1UP Network editorial director Dan Hsu

Two weeks ago, Ziff-Davis' 1UP Network, which publishes the magazines EGM, Games For Windows: The Official Magazine and 1UP.com announced that it had reorganized its editorial group around three silos--Videogames, PC Games and Video--spanning both print and online. Simultaneously, the company revealed that its review scale would shift from its familiar ten point scale to letter grades, a la Entertainment Weekly. To get a better understanding of the changes that were afoot, we pinged 1UP Network editorial director Dan "Shoe" Hsu with a few questions over email, which he graciously took time to answer--but only after he finished closing the next issue of EGM. Now that's dedication. Here's what Hsu had to say.

What were the main reasons behind the recently announced reorganization of the 1UP Network? When do they go into effect?

We integrated the print and online teams because we recognized this is the direction that media's going. It's no longer just about print or just about online; it's about both. This reorganization lets us tackle our editorial duties more efficiently, because all our editors are constantly working in both print and online. We really think our readers will notice and appreciate this move, too, because it will translate into better, more well-rounded coverage from us.

Presumably, Jeff Green, who was just named the 1UP Network's editor-in-chief for PC games, will remain the editor-in-chief of Games For Windows magazine. But the press release wasn't clear about whether Jeff's 1UP Network counterpart for videogames, James Mielke, will also be the editor-in-chief of the corresponding magazine, EGM. Is Mielke now in charge of EGM, or are you still the editor-in-chief?

Jeff Green is the editor-in-chief, PC games, so he's running Games For Windows: The Official Magazine as well as the PC coverage on our online properties. James Mielke is Jeff's videogame/console counterpart, so yup, he's the editor-in-chief of EGM (as well as the console side of our online sites). I'm now full-time editorial director for the 1UP Network.

Over the past few years, video has moved from the periphery to the center of Ziff-Davis videogame coverage. You've also got a number of popular and/or influential podcasts, like 1UP Yours and the Games For Windows podcast. What plans do you have going forward for video and audio under this new management structure?

You just wait and see! ;)

There's no news editor listed in the reorganization. Is that because former news editor Patrick Klepek just left to join MTV News and you've yet to replace him, or is it because the news editor function is not as high up on the food chain in the new 1UP Network as video, previews and reviews? Going forward, will a single high level editor oversee news for the entire 1UP Network, or do you have something else in mind?

It's for the first reason that you stated--our last news editor recently went mainstream on us, joining MTV News, so we're in the process of hiring his replacement. This news editor will oversee our news coverage for the entire 1UP Network.

What was the reasoning behind the switch to letter grades for reviews? Are you concerned that gamers who've been accustomed to numerical scores, which are widely deployed across multiple outlets including the now-industry standard Metacritic and Gamerankings scores, will be confused or put off by your new system?

We switched to letter grades because we felt that it'd be more universally understood than our previous numeric scale. You see, in the past, we insisted on using the entire 0-10 range, with 5 being in the middle, rather than an "8-10 is good, everything below that is bad" scale most other outlets seem to use. But just because we insisted on it didn't mean all our readers bought into it. So while a 7 meant "not bad, still good" to us, it looked like it was on the verge of failing to some in our audience. We tried it for a few years and decided it wasn't working, so we switched to a letter-grading scale that we knew would be crystal clear to everyone.

The press release states that all previous reviews will be converted from numerical scores to letter grades; can you share with us the conversion chart, i.e. which letter grades will correspond to which review scores on a ten-point scale?