by pitohui » Sat Jan 10, '09, 9:32 pm
Yeah, 1UP was more or less gutted. A bunch of my close friends have been kept on, but the majority have been axed. What kills me is that 1UP's true strengths - its shows and podcasts - have been scrapped, leaving it just another a neutered game site. I've been a guest on the Retronauts podcast a few times, and it kills me that the thing is gone forever. It's really the only thing about the site that I enjoyed on a regular basis. My Thursday morning routine for the past few months has been waking up, getting ready for work, and putting the new Retronauts on my iPod before boarding the train. Try to download the episodes currently available if you can, before UGO deletes them.
The truth is that while this is a huge deal for the loss of a great mag and the watering down of a great site, the real tragedy comes from the fact that Ziff writers are just a generally close-knit group of people and don't deserve this in any way, shape, or form. As I mentioned, I got my start writing for them six years ago, and before that many of us were making fansites together. A bunch of us hooked up in Tokyo during TGS last year for an Akihabara pilgrimage, and it was some of the most fun I've ever had socializing with other gamers. I won't split hairs; I hate spending time with other gamers in general. They're by and large socially stillborn manbabies with no social tact. But Ziff writers are different. Mature enough to hold a conversation without resorting to injokes and nerd gags. (It's difficult to explain. I really have a low tolerance for other gamers here in Japan. None of my friends in this city are gamers, and I really want to keep it that way.)
I'm still in touch with a lot of these people (fortunately, my closest friends have been kept on by UGO) and I really hope they pull through. But what UGO has wantonly tossed aside, other publications are sure to pick up with little hesitance. I hope to see these people penning columns for their former competitors in the future.