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My Reaction To 1UP's Last Ever Podcast


On 04/08/2013 at 05:53 PM by Raised_on_Nintendo

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(this is cross-posted from 1UP.  The staff uploaded their final podcast, a 3-hour long whale of an event.  They didn't state as much, but my guess is it's the last new content 1UP will see, and it's worth a listen.  Sam, Jeremy, Milky, Shoe, and many others share their thoughts on 1UP.  Anyhoo, on with the blog...)


Last night I downloaded the Final 1UP Podcast @ Games Dammit!.  Being over 3-hours in length, I thought it'd make for delicious ear candy consumable in fragments over the course of the next work week.  Once I pressed play, though, it was quickly apparent that Jose Otero had produced the goodbye podcast that all 1UP fans wanted to hear (nay, I wanted to hear).  I enjoyed it so much, I couldn't press pause, consumed it whole.

My relationship with 1UP was that of a reader/blogger/commenter/EGM subscriber.  During 1UP's early-mid years, I was completely unaware of the respectable (or celebratory, some would argue ) podcasts being pumped out on a regular basis, particularly 1UP Yours! and The 1UP Show.  At the time, my computer couldn't process the site's higher-end media without lag, and I didn't own an iPod until '09.  Thanks to the mighty power of the internet, much of this work is preserved, and I've been able to check out many episodes from the full basket of 1UP Network shows (Retronauts, Broken Pixels, etc.).  It helps put into perspective the full capacity 1UP established for itself in audio, video, digital and print for someone like me who wasn't able to experience it at the time.  

The Final Podcast covers these issues, and everything else that constitutes 1UP's Legacy.  Jose did a fantastic job grouping staff for each segment (or maybe it was random on the fly, either way, great job!).  To hear staff speak candidly about their experience, and to pay respect to each other, the industry, and to the audience answered a lot of questions I had, and was very informative overall.  Everything is mentioned: ZD, UGO, 1UP's founding, its closure, the bumps along the way, and other interesting insight.  Jeremy even pays respect to Gamemaster, 1UP's resident quircky megatroll that got under people's skin, but always took back what he dished out.

As 1UP rides off into that Gunstar Heroes sunset, it shouldn't be mourned as the loss of an institution, but celebrated as a launching point for the dissemination of integrity during the industry's growth as a whole.   When 1UP's closing was announced, I took some time to read old articles and track down previous staff.  It's not hard to do, just find one person on Twitter and follow the trail.  Much of the staff has moved around the industry and still blogs or writes/edits for various websites, as many of you may already know.  

To me, what's saddening isn't necessarily the loss of 1UP, but that of the battle of Quality vs. Quantity, Truth vs. Fodder, Transparency vs. Kickbacks.  1UP didn't wither due to lack of love, but to lack of corporate interest.  Look to the Retronauts Kickstarter for proof of the people's passion for prolonging that project, at least into the foreseeable future.  As well, most of the member community has also regrouped at the likes of pixlbit.com, ign.com and giantbomb.com, further carrying the 1UP torch through the web's hallowed halls.

Lastly, I just want to say, somewhere along all this I realized I came to 1UP because it carried EGM's mantra of integrity over onto the web.  From the beginning to the end, I trusted this site to give it to me like it is, and it never wavored.  Thank you.

That said, it's been great, it's been real, but I gotta get outta here before this place explods!!!

 


 

Comments

leeradical42

04/08/2013 at 06:59 PM

Never really got that deep, i did reveiws blogs but never really got into the podcast, now with that said as a fellow x 1upper i will miss that place.

Raised_on_Nintendo

04/09/2013 at 05:42 AM

I just recently began listening.  Retronauts is a great podcast, dedicated to discussing classic games, usually from the 90's.  I still enjoyed 1UP nonetheless, it's just weird to have missed out on those early podcasts and how popular they were.

leeradical42

04/09/2013 at 08:14 AM

I will check thoughs out now like you I can actually play them lol.

Super Step Contributing Writer

04/08/2013 at 07:55 PM

Milky and Shoe?! Well, now I'm listening!

Great blog.I also came to 1up cause of EGM.

I've never had an account at giantbomb, but I like it here, and IGN is more like an entertainment page with facebook comments than anything resembling a community/blog site, so here I stay.

Raised_on_Nintendo

04/09/2013 at 05:46 AM

FWIW, I really like PIxlbit.  It's already superior over 1UP in some technical aspects. It's a nice cozy site that's dedicated to games.  Some other sites have strayed too far into multimedia for my tastes.  Believe it or not, I watch no TV at all (I do watch shows,but they are streamed or DL'd commercial-free), and I specifically avoid TV-oriented content.  IGN seems to have more TV coverage than games coverage nowadays, but I have only so much time to spend on blogging and such, so I can't really speak about the other sites unless I dig deeper.  

BrokenH

04/08/2013 at 08:00 PM

But Jeremy & co. are still going ahead with retronauts,aye? I've read their kick-starter was a success so in theory it's not a complete good bye!

Raised_on_Nintendo

04/09/2013 at 05:51 AM

True.  Jeremy is practically Mr. 1UP.

Justin Matkowski Staff Alumnus

04/08/2013 at 09:13 PM

Definitely hoping they do continue on with Retronauts - and I definitely agree with Joe; Pixlbit is a true gaming site with an awesome community. IGN is more or less the Perez Hilton of the gaming world.

Raised_on_Nintendo

04/09/2013 at 06:05 AM

Retronauts is here to stay, at least for a year or two.  I agree, Pixlbit is pretty cool.  I still haven't checked everything out.

Travis Hawks Senior Editor

04/08/2013 at 10:15 PM

I just started listening on my drive home and I still have 2 hours left.  It is wild to hear so many familiar voices that came and went through the years... It's sad, but it sure seems like all of them have found even better careers in the long run even if they got laid off.  Anyway, I'm certainly enjoying the memories and am sort of looking forward to driving to work tomorrow now!  

KnightDriver

04/08/2013 at 11:53 PM

That's about where I am in the podcast. I'll finish it this week. It's sad, but I still follow these guys on other sites and podcasts, so it's not so bad. I think 1UP could have used a message system like Pixlbit has. I like that a lot. I never miss a response to a blog or comment anymore.

Raised_on_Nintendo

04/09/2013 at 06:01 AM

The entire podcast is great, up to the very end.  Someone in the podcast (I forget who) says that all of the 1UP shows are being prepared for YouTube, and I have a feeling that most, if not all of 1UP will be preserved in some fashion.  It's too popular, and scraping data is too easy for it to just vanish forever.

Having said that, the podcast really helps put closure on the entire 1UP experience, and it's nice to move on to online communities like Pixlbit that are better equipped to serve the public at large's demands.  It's like you guys looked into the future and waited in the wings to provide a soft landing for the refugees.  Well played.

daftman

04/12/2013 at 10:04 PM

Finally listened to this podcast (I had a lot of driving to do today). It was a wonderful close to the era of 1UP, an excellent cap on its legacy. I loved hearing from so many familiar people, hearing behind the scenes comments. There was a lot said about The 1UP Show and I had forgotten what a great show it was (glad it's getting preserved on youtube!). And the Retronauts kickstarter! I hadn't known about that. Retronauts was my favorite part of 1UP and I actually listened to every episode of the podcast.

I really do like PixlBit and I think some of the blogging tools here are better than what 1UP had but I'll always miss that old site. Especially during its heyday, 1UP was unique and I doubt the internet will ever see its like again.

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