (it has been a while since it was bookmarked or regularly visited truth be told). I don't listen to podcasts generally so I was unaware of what they offered. But I know I often found myself disagreeing with or simply unimpressed by their less than inspiring reviews and opinion pieces.

It's not pleasant to see a once stellar website decline slowly until it is inevitably euthanised. Especially disappointing when its consumed in favour of IGN, a website which is totally the worst thing. Would have been nice to see more effort being put into to allow the site to refind its feet and provide the steady stream of excellent it struggled to achieve with increasingly limited resources. A great website once, and admittedly even during its senile years vastly preferable to its better known sister site. But I think the closure has been an inevitability for a long time now.

Retr0gamer

There was only 4 people working on the site for well over a year full time. I liked most of the full time staffs opinions but the free lance stuff sometimes left a lot to be desired unless it was someone like Kat Bailey. I find it weird that it was Ziff Davis that ended their glory days when they gutted the staff there then moved on only for them to buy 1up again and finishing off what they didn't before.

You should definitely give the podcasts a listen if you are ever looking for a podcast, in particular retronauts. They always have past 1up alumni on the show.

From reading twitter it seems Bob Mackey, one of the best writers at 1up, was let go because he liked niche games and liked to write about them. Definitely didn't have a place at IGN and I can see Jeremy leaving for pastures greener in the future.