The Select and Start News Report 01.12.09
Posted by Vincent Chiucchi on 01.12.2009
UGO buys the 1UP network, 30+ staff members get laid off and EGM has come to an end. Is UGO to blame for all this? Elsewhere, GTA teaches kids to drive, Harmonix confirms there won't be a Rock Band 3 in 2009, and more.
Big News
UGO BUYS 1UP; MASS LAYOFFS, PODCASTS IMMEDIATELY END, AND EGM PRINTING DISCONTINUED [credit: GameDaily, Gamasutra, Evil Avatar, GamePolitics, GameSpot, Destructoid, Joystiq, The Escapist, GiantBomb]
Looking to conserve its resources for its PC Mag Digital business, Ziff Davis has sold the 1UP Network to UGO Entertainment, a division of the Hearst media conglomerate. Websites as part of the 1UP network include 1UP.com, GameVideos.com, MyCheats.com, and GameTab.com.
Initially, Sam Kennedy said the team at 1UP were excited to be part of UGO:
"We are extremely excited to join the UGO team. Relying on UGO's publishing platform will allow us to focus on what we do best-creating great content and 'owning the conversation' among gamers through our unique, authentic and definitive voice and community."
Following this statement however, various blog and twitter updates have shown that 30+ staff members from Ziff Davis' Game Group have been laid off. The following list of those laid off was compiled by GameDaily:
Adrian Frieg
Amy Mishra
Amy Moran
Andrea Garcia
Andrew Fitch
Andrew "Skip" Pfister
Anthony Gallegos
Cesar Quintero
Christina Rosa
CoyLou Steel
Derek Chinn
Doug Parsons
Eric Ellis
Giancarlo Varanini
Greg Ford
James "Milkman" Mielke
Jason Bertrand
Jason Wilson
Jervilyn Jaramillo
Justin Frechette
Leslie Gelfand
Marci Yamaguchi
Matt Chandronait
May Tong
Meredith Stowe
Michael Donahoe
Monique Convertito
Ndubuisi Madu
Nick Suttner
Norris Boothe
Philip Kollar
Rey Serrano
Robert Bowen
Rosemary Pinkham
Ryan O'Donnell
Ryan Scott
Shane Bettenhausen
Simon Cox
Tammy Ross
Tipler Ubbelohde
Various podcasts on 1UP would also be canceled, including The 1UP Show and 1UP Yours. It was also officially been confirmed that EGM Magazine will no longer be printed. EGM began production in 1989 and had next month's issue been printed, would have made EGM 20 years old.
As saddening it is to see EGM be gone, I think we all knew something like this was eventually going to happen since these days digital news media is dominating over the print kind, and that Ziff Davis had shut down several other magazines they had. Many people are pointing fingers at Ziff Davis for their poor management, and considering the huge losses they've suffered (which forced the cancelation of Digital Life), I can't blame them. I hope everyone who lost a job at 1UP land back on their feet soon. In other news, the final official issue for EGM which has Street Fighter IV on the cover will be available online. That makes me think why couldn't they make magazines available online to download? If done right it could probably make a profit.
UGO TELLS THEIR SIDE OF THE STORY [credit: MTV Multiplayer, Joystiq, GamePolitics]
With many 1UP staff members losing their jobs, popular podcasts getting canceled, and EGM now discontinued, how much of this can be blamed on UGO? In an interview with MTV Multiplayer, J Moses explained the situation with his point of view.
While many are viewing UGO as having firing so many, Moses sees it as giving people jobs:
"We have just hired 24 people. At a time where all you read about is layoffs we have expanded UGO by 33 percent. I don't know of any content companies out there expanding their workforce. We did that because our business is robust and growing...The simple reality is that we only wanted to buy 1UP and related sites. That was our interest. We're a dot-com company and that's all we've ever been for 11 years. I've personally have always been a huge fan of 1UP. I'm thrilled to buy it through Hearst/UGO...We kept, we believe, the core editorial group that can continue to do great things. What we're adding is 1up.com as an editorial site that will sit on top of the UGO publishing site. And we kept who we believe are the critical people who can make up a great site."
Moses said that the layoffs came from Ziff Davis putting an end to EGM, and "Closing EGM has absolutely nothing to do with UGO."
