As you know, 1UP.com has breathed its last. Such are the vicissitudes of business. Happily, Jose Otero managed to pull together a startling number of former 1UP staff during Game Developers Conference this year for one final podcast. Not everyone was there due to the last-minute nature of this show (or because they had other duties that kept them away), but if you paid any attention at all to the site for the 10 years it lived you're bound to hear some voices you recognize in this three-hour tag-team adventure. Rather than spoil the surprise, though, we'd rather just let you hear the show for yourself.

Thanks for all the years of support. Your enthusiasm for our work fueled these shows, and we very literally couldn't have done it without you. Please enjoy this final gift to you all.

I used to love Sony.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board faces a difficult task in assigning ratings to digital games, one not about to be made any easier on it by game makers. Setting aside the matter of increasing complexity of these titles, the number of digital releases continues to grow at a strong pace. In order to keep up, the ESRB last year announced it would begin making use of an automated system for assigning ratings to downloadable games. This week it took things a step further by making this service available to developers for free, a move that could have more of an effect than simply reducing development costs.

Downloadable games released for Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network (including Vita), the 3DS eShop, the Wii Shop Channel, Windows 8, and PlayStation Certified devices are among those covered by this initially, with others to be added in the future, including streaming services. The new ratings also provide additional information on things like the presence of location sharing and player interaction. The idea is to ensure ESRB ratings, which are the most recognizable ratings for videogames in the United States and Canada, are more widely adopted as digital games are delivered more and more often on platforms that otherwise might not use them. ]]>Fri, 26 Oct 2012 17:08:00 PDTNEWShttp://localhost/news/metacritic-presents-problems-industryChris Pereira

Metacritic is a problem; few will attempt to deny that. Far too often -- which is to say, ever -- publishers rely on it as something more than a potentially accurate snapshot of a game's critical reception. Gamers sometimes look to it as either a definitive statement on whether a game is good or bad, or as a means for pointing out how a review is 'wrong.' To say Metacritic is outright ruining the industry would, in my opinion, be a stretch, but it clearly is not doing it any good.

For the uninitiated, Metacritic is a reviews aggregator. It collects reviews of videogames, movies, TV shows, and music albums from a variety of publications, presenting a 'Metascore' for each title. This is a weighted average of all the review scores the site tracks, meaning certain publications' reviews have more impact on the Metascore than others. It's problematic enough when scores are the only thing readers look at, rather than the text that accompanies it, but Metacritic breaks the opinions conveyed in dozens of reviews down into a single number that readers and game publishers alike often look to when discussing the merits of a game. ]]>Mon, 16 Jul 2012 17:40:00 PDTNEWShttp://localhost/features/patriot-games-america-metal-gearJeremy Parish

Feature

1UP COVER STORY

1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JULY 2 | METAL GEAR TURNS 25

Patriot Games: America Through the Lens of Metal Gear

Cover Story: How Metal Gear's treatment of the U.S.A. has changed over the years.

T

he original Metal Gear debuted in Japan on the MSX2 console three days after the United States of America's Independence Day celebration -- July 7, 1987. A coincidence, no doubt, but a wholly fitting one given the important role that America plays in the series' overarching narrative. Both America the political entity and America the paragon of individual freedom figure as characters of sorts in the Metal Gear mythos. It's important to make the distinction between the two, because rolled together they'd become a tragically bipolar figure in desperate need of therapy, medication, and possibly institutionalization to curtail the danger it represents to itself and others.

Gaming can be an expensive hobby, particularly if you're keen on picking up games as they are released. With your typical console game going for $60 at launch and there being no shortage of quality titles to play, those costs can quickly add up, making it difficult to keep up with the latest releases. But there are more factors than merely price which can make gamers hesitant to buy games when they first come out including a perceived lack of value, eventual complete/Game of the Year edition releases, and patches which make games into better experiences for those who opt against rushing out to a midnight launch.

1UP readers on Facebook and our boards responding to a question about purchasing games at launch offered up a wide variety of reasons for why they are not keen on always being early adopters. While there were those who do still buy games as soon as they are made available, a high percentage of answers indicated there are only a limited numbers of exceptions where they are willing to do so. ]]>Fri, 04 May 2012 14:43:00 PDTNEWShttp://localhost/news/gamers-miss-old-daysChris Pereira Gaming is rapidly changing. Whether we're talking about things becoming more digital or new business models or whatever else, the industry already looks a great deal different than it did 10 or 20 years ago and that's only going to continue in the coming decades.

As with anything in entertainment that changes, people are going to yearn for the way things used to be (while also worrying about what the future will bring). For me, one of the things I miss most is the sort of manuals games used to come with. What I looked forward to most when first buying a new game, regardless of what it was, was opening the box up and flipping through the manual before actually trying the game out. And I'm not just talking about spending time devouring the pages of a manual (or whatever other paperwork a PC game would come with -- keyboard shortcut cards, tech trees, etc. -- as it installs); console and handheld game manuals had to be read cover to cover before the game went into the system. This wasn't a matter of preparing for games with no tutorials, as I treated those with in-game instructions no differently. I specifically remember reading the entire manual for Mario Party 2 -- Mario Party 2 -- before I would even stick the cart in my Nintendo 64.

Electronic Arts is the winner (loser?) of The Consumerist's annual Worst Company in America tournament this year. Following a round of nominations and weeks of head-to-head, March Madness-style voting, the Redwood City, California-based videogame publisher was named the top vote-getter in the finals today in which it was squaring off against Bank of America.

Before going any further it's important to note this is an Internet poll, and as such can't be taken as an actual indication of what the population believes is the worst company around. Yet even with that caveat in mind, it's hard to fathom that a company responsible for making games could be loathed so vociferously. ]]>Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:25:00 PDTNEWS