Synbios459
Banned
:lol :lol :lolelostyle said:
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Ziff Davis selling 1up, EGM, rest of game division.
- Thread starter Costanza
- Start date
:lolelostyle said:
yeah, that's what i thought.A_Lee_N said:
i think the gaming media is headed for big changes in the not too distant future, ultimately it's serving too small a group of people. realistically the gap in tastes between the gaming media, i.e. the hardcore, and most of the people who buy videogames is huge. i wouldn't be surprised if we see several of the major (and loads of the minor) sites go bye bye.
ziran said:
problem is people does not wait anymore for reviews to buy games IMO when they can see videos of the games on YouTube or another video hosting website. People who buy are mostly able to have their own opinion about a game and do not need someone else to tell them either if it is good or not - they buy, then analyse later.
Good riddance. Fanboys like Shane Luke Smith Garnett and others there have been a cancer to gaming journalism for a long time and only served as flamebait for stupid fanboy wars. They can now discuss why XBOTS AM CRY, draw Halo maps and make diagrams of 1000 reasons not to buy a PS3 in their mom's basement where all fanboys belong.
Crackerman16
Banned
Ajax said:
Harsh, but funny & true (not the part about them going under). Biased they are.
lynux3 said:
I've always wondered why Sony never bought OPM. I mean, if they claim it's the "official" PS mag, then it should be owned by the "official" company, right? Advertising their own games and products should be a no-brainer. With all the money they spend on advertising, owning and running 1 magazine company like OPM should be a drop in the bucket for Sony. And they would already have an established core in subscribers and staff. Oh well, their loss.
Sony buying 1UP... LMAO. That's a nice joke.
EverSoTrendy
Banned
The only goodthing is that jerk Shane is out of a job. Tha bad news is Shoe is out also 
.
If this is true...
.If this is true...
BradVanDam
Member
so 1up / Gaming Age Merger Confirmed?
{Mike} said:
Yeah, maybe for all of the hardcore gamers out there but definitely not the case with casual gamers and the soccer mums - and that's where the video game industry is ideally targeting now; the unaware.
This decision wasn't exactly surprising. I was caught off guard by the 1up thing, but the magazines they've been dropping? Yeah, of course. Magazines aren't profitable at all these days thanks to the internet, and if you aren't backed by an official company like Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft then there's very little to gain from reading it. But game demos will eventually be console-only downloads, content will possibly be broadcasted on the console itself, game trailers are shown on the console, and everything else in-between is shown on websites.
It'll be a shame if 1up was taken over by some sort of blue-collar company like NewsCorp and its take over of IGN. There has been a big change in the content that is delivered on that site, and I would think such a move would ruin 1up's 'community & gamer feel' to it - and that's why I enjoy reading sites such as Eurogamer and *******, because they are still real gamers at heart.
Crackerman16 said:
Not likely. You may be suffering from selective memory here, but if you go back and double-check those issues, I'd be shocked if they weren't at least 50% advertising, if not more. Probably closer to 60%.
It amazes me how beautiful everyone's memory of classic EGM is. If you read one of those issues now, objectively, you'll find it was still mostly ads, full of a lot of filler content (multi-page previews on stuff like Bubsy 3D, the latest crappy movie game, etc) and generally pretty poorly written.
If somebody gets 1up, how am I supposable get informed reviews? Consumer Reports barely cover games and where will all of the objectionable gaming experts go? First Ebert is almost gone from movies and now this?
Thanks to 1up, I avoided certain kinds of games and I listen to 1up Yours every week they have a show.
I am afraid of the larger market who mindlessly spend their cash on sports, WWII shooters, minigame collections, and anime tittles that did not have any TLC being the focus in the NWO of online publication.
I just wish more people rely on experts who are educated enough about the industry instead of some uninformed consumer who doesn't know the difference from a AAA to a C- title.
Thanks to 1up, I avoided certain kinds of games and I listen to 1up Yours every week they have a show.
I am afraid of the larger market who mindlessly spend their cash on sports, WWII shooters, minigame collections, and anime tittles that did not have any TLC being the focus in the NWO of online publication.
I just wish more people rely on experts who are educated enough about the industry instead of some uninformed consumer who doesn't know the difference from a AAA to a C- title.
Is it me or advertisers are afraid of marketing to 'geeks' since they know how to run ad blocking tools for their pcs, use pvrs not provided by the cable company, and bypass ads on DVDs and movie theaters?
andthebeatgoeson
Junior Member
Sell the rights to the 1up song.
