61 Frames Per Second

Former EGMers Launch Mysterious New Website

Posted by Bob Mackey

In the months since EGM folded and 1UP was downsized, we've seen quite a number of great projects emerge from the ashes; in fact, the amount of podcasts I've listened to has only increased since the whole UGO deal. But a few former Ziff-Davis employees have remained relatively quiet since the fiasco; namely, old-school EGMers Crispin Boyer and Dan Hsu, who both left the magazine mid-2008 to pursue other interests. So far, all we've seen from the two is a blog and an iPhone-centered Internet show; and while each of these projects have their own appeal, they've been a little underwhelming considering Hsu and Boyer's status as veterans of the industry.

But sometimes, patience is rewarded; based on a recent post from their Sore Thumbs blog, it looks like the public inactivity from Hsu and Boyer is about to pay off with the announcement of BitMob, a mysterious new web site that may indeed have something to do with video games. It's all pretty hush-hush right now, though Shoe has leaked a tiny bit of information about his work-in-progress.

Assuming tech, design, God, and karma all cooperate with us, our scaled-down prototype alpha site should be live in less than two weeks. Meanwhile, please sign up for all the things above (it’ll help us pitch this thing to investors) and wish us luck! We broke open our own piggy banks to self-fund this thing and work for negative pay for the first few months, so we’ll need all the support we can get (and thanks again for all the donations you’ve given us so far via the button here on Sore Thumbs Blog — those will definitely help us pay a few Bitmob.com bills).

Given the reputation of Hsu and Boyer, this is definitely something worth looking forward to. And who knows, maybe they'll have full-time positions available for certain bloggers who shall remain nameless at this point? Don't worry, 61FPSers; I'm not quitting my day job. I don't even have one.

Related Links:

On the End of EGM: A Personal Story
You Should Be Reading Sore Thumbs
The 1UP Show is Dead, Long Live CO-OP

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Posted Mar 23 2009, 01:05 PM

Filed under: 1up, bob mackey, egm, crispin boyer, dan hsu, ugo entertainment, bitmob, sore thumbs

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About Bob Mackey

For a brief period of time I was Bull from TV's Night Court, but some of you may know me from the humor column I wrote for Youngstown State University's The Jambar, Kent State University's The Stater, and Youngstown's alternative newspaper, The Walruss. I'm perhaps most well-known for my bi-weekly pieces on Something Awful. I've also blogged for Valley24.com and have written articles for EGM, 1UP, GameSpite and Cracked. For all of my writing over the years, I have made a total of twenty American dollars. It's also said that I draw cartoons, which people have described with words such as "legible." I kidnapped the Lindbergh Baby and am looking to do so again in the future.

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John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

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