It sold well, we broke even and it's still selling. We had some really harsh reviews and there was all this noise about this thing with GameSpot and it sort of went over my head whatever people were fighting about. The web has it's own voice and it can be very loud... You know, what I see today is a lot of people picking it up, playing the free levels we put out. We get a lot of people playing online. You can argue are the graphics good enough, is it up there with the best? But it only takes two weeks and you're no longer the best looking game out. I've been playing games since Pong so I take these things lightly. In the end it's about sales and we have games like Freedom Fighters which is still selling.

Oh, it's always about the sales Thomas. Hence the problem.

IO Interview [Games Industry] [Pic]

Kane And Lynch Movie [Variety via AICN] [Pic]

Also a big hit for parent company SCI? Pony Friends, which is, as far as we know, a harrowing pony war game.

Kane and Lynch Sells 1 mln [Next-Gen]

Today, regardless of whether it was an innocent design decision or whether consumers were being intentionally mislead, the unwarranted "ratings" have been removed. All that remain now are the pull-quotes, a preview clip, some guns to let you know how shoot-y it is... and a couple of black eyes.

Official Site [Kane & Lynch]

Commenter "gamespot" responded.

The main problem here is that no one in the entire editorial team was aware that this was about to occur, least of all Gerstmann. We're very clear in our review policies that all reviews are vetted by the entire team before they go live - everything that goes up is the product of an entire team's output. Our freelancers are especially guilty of making snide comments, but those are always yanked before the review goes live, because everyone in the office reads these reviews and makes sure they're up to our standards before they get put up.

If there was a problem with his reviews, then it would've been a problem with the entire team. Firing him without telling anyone implies that anyone else on this team can be fired at the drop of a hat as well, because none of us are writing any differently or meaner or less professionally than we were two years ago before the management changed. I'm sure management wants to spin this as the G-Man being unprofessional to take away from the egg on their face that results after a ten-year employee gets locked out of his office and told to leave the premises and then no one communicates anything to us about it until the next day.

Addressing the timing, "gamespot" weighs in again.

Also, despite the fact that this occured two weeks ago, there was no way they were going to fire him then; the last big games didn't come out until just before Thanksgiving, and there was no doubt that management knew that the rest of the reviewers would refuse to write any reviews after his termination, which is indeed what is happening. After thanksgiving nothing major comes out in games; everything is either before thanksgiving or comes out in January. They waited to fire him until they knew that any strike or walkout by the rest of the staff wouldn't have much of an effect.

Also, keep in mind that these salespeople do have axes to grind with editorial. I know a lot of people busted their asses to get not only this large deal with Eidos done, but also other huge ad deals. The salespeople and the marketers are the ones who have to deal with the publishers when a heavily-advertised game gets a bad review, so obviously they like it if every game that comes out is peachy keen and gets a 9.0 or above. If a salesperson knows anything about unprofessional review practices, then that says a lot about the management team that we have in place because not a single other member of the editorial team had heard word one about this until Jeff was fired. Surely site management would want to let us know about their concerns before firing the most senior staff member and one of the most respected game critics in the industry? If they're sharing their concerns with the salespeople and not with us then that says a lot about their priorities.

In response to Valleywag write Paul Boutin's opinion that he doesn't believe the rumor that Gerstmann was solely fired for his Kane & Lynch review, partially based on the fact that no named sources have weighed in on the topic, "gamespot" responded again.

No one wants to be named because no one wants to get fucking fired! This management team has shown what they're willing to do. Jeff had ten years in and was fucking locked out of his office and told to leave the building.

What you might not be aware of is that GS is well known for appealing mostly to hardcore gamers. The mucky-mucks have been doing a lot of "brand research" over the last year or so and indicating that they want to reach out to more casual gamers. Our last executive editor, Greg Kasavin, left to go to EA, and he was replaced by a suit, Josh Larson, who had no editorial experience and was only involved on the business side of things. Over the last year there has been an increasing amount of pressure to allow the advertising teams to have more of a say in the editorial process; we've started having to give our sales team heads-ups when a game is getting a low score, for instance, so that they can let the advertisers know that before a review goes up. Other publishers have started giving us notes involving when our reviews can go up; if a game's getting a 9 or above, it can go up early; if not, it'll have to wait until after the game is on the shelves.

I was in the meeting where Josh Larson was trying to explain this firing and the guy had absolutely no response to any of the criticisms we were sending his way. He kept dodging the question, saying that there were "multiple instances of tone" in the reviews that he hadn't been happy about, but that wasn't Jeff's problem since we all vet every review. He also implied that "AAA" titles deserved more attention when they were being reviewed, which sounded to all of us that he was implying that they should get higher scores, especially since those titles are usually more highly advertised on our site.

I know that it's all about the money, and hey, I like money. I like advertising because it pays my salary. Unfortunately after Kasavin left the church-and-state separation between the sales teams and the editorial team has cracked, and with Jeff's firing I think it's clear that the management now has no interest at all in integrity and are instead looking for an editorial team that will be nicer to the advertisors.