1/2 mill lost must be explained by buying way too much lotion. They always look so ashy at the beginning of the 1up Show. Must be bad psoriasis. Who would want to work like that?
1/2 mill lost must be explained by buying way too much lotion. They always look so ashy at the beginning of the 1up Show. Must be bad psoriasis. Who would want to work like that?
vspectra06
Banned
Good. 1up sucks.
Tyrone Slothrop
Banned
i never really imagined there being much money to be made in gaming news. maybe i'm way off but whatever. with that said, i think EGM (and other magazines) really, really need to change in concept. they just scream "dork" or "15 yr old teenage boy" ... why not make them more like any other adult magazine in design and content wise - i understand that won't be easy with ads of pokemon monsters and what have you. but i think if it took a more formal, mature approach, where the magazine looked as if it could be by Men's Fitness or uh, Time magazine on the magazine rack without looking out of place, it'd expand readership a bit more.
as for the problem with the internet killing magazines, maybe magazines should adopt more editorial content, more about the industry (like what GAF usually talks about) rather than the new scans of MGS4 or whatever other hot content the internet unveiled months ago. imagine an EGM with a psp on the cover with the headlines "what's up with the psp? sony fails expectations" or something along those lines
as for the problem with the internet killing magazines, maybe magazines should adopt more editorial content, more about the industry (like what GAF usually talks about) rather than the new scans of MGS4 or whatever other hot content the internet unveiled months ago. imagine an EGM with a psp on the cover with the headlines "what's up with the psp? sony fails expectations" or something along those lines
If EGM wants to survive I think they need to switch to a weekly format. It would allow them to compete reasonably well with the internet for news, and reviews could be much more timely. They could charge $2.50 per week and would stand to make more that way. It would put it much more in range for casual consumers to pick up off the rack at the grocery store.
gamergirly
Member
Big change if this is true. Because essentially all gaming news will move online. Then we'll have online mega-gaming news sites jumping up all around.
I would guess that private equity firms would be very interested in this deal. Basically they buy a struggling company up, 'asset-strip' it, get rid of everything that's not contributing to the bottom line and then sell it on again 18 months later for, generally, very good gains.
Unfortunately the first thing they'd do probably is kill off all the podcasts and videos because they burn through money in bandwidth costs and return virtually nothing. 1upshow has some ads but I doubt it's enough to offset the costs of thousands of copies of 500MB-1GB files being downloaded each week. I have never, ever heard a proper ad (that's not for one of ZDs publications) on the 1up yours podcast, so basically each download is just a big loss for ZD. Which is a shame, because the podcasts are great and the 1up show is one of my favorite 'TV shows'.
And I really do have to echo the comments here about 1up.com. What a load of crap that site is - I'm sure there is some good content but OMG that is one slow son of a bitch. It's like being on a PC with dialup and 100 spyware applications all competing for bandwidth all over again. I actually timed a page load and it took close to 60 seconds to load a single page. If you take into account the 'ad pages' and clicking through them then it's over a minute which is beyond ridiculous since sites like BBC News load in under 5 seconds.
Unfortunately the first thing they'd do probably is kill off all the podcasts and videos because they burn through money in bandwidth costs and return virtually nothing. 1upshow has some ads but I doubt it's enough to offset the costs of thousands of copies of 500MB-1GB files being downloaded each week. I have never, ever heard a proper ad (that's not for one of ZDs publications) on the 1up yours podcast, so basically each download is just a big loss for ZD. Which is a shame, because the podcasts are great and the 1up show is one of my favorite 'TV shows'.
And I really do have to echo the comments here about 1up.com. What a load of crap that site is - I'm sure there is some good content but OMG that is one slow son of a bitch. It's like being on a PC with dialup and 100 spyware applications all competing for bandwidth all over again. I actually timed a page load and it took close to 60 seconds to load a single page. If you take into account the 'ad pages' and clicking through them then it's over a minute which is beyond ridiculous since sites like BBC News load in under 5 seconds.
If EGM gets canned, that means no more Shane on the 1Up Yours podcast.
I am more worried about Games For Windows magazine than anything else. They said they went "official" to get better newsstand penetration, but it's pretty much impossible to find the magazine outside of a bookstore with a huge magazine rack.
I am more worried about Games For Windows magazine than anything else. They said they went "official" to get better newsstand penetration, but it's pretty much impossible to find the magazine outside of a bookstore with a huge magazine rack.
GFW already has a 3-4 page Microsoft advertorial in the back of the magazine. It's kinda sad.drohne said:
mrmojo said:
I really don't think the 1up show/1up yours is about selling ads, it's about building a community and getting you to get to know the people who are in the shows. If you listen to 1up yours, you might come away from it thinking that John is a really smart guy that shares your taste in games, then you might go to 1up.com and check out his blog, and while you're there you'll look at some news stories, all the while seeing the ads at 1up.com. 1up does the community thing on a whole other level than the other gaming media and that's their strength.
Mr_Furious
Member
I'd fully endorse them going "Famitsu". It's definitely doable (obviously) and it's the only way print can compete with the internet. Well that and being aggressive with securing exclusives.Seth C said:
Segata Sanshiro
Member
Insertia said:First Che moves to Microsoft and with the 1up extensions being a 360 mouthpiece I guess this confirms what we all expected.
What confirms what? I've lost my chart and I'm having trouble keeping track of all the tin foil hat theories without it.
Did it cause any pain when you passed that hat you ate?
dirtmonkey37
flinging feces ---->
So.....does this mean the offices are going to...errhmm....... relocate?
Community Forum
Member
Tyrone Slothrop said:
Edge is the best at making a mature magazine.
HylianScribe
Member
1. What Gaming News Site or Magazine operates with a profit? I keep hearing how IGN, GameSpot and GameDaily are losing money left and right, that other divisions keep them afloat.
2) The arguments put forth for why print is still viable:
Exclusive content
- This is not mutually exclusive to print. That's the only reason print had an edge, but with companies more and more inviting online site staff to participate in exclusive events, and "leaking" stuff online, I feel this benefit is m00t because both share it equally, perhaps online will get more favortisim eventually.
Attractive and easy to read formatting
- This isn't always true. First of all, trying increasing the font size on a magazine article. Can't do it? Oh, look, I can go to the font size option on IE and make the fonts bigger. People with bad vision can read off a monitor more easily with the increase font size. Yes, reading off a screen is bad, but in a few years, technology will continue to reduce the strain put on your eyes to the point that it is barely more damaging to read than a book with a light on in the room. As for the attractive part, I've seen websites be far more visually appealing than magaiznes, and print has limitations, online really doesn't (you can only make something look so good with a printer).
Portability
- Be honest. How many of you bring your PSP or DS into the can when you take a dump? Heck, I spend most of my time on games I review for DS in the men's room. With Blackberry and portable devices, you can DOWNLOAD your stuff and read it in the bathroom. And you don't have to worry about looking like an idiot carrying it out because you can stick your device back in your pocket.
Easy to flip through a large source of information
- This is relative. The Encyclopedia, for example, is huge. It is easier to browse a site encyclopedia than the books. Plus, there is something called SEARCH. You can quick skip to text on a page, or search for a term, and you're there. Wikipedia is a good example of how quick and intuitive browsing large amounts of info can be. Sure, turning a page may be slightly faster than clicking a link and a page loads, but not by much on most connections nowadays. Plus, I CAN COPY AND PASTE information, or save it, or bookmark it to show to other people much more quickly.
The space limit also ensures more concise writing, often leading to higher quality writing that gets to the point
- I always see it as the other way aroung. I feel limited space cheapens reviews. I don't want to read a paragraph summary, I would like intricate details before I'm going to buy something based on your word. This is is just a matter of taste, but I mean, most online venues have content managers who impose limits on articles...it's actually no different than print, it's just you do have physically more space for an article online than a magazine, but is that really an advantage of print?
Reading a mag isn't as hard on the eyes as reading off a screen
- You can read in the dark much easier, though...heh.
No pop-up or pop-under noisy animated ads
- Depends on the site. I mean, I hate turning a page and seeing an ad in a magazine. At least I can disable ads online. If I want to disable ads in a mag, I have to tear out pages.
When I turn the page, it works every time. Not so every time I click a link!
- Theoretically, it should always work on a website. But hey, let's counter this. If you have a misprint in a magazine, you're screwed and the subject of jokes for a month. Online, you can update that stuff in seconds. I think online wins out in that regard.
The people who defend print are those who work in the industry. Industry's that cater to older people, 45 and older, do have a market for 20-30 years more, at least. Markets for the male demographic of 18-45, though...that's wishful thinking. There probably will always be print magazines, but I think the majority of the industry will move online and focus predominantly on that aspect within a matter of years.
