Rebel FM and the death of 1UP and EGM

[Purkake]

As most of you (hopefully) know by now, 1up was bought by UGO/Hearst and most of the staff was laid off. Also, the popular gaming magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly was closed with the January issue being the last one. Link

 

1UP will stay up for the time being, but at least some of the podcasts have been cancelled and the rest will probably never be the same(with most of the staff gone). The former crew of the weekly 1UP FM podcast has got together on eat-sleep-game and has already started a new podcast called Rebel FM, which you can find on itunes or at the site. The 1UP Show crew has also put up a website Talking orange.

 

If you want to keep up with the ex-1UP people check out this blogpost with their twitter names and farewell posts.

 

Thanks for the attention

 

Edit: here is the RSS feed to Rebel FM, if you need it:

 

http://rebelfm.libsyn.com/rss

Edited January 10, 2009 by Purkake

[Morgoth]

Never liked those junkies, so I don't care about their demise.

[Purkake]

Never liked those junkies, so I don't care about their demise.

 

Then maybe you can care for the 30+ people who lost their jobs and have to find new ones in today's economic climate?

[Pidesco]

Morgoth is like bottled sunshine.

[Morgoth]

Maybe those guys should get some real job?

[Purkake]

Maybe those guys should get some real job?

 

Haven't you already filled the troll quota for this week?

 

j/k I love you Morgoth, you grumpy teddy bear.

[Walsingham]

Morgoth is like bottled sunshine.

 

That would explain the skin cancer.

[Gorgon]

I never subscribed to the notion that if you haven't got anything constructive to say you shouldn't say anything either. It's gotten me into trouble on more than one occasion.

[Morgoth]

I never subscribed to the notion that if you haven't got anything constructive to say you shouldn't say anything either. It's gotten me into trouble on more than one occasion.

Like there's anything constructive to say about this subject. I watched some of these 1Up previews, and how the guys there tried so hard to talk like professionals... it was so pathetic. Seriously, nobody is gonna miss those pompous "journalists".

But then again, people around here already know my general opinion about game journalism. Specifically US game journalism.

[Purkake]

I never subscribed to the notion that if you haven't got anything constructive to say you shouldn't say anything either. It's gotten me into trouble on more than one occasion.

Like there's anything constructive to say about this subject. I watched some of these 1Up previews, and how the guys there tried so hard to talk like professionals... it was so pathetic. Seriously, nobody is gonna miss those pompous "journalists".

But then again, people around here already know my general opinion about game journalism. Specifically US game journalism.

 

Did you listen to any of their podcasts?( GFW radio in particular)

[Morgoth]

I never subscribed to the notion that if you haven't got anything constructive to say you shouldn't say anything either. It's gotten me into trouble on more than one occasion.

Like there's anything constructive to say about this subject. I watched some of these 1Up previews, and how the guys there tried so hard to talk like professionals... it was so pathetic. Seriously, nobody is gonna miss those pompous "journalists".

But then again, people around here already know my general opinion about game journalism. Specifically US game journalism.

 

Did you listen to any of their podcasts?( GFW radio in particular)

I can't really remember. I hardly listen to any podcasts. The only ones I was interested in were the Ken Levine podcasts for Bioshock, but I think these were done internally.

[Hurlshort]

This is the final death throes of Computer Gaming World, one of the oldest gaming publications in the business, so it's definitely a bummer.

 

CGW (and eventually GFW) partly died because they didn't whore themselves out to publishers like PC Gamer and all those other publications.

[Slowtrain]

I miss the CGW of the old days, with its 17% score reviews, like crazy, but really is it better to live on as a whored out PR rag with 0 credibility or to go out as something that was once worthwhile.

 

All those guys at CGW were far too talented not to have moved onto something else worthwhile.

[Purkake]

Never got a chance to read any of CGW or GFW because of geographical incompatibilities. I got to listen to them on the CGW/GFW radio and they were awesome. Those were the

. Also remember the whiskey nerd and the

. These have explicit lyrics btw.

[Walsingham]

Hang on. With gaming up 40% last year, how come these guys went under?

[Purkake]

Hang on. With gaming up 40% last year, how come these guys went under?

 

It's mostly because the suits at Ziff Davis mishandled the company, or so I heard. Also dead tree gaming press hasn't been doing so well for the last couple of years.

[Purkake]

Hot scoop: Ryan Scott of GFW Radio fame is putting together ANOTHER podcasts with possibly the old GFW gang. Podcast should be out by late friday/early saturday. Geekbox Radio

 

Next Rebel FM should be out by tomorrow. Subscribe to it in itunes

 

Also the new video podcast from the 1UP show crew should come on Friday. talkingorange

[Nightshape]

I hate 1UP.

[Purkake]

I hate 1UP.

 

Did they kill your family and burn down your village or something?

Edited January 13, 2009 by Purkake

[Walsingham]

Hang on. With gaming up 40% last year, how come these guys went under?

 

It's mostly because the suits at Ziff Davis mishandled the company, or so I heard. Also dead tree gaming press hasn't been doing so well for the last couple of years.

 

I'd cheerfully go for a ban on suits. I exploit the phenomena ruthlessly, but a smart suit does not maketh the man.

[Bokishi]

I think it's sad to see EGM go

[Matthew Rorie]

All I know is that it's a bad time to be getting into the games journalism industry. GameSpot laid off 15 or so people a month ago, now we got 30 more people on the street. Even if some of them work their contacts to get jobs at publishers (who themselves are often cutting back), that's still too many people for too few positions.

 

I enjoyed working at GameSpot; though it's an incredible amount of work (and I'm sure the people left behind are now all doing the jobs of two people), working for a game website is still pretty cool. Which must make it doubly crappy for these people, because losing an awesome job must be worse than losing a job you're indifferent about.

 

Pretty crazy that gaming publishers and gaming press are going through these kinds of cutbacks, when the industry as a whole is still growing. But I guess part of being a suit is preparing for the worst, and who knows what 2009 might bring.

[Walsingham]

Pretty crazy that gaming publishers and gaming press are going through these kinds of cutbacks, when the industry as a whole is still growing. But I guess part of being a suit is preparing for the worst, and who knows what 2009 might bring.

 

If you ask me it seems to be a question of panicking at the first hint of trouble, and abandoning all caution at the first hint of success. I mean, clearly you need a lean crew to face the downturn, but why on Earth do so many companies seem to have been staffing on the assumption that growth was going to continue indefinitely?