A couple months of planning and development finally came to fruition today as we shifted the content focus of 1UP to a feature-driven structure based largely around weekly themes and topics. I wish we had done this years ago! I guess it wasn’t my call then, though.
The first topic is fairly light, because we wanted to start with something fun: What If?: Gaming’s Alternate Realities. Light as it may be, the first day’s content alone is pretty rad. And, also, the cover image depicts Gabe Newell as Clothos, so that’s cool. But what’s really cool is that this is what we’re doing every day, every week, from now on. I hope the Internet enjoys it, though based on all the remarks I’ve seen along the lines of “SLOW DAY HUH” or “THIS ISN’T NEWS” I’m not 100% optimistic.
If the 1UP readership doesn’t get it, it’s their loss, but what a fun set of articles. The videos continue to be clever, as well.
When you say you’re doing it every day, every week, from now on, does that mean 1Up is now the Sliders of video game news? Will we be reading about the lawsuit between Epic & Cliff Bleszinski over firing him after Gears of War 2’s release?
Because I would be 100% okay with that.
Also, yes, the videos are ace.
What? No, the idea is to feature a different theme every week. Once this week has wrapped, I doubt we’ll do any more speculative history stuff again.
I thoroughly enjoyed the articles from yesterday. Kudos to the artist that created the header images.
I think that the “theme of the week” is a great way to differentiate 1Up and give the site its own personality. There are already plenty of “news/reviews/previews” sites.
Ignore the detractors that have nothing better to do with their time than whine. If someone gives constructive criticism then I would lend an ear to that, however 99.9% of the internet commentary is just useless whining.
Hello. Hopefully what I’m about to say falls into the realm of constructive criticism.
I really liked the articles and I’m looking forward to future themes and the artwork that comes with them, but I feel like the current 1UP front page does a disservice to this type of content.
It’s just so noisy. It makes me worry, frankly. I would like you guys to see some success with this new approach but I’m concerned that the front page makes it very easy for features to get lost. It’s difficult to communicate that something is important when every inch of the screen is covered in content.
I hope you get the new site layout up sooner rather than later and that the new layout makes it clear that the site is less about blitzkrieg and more about focus these days.
Anyway sorry to sound so negative but I hope it works out.
I like the current 1UP layout because it gives me a Quick Link to Hot Girls
As for the new format, most of the comments I read were along the lines of “I could do this way better; here are my unsolicited article ideas, because I’m so much smarter than you,” while failing to acknowledge how smart, bold, and unexpected this change is. Well done, Jeremy and company.
I concur. I’ve read 1up for years, but it’s always been for the long form content and audio/video content. The site itself, well, to put it bluntly, is a mess. You can argue about aesthetics, but technically, it’s rather broken. The excessive scripting in the front page utterly breaks browser forward/backward/open in new window. Commenting doesn’t work on the iPad. Video content rarely works in non-flash browsers, especially since the video hosting has changed multiple times (I know this because I frequently try to write browser scripts to enable HTML5 video support–I finally gave up). I do hope that IGN eventually migrates all the 1up content to their CMS, especially since there’s barely anyone left at 1up. Otherwise, I’m left suspicious that IGN bought 1up to gut it and leave it to wither and die.
I wasn’t aware it was my job to be intimately familiar with the specifics of the tech employees (if there are any remaining at 1up) and the IGN development roadmap.. I’ve sent extremely polite emails and PMs in years past that vanished. I wrote browser plugins to force Brightcove to serve HTML5 rather than Flash. I finally just gave up and read only via my RSS reader so Instapaper can make something useable. You may say content is king, but someone actually has to read or view it.
Here’s some constructive (albeit slightly sarcastic) criticism: take the remaining writers and join Polygon (that’s where everyone is going it seems). They have great tech, but for all the names working there, they’re still mainly just a news you can get anywhere site. Actually, I take that back; threaten to until you get the budget to upgrade 1up :-)
I’m just frustrated at seeing 1up content never getting the technological support it deserves. Considering the company’s past owners, it’s not much surprising. I hope things can change with a owner that *should* get it.
You’re a tasteless, tactless, inconsiderate creep. Please do not return to this site.
No shit. Hey, here’s a fun idea: Why not offer some constructive criticism about something we actually have the power to change instead of something we have indicated we hate but are stuck with for the immediate future despite our requests for a redesign?
I can’t believe you said shit. Now all we need to do is get an eff word in there and I’ll win a bet.
That’s… surprisingly harsh. (I’m sure a lot of this has to do with frustration over the issue mentioned, though.)
Imagine someone cuts your legs off and you become wheelchair-bound. Now imagine you try to ignore this tragedy and live a full life anyway. Then someone else comes along and says, “You know what your problem is? You should run more marathons.”
I like the concept, though speculation-type articles are generally uninteresting to me personally.
Question: on the old style of week-long ‘Cover Stories,’ it basically amounted to a new article everyday. Here, there are 6 new articles. We won’t be seeing all of them at the same time like this every week, will we? Or is this sort of like a ‘starter deck?’ (Oh jeezus, please forgive that metaphor).
A game site made entirely of Features is exactly what I’ve always wanted. Even better that it would be 1UP.
Good reads! I dug Kat’s article in particular!
I love this idea. I’ve always been so much more interested in 1up’s features as opposed to preview/review coverage. I can go anywhere to get those kinds of articles, but the interesting topics you delve into are one of a kind. It really makes me miss 1up Presents, though.
Love all the articles I’ve read so far Jeremy and I got to them with minimal hassle. Disregard Danferno and his nonsense.