EGM, 1UP.com, etc. up for sale

[Oobgarm]

I know most folks here aren't fans of them, but I found this story to be interesting:

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/08/for-sale-egm-and-1up/

It's practically understood that in this day and age, especially within our hobby, print magazines will dwindle down to nothingness eventually. But a company basically 'cashing-in' right now strikes me as kind of odd. The peak of magazines was close to 1996-2000, and they've definitely 'jumped the shark' so to speak. Game Informer might very well be the only real 'viable' mag left, thanks to their parent company's foreboding shadow.

What say you? What think you?

[Overbite]

i'll buy that for a dollar

[Half Japanese]

I thought EGM was decent for a while there in the late 90's when they had a few writers that I enjoyed (Che Chou for one, but I'm biased because I like his band Ee too) and had entertaining articles (interview with George Romero when he was still on tap to do the RE movie). It seems to me like EGM tried too hard to adopt this 'too cool for school' attitude that may have alienated a few of their mainstream readers and sort of annoyed some of their semi-hardcore ones (me, at least). The arrival of Seanbaby was amusing at first, but over time I think he sort of wore out his welcome and beat the same dead horse to a pulp. Is he still 'writing' for EGM?

I think the final nail in the coffin for me with Ziff Davis as a company is when they changed their newsletter. Jon Davidson (sp?) used to have an email newsletter called "Thinking Out Loud" that was basically him talking about the goings-on of the industry from an insider's perspective and was always an entertaining read. The email newsletter still called the same thing is anything but, rather a compilation of "what's new at 1up.com"

Also, it may not help that ZD mags are pretty much free if you look in the right places online. Pretty much no other magazines are as oft-available for free than the ZD titles.

[Poofta!]

i like and always liked EGM. its one of my three favorite mags (game informer and PCGamer being the other two). although i agree that EGM used to be better, just like PCGamer used to be better. Game Informer i feel is consistently good.

[Rogmeister]

I finally gave up on EGM. It was my favorite magazine for years but my interest has gone down steadily in the last year or so. My subscription expired with the January 2007 issue and I finally decided to let it.

Of course, I may up again if I find a free subscription...

[Overbite]

free subscripitions are easy, i get EGM, Games for Windows, PC Gamer, Gamepro, and I used to get OPM (til they went poof) for free. If I come across any free mag deals i'll post them

[Neil Koch]

"It seems to me like EGM tried too hard to adopt this 'too cool for school' attitude that may have alienated a few of their mainstream readers and sort of annoyed some of their semi-hardcore ones (me, at least). The arrival of Seanbaby was amusing at first, but over time I think he sort of wore out his welcome and beat the same dead horse to a pulp. Is he still 'writing' for EGM?"

Seanbaby still writes for them, and actually, his stuff tends to be pretty "clean" compared to a lot of stuff in the magazine now. I'm no prude or anything, but EGM is certainly not doing anything to portray gaming as a "serious" hobby by peppering their magazine with breast and mastrubation jokes. I can do without stuff like interviews with "booth babes" or previews for DoA Xtreme Volleyball that feature a full-page picture of a guy on the tiolet preparing to flog the dolphin whilst looking at pictures of the DoA ladies.

They're trying too hard to capture the teenage male audience and they're alienating a lot of other potential readers as a result. I have a subscription right now, but I'm not going to bother to renew it. Even with the new re-design, the quality of the magazine has gone steadily downhill over the past couple of years.

[Jorpho]

What was wrong with 1up?

[Captain Wrong]

I got 73 cent and a starlight mint wrapper.

[Anthony1]

My feelings about EGM are pretty skewed from the fact that I'm a bigtime gaming mag collector. I collect EGM (the early era anyways), and I have fond memories of getting those first issues back in the day. I enjoy the early era of EGM much more than the more recent era's of the mag. To be honest, the mag is actually better now, (and in the late 90's), then it was during the early era, but I just like the early era better. EGM started up in very late 1988 if I'm not mistaken. Basically 1988/1989 is when they started. My favorite time frame in gaming is from 1988 to about 1995/1996 or so. Of all the mags that existed during that time frame, EGM was pretty enjoyable. I like certain mags much more, but they didn't exist during that entire time frame, so it's not a valid comparison.

The thing that I am amazed about EGM, and GamePro too, is the fact that they are still alive. Sure the founding creaters of those mags are long gone, but the mags themselves are still alive. Gaming magazines seem to usually only have like 6 or 7 year runs in them, if that, and it's nice to see a mag with some staying power.


