1UP's letter grade conversion explained, analyzed

by Kyle Orland { Feb 27th 2008 at 12:00PM }

Update 2: 1UP Vice President Simon Cox has contacted Joystiq to let us know there are some bugs associated with the current roll out of the conversion formula. Specifically, Cox said the full range of grades (including those marked with a dash in the chart) should have been used in the conversion, and will be when the bug is fixed by the end of the week We'll update the chart and this post when that happens.

Update: Since there appears to be some confusion in the comments, a dash in the "Number" column on the chart means that there's no number score that corresponds to that letter grade.

As part of a planned reorganization, 1UP today switched from its well-known 0-10 review scale to a school-style letter grading scheme. The changeover included a conversion of all existing review scores on the site from numbers to letters, but, as Editorial Director Dan Hsu told N'gai Croal, the site will not be publishing a simple conversion scale to figure out which old number ratings apply to which new letter grades, Hsu says they're keeping the scale close to their chest "because we want our readers to go with our new scoring system and not be constantly translating the new letters back to our old scores."

Where's the fun in that? We compared some old numerical ratings to the new letter grades for ourselves and created the handy (if a bit ugly) conversion chart on the right. Read on for way too much analysis of the score conversion and what it means for evaluating 1UP review scores going forward.

First off, it should be noted that this grade conversion table seems to be consistent across the site. Every review that had a specific number ranking will have the exact same letter grade in the new system -- the grade switch didn't lead to any historical-revisionist tweaking or anything.

That said, the grade conversions themselves might be a bit surprising to those who are used to getting similar marks in school. In most classes a 5/10 on a quiz would be a class-failing F -- at 1UP it converts to a C. There's nothing wrong with this system per se -- in fact, it lines up well with the philosophy that a 5/10 review should correspond to an average (or C-level) game. With review score inflation pushing the industry's "average" reviews into the 7/10 range, though, changing a 5/10 to a C might feel a bit like grading on a curve to some readers.

The lettering system removes some of the granularity associated with the 10-point, 21-step scale -- half point differences are congealed in many cases into identical letter grades (9.5 and 9.0 both convert to "A," for instance). Other half point drops can cause wide chasms in letter grades, though -- the difference between an 8 and a 7.5 in the old system seems smaller somehow than the difference between a B+ and a B- in the new one. Oddly enough, the same half point drop from 6 to 5.5 causes a more incremental letter grade change from a C+ to a plain old C.

Many common letter grades -- such as A- and B -- go entirely unused in the straight conversions, though they do appear in the averaging of editor and user reviews that appears prominently on the 1UP game pages. It's unclear whether or not the full grade range will be used in future reviews.

In the end, it probably makes sense to take Hsu's advice and consider the letter grades on their own merits, without being weighed down by the numbering system of the past. In time, readers will probably forget that 1UP used number grades at all. For now, though, let the pointless squabbling over arbitrary scoring methods begin!

Tags: 1UP, A, grades, letter grades, LetterGrades, reviews, scoring

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Feb 27th 2008 12:08PM

I still think they should just get rid of grades(numbers or letters) period.

Nate @ Feb 27th 2008 12:09PM

1Up gets an A for the idea, a B for the execution. I like that they're trying to do away with the 7/10 average and give a wider spread of scores. I also like the grading system, because we all know what B- means. Good, but could have been significantly better.

BTW, F+ is a stupid score. Fail is fail. There is no "fail plus".

Trev @ Feb 27th 2008 12:15PM

F+ could be the little glimmer of hope in a game that is otherwise terrible. I don't want to use God Hand as an example, but nothing else comes to mind. I don't think its an F game, but everything about it is bad and yet it is somehow fun.

Trev @ Feb 27th 2008 12:15PM

NATO_Duke @ Feb 27th 2008 12:40PM

There is no F+ there. Its a place marker because they used D+ and other + grades. There is a - next to it, meaning it represents no score and is not used. Consider the - as a N/A.

Sean D. @ Feb 27th 2008 12:52PM

I think the "-" next to the "F+" means that it falls somewhere between a 3.0 and a 2.5 on the old scale, not that they aren't going to use that "grade."

And I agree, F+ is a stupid score.

Arteen @ Feb 27th 2008 1:39PM

I think F+ is a wonderful idea.
F: failure
F+: spectacular failure

xFenixKnightx @ Feb 27th 2008 1:50PM

GOODNESS GRACIOUS!!!!!!

THERE IS NO F+ LOOK AT THE CHAAAAAAART!!!!! YES I AM TYPING IN ALL CAPS, NO I DONT GVE A SHIT!!!

Korova @ Feb 27th 2008 2:30PM

F+ is great.