As for the podcasts getting canned, Moses says those decisions are still being worked through between UGO and the 1UP editorial team. But what of the absense of one of the shows' key producers Shane Bettenhausen? According to Moses: "We would have loved to have had Shane join us, but Shane had other opportunities that we were informed of before we bought the site."
1UP's Director Sam Kennedy, still part of the site, is also standing up for UGO:
"There's no way to rationalize this for most people, and I don't want to sugarcoat anything. Fact: 1UP was a business that was losing money. Fact: This economy sucks and the ad market is diminished. UGO did what they could to, what I consider, 'save' 1UP. Obviously, all of us would have wanted to see things go differently - most of all me, considering I just lost many of my closest friends as coworkers and employees today...If any company out there would have been willing to support us as we were, they certainly didn't step up. The only company that really did was UGO, and they did their very best to continue 1UP."
So has UGO really ruined 1UP, or is this really all Ziff Davis' fault? I really can't judge for myself since I didn't visit 1UP a whole lot.
SIX YEAR OLD PLAYS GTA, DECIDES TO DRIVE [credit: The Escapist, GamePolitics, GameSpot, Slashdot]
After missing his school bus, a six-year-old Virginia boy got into his parent's 2005 Ford Taurus while his mother was asleep and attempted to drive to school. According to the AP report, He made at least two 90-degree turns, passed several cars and ran off the rural two-lane road several times before hitting an embankment and utility pole about a mile and a half from school. He told police that he learned to drive by playing GTA and Monster Truck Jam. The boy's parents, Jacqulyn Deana Waltman, 26, and David Eugene Dodson, 40, are being charged with child endangerment, while the boy and his four-year-old brother are being taken into protective custody.
First of all, what the hell is a six-year-old doing playing Grand Theft Auto in the first place? Secondly, I thought GTA was supposed to encourage kids in killing other people, not take up driving! Thirdly, he was taking the car to SCHOOL?! If I was a six-year-old carjacker, I'd take that car anywhere but school! Anyways, this was pretty reckless by the parents and hopefully they learn a lesson. On the other hand, that kid does drive better than a lot of people in my neighborhood.
NO ROCK BAND 3 THIS YEAR [credit: GameDaily, Gamasutra, Gamespot]
With Rock Band 2 getting released a year after the original Rock Band, you'd think that would mean Harmonix is going to go through a yearly cycle with future release. As it turns out, Harmonix co-founder and CEO Alex Rigopulos has confirmed that this year, they will not be relasing a Rock Band 3, instead focusing on their Beatles game (which is not part of the Rock Band series) and deciding to take their time on bringing new innovations to the series, which may include adding a keyboard to the set of instruments.
Nice to see Harmonix not deciding to release yet another Rock Band game just for the sake of releasing it, and personally, I don't think the game needs yet another instrument attached to it.
Tidbit News
-In the ongoing saga that is the suffering of Midway, the company is recieving an extension on paying off some of their debts. The company had until mid-January to pay off the $150 million they've loaned, but now has until February 19th to pay at least $75 million. Midway is in talk with the holders of the other $75 million in debt. Any day nows... [credit: Gamasutra, GameDaily, GameSpot]
-According to Sony, during the holiday shopping period, the PlayStation 3 saw an increase of more than 130% in hardware sales for the holiday season (from Black Friday on) in the U.S., and nearly a 40% increase for the calendar year. [credit: Gamasutra, GameDaily]
-Sales for the Japanese Game Market in 2008 is being reported at 582.61 billion yen ($6.2 billion), a 15% drop from the 687.95 billion yen it made last year. Of the 15% drop, hardware sales are expected to drop by about 80 billion yen while software sales are predicted to decrease by about 30 billion yen. [credit: GameDaily, Gamasutra, Kotaku]
-Eidos announced that Tomb Raider: Underworld has sold 1.5 million units worldwide, which is below the internal expectations. While the game did well in Europe, Eidos blames the American market, claiming retailers restricted inventory levels during the tough economy and offering unexpectedly high discounts. [credit: Gamasutra, GameDaily]