2) The arguments put forth for why print is still viable:
Exclusive content
- This is not mutually exclusive to print. That's the only reason print had an edge, but with companies more and more inviting online site staff to participate in exclusive events, and "leaking" stuff online, I feel this benefit is m00t because both share it equally, perhaps online will get more favortisim eventually.
Attractive and easy to read formatting
- This isn't always true. First of all, trying increasing the font size on a magazine article. Can't do it? Oh, look, I can go to the font size option on IE and make the fonts bigger. People with bad vision can read off a monitor more easily with the increase font size. Yes, reading off a screen is bad, but in a few years, technology will continue to reduce the strain put on your eyes to the point that it is barely more damaging to read than a book with a light on in the room. As for the attractive part, I've seen websites be far more visually appealing than magaiznes, and print has limitations, online really doesn't (you can only make something look so good with a printer).
Portability
- Be honest. How many of you bring your PSP or DS into the can when you take a dump? Heck, I spend most of my time on games I review for DS in the men's room. With Blackberry and portable devices, you can DOWNLOAD your stuff and read it in the bathroom. And you don't have to worry about looking like an idiot carrying it out because you can stick your device back in your pocket.
Easy to flip through a large source of information
- This is relative. The Encyclopedia, for example, is huge. It is easier to browse a site encyclopedia than the books. Plus, there is something called SEARCH. You can quick skip to text on a page, or search for a term, and you're there. Wikipedia is a good example of how quick and intuitive browsing large amounts of info can be. Sure, turning a page may be slightly faster than clicking a link and a page loads, but not by much on most connections nowadays. Plus, I CAN COPY AND PASTE information, or save it, or bookmark it to show to other people much more quickly.
The space limit also ensures more concise writing, often leading to higher quality writing that gets to the point
- I always see it as the other way aroung. I feel limited space cheapens reviews. I don't want to read a paragraph summary, I would like intricate details before I'm going to buy something based on your word. This is is just a matter of taste, but I mean, most online venues have content managers who impose limits on articles...it's actually no different than print, it's just you do have physically more space for an article online than a magazine, but is that really an advantage of print?
Reading a mag isn't as hard on the eyes as reading off a screen
- You can read in the dark much easier, though...heh.
No pop-up or pop-under noisy animated ads
- Depends on the site. I mean, I hate turning a page and seeing an ad in a magazine. At least I can disable ads online. If I want to disable ads in a mag, I have to tear out pages.
When I turn the page, it works every time. Not so every time I click a link!
- Theoretically, it should always work on a website. But hey, let's counter this. If you have a misprint in a magazine, you're screwed and the subject of jokes for a month. Online, you can update that stuff in seconds. I think online wins out in that regard.
The people who defend print are those who work in the industry. Industry's that cater to older people, 45 and older, do have a market for 20-30 years more, at least. Markets for the male demographic of 18-45, though...that's wishful thinking. There probably will always be print magazines, but I think the majority of the industry will move online and focus predominantly on that aspect within a matter of years.
NYR
Member
Screw the haters. 1up and EGM rule. Not like they are forcing you to visit their site or buy their mag. I don't get this thread...Why wish ill will to them when they serve a purpose to the vast majority of the gaming community?
While you may not agree with their opinons, they are just opinons, some of which people around the world agree with so much or enjoy reading that they expect to receive it in the mail every month, like me.
While you may not agree with their opinons, they are just opinons, some of which people around the world agree with so much or enjoy reading that they expect to receive it in the mail every month, like me.
Segata Sanshiro
Member
I'm 27 and I don't work for a print magazine. The truth of the matter is this: it's personal preference. I like print, and it offers me something that technology is never going to replace. I'm not old, I'm not tech-stupid, I just like reading a magazine. I find websites useful for information, but I enjoy reading a magazine. Even when websites are putting out quality on par with magazines (because they are a long way away), there is still something almost intangible I will always like about a print mag. Kids like them, adults like them, people like them.
This reminds me of ten years ago when everyone said newspapers would be gone in ten years. Yes, the market has shrunk, but many, many people will have them pried out of their cold, dead hands. That goes for newspapers, books, magazines...whatever you've got.
This reminds me of ten years ago when everyone said newspapers would be gone in ten years. Yes, the market has shrunk, but many, many people will have them pried out of their cold, dead hands. That goes for newspapers, books, magazines...whatever you've got.