When companies make games as downright contemptible as Kane and Lynch, they deserve to be called on it. I guess you'll have to go to Onion or a smaller site for objective reviews now, because everyone at GS now thinks that if they give a low score to a high-profile game, they'll be shitcanned. Everyone's fucking scared and we're all hoping to get Josh Larson removed from his position because no one trusts him anymore. If that doesn't happen then look for every game to be Game of the Year material at GameSpot.

Please note that this post is tagged "rumor" for a reason. We have no way to confirm that commenter "gamespot" is actually employed at Gamespot or CNet or has access to information about the current situation.

GameSpot editor (?) on fired reviewer [Valleywag]

Jeff's review was certainly less than glowing. He assigned the game a 6.0, otherwise known as "Fair" on the Gamespot scale. The game is currently enjoying a Metacritic score in the 65 to 69 range, which the site describes as "mixed or average reviews." According to our tipster, it wasn't necessarily the score that was reason for Gerstmann's rumored axing, but the "tone" of the review.

Gerstmann has been no stranger to controversial reviews, as his scores of 10 for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and 8.8 for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess had sensitive internet users up in arms. It's now possible that many bitter fanboys may have had their wishes for his firing granted.

As our tipster points out, if the rumor is true, it could point to a distressing precedent at Gamespot and parent company CNet. "As writers of what is supposed to be objective content, this is our worst nightmare coming to life," wrote the tipster.

Our efforts to confirm the story with Gamespot haven't proved successful. Our current requests with PR, Gerstmann and other CNet contacts have either gone unanswered or yielded a "no comment."

Update: We did get confirmation that Mr. Gerstmann is no longer with Gamespot. The circumstances in which he was terminated or left of his own accord, however, were not disclosed.

With Kane & Lynch now coming out on Nov. 13, it's time to stop talking about things like art direction and voice acting and to get to the nitty-gritty of game play. This walkthrough features the soothing sounds of game director Jens-Peter Kurup explaining the game play elements, like the use of picture-in-picture.

I write occasional features for Playboy Magazine, which is kinda fun to brag about at parties. Recently, the mag has been trying to tweak their game coverage, upping their features to make them more thoughtful and quite a bit longer.

My editor sent me a copy of the recent magazine to check out how things were looking in print and I noticed a difference. In particular I quite enjoyed their Geniuses at Play feature which gave well-know game designers the space to explain some of the keys to making a good game.

At this point in the 21st century it's clear that video games constitute a medium unto themselves. It's an art form and an industry awash in possibility, with rules and boundaries that have only begun to be explored. When you play a game, whether it's Madden, Tetris or Halo, you create your own unique path through it. We may take video games' multiple narratives for granted, but they are precisely what separates games from other storytelling media. The player is as much the author of the experience as the game's creator.

To discern what makes the medium of video games different from other forms that preceded it, we spoke with
some of the foremost minds in the industry. They told us where games have been, where they're headed and what it all means. Some are cynical, some are stressed, others starry-eyed. All are passionate about what they do.

The article goes on to quote the likes of Warren Spector, Sid Meier, Ken Levine and Denis Dyack. Good read. But what I found even more interesting in the magazine (no, not that) was this quirky little Advertorial tucked away next to the game reviews.

The two-page ad was set up to look like a straight-up Playboy Interview with Kane of Kane & Lynch fame. The ad is full of back story grist, details about The 7, Kane's conviction on 25 counts of manslaughter and who the fictitious Kane would like to see portray him in a movie.

This is stacks better than a babe search for best sexy mascot, if you ask me.

It's quite important in the single player and co-op that we're portraying characters and we're also portraying scenarios. It would have been nice to come up with something completely new. There are things with Lynch's Psycho mode which work out differently in co-op, the healing method and things like that, but it is a more traditional approach. We feel that's what players want. Co-op is about good times.

It's a matter of focus, choosing what you want to deliver at what time. We looked at it and decided it was too much of a risk to change our code to be very very good at that, and we're not going to be very very good at other elements. I'll miss the online co-op, but not terribly.

But in short, you're going to need to grab as much cash as you can and make it out alive. The rub is this: when all is said and done, the total loot is distributed evenly. However, the fewer players you have alive at the end, the more spoils the survivors net. You can see where this is going, right? If not, read on.

New screens of men in ties with guns at the link below.

Kane & Lynch Multiplayer Hands-on [IGN]

It's been quite awhile since a marketing idea has completely confused me. So I guess it's about time.

Eidos today announced a partnership with Playboy and Fox Interactive to promote Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. If the promotional partner selection isn't head-scratching enough, the concept certainly is. The idea is that IGN, Playboy and MySpace will team up to conduct a "cyber search" to find the "perfect girl who can best evoke Kane and Lynch's dangerous vibe." WTF?

A lot of things pop into my head when I think about the gritty, unsettling action shooter, but hot women is not one of them. In fact, I kinda find it disturbing that a game about the brutality of a mercenary and a psychopath could in anyway be turned into sexy. It's not sexy, it's not supposed to be. It's disturbing. Let's keep it that way.

REDWOOD CITY, CA (OCT. 2, 2007) - Eidos Interactive, one of the world's leading publishers and developers of entertainment software, today announced a partnership with Playboy, the premier online destination for men, and Fox Interactive Media to launch a Cyber Search for the ideal female to accompany the upcoming Eidