Originally Posted by Shoe
It's with a heavy (and relieved) heart that I write this: I've tendered my resignation here at Ziff Davis Media and the 1UP Network. My last day here will be Friday, April 25.
This is my own decision; I'm not being forced out or laid off or anything like that. And this is not related to the recent news about Games for Windows: The Official Magazine (and I hope I'm not stealing any thunder away from those guys -- that's not my intention here). It's just time for me to move on. I've been here, mostly with EGM, since April of 1996. That's 11 years (taking off one year when I did a brief stint at Gamers.com)...quite a long time!
I've been through the good: Street Fighter III and IV world reveals; Halo 2 and 3 first-look covers; getting Yoshitaka Amano to create exclusive art for us for two Final Fantasy covers (really, current Editor-in-Chief James Mielke gets the most credit for making the Amano stuff happen)....
I've been through the bad: leaving the EGM staff once before (the Gamers.com thing, which turned out to be a bust); moving EGM from Illinois to San Francisco and losing half the staff in the hellish transition; beating my half of the bracket and getting to the final championship match in an E3 Soul Calibur tournament, only to lose in the end....
And I've been through the unforgettable, which funny enough, is usually not directly business related. Many times in our Oakbrook, Illinois offices, power would go out (even when the weather's perfectly nice and stable). And for some reason, our inability to get any work done led us to throw high-speed flying discs at each other in dark, emergency-lighting-lit hallways (a game we called Decapitato for obvious and not-so-obvious reasons). I remember organizing (and winning, thank you) office NFL Blitz tournaments with the arcade units we had in-house. I remember the first day walking around the EGM offices for my interview -- it was amazing to see a professional work environment where desk materials consisted of televisions, Super Nintendos and Sega Genesis consoles! And I'll never forget about the extra sleep I could've had if only we didn't screw around so much during deadlines (no thanks to Halo LAN parties, Soul Calibur, Tetris Attack, etc. etc.). I think I'd be five years younger now if it weren't for those games....
I know this sounds horribly clichéd, but I will miss my buddies most of all. There are some awesome, awesome people here at the 1UP Network...guys and girls I'll consider my friends for the rest of my life (I don't want to list any names here, because there are way, way too many to list). These are the people that make the content so awesome -- not me. If I ever get remarried, I'm sure my wedding will look like an EGM/GFW/1UP/GameVideos reunion.
As for me, I plan on taking some much-needed time off...maybe two to four weeks before I get too antsy about seeing my savings account go down instead of up. It's been literally 10 years since I've last taken a proper vacation that's lasted more than 3-4 days, so I'm gonna use this time to sleep, rest, sleep, play videogames, and sleep and play videogames. In that order. The time off will give me a chance to work on my bucket list:
Get all Achievements in Burnout Paradise
Get all Achievements in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Finish veteran Mile High Club in Call of Duty 4 (for an Achievement)
Get all Achievements in Grand Theft Auto 4
Finish Patapon
Finish Pixel Junk Monsters
Finish the 100-coin purple comet level on 2D Luigi stage in Mario Galaxy
Play Company of Heroes
Finish Sins of a Solar Empire
Maybe try World of WarCraft? That may be a bad idea...then my daily to-do list might only consist of one item....
As for here, long-time 1UP.com Editor-in-Chief and current 1UP Network site director Sam Kennedy will be taking over my role as Editorial Director. The group's in excellent hands with this guy. I've been working with Sam for years. He's smart, enthusiastic...and not addicted to Achievements, so he should be able to get a lot more done here than I was able to.
For better or for worse, you'll hear from me again in the near future. I love the videogame business too much to stay away (plus, I'm too old to become a professional snowboarder). Besides, I will miss you guys too much. You all have been fantastic. I sincerely appreciate all the support you've thrown my way over the years -- and that, I'll never forget, either.
Thanks and good bye...for now.
-Dan "Shoe" Hsu
Former Associate Editor, EGM
Former Previews Editor, EGM
Former Editor-in-Chief, Videogame Buyers Guide
Former Executive Editor, Gamers.com
Former Editor-in-Chief, Gamers.com
Former Editor-in-Chief, EGM
Soon to be former Editorial Director, 1UP Network
p.s. Thank you very much for all the positive comments...here, on our message boards, on other boards and blogs, etc. I really appreciate the overwhelming support. I'm having trouble keeping up with all the notes and messages, but I just wanted to throw out a big thanks to all of you. :)
p.p.s. You know, for such a popular game... there sure are a lot of people telling me to stay away from WOW. ;)
