EGM Online, EGM Live*, and 1UP FM
In 1995, EGM's first online website was nuke.com. It merged with gamespot.com in 1996 after Ziff-Davis purchased Sendai Media Group. In 2003, EGM created their current website, 1UP.com, and the gamespot.com brand was shunted to the CNET Networks.
EGM Live* was a podcast done every Monday by the editors (usually four at a time) of EGM on 1UP.com, usually moderated by managing editor Jennifer Tsao or reviews editor Greg Ford. The usual crew of the podcast included Shane Bettenhausen, Bryan "Fragile Eagle" Intihar, Crispin Boyer, Michael Donahoe (sometimes), and Dan Hsu with Mike Cruz manning the soundboards. The podcast was available for download at 1UP.com or the iTunes music store. Much like other podcasts on the 1UP network, the program could include discussion of various message board topics, an analysis of new games being reviewed, a mailbag section, a deeper look into the most recent issue of the magazine, or interviews with special guests such as Marcus Henderson and Ted Lange from Harmonix and Cliff Bleszinski from Epic Games.
EGM Live* also had a weekly trivia contest, which featured a randomly selected 1UP.com member who answered their question. There were generally three types of questions: an expository (e.g., "Describe the ending of the arcade edition of Golden Axe"), straight trivia question (e.g., "At what specific time period did current editor-in-chief Dan Hsu take time off from EGM ?"), and an essay question in which the editors selling the top 3 answers and debate on air as to who gets the prize (e.g., "What would you like in a future edition of Ratchet and Clank?").
The "*" at the end of the name was to denote that the podcast was not actually "live" in the general media sense. This had become a bit of an in-joke amongst those behind the podcast. It was eventually changed to 1UPFM, another weekly Monday podcast where 1UP crew members Nick Suttner and Phil Kollar hosted the show, along with other 1UP members. The FM stood for "Feature Mondays", but was jokingly referred to as "Fuck Mondays" on the first podcast.
Segments included Shelf Life, where they talked about the week's releases, Top 5, where they picked a subject and make a top five list of it, Backlog, where a few editors played a game they're ashamed they haven't finished for a month, Insert Disk, where they introduced a new staff member, and the Monday Feature (backwards, FM) where they had a discussion about a news story for the week. They also had a mailbag for people to write in to the podcast, similar to EGM Live*.
Both podcasts were usually recorded on Fridays and released Mondays or Tuesdays. The shows ran anywhere between 30 minutes and two hours (the latter usually absent 1UP podcast producer Andrew Pfister's restraining influence).
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