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1up/IGN layoffs part deux [1UP, Gamespy, and UGO being shut down]

A

antitrop

Member
RedSwirl said:
Shit man. Been blogging at 1up for.... nine years now?! Fuck. I moved things over to Wordpress last year but kept cross-posting assuming a had a little more time.

I mean, we all knew this day was coming since 2009. I don't think I'll ever be as loyal to a gaming publication as I was to 1up during those old days. There is still nothing quite like 1up Yours, there is still nothing even remotely close to the 1up Show, and no blogging community quite like 1up's.

Just... what happened man?
Click to expand...
I absolutely 100% remember you from the 1up forums.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
I think someone like Polygon or CBS/Giantbomb should hire Bob Mackey to do a retro section. That guy did a really awesome job of taking up the reigns of Retronauts the last few years.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Someone's gonna hook up a 1up and/or GameSpy media mega-torrent, right? :)
 
G

GDJustin

stuck my tongue deep inside Atlus' cookies
Ryan Clements is, without hyperbole, the nicest, most considerate man I have ever had the pleasure of working with.

I'm incredibly sad to see him go. But not as sad as I might be, because I know that he's someone with whom I've formed a life-long friendship.

Clements is just a genuinely kind person in all that he does. He's an inspiration and a model for us all.
 
A

antitrop

Member
rynvie said:
the uninformative yet for some reason amusing to me Good Grief/Oddcast, and the flagship shows.
Click to expand...

That show was seriously way better than it had any right to be.

It wasn't even really about anything, yet still entertaining. Tina was awesome.
 
F

Fewr

Member
thummp said:
I was one of the original authors of the 1up website, back in 2004. It was one hell of a chaotic project. The result was some of the worst code the internet had ever seen. That was a contract job that ended when 1up shipped. I went and did other things. But a year and a half later, I returned. For the first time in my life, I had not a job, but a mission. I wanted to rewrite 1up. Some of that shitty code was mine and it never sat well with me.

So I returned in March 2006 to rewrite 1up. I did the bulk of the work myself, but had help with tuning from some VERY smart people. I've never worked as hard on anything in my life, never cared about my work as much as I did for the next 6 years. I became known on the site and users would writie me all the time asking for fixes or help. I frequented the boards and tried to answer questions (and goof off).

When UGO bought 1up in January of 2009, it was a very sad time for 1up, particularly the editorial team, who could never be the same without some of those great folks. And yet, one of the losses was my boss, leaving me in charge of tech. So frankly it was happy times for me. The only boss I had was the CTO of UGO, who was back in New York. Hardly ever heard from the guy. I got a taste of management, of having a say in the direction the site took (from a technical point of view).

But one thing UGO did NOT want to do was to expand the team and make the site even cooler. Sam and I had a ton of great ideas, but unfortunately we were always understaffed. When UGO took over, they cut QA, my boss and a few engineers. Then they cut another one, and yet another quit. That left the 1up tech department with 2 back end and 1 front end engineer. When we did the relaunch in 2011, the trivia engine, the 'Happening Now' module at the upper right, the community center, the updates to the front page. I did ALL the back end work myself. It was a labor of love. I stopped playing video games and would code late into the night after my wife and son were asleep.

When IGN bought the site from UGO, I was the last man standing. I ran the entire site myself. At first, IGN was happy to have me, but I quickly grew to hate it there. They have a couple of serious douchebags running the department, and it wasn't long before I called out one of them on his douchebaggery and he had my fired for it. I was ultimately fired (ok, forced to resign) from 1up because I made someone look bad in a fucking email. And yet, I'm far more depressed upon hearing this news than I was getting canned.

I miss Sam and Jeremy terribly. They sure were fun to work with. Hell, I miss the whole crew. Every damned one of the editorial staff cared DEEPLY about video games, and it showed.

I knew this was coming, knew it was coming soon. Ziff can't run 1up because there is no one left that has the faintest idea how it works. I suppose I can take some solace in the fact that since January 23rd of last year, the site has literally run itself. I did my job and I did it well. Goodbye 1up. Fuck.
Click to expand...
If true, then thanks a lot to you and to the rest of the staff. I visit (ed?) the site on a weekly basis, to catch up on reviews and features. This to me is the New Yorker for games. Fantastic job to all of you.
 
