4 Guys 1UP
| 4 Guys 1UP | |
|---|---|
| File:ListenUp-Logo.jpg | |
| Presentation | |
| Hosted by | David Ellis |
| Genre | Video gaming |
| Language | English |
| Updates | Fridays |
| Length | 2 Hours to 3 Hours |
| Production | |
| Production | David Ellis |
| Audio format | MP3 |
| Publication | |
| Original release | 1UP Yours August 20, 2005 Listen UP January 30, 2009 – present |
| Provider | 1UP Radio Network |
| Website | 1UP Network |
Games, Dammit! (formerly 1UP Yours, Listen UP!, 4 Guys 1 Up, In This Thread) is a weekly gaming podcast released every Friday by 1UP.com. It is part of the 1UP Radio Network.
History[edit | edit source]
1UP Yours[edit | edit source]
1UP Yours was a weekly podcast show that takes the form of a discussion among several editors from the 1UP network. The radio show began October 21, 2005 as a weekly news show hosted by Jane Pinckard.
As with The 1UP Show, the 1UP Yours podcast gradually became a more complex and organized radio show. Topics of the podcast included press announcements, news from gaming conferences, and discussion of game design. The show was hosted for its duration by Garnett Lee and was recorded and edited by Andrew Pfister.
Whenever there was a vacancy in the show's lineup of regular hosts, the unoccupied positions would be filled by guests to the show, usually other writers and editors from the 1UP Network. There were also instances in which an industry guest from outside of Ziff Davis appeared as a guest on the program.
The initial four-man lineup included Lee and Shane Bettenhausen, as well as Luke Smith and John Davison. However, Smith later left the network to accept a position at the then-Microsoft game development studio Bungie.[1][2] On August 24, 2007, Mark MacDonald was declared the show's official "fourth chair" member. John Davison then announced that he was leaving the 1UP staff,[3] though he would continue his participation with the podcast despite his change in career.[4] On the October 19th episode, Mark MacDonald announced he would be leaving the show. On the February 1st, 2008 episode, it was announced that GFW editor Shawn Elliott would be filling MacDonald's now-vacant hosting duties. Bryan Intihar was confirmed as the third chair on the January 18th episode of 2008, but left the show shortly after on March 7 after he took a job with developer Insomniac Games.
The last officially branded 1UP Yours was recorded on January 17, 2009 and was released on January 22, 2009.[5]
Listen UP[edit | edit source]
After the purchase of 1UP by UGO production all 1UP podcasts were suspended. During the purchase there were many layoffs including chair and producer Andrew Pfister along with longtime chair and executive editor of 1UP, Shane Bettenhausen. After weeks of emails and suggestions, a new show launched on January 30, 2009 called Listen UP.
On September 30, 2009, Garnett Lee announced he would be leaving 1UP to become the editorial director for Gamefly Media. It was replaced by "4 Guys 1UP" hosted by former fourth chair David Ellis, which is quite different in format than Lee's shows. Lee stated he will create a new show for Gamefly Media[6] (eventually titled Weekend Confirmed [7]).
4 Guys 1UP[edit | edit source]
The newly titled flagship podcast debuted on October 23, 2009. The new format featured David Ellis as host, joined each week by two other 1UP editors, and a special guest each week in the "fourth chair", usually from the game development industry. The format of the show has changed, with new segments focused on interviewing the week's guests, and tweaked versions of headlines, and "Whatchya been playin'?"
David Ellis announced that he would be leaving 1UP on the 03/05/2010 podcast. The podcast was replaced by Ray Barnholt's "In This Thread", which in turn was replaced by "Games, Dammit!".
Format[edit | edit source]
Generally, the program begins with "Whatcha been playing?", in which the editors discuss games they are currently playing for fun or, as is more often the case, games they are either reviewing or are previewing.
The second portion of the podcast will typically begin with a report on some of the recent activity on the 1UP message boards. This segment is followed by a more focused feature, which may include a more in-depth discussion on a particular topic (such as reactions to new system launches or the concept of micro-transactions in games) or quasi-regular features such as the Four-Minute Warning, during which the hosts are presented with several gaming-related questions submitted by listeners; they are then given four minutes to discuss. Once the four minutes are up, they move on to the next question.
The third segment reviews the news from the past week, complete with reactions from the editors after each topic is brought up. Occasionally, guests from the industry, including Cliff Bleszinski and Mark Rein from Epic Games, Ted Price from Insomniac Games, Dennis Dyack from Silicon Knights, and Lorne Lanning creator of the Oddworld series will visit the show to discuss their various products or just participate in the program itself. The podcast usually lasts about two hours, and is recorded on Thursdays, with the podcast publishing every Friday.
Lineup[edit | edit source]
Beginning in January 2006, Garnett Lee took the reins of the main 1UP podcast, with Andrew Pfister as the producer. It was renamed from "This Week at 1UP" to 1UP Yours. After a few shows, John Davison, then Editorial Director of the 1UP network, joined Garnett as Co-Host. Each week, guests would join Garnett and Davison.
In April 2006, the new 1UP News Editor Luke Smith joined as well as Shane Bettanhausen, the first show the four did together was well received and became the permanent line-up. During this period John Davison would do the message board segment and Smith would handle the news segment. Mark MacDonald was the special fill-in chair if one of the four could not be there.
After April 2007, Luke Smith left 1UP to join Bungie as community manager. Mark MacDonald took the newly opened fourth chair. MacDonald left shortly after. Davison then left a few weeks later to create What They Play. Soon afterward, Bryan Intihar joined and Shawn Elliott from Games for Windows Magazine and GFW Radio joined a few weeks later. After a short stay on 1UP Yours, Bryan Intihar left 1UP to join Insomniac Games to work as community manager for Resistance 2.
On the June 7, 2008, Lee announced that Shawn Elliott had left 1UP Yours to become exclusive to GFW Radio due to workload and schedule issues. It was also announced that longtime producer Andrew Pfister would join the cast in a speaking role, with John Davison returning permanently after a few guest appearances.
On January 6, 2009, it was announced that Ziff Davis would be selling 1UP.com to the Hearst Corporation, in the process terminating Electronic Gaming Monthly and over 30 employees, including Shane Bettenhausen and Andrew Pfister. In the wake of the announcement the future of 1UP Yours was uncertain. On January 16, Garnett Lee confirmed the continuation of the series with a new cast consisting of John Davison, David Ellis, and Garnett Lee and (eventually) new regular addition Sam Kennedy. However, the show would have to continue under a new name, Listen UP. However, with Lee's departure from 1UP in October 2009, the show would end, its final episode airing October 9, 2009.[5][8]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ "Luke Smith leaves 1UP to be Master Chief's poolboy". Joystiq.com. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-05-05. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
- ↑ "Bail out: John Davison leaving Ziff Davis Media to start a new website [Update - 1UP confirms]". Joystiq.com. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
- ↑ "PAX 07: 1UP Yours podcast still John's". Joystiq.com. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "1UP Yours Classic Reunion Coming Next Week and then". 1up.com. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
- ↑ "Reminisces from a Shinkansen". 1up.com. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
- ↑ "Weekend Confirmed Debuts Friday". Shacknews.com. 2010-03-26. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
- ↑ "The Last 1UP Yours". 1up.com. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
