Let's recap: at the same time Ziff Davis were offloading the 1UP Network, lesser-known magazine Hardcore Gamer also went up for sale. On...eBay. And not a collection of mags. The magazine itself.
Seemed a desperate gamble from an owner that, from his selling brief, sounded like he was in the business for the wrong reasons anyway. Yet...success! The NY Times caught up with Tim Lindquist, owner of HG's publisher Doublejump books, and learned that he somehow found a buyer for the mag.
The unnamed suitor, "who had recently sold his video game business", dropped by an hour before the auction was due to close and offered a pinch above Lindquist's asking price for the mag, rights and associated domain names. While the deal isn't done just yet, it's apparently in the later stages of negotiation.
Oh Ziff. You should have tried eBay! Maybe then you'd have found somebody who wasn't UGO.
With Magazines Folding, One Finds a Surprising Bid [NY Times, via Go Nintendo]