A

Averon

Member
1UP died years ago. The current, and soon to be closed, incarnation of 1UP is a poor shadow of its former self.
 
M

MechaX

Member
Ninjimbo said:
Wherever Parish goes, I'll be there to read his stuff. The man is one of a kind.
Click to expand...

I feel this way about Parish too, despite some standard disagreements on some stuff with him.

I always thought his "New Games Journalism" philosophy is pretty unrealistic with the way the game industry is, but I always appreciated him always seeking to raise the bar in some way.

I would suppose that is definitely one reason why Parish has survived so long despite so many layoffs and management transfers.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Averon said:
1UP died years ago. The current, and soon to be closed, incarnation of 1UP is a poor shadow of its former self.
Click to expand...

Yes. But a few of the podcasts kept going, and that was 99% of what I liked about 1up.
 
F

FStop7

Banned
border said:
Why would the domain name be worth anything?
Click to expand...

3 character dot coms are worth a lot in general

a 3 character dot com that is a widely known arcade term is worth even more

plus they probably get enough residual traffic to where you could just put up a page with nothing but ads and make money off of it
 
N

Ninjimbo

Member
BocoDragon said:
I think someone like Polygon or CBS/Giantbomb should hire Bob Mackey to do a retro section. That guy did a really awesome job of taking up the reigns of Retronauts the last few years.
Click to expand...
I know he's got a lot of controversial opinions, but he's one hell of a writer. Mackey needs to reappear elsewhere.
 
T

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
RedSwirl said:
Shit man. Been blogging at 1up for.... nine years now?! Fuck. I moved things over to Wordpress last year but kept cross-posting assuming a had a little more time.

I mean, we all knew this day was coming since 2009. I don't think I'll ever be as loyal to a gaming publication as I was to 1up during those old days. There is still nothing quite like 1up Yours, there is still nothing even remotely close to the 1up Show, and no blogging community quite like 1up's.

Just... what happened man?
Click to expand...

I remember you on the 1up forums. You were like the next Beige. Take that however you want to lol
 
Therealbeatris

Therealbeatris

Member
ATB, 1up yours, Games Dammit, and Retronuats. All of these shows were the best of their kind. Good luck Jeremy, Kat, Bob, and Jose thanks for the great work you shared with us!
 
R

RyougaSaotome

Member
The true end of an era. I didn't post much there, but 1up was my go to site for everything gaming back in the day. 2009's layoffs were rough, and while 1up since then had been a shadow of its former self, there were enough flashes of brilliance to make it worth visiting. Jeremy and the guys did an admirable job with the weekly feature idea. Some great stuff there despite being understaffed.

1up, you will be missed. Hope everyone lands on their feet, and Parish doesn't get lost in the sea that is IGN. That'd be one hell of a waste of talent.
 
Z

Zeouterlimits

Member
Very sad to see it go..

Fan for years. So many memories from the articles, all the amazing podcasts, the 1up Message Boards...
It's what really led me to GAF.
 
J

JaxJag

Banned
You know, I haven't been to either website in a while. But it's still sad to see them go, GameFly and 1UP at one time were huge parts of my internet surfing. Things changed over the years, but I'll always remember playing stuff like 4X4 Evolution, and Soldier of Fortune 2 demos on their service, and just watching the amazing 1UP content that they put out in the mid 2000s.
 
T

The Dutch Slayer

Member
pour-one-out.jpg


1up Show Opening

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TfK1tUrGJ4

1up was my life from 2005 to 2009.
 
S

Shaanyboi

Banned
Clements leaving means I'm probably never going to listen to Beyond again. One more podcast cut down at IGN due to me not being able to stand the people remaining on it...
 
J

Jake Tower

Banned
RedSwirl said:
Shit man. Been blogging at 1up for.... nine years now?! Fuck. I moved things over to Wordpress last year but kept cross-posting assuming a had a little more time.

I mean, we all knew this day was coming since 2009. I don't think I'll ever be as loyal to a gaming publication as I was to 1up during those old days. There is still nothing quite like 1up Yours, there is still nothing even remotely close to the 1up Show, and no blogging community quite like 1up's.

Just... what happened man?
Click to expand...

You and Beige owned the Yours part of 1UP Yours back in the day.
 
