Visions of the perfect workplace for a gamer...

Written by: Alex Shaw

As all of you will know, the recent acquisition of the 1up network by UGO left the whole site stripped of staff and most of the podcasts and shows they put up on a regular basis were either changed considerably or canceled altogether.

One of the latter (it seems at present) was The 1up Show; a weekly half hour slot featuring the journalists of 1up discussing the latest games, previews and industry news. I've been watching the back catalog to see what I wasn't watching at the time and I can honestly say this show will be bitterly missed.

It is without a doubt, the smartest, most professional, truthful and occasionally hilarious video game show ever committed to camera. I cannot recommend enough that each of you go back and check out at least the last few months worth of episodes.

http://www.1up.com/do/minisite?cId=3145462

It's more than just a look at games though. Through the show, we get a glimpse at their office life (albeit through a filter of comedy). It's a warm, geeky, clever and honest place where people get paid to write and talk about games. Ironically in the end it was the high production values of this show and the various podcasts of 1up that left the Ziff Davies network in debt, leading to the sale of the site, and EGM to UGO. Obviously they worked very hard to keep the place together and clearly it couldn't last forever in this case, but nonetheless, watching these episodes back presented me with a tantalizing glimpse at my ideal job. Now that it's gone I feel like something hopeful in me has left along with it.

It's not all sadness though. Several of the resilient folks behind the show pulled themselves together admirably and now have a follow-up series named Co-Op on their website; Area 5. They have set themselves up as a fully fledged game-related video company and they take donations. For what they put out, I'll be proud to make one.

http://area5.tv/

Anyhow, that's enough of my fawning. Check them out now. Remember to state your age properly if you're over 18, otherwise you'll be refused entry. It gets a little blue. 

Personalities, the glue of the network include Phil Kolar, Rob Bowen, Shane Bettenhausen, Ryan Scott, Nick Suttner, Alice Liang, Jay Frechette, Tina Sanchez, Richard Li, Sam Kennedy, David Ellis, Jeff Green, Ryan O'Donnell, Greg Ford, Jason Bertrand, Cesar Quintero, Thierry Nguyen, Anthony Gallegos, Matt Leone, and Matt Chandronait. All of them know their stuff and are thoroughly entertaining to watch.