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General gaming

The Best of 1UP 2011: Community

Posted: 27 Dec 2011 12:55 PM PST

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The Best of 1UP 2011: Community

Check some of the best posts from our community in 2011.

By: 1UP Staff December 26, 2011

1UP was conceived as a community-focused site from the beginning, and we're always grateful for our members' daily involvement. The 1UP community's excellence is perfectly embodied in the steady stream of blogs that populate the site, and throughout 2011 you've tackled topics ranging from how you've been personally affected by games to detailed photo blogs that chronicle some of the coolest events in the industry. Our members are dedicated individuals, and we're thrilled that you've chosen 1UP as a forum for voicing your thoughts and opinions on games. Listed below are 10 member blogs that stood out to us in 2011 as the best of the best. Check them out, and thanks for being a part of the site! We look forward to reading more of your work in 2012.


Jump to: Best of News | Best of Podcasts | Best of Blogs | Best of Previews
Best of Features | Best of Community | Best of Guides | Best of Video
Best of Reviews | Best of Retrospectives


  • Festivus Airing of Grievances

    We here at 1UP try to remain professional as often as possible. It wouldn't look good if we pulled a Network and walked to our windows yelling "We're as mad as hell, and we're not going to take this anymore!" That's why it's nice to see a user blog that bundles up so many of the rants we hold back into a neat little package that fits nicely under any Festivus Pole. Few companies manage to escape the wrath of Epic Greenman as he airs his grievances towards all of the ridiculous decisions that make you want to slap your forehead in disbelief.

  • My Journey Through Hyrule

    While we all have some personal connections of gaming, 1UP user Jesse Miller's attachment to The Legend of Zelda runs very deep. His of story of tragedy, frustration, and rediscovery shows how deeply gaming memories can resonate within us.

  • Those RPGs From Way Back

    Blogger Sam Torres takes a trip in the Wayback Machine (actually a 1994 Miata) to revisit the role-playing games of this youth. From big names like Final Fantasy to the obscure (does anyone remember Miracle Warriors?), this is a neat, compact survey of the console RPG landscape of the late '80s.

  • Impaired Gamers Aim for the Head

    In one of the year's most inspirational blog posts, 1UP member Chris Abbott told the story of his friend Andrew L'Italien who plays games with one hand -- and in many games, does so better than Abbott himself. "I never get pissed off at my situation because I could have easily not been alive," said L'Italien. "So I really try to make the best of it? it adds more to my character. That being said, I do sometimes get discouraged and play the 'what if' game, but then I look and say 'this is who I am, I could live in sorrow or I can make the best of it' and try different approaches to things."

  • Why Ico is More Important Than Ever

    1UP user deep_search wrote a ton of great blogs this year (seriously, check them out), but none were as compelling as his analysis of Ico as a piece of minimalist art. In a season filled with AAA titles which he aptly describes as busy, this entry helps explain why games like Ico, even a decade after its launch, are more important than ever. Fumito Ueda's freshman title as a designer is one deserving of mature and articulate commentary, and deep_search's blog is about as good as they come.

  • Naked Bob's 6th 1UP Anniversary

    Naked BoB joined 1UP six years ago, and in this post, he takes a look back at what changed in that time. He even wins the 1UP superfan crown for showing off his 6-year old 1UP user registration email.

  • A PAX East 2011 Photoblog

    1UP user and photoblogger extraordinaire David Ngo covers his second PAX East in this detailed post and takes you through the lively halls of the Boston Convention Center from top to bottom.

  • The Fake Cary Woodham TV Show

    Long-time 1UP member Cary Woodham describes a surprisingly convincing fake game-oriented TV show (seriously, "Boxer the Unboxer" sounds like something we'd actually see on G4) in this April Fool's blog post. The hoax actually had a few people going in large part because everyone who reads 1UP knows Cary is so darned sincere that him pulling one over on everybody caught them all by surprise.

  • Clever Difficulty Settings

    You, dear reader who actively reads and blogs on this site, are part of a clever bunch. That's why we like to have a featured user blog, to show off fellow games from the community who offer scintillating thoughts and insights. Here, Jostein "nipsen" Johnsen writes about the topic of interesting or clever difficulty settings -- with citations to specific examples from Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Shadow of the Colossus. We applaud you, fine sir, for writing this rather than another screed about cheating in Modern Warfare 3.

  • Creative Culture, Final Part

    User BigMex set out "to remind the community of lessons long forgotten or simply overlooked in the pages of video game history." His five part series digs deep into the origins of Capcom characters both famous and obscure. In this final entry examines just why these characters look, act, and feel the way they do.

Low Danger, High Intensity: When Little Moments Mean Everything

Posted: 27 Dec 2011 12:35 PM PST

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Low Danger, High Intensity: When Little Moments Mean Everything

Why sometimes a paper cut is worse than a rocket to the face.

By: Dennis Farrell December 27, 2011

Action tends to take center stage. For hours at a time, it gives us something to prod, explore, and hopefully conquer as we settle into comfortable gameplay rhythms which aren't disrupted by peaks and valleys in the mayhem. Aside from the occasional jump-scare or ridiculous moment of ultra-violence, action rarely leads us to feel much beyond a compulsion to place holes in the enemy before they can return the favor.

Oddly enough, when games let up on the madness and place us in situations with little to no danger, we sometimes discover far more intense moments than what's found in the biggest set piece battles.

Customer Service Email Turns Into Nightmarish Blunder for PR Company

Posted: 27 Dec 2011 11:26 AM PST

Avengers PS3 controller

In business, it's probably safe to universally say that treating your customers right is important. When they pay for a product or service, they expect to get what they paid for; if something goes wrong, they expect to be able to get reasonable answers. In other words, they expect the exact opposite of what Ocean Marketing has done in handling a complaint.

As revealed in an email thread posted on Penny Arcade today, a customer named Dave placed an order for two PS3 Avenger controllers (pictured above) -- essentially a modified controller that would allow for disabled gamers to use the system's triggers. Despite being charged the entire amount upfront in early November, the "early December" release date came and went with Dave receiving no word on when the controllers would ship. After receiving a cryptic reply from Ocean Marketing's Paul Christoforo which simply read "Dec 17," Dave traded emails with the increasingly rude and unhelpful Christoforo.

Posted by Shri Krishna

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