T

The Dutch Slayer

Member
Shaanyboi said:
Clements leaving means I'm probably never going to listen to Beyond again. One more podcast cut down at IGN due to me not being able to stand the people remaining on it...
Click to expand...
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT :O he also !!!!
Beyond is my go to playstation podcast and he is a big part of it ! :O

SHOCK
 
B

Balb

Member
The enthusiasm everyone at 1up had for games was incredible. I remember going back to IGN podcasts after listening to 1up podcasts and IGN sounded super casual in comparison.
 
F

FStop7

Banned
I used the Gamespy client to connect to Quake 2 servers in 1999.

That's pretty much the last time I had any sort of interaction with anything called Gamespy.
 
A

antitrop

Member
Balb said:
The enthusiasm everyone at 1up had for games was incredible. I remember going back to IGN podcasts after listening to 1up podcasts and IGN sounded super casual in comparison.
Click to expand...
Completely different world. IGN never had the public feeling of comradely like 1up did.

1up felt like a family.
IGN felt like a business.
 
N

Ninjimbo

Member
thummp said:
I was one of the original authors of the 1up website, back in 2004. It was one hell of a chaotic project. The result was some of the worst code the internet had ever seen. That was a contract job that ended when 1up shipped. I went and did other things. But a year and a half later, I returned. For the first time in my life, I had not a job, but a mission. I wanted to rewrite 1up. Some of that shitty code was mine and it never sat well with me.

So I returned in March 2006 to rewrite 1up. I did the bulk of the work myself, but had help with tuning from some VERY smart people. I've never worked as hard on anything in my life, never cared about my work as much as I did for the next 6 years. I became known on the site and users would writie me all the time asking for fixes or help. I frequented the boards and tried to answer questions (and goof off).

When UGO bought 1up in January of 2009, it was a very sad time for 1up, particularly the editorial team, who could never be the same without some of those great folks. And yet, one of the losses was my boss, leaving me in charge of tech. So frankly it was happy times for me. The only boss I had was the CTO of UGO, who was back in New York. Hardly ever heard from the guy. I got a taste of management, of having a say in the direction the site took (from a technical point of view).

But one thing UGO did NOT want to do was to expand the team and make the site even cooler. Sam and I had a ton of great ideas, but unfortunately we were always understaffed. When UGO took over, they cut QA, my boss and a few engineers. Then they cut another one, and yet another quit. That left the 1up tech department with 2 back end and 1 front end engineer. When we did the relaunch in 2011, the trivia engine, the 'Happening Now' module at the upper right, the community center, the updates to the front page. I did ALL the back end work myself. It was a labor of love. I stopped playing video games and would code late into the night after my wife and son were asleep.

When IGN bought the site from UGO, I was the last man standing. I ran the entire site myself. At first, IGN was happy to have me, but I quickly grew to hate it there. They have a couple of serious douchebags running the department, and it wasn't long before I called out one of them on his douchebaggery and he had my fired for it. I was ultimately fired (ok, forced to resign) from 1up because I made someone look bad in a fucking email. And yet, I'm far more depressed upon hearing this news than I was getting canned.

I miss Sam and Jeremy terribly. They sure were fun to work with. Hell, I miss the whole crew. Every damned one of the editorial staff cared DEEPLY about video games, and it showed.

I knew this was coming, knew it was coming soon. Ziff can't run 1up because there is no one left that has the faintest idea how it works. I suppose I can take some solace in the fact that since January 23rd of last year, the site has literally run itself. I did my job and I did it well. Goodbye 1up. Fuck.
Click to expand...
The 1up Boards weren't the same without you Thummp. :(
 
N

netBuff

Member
out0v0rder said:
no more gamespy? how will i play borderlands 1 now? oh wait it never worked anyways.
Click to expand...

Suite Pee said:
Will the games that used Gamespy for multiplayer still work? Or am I that far behind the curve? I think I played Titan Quest recently with GS.
Click to expand...

The GameSpy multiplayer software was sold some time ago and belongs to an independent company (glu) - it has absolutely no relation with the gaming website GameSpy.

FStop7 said:
I used the Gamespy client to connect to Quake 2 servers in 1999.

That's pretty much the last time I had any sort of interaction with anything called Gamespy.
Click to expand...

Seems like you missed out on some great content.
 
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