My take on 1up, is that I don't really care for the website very much, and the forums are pretty fanboyish to the extreme, but what I do really enjoy from 1up is their podcast. 1upYours is a very entertaining podcast, and even though it's a corporate podcast, and everybody likes to root against the corporate ones, I truly think it's the best multiplatform podcast out there right now at the moment. The combination of the 4 main guys that are on it, and their witty commentary is quite entertaining to say the least. John Davison, Garnett Lee, Luke Smith and Shane Bettenhausen form quite a Fantastic Four from a podcasting standpoint. For those of you that can't stand EGM and 1up, and everything they stand for, I'm sure you won't touch this podcast with a 10 foot pole, but the truth of the matter is, if you are totally avoiding it, then you are avoiding one of the best video game podcasts in existence and you are doing yourself a disfavor in doing so.

[slip81]

ehhh, i stopped getting magazines when I got a braodband connection and realized that I could get the same material with video way before I could read it in a mag.

[ganondorf]

wow, ziff davis must be going downhill. PSM recently released there last issue.

EDIT:
I meant OPM

[GarrettCRW]

I got 73 cent and a starlight mint wrapper.

Congratulations, A Winner Is YOU!!!!

;)

[Anthony1]

ehhh, i stopped getting magazines when I got a braodband connection and realized that I could get the same material with video way before I could read it in a mag.


Well, I find it difficult to cosy up to my laptop or desktop while I'm laying in bed. Until Digital Paper comes along, there won't be anything that can really replace magazines and books, from a comfort while reading standpoint. There is something about being able to take a magazine with you, when you go to eat some food somewhere while you are solo, or to have it in your car, so that you can grab it and read it while waiting at a doctor's office or whatever. Eventually digital paper will happen, and it will work right, and then yes, magazines will truly be obsolete, as will Newspapers and books, etc, etc. But until then, I still like to be able to hold something in my hands, and be able to read at my leisure. I can't imagine taking a laptop with me to the bathroom.


Of course, having said all that, I agree that I get my news from the internet, so I don't expect to get any breaking news in magazines anymore, but I still think the reviews and previews and interviews are enjoyable, and it's also much easier on the eyes to read a review on paper, than to stare at a LCD screen all day.

[stargate]

Well, I find it difficult to cosy up to my laptop or desktop while I'm laying in bed. Until Digital Paper comes along, there won't be anything that can really replace magazines and books, from a comfort while reading standpoint. There is something about being able to take a magazine with you, when you go to eat some food somewhere while you are solo, or to have it in your car, so that you can grab it and read it while waiting at a doctor's office or whatever. Eventually digital paper will happen, and it will work right, and then yes, magazines will truly be obsolete, as will Newspapers and books, etc, etc. But until then, I still like to be able to hold something in my hands, and be able to read at my leisure. I can't imagine taking a laptop with me to the bathroom.


Of course, having said all that, I agree that I get my news from the internet, so I don't expect to get any breaking news in magazines anymore, but I still think the reviews and previews and interviews are enjoyable, and it's also much easier on the eyes to read a review on paper, than to stare at a LCD screen all day.

My sentiments exactly.

[cyberfluxor]

They'll get a decent penny for the domain names, only 3 characters long.

[roxybaby]

Ziff Davis has been trying to sell itself, first as a whole, then each of its three groups separately, for the last couple of years. But I've heard the price they want is way too high, so now they are trying to dump their most valuable properties? Rumors were that companies including Viacom and Disney were interested in EGM only and Ziff is pretty desperate for cash right now. ESPN and 1up already have a partnership of sorts. I think the death of printed EGM is very close.

[digitalpress]

Finally the domain is available for my next project, "Entertaining Gangland Murders".

*places bid*

[slip81]

Finally the domain is available for my next project, "Entertaining Gangland Murders".

*places bid*


why not also snatch up 1up and turn it into a porn site, "1 underage princess."

[WiseSalesman]

Hmmm ... I always liked CGW. I'll miss that magazine a bit, if for no other reason than Jeff Green.

[PapaStu]

And it appears to have already sold......


http://dell.1up.com/


Its not the Official re-direct yet.... but give it a little more time and i'm sure it will be, even though Dell left the announcement out of their Key-Note address at todays CES event.