BUTT 0 Report post Posted January 7, 2009 http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/ho...amp;newsLang=en Ziff Davis Media Sells 1UP Digital Assets to UGO Entertainment, a Division of Hearst Corporation Sale Allows Ziff Davis Media to Focus Solely on its Core PCMag Digital Network Business Final Print Edition of EGM to be Distributed in January ‘09 NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ziff Davis Media, one of the nation’s leading technology media businesses, announced today the sale of the 1UP Digital Network, including 1UP.com, MyCheats.com, GameVideos.com and GameTab.com to UGO Entertainment, a division of Hearst Corporation Ziff Davis Media’s EGM Magazine will be discontinued. The January ‘09 issue will be the final printed issue. “We believe this is a smart transaction for Ziff Davis Media that places these market leading assets and teams in a great environment poised for further success. The transaction allows us to pay down debt and shift our full focus to our core PCMag Digital Network business. We thank our 1UP team members for their contributions and wish them the best of success into the future”, said Ziff Davis Media CEO Jason Young. “Since we started UGO 11 years ago, we have served the gamer community and built a world-class online publishing platform,” said J Moses, CEO of UGO Entertainment. “The acquisition of 1UP, with its authentic voice, tenured editorial personalities and bustling user community, allows us to expand our base of quality content and represents a major step forward in UGO’s mission to become the leader in the games space.” Ziff Davis Media recently announced the launch of the PCMag Digital Network reflecting a move to a 100% digital position for its flagship brand. The PCMag Digital Network leverages its quality content and audience to offer marketers a unique combination of solutions that enable strong brand positioning, while driving measurable response results. More announcements about the future growth and expansion of The Network will be issued in the coming months. GCA Savvian Advisors acted as exclusive financial advisor to Ziff Davis Media on the transaction. Yeah, I saw this coming. I like 1up's podcasts. I hope they don't disappear. Sad day, ain't it? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AlaskanHero 0 Report post Posted January 7, 2009 Damn, and I paid like $40 for a four year subscription or something. I'm never gonna see that money again, am I? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Molotov The Bear 0 Report post Posted January 7, 2009 Nah, they'll just switch you over to the even shittier PCMagazine they run. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndrewTS 0 Report post Posted January 7, 2009 At least I have a free subscription to EGM so I'm not out any money. Who reads UGO anyway? Seriously? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KingPK 0 Report post Posted January 7, 2009 I hadn't read EGM in a good 4 years. I was a loyal subscriber but when they went through the redesign and drastically cut down on the content in each issue, it became pointless to read. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Matt Young 0 Report post Posted January 7, 2009 This sucks so much. I've read EGM since issue #100 (last one was #236) in November 2007. I bought every issue until getting a subscription a couple years ago. That subscription was set to run through October 2010. I wonder if there will be a refund (doubtful) or a replacement (something shitty). This is a sad day for me. While anyone can get the news and reviews online, I still enjoyed reading EGM the day I received it each and every month. I was fortunate enough to meet the crew at E3 2005, and all of them were class acts. I hope they start a new site, or something to that effect. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mike wanna be 0 Report post Posted January 7, 2009 I've been getting free subscriptions for a couple years, those 1up poll things never seem to close. It was bound to happen. Magazines are so pre-internet. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BUTT 0 Report post Posted January 7, 2009 I like 1up's podcasts. I hope they don't disappear. Well perhaps this was KRAYZIE TAWK because of course they're all dead! 1up Yours, my favorite, dead. Retronauts, good for a listen when it was about games I liked, dead. 1up FM, sometimes good, sometimes not. Dead! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haws bah gawd 0 Report post Posted January 7, 2009 Damn shame really. I got a code for a free subscription from Matt Young earlier this year (thanks again, BTW). This magazine has become a real shit storm lately though. Ever since Hsu left, Mielke has used the magazine as his own personal podium to suck the cock of every shitty game that comes out of Japan. Probably the thing I'll miss most is Seanbaby's "Rest of the Crap" section in the back of the mag. RIP. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
YourKock'sReallyGreat 0 Report post Posted January 7, 2009 When does GamePro get the boot? That has to be by far the worst videogame magazine. I remember reading it at the age of 10 and being able to tell that it was nothing more than a schill for shitty games. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BUTT 0 Report post Posted January 7, 2009 I loved GamePro when I was 10. Looking back, it wasn't great but it wasn't horrible either. Early GamePro was a total shill mag, but during the time I read it heavily, I think it was good. Now it's terrible. I try to convince myself it wasn't always bad. And I am convinced! Like cocaine, nostalgia's a helluva drug. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrVenkman PhD 0 Report post Posted January 7, 2009 I love EGM, but I have a STACK of magazines sitting on a table / in my work shoulder bag that remain unread and are now completely out of date. Print is dead and I just don't give myself a lot of time to sit and read something that isn't on a webpage. I do have fond memories of the magazine though and I was always happy when grandma gave me a subscription for my birthday and/or Christmas. Funny how the December 2008 cover says "THE END IF NIGH" (in the context of a Watchmen prequel game, but still). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Celtic Jobber 0 Report post Posted January 7, 2009 EGM was great in the mid-late 1990s, but it became a shell of it's former self. I loved it when they did top 100 lists. And I guess I'm in the minority, but I found Seanbaby to be really annoying after his first couple of issues. But I still read it every now and then, and I felt the reviews were probably alot less biased than Game Informer (which is owned by GameStop and always has pics of its editors partying with MS or Activision employees). And it bums me out that print media is dying out, I much prefer reading long articles in a magazine to reading them online. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrVenkman PhD 0 Report post Posted January 7, 2009 I actually prefer hard copy articles about video games too, but the problem became that I work in front of a computer for 8 hours and find it easier to pay attention to my actual job if my reading is limited to online webpages and not my head looking down at a magazine. I don't really read books in my spare time either. My only real "hard copy" reading time is waiting for / riding a bus, but since I stopped working at a location that was a 1 hour bus commute and am back at 15-25 minutes, there's not much magazine reading time in there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Vitamin X Report post Posted January 7, 2009 I just got a free subscription to EGM, too! Lame. I still get GameInformer, but not for much longer. Although I'm not really sure how good that mag is compared to the others. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haws bah gawd 0 Report post Posted January 7, 2009 Game Informer is passable. Their reviews seem to be a little inconsistent, but it's readable for the most part. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Anya 0 Report post Posted January 7, 2009 That's a shame. Gamepro's fighting game coverage was very good in the early 90s. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haws bah gawd 0 Report post Posted January 7, 2009 I used to love the hell out of the Gamepro spinoff, SWATPro, in the early 90's. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thoth 0 Report post Posted January 7, 2009 I always loved EGM for their Street FIghter coverage. I remember the cover for Super Street Fighter 2... And Gamepro has been crap forever. I remember their review of the first ECW game on the playstation (The WWF Attitude ripoff). I think they gave it 4.5 out of 5? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Psycho Penguin 0 Report post Posted January 7, 2009 EGM's new style where they'd actually devote more space to reviews, instead of having four people do one paragraph each, was a nice new style, and I am sorry to see them go. However, I don't have any next gen stuff, so it's not like the magazine was totally useful for me any more. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
10 Pounds 0 Report post Posted January 8, 2009 That blows. I've been a EGM reader since the late 90's, back when the magazine used to be a 200+ pages brick. Half of them were ads but the content was really good. I think the mag lost some of its quality since Hsu left the crew but I still prefer to read videogames news (not much of them since the switch) and reviews on paper rather than to read it on the Net. I guess we'll never know what the mysterious game was for the February issue. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haws bah gawd 0 Report post Posted January 8, 2009 Agreed. Hsu did great things with the magazine. I remember an issue from the early 90's. It had X-Men Mutant Apocalypse on the cover, and the issue was over 400 pages. Completely unheard of in this day and age. I used to like the ads in the back of the magazine for all the import companies and such. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Youth N Asia 0 Report post Posted January 8, 2009 I always liked EGM best, then Game Pro, then Game Informer. I got sick of Nintendo Power, even as a kid that didn't know any better I could tell that games made by Nintendo were getting a way better score than the others whether they deserved it or not Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndrewTS 0 Report post Posted January 10, 2009 I always liked EGM best, then Game Pro, then Game Informer. I got sick of Nintendo Power, even as a kid that didn't know any better I could tell that games made by Nintendo were getting a way better score than the others whether they deserved it or not I don't think anyone read NP for their unbiased coverage. It's always been their maps, strats, cheat guides, etc. that were worthwhile. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
daileyxplanet 0 Report post Posted January 10, 2009 Aren't video game magazines dead now thanks to IGN and youtube anyways? Who wants to read 3 week old news and a 2 page preview when you can get the info the minute it happens, and watch a trailer (E3 or comicon at minimum) for said game? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndrewTS 0 Report post Posted January 11, 2009 Because some magazines have exclusive previews/info that are available before they hit the internet. That's why sometimes the first time a story breaks it may be somebody uploading the info (and sometimes scans) from mags like Famitsu, Nintendo Power, etc on NeoGAF that a subscriber got. Unfortunately, that is mainly for Game Informer. =/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jingus 0 Report post Posted January 14, 2009 Aw, shit. I was a loyal EGM subscriber way back in the early 90s, so this is kinda painful to hear. Not unexpected, in this modern internet age, but it still sucks. I remember EGM back during the glory days, when they'd drop this War & Peace-sized phonebook in your mailbox every month. Anyone else a fond old fan of Sushi X? Hell, I read this magazine so damn long ago that I never even saw Seanbaby's tenure there (though I did like reading his stuff on his website, several years later). A sad final gravestone for a proud old era. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrVenkman PhD 0 Report post Posted January 14, 2009 Sushi X was actually a composite of several different writers. Thanks to the internet (wikipedia) for that info. Apparently people caught on to this when the EGM2 or some variation of X mysteriously became fond of RPGs, among other contradictions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sushi-X Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndrewTS 0 Report post Posted January 14, 2009 http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3172232 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BX 0 Report post Posted January 23, 2009 Game Players magazine was better Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
