1up posts

Average gamer spends $30,500 on games

by Samuel Axon Jun 30th 2008 @ 7:30PM

1UP reports that a new study performed by GameStrata (a site that primarily tracks gamers' performance statistics) has concluded that the average gamer spends $30,500 on his or her hobby between ages 18 and 49. The article specifies that gamers spend $765 per year, but those two numbers don't seem to jive together when it comes to mathematics. The mysteries of statistics, eh?

That seems awfully high at first glance. Do gamers really buy, say, 15 new games every year? Factor in computer hardware, 500 dollar game consoles, microtransactions, and subscription fees, and it starts to almost make sense. All that said, we have a feeling that the definition of "gamer" here is limited to the folks who use GameStrata -- uber-hardcore types. Still; expensive hobby, much?

The study also noted that 40% of gamers spend 6-10 hours per week playing games online with friends. Again, that's probably mostly representative of the hardcore crowd. Note also that GameStrata has a stake in making online gaming look like the best new fad. In the wake of the company's findings, COO Barry Dorf claimed that "videogames are becoming so much more than a momentary diversion; gaming is becoming yet another means of community building."

Filed under: Biz, Culture

Court confirms Ziff Davis plan for Chapter 11 reorganization

by James Murff Jun 18th 2008 @ 2:30PM

Ziff Davis announced today the US Bankruptcy Court for Southern New York confirmed their plan to reorganize the company under Chapter 11 bankruptcy laws. The plan calls for a reorganization of Ziff Davis' current debt of $428 million into common stock in the newly reorganized Ziff Davis Media and and new vote of $57.5 million. This plan will give Ziff Davis enough capital to exit from Chapter 11 and then fund current projects. Jason Young, CEO of Ziff Davis, had this to say:

"The Court's confirmation of our Plan is a major milestone for Ziff Davis as we look to emerge from Chapter 11 restructuring. We are very proud of the progress we have made during our short time in Chapter 11 to become a healthier company. We remain grateful for the unwavering support of our customers, vendors and employees throughout this process and we look forward to continuing our work with all of our stakeholders after our emergence. After concluding our restructuring, we will be better positioned, with the financial strength to grow and capitalize on our strengths."

Ziff Davis owns major gaming sites 1UP and Filefront, as well as many other technology-oriented sites.

Filed under: Biz

Dawn of War II breaks its silence

by Kyle Horner Jun 8th 2008 @ 11:00AM

The newest wave of news about Dawn of War II is coming out of Relic and 1up.com has not only a three page interview with the game designers up, but a podcast discussing the game and even a short gameplay video. One of the biggest pieces of new information is that the strategy game will not feature base building. Instead players will control up to about five squads that stick with them throughout the singleplayer campaign. Of course Relic is keeping their lips sealed about whether or not a similar structure exists in the online mode.

Another subject that they're not speaking on is additional races beyond Space Marines and the Orks. Relic has said in the past that they would consider doing ~~Tyranids~~ ~~Zerg~~ Tyranids for DoW2. We're sure that by this point fans of the "Great Devourer" have become an extremely vocal crowd considering their race was the only one never to be officially featured in the original Dawn of War, even after numerous expansions. Maybe we'll see a new playable race revealed at this year's E3 and if fans are lucky they'll finally get .

Filed under: Interviews, RTS

The origin and life of Crimson Skies

by Kyle Horner May 22nd 2008 @ 11:30AM

For a look at the origin and story of the Crimson Skies games you may want to check out a feature that 1UP is running. They've recently been covering Dark Void, from developer Airtight Games, who happen to be made up of many original team members who worked on Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge. However, 1UP recently decided to take a step back and look at the history of both Airtight Games and Crimson Skies. One bit of cool knowledge from the article is that even before Crimson Skies on the PC there was apparently a BattleTech-style arcade game named Corsairs that never came to be.

Airtight is quick to point out that while there are many similarities to Crimson Skies they don't see it as a spiritual successor to those games. We can only hope for a day when pirate-piloted planes burning across the sky return to the front of our collective minds, but until then at least we have Dark Void to look foward to playing.

Filed under: Action, Driving

Five best Starcraft opening tactics and their place in Starcraft II

by Kyle Horner May 12th 2008 @ 8:00AM

As long as there's been Starcraft there's been famous (and infamous) opening tactics in multiplayer matches. From Creep Jacking to the legendary Zerg rush, the original Starcraft has a plethora of different opening tricks. Even if you're not familiar with the venerable sci-fi strategy game, we'd still recommend checking this recent feature on opening tactics out. The reason being that the feature also covers which of these tactics will work in Starcraft II. Of course, to save some of you the trouble of worrying: Zerg rushes are completely unchanged, so don't go worrying your little Zergling heads off.

We'd be lying if we said we weren't jealous of the 1UP crew for getting to play as much of the new game as they so obviously got to play. Maybe we should start sending big Zerg-themed heart-shaped valentines cards to Blizzard, because the regular heart cards don't seem to be working.

Filed under: Strategy, Starcraft II

Starcraft II's senior art director gets interviewed

by Kyle Horner May 9th 2008 @ 2:00PM

We all know that Blizzard puts more time and effort than just about any other developer into making their games perfect. This recent 1UP interview with Blizzard's senior art director Samwise Didier (who has been with the company since 1991) gives us a prettty good look into that process, specifically for Starcraft II. Of course the interview does go off on a couple of wild tangents, but we'd have a hard time not talking about everything we possibly could if it were us in the interviewer's seat.

Well, most likely we'd meekly ask -- in a shrill, deathly voice -- why the Terran Firebat seems to no longer be with us, to which Blizzard would probably say, "We are Alpha and Omega..." before slapping us to the ground. At least that's how we see it going down.

Filed under: Interviews, Strategy, Starcraft II

Seven reasons to read this Starcraft II preview

by Kyle Horner May 6th 2008 @ 8:00AM

Stop whatever you're doing (unless all you're doing is breathing) and go read this 1UP Starcraft 2 preview where EGM Editor-in-Cheif James "Milky" Mielke and 1UP's PC Games editor-in-chief Jeff Green face off in seven matches over the course of several hours. That's right, these guys spent six hours playing a game that most of us haven't even spent a minute playing. Lucky doesn't even begin to describe it.

Thankfully, they went ahead and produced four pages of gold for everyone to read. Everything from Jeff's sad seven losses in a row to discussions of what they think about all the new changes, additions and subtractions from the game. It's all worth reading so sit down, strap in and get your flamethrowers ready: the zerg rush of information is about to begin.

Filed under: Strategy, Starcraft II