1UP sold, EGM definitely shutting down

[elvis]

I collected a lot of EGM back in the late 80's and early 90's, slowing to the mid 90's, and then giving up in 2000. It was miles better back then than it has been in the last 10 years, that's for sure.

With that said, none of it compared to British magazines like Mean Machines and CVG of the same era. US magazines always seem to try so hard to conform to a preconceived idea of what a demographic should be (marketers telling journalists how to write), versus the brutal honesty of European magazines, and their ability to appeal to a more intelligent audience due to it.

I'm not terribly saddened by the news. I don't think EGM or 1UP in the last decade has been worth reading. To me these sorts of magazines and sites died long ago.

[Pulsar_t]

I collected a lot of EGM back in the late 80's and early 90's, slowing to the mid 90's, and then giving up in 2000. It was miles better back then than it has been in the last 10 years, that's for sure.

With that said, none of it compared to British magazines like Mean Machines and CVG of the same era. US magazines always seem to try so hard to conform to a preconceived idea of what a demographic should be (marketers telling journalists how to write), versus the brutal honesty of European magazines, and their ability to appeal to a more intelligent audience due to it.

I'm not terribly saddened by the news. I don't think EGM or 1UP in the last decade has been worth reading. To me these sorts of magazines and sites died long ago.

QFT.. Though I wouldn't call it "brutal".. expect maybe German publications back in the day, as I heard they were "too professional" to be entertaining.

Oh and visit www.retromags.com for a nice collection of EGM, Gamepro, OSSM and various other mag scans!

[elvis]

Mean Machines lovers look here:
http://www.meanmachinesmag.co.uk/

Also Underground Gamer has torrents of Mean Machines, Mean Machines Sega, and C+VG all from issue 1 of each. Highly recommended downloads.

Jazz Rignall kicks Monkey Ass!

[Pulsar_t]

elvis did you ever read Gamesmaster? They were so awesome prior to the 32-bit era (even had a TV show too)! Shame I can't find scans though..

[elvis]

elvis did you ever read Gamesmaster? They were so awesome prior to the 32-bit era (even had a TV show too)! Shame I can't find scans though..

Never had a chance to read them (couldn't get them in Australia at the time). They had plenty of cross-advertising with C+VG and Mean Machines, particularly when the show came out.

I've only seen snippets on YouTube. The mini Street Fighter tournaments I've found are hilarious!

[RadarScope1]

You know it's funny, I never go to 1UP except when I might be clicking through to reviews from Metacritic. I get EGM but usually just browse through it in 20 or 30 minutes. But I love the 1UP podcasts, I guess just because I "know" the personalities better than other sites out there.

I get the feeling I'm a little older than some people on this board. I started reading EGM back in 92 or so. Yeah, it was way better back then. And yeah, there's a ton of other stuff out there now. But it's still weird to see it finally happen. And I've never even heard of this UGO site .....

[D.D.D.]

EGM was good back in the day, late 80s to late 90s (Gamefan was better tho).
Print magazines have ceased to have relevance long ago and it's pretty surprising they didn't get swept under earlier.
Still sucks for those that got canned. I guess better in January than before Xmas...

[Daniel Primed]

I've heard of UGO a few times but never really pictured them as some sort of popular/respectible video game source that could be closer to touching sites like 1UP. At least Jeremy Parrish is still there which should hopefully see the continuation of Retronauts. The signature podcasts and content will obviously not be the same, another kick in the pants for respectable games writing. Damn.

[Spoiler Duck]

A real shame. 1UP was always very good for letting the individual personalities of every reviewer/editor shine through. While many found this infuriating, I found it very useful for reading reviews ("Jeremy Parish, he has similar tastes to me and liked this game a lot, I'll buy this for sure!", "Hmm, Shane wasn't so hot on this game, but from reading his past reviews I know he tends to be a bit harsher on this genre than I otherwise would, so I'll check the demo out first"). Stupid as it sounds, I felt like I had gotten to know some of those guys in a loose sort of way.

They occupied this odd space between mainstream consumer guide (IGN et al) and more academic approach of EDGE magazine, which always served as a good reference for me when researching games I might be thinking of picking up. The podcasts were genuinely some of the best content the internet has ever seen. Thoughtful, hilarious and filled with some amazing special guests from the industry ready to both praise and slate their own work.

Still, with Jeremy Parish, Scott Sharkey and others remaining, hopefully 1UP can remain one of my go-to places for gaming content. I just hope those not so lucky, especially the 1UP Show crew and Skip (podcasting) can find elsewhere to shine.

[TheyCallMeTheSwede]

Wheres Sushi-X when we need him.