Videogames

Videogames | 1up.com and EGM (more or less) Shuttered

By Aidan Moher January 6th, 2009

The news spread around the Gaming Press like wildfire earlier today, the Ziff Davis Game Group (consisting of 1UP.com, Gamevideos.com, Gametab.com and Mycheats.com) was purchased today by publishing juggernaut Hearst Media (owners of UGO.com) and big changes have come one of the top faces in the Videogame industry.

From Eat. Sleep. Game.

The internet hummed quietly this morning on inauspicious word that the rumored buyout of 1UP.com and Ziff-Davis game group by Hearst Media (owners of the high-traffic but surprisingly low profile UGO gaming portal) had gone through this week. Originally, word was seen on news portal PaidContent.org, and though the story was quickly pulled down this morning, it remained indexed in Google’s cache and RSS feeds. However, it was thought that this would likely mean a few layoffs while UGO attempted to fit 1UP.com within their content stable.

From Joystiq

Based on Twitter and forum posts by (now former) 1UP staff, it appears all but certain that the 1UP Show video podcast and 1UP Yours audio podcast are no more.

Speaking to MTV Multiplayer, 1UP editorial director Sam Kennedy could not confirm changes to its products / programming. “Will we have as many shows as we have in the past? Probably not, but we have – we’ve had – a lot of ideas for future shows and we’re pretty excited about what we’ll do in the future,” Kennedy told MTV. “Right now, we’re going to go through the process of really figuring out what kind of shows and products we want to keep going in the future. Our intention is to keep as many going as we can.”

1UP staff affected:

At present, the following 1UP staff have indicated — either in tweets, forum posts, or directly to us — that they have been let go: Andrew “Skip” Pfister, Matt Chandronait, Ryan O’Donnell, Jay Fresh, Cesar Quintero, Philip Kollar, Nick Suttner, Anthony Gallegos, Shane Bettenhausen, James “Milkman” Mielke.

Add to this the audacity that UGO.com had when they posted this right before laying off 40 1UP.com/EGM employees and gutting the entirety of the network:

UGO acquired 1UP today. That’s one hell of a way to kick off the New Year.

First of all, let me come out and say that there is no other gaming site like 1UP. Unlike some of the lumbering, impersonal behemoths out there, 1UP is all about its personalities, and its fans are awesome, passionate and willing to fight to the death over whether Final Fantasy X2 was an abomination or a triumph. It’s an honor to bring that passion into the UGO fold. We are like-minded in our love of video games and I plan on welcoming them to the family by kicking their collective asses in Street Fighter IV.

Speaking specifically of the team over there, Sam Kennedy and his crew at 1UP are the most hardcore of hardcore gamers. Cut them and they bleed pixels. There isn’t a better site out there to help UGO realize our vision of being the definitive voice in gaming.

Sam and I are already talking about all the cool things we can do together between epic Dhalsim v. Zangief matches. I can tell you that we’re going to own E3 this year. Our shared goal, our sole mission, is to make your head explode over and over again as we bring you the best video game coverage on the web. At the heart of all this madness is a desire to help 1UP do what they do best…”owning the conversation” when it comes to video games.

Uh, yeah, sure. If that isn’t a dagger in the back I don’t know what is. It’s one thing to take over a company and incorporate it (and most of its employees) into your own. That’s worth celebrating. Gutting it and leaving dozens of good, skilled journalists without jobs? Excuse me while I boo.

RIP 1UP

In a matter of hours many of the aspects that separated 1UP from their competitors – the 1UP Yours podcast, the 1UP Show, a slicky produced weekly video podcast, and EGM magazine – were thrown aside like so much rubbish. One has to wonder what UGO’s motives are when they fire the majority of the well known personalities, shutter the three things that defined 1UP’s success and more or less turn the community of hardcore gamers against them in the matter of hours.

Truly this is a sad day for Videogames journalism. Best of luck to those who lost their jobs today.

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Review

Review | Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan

By Aidan Moher January 6th, 2009
Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan

Altered Carbon

Author – Richard K. Morgan

Paperback
Pages: 544 pages
Publisher: Gollancz
Release Date: September 9, 2002
ISBN-10: 057507390X
ISBN-13: 978-0575073906

In the six or so short years since Richard Morgan hit the SF scene, he’s become synonymous with hard edged Science Fiction. Hell, he is probably one of the sole reasons that ‘gritty’ has become such an overused descriptor in the SF publishing universe. He made further waves earlier this year when he took the leap from Science Fiction into Fantasy with the release of The Steel Remains. Wanting to see what all the fuss was about, I decided to go back to the source and start with his debut novel, Altered Carbon.

Immediately I was struck at how evenly Altered Carbon delivered a mix between hard edged Science Fiction and a dusty old detective novel. As with any good first person narrative driven novel, the strength of Altered Carbon rests on the shoulders of its main protagonist and Takeshi Kovacs (not pronounced KOE-vacs, but rather KOE-vash, if you know what’s good for you) more than delivers. On the surface he’s a hardened killer, straight out of the future’s version of prison, and simply bent on doing what he needs to to survive. Over the length of the novel, though, Kovacs grows through Morgan’s brisk, evocative prose and shows more layers than I ever expected of him.
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News

(Almost) Free Readin’ | $1 e-Books from Orbit!

By Aidan Moher January 5th, 2009

Contiuing their trend of progressive thinking, Orbit Books has announced plans to release digital versions of many of their successful novels at only $1 apiece! Each month will feature a new novel at that low price (unfortunately after the month is up the price will go back to normal), but there isn’t a better way to check out some of the features of your iPhone/PDA/Computer/Cell Phone as a reading device than to pick up novels like The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks, Winterbirth by Brian Ruckley or Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks.

The Press Release:

Introducing the One Dollar Ebook from Orbit!

Orbit – in partnership with a number of major ebook vendors – has launched an innovative promotion offering one ebook for sale each month at the introductory price of $1.00. At the end of the promotional month the cost of the ebook returns to its standard price and a new book will be offered at the discount. Details of the promotion are at www.onedollarorbit.com

The promotion will include The Way of Shadows by debut author Brent Weeks, Empress by Karen Miller, as well as classics of science fiction such as Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks.

VP and Publisher of Orbit Tim Holman said: “We believe that this promotion will give readers a great opportunity to discover new writers. Most of our consumer marketing has an online focus, and the digital marketplace offers the perfect platform for price-promotion initiatives such as this. It will be very exciting to see how effective it is. The range of titles chosen for the promotion includes a mix of frontlist and backlist, from both new and established authors, and we will be monitoring the performance of every title very closely.”

A list of titles that will be available at the discount price can be found at http://www.onedollarorbit.com

You can find out all the dirty details about the event HERE.

News

An Aside | Updated my Blogroll

By Aidan Moher January 5th, 2009

Thanks to John’s absurdly successful Book Reviewers Linkup Meme, I was introduced to a dearth of new Speculative Fiction blogs. Looking at my paltry Blogroll in my sidebar, I decided it was time to do something about it.

Instead of making my page a mile long by adding ever blog to my side bar (it’s pretty long even now), I went ahead and made a dedicated page for links to other blogs. If you’re not on the list, drop me a comment or email and I’ll go ahead and add you.

A Giant List of SF Blogs

For now, check out the huge list and see that you don’t find a new blog that’s right up your alley. A link to the page can also be found in my sidebar just above the “Subscribe” section (which you should also do!)

Feature Article

Article | Reflecting on 2008

By Aidan Moher January 4th, 2009

2008 was the first full year for A Dribble of Ink and it served up both a lot of challenges and a lot of rewarding moments. As a fledgling blog started in ’07, I felt that I had a lot to prove and a good chance to carve out a place among the heavy hitters of the blogosphere.

Did I succeed? That’s for the readers to decide, but personally I feel like A Dribble of Ink, and myself as a blogger, grew in leaps and bounds over the previous year.

One of the biggest moments for me in 2008 came in June, when I re-posted SFX Magazine’s list of the top 100 SFF authors of all time, as voted on by their readers. Little did I know that this quick aside (secretly written at work, unknown to my boss) would lead to over 2,700 views A Dribble of Ink in one day. Why so many? Well, Neil Gaiman, who ranked third, saw the list and posted about it on his blog. I nearly shit myself when I saw the referral from his web site; in my books Gaiman is about as close to a god that a living mortal can get. That day, above all others, really helped me see what all the hard work in maintaining A Dribble of Ink is worth. Thanks to Gaiman, and all the people who discovered the blog because of his link, I broke a big milestone in 2008: 100k views. In retrospect, I think I owe Mr. Gaiman a hell of a thank you.
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