It should be given to games that achieve such a fantastic level of fail, they are notable for it. Like "Phenomenally bad." Sort of like that ugly person who is so ugly you cant stop staring at them.

Like Earth Defense Force 2017.

Simon Cox @ Feb 27th 2008 4:45PM

Thanks for printing the update, Kyle. (This is Simon, VP of Content for the 1UP Network). I would ask you to please bear with us. Technical f*ck up, but we're working on it. Last night we launched a wholesale code re-architecture of 1up.com, Gamevideos.com and MyCheats.com, to address all kinds of bugs and performance issues. Incredibly frustratingly, one of the unforeseen casualties of that re-architecture was the correct match up of scores, etc. And some are even missing entirely, as Kyle pointed out. Should be fixed by tomorrow.

Julio @ Feb 27th 2008 12:10PM

I approve their decision and more importantly, people should read reviews instead of just looking the metacritic score when deciding whether to buy a game or not

John @ Feb 27th 2008 12:11PM

F+? Seriously? This letter grade conversion seems pointless. Why not just add/modify the scoring criteria?

xFenixKnightx @ Feb 27th 2008 12:12PM

9.5 to 10 should be AAA ;)

PSN: KillaKornbread (the shirt is a lie!) @ Feb 27th 2008 12:23PM

lol u do have a point

RPGJock @ Feb 27th 2008 1:52PM

And that is a prime example why I am glad that got rid of the numbers scale.

Bluebrake @ Feb 27th 2008 12:13PM

I say good move. 0-100 scoring systems are ridiculous. Can anyone seriously claim to be able to say "Grand Theft Auto III is 2% better than Twilight Princess, but 1% worse than Mario Galaxy"? Game reviewing isn't a precise science, and a system like this better reflects that (though there are still too many different scores).

PSN: KillaKornbread (the shirt is a lie!) @ Feb 27th 2008 12:31PM

exactly. i think this rating system is perfect for gaming scores for that exact reason. i doubt many other people will adopt it though, well after like 3 years or something but not anytime soon.

Tim Burns @ Feb 27th 2008 12:14PM

Without some frame of reference, this review score scale is pretty much useless. Sure a B is better than a C, but how good do you have to be to get a B-? You either have to convert it back to the number scale, meaning this change is meaningless, or you compare it to the grading scale in schools, something we all likely have a different perspective on. For example, some would likely be very happy to get a B-, personally in school I would have to struggle to get a grade that low, so our respective views on the prestige of a B- grade are skewed quite differently.

Why not boil the overall review "score" down to what it essentially is, a buy grade. You can have must buy, buy, maybe buy, rent, avoid like the plague, etc. That's all people tend to use the overall glance at grading system for anyway.

Chance Morgan @ Feb 27th 2008 12:43PM

I rate your comment a MUST BUY!

Synergistic @ Feb 27th 2008 1:00PM

The reference point is other games, just like in all the other scales.

Korova @ Feb 27th 2008 2:35PM

I like your scale, with some mods

Must buy
buy
buy if you got money burning a whole in your pocket
buy after price drop
rent and F+
dont buy
dont even think about buying (dont encourage bad behavior)

F+: check out how bad a game can be (that would be a subcategory of rent)

Mike @ Feb 27th 2008 2:58PM

You forgot pirate.

squeevi @ Feb 27th 2008 12:14PM

Dude, listen. You f'in passed the test. But barely. You know what you got? F+... Click.

SID SPACE @ Feb 27th 2008 2:03PM

So ... you don't really love me?

LiK @ Feb 27th 2008 12:15PM

letters are better. no more numbers/metacritic bullshit. go read the damn reviews too.

Bluebrake @ Feb 27th 2008 3:03PM

Yeah. Metacritic is kind of a poison on the industry. I mean, it's OK inasmuch as it's used like RottenTomatoes -- as a quick reference for a wide variety of critical opinions on a title -- but more often it seems to be used to rank and compare different games against each other -- and that's just ridiculous. The statement "Ocarina of Time is the highest ranked game ever" has no meaning whatsoever in the real world. It's hard enough directly comparing games within the same genre, much less across genres, much less across decades!

To say "this is a five-star game" ought to be enough. Leave it to the bickering internets to compare apples to orangutans.

moominsean @ Feb 27th 2008 12:17PM

i think it's silly. every game is going to get like a b or c+, which is pretty vague. i'm betting almost no games get an F. it smells like that pointless gamepro rating with the frazzled looking dude.

Mike @ Feb 27th 2008 12:20PM

Good move. The more ambiguous the scoring the better. It's the exact reason why Ebert & Roper's "Thumps Up/Down" system is so famous. That's pretty much as simple as you can get.