-Ubisoft announced that it will make a game based on the ABC drama series Grey's Anatomy, slated for release this year on the DS, PC, and Wii. I wonder if it will have a surgery where you have to take a bomb out and get to see an unimportant character blow up. Or better yet, getting to have sex with a ghost. [credit: Gamasutra, GameDaily]
-A survey at videogamepricecharts.com shows that games made by Bethesda have the highest resale value on store shelves, dropping only 12.5% from their original MSRP, and Nintendo games were second with 12.9%. [credit: Evil Avatar, Gamasutra]
-Ubisoft and Square-Enix announced a new deal which will see Square-Enix become the publisher for Ubisoft's games in Japan starting in April. [credit: Gamasutra, GameDaily]
-Not surprising to anyone, Halo 3 was the number one most played game for Xbox Live in 2008. Second place went to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, followed by GTA4, Gears of War 2, and Gears of War 1. [credit: GameSpot, GameDaily]
-In an interview with MCV, Christoph Hartmann, Global President of 2K, said there might be as much as five sequels for the BioShock franchise like Star Wars if given the right twist in innovation. Just as long as these sequels don't have Jamaican stereotypes and little furry creatures destroying an advanced empire, I'm sure it could happen. [credit: CVG, GameDaily]
-PETA has named Fable II the "Most Animal-Friendly Video Game Of 2008" for rewarding the player for eating vegetables to make themselves more attractive and healthy, while eating meat would make them demonic. No mentions about the dog that finds you treasure, which under PETA's standards would be considered animal cruelty. [credit: Gamasutra]
-Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices boss Robbie Bach says that Microsoft still has no plans to have Blu-ray support for the Xbox 360, with the main reasons being that consumers don't really care about Blu-ray on the system and if the system did have Blu-ray built it, the price would go up. [credit: Gamasutra]
-The BBC is reporting that researchers have used Tetris to reduce traumatic stress. The PLoS One journal notes that volunteers, who were first exposed to distressing images, were then given the puzzle game to play a half-hour later. Those that played Tetris had fewer "flashbacks," which according to scientists, may be because the game may have prevented forming of permanent memories. But with Tetris itself causes some kind of traumatic disorder? You'd really be screwed huh? [credit: GameDaily]
[CAL]
January 13th:
-Lord of the Rings: Conquest (X360, PS3, PC, DS)
-Mirror's Edge ported to PC
January 20th - Ar tonelico 2: Melody of Metafalica (PS2)
January 21st - Skate 2 (X360, PS3)
January 26th - MLB Front Office Manager (PS3, X360)
January 27th - Afro Samurai (X360, PS3)
February 2nd - Gauntlet (DS)
February 3rd:
-Rygar: The Battle of Argus (Wii)
-My WorldMy Way (DS)
-Burnout Paradise ported to PC
-Ninja Blade (X360)
February 5th - Halo Wars DEMO (XBL)
February 10th:
-Legacy of Ys: Books I & II (DS)
-Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection (PS3, X360)
-F.E.A.R. II: Project Origin (PS3, X360)
-X-Blades (PS3, X360, PC)
February 17th:
-Street Fighter IV (X360, PS3)
-Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (DS)
-Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned (X360)
-Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? (PSP)
-Sacred 2: Fallen Angel (X360, PS3)
February 20th - The Sims 3 (PC)
February 23rd - Dawn of War II (PC)
February 24th:
-Puzzle Quest: Galactrix (X360)
-The Godfather II (PS3, PC, X360)
-Star Ocean: The Last Hope (X360)
February 27th:
-Killzone 2 (PS3)
-Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop (Wii)
February 28th - Tabula Rasa to be shut down
March 2nd:
-Damnation (PS3, X360, PC)
-Shellshock 2: Blood Trails (PS3)
-This Is Vegas (PS3)
-Samurai Shodown Anthology (PSP)
March 3rd - Halo Wars (X360)
March 13th - Resident Evil 5 (X360, PS3)
March 17th:
-Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume (DS)
-GTA: Chinatown Wars (DS)
-Trackmania DS
-Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball (Wii)
March 22nd - Pokemon Platinum (DS)
March 24th - Phantasy Star Portable (PSP)
March 29th - Guitar Hero: Metallica (X360, PS3)
May 1st - Batman: Arkham Asylum (X360, PS3, PC)
Video of the Day
Maybe the next Rock Band game should include this instrument:
On the subject of the six year old car-jacker. I don't think it's a matter of what video games you're playing (because GTA doesn't show you how to get in the car, crank the engine, which pedal is which, what gear, all that crap), but more a question of why was a six-year-old unsupervised?
Posted By: G-Walla (Guest) on January 12, 2009 at 03:44 PM
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[CAL]