For games I'd suggest "Buy it" "Rent it" and "Run away"

mr mobius @ Feb 27th 2008 12:22PM

If I want to read about a game I may have a passing interest in, the review itself does a lot to encourage me.

I use review scores to decide which games I probably shouldn't get (usually

aristokrat @ Feb 27th 2008 12:23PM

I like the inclusion of F+. Always such a strange concept to me. I think that's the most insulting grade one could get, because you can't even get away with claiming that you didn't try, since you've got that plus added there to show you're a legitimate failure.

MrZ @ Feb 27th 2008 12:24PM

The letter grades are a good thing that took balls by 1Up. Joystiq undercutting them by publishing a conversion table is pretty shitty, I think.

JPN @ Feb 27th 2008 12:32PM

It's definitely important to review and rate the reviewing and rating scale.

ThornedVenom (Patapornographer) @ Feb 27th 2008 12:40PM

I might rather make a game with an F grade than an F+: the extra plus is like generous pity, because it just adds more to mock at.

Stefan Hayden @ Feb 27th 2008 12:48PM

I'll bet they never use grades like A-, B-. I've seen other sites avoid them because of their "negative" connotation. ridiculous.

Worst Review Ever @ Feb 27th 2008 12:48PM

I think that my favorite grade is C+. You're average, but you're above average average.

Jack @ Feb 27th 2008 12:51PM

Maybe I have high standards or maybe school grade percentages just stuck with me but a 7/10 should be a C score 8/10 for B, 9/10 for A and NO A+. Simply because theres no such thing. I wouldn't wish anyone to play a 5/10 game.

mrlogical @ Feb 27th 2008 1:14PM

What, you had no A+'s in your school? I sure had them in mine.

And regardless, why do school grades matter? I've seen others make this argument as well, "Why should a 5/10 be a C, a C in most schools is around 75%?" Well that's because your number grades in school weren't based on the 1UP Review Scores (unless you went to a really weird school). 1Up defines what they mean by their scores, and their old scale was that a 5 was average. If their old scale was from 80-90 with 85 being average, would you be similarly puzzled as to how an 85 out of 90 is a C? Some portion of the population just not getting this is why 1Up changed their scale in the first place--they insisted that 5/10 on their scale was what an average game would be scored, but people just couldn't get over the mental block. Hopefully after people get used to the new scale we won't have to continue talking about this.

Jack @ Feb 27th 2008 2:10PM

A+ was only reserved for a student if they passed 100% on an assignment which could only happen if the student ran into some sort of extra credit. I think thats how Easy Grade Pro does it.

What I meant by "no such thing" was that no game is absolutely perfect. I don't that any game should ever get an A+.

Count Noobula @ Feb 27th 2008 1:08PM

If we were to apply this conversion table to MetaCritic on its top rated games (in green highlight). I am only using those games that are recent and listed right on the sides of the page under each system.

the xbox 360 averages 7.7, or a B- to a B range across 20 games

PS3 averages at around 8.5, or a high end B+ with 13 games.

The Wii: Averages 9.5 across 7 games (yeah, kinda skewed). So that would be like an A average.

Matt B @ Feb 27th 2008 1:10PM

Is 1up still relevant to some people?

Joppe @ Feb 27th 2008 2:17PM

I don't buy any of the magazines. However I do spend more time listening to their podcasts than any other gaming media.

Sam @ Feb 27th 2008 3:12PM

I think 1-up's reviews are too short, and often biased.

yufice @ Feb 27th 2008 1:21PM

that's what i was wondering, Matt B.

bigd7387 @ Feb 27th 2008 1:22PM

Another Review Site letting people down. Giving a game a letter grade will be more acceptable to game companies then giving them a number. What gamers actually need is a publication like Consumer Reports that takes no Advertising Dollars and relies only on subscription service, until then you're getting a review by a company that makes it's money form advertisers.

DP @ Feb 27th 2008 1:23PM

Why not be normal and use the basic 1-10 or 1-5 scales?

Godmil @ Feb 27th 2008 1:23PM

At first I thought this was a shame, I liked how Ziff Davis were using the same 0-10 scale with 5 average that the good British mags use (Edge and GamesTM) (even though they did add 0.5 increments) I was hoping that could be a new standard.
But this is growing on me. Makes it easier to see give averages without people moaning that it's "only got 5"

Odog4ever @ Feb 27th 2008 1:36PM

Buy, Rent, Pass.
That's all you need to know if your short on time/lazy. Or how about just reading the reviewer comments on metacritic?

The most important part of a review is the words not the review score. People are increasing forgetting that. Because if the score and the review are saying opposite things how can you take either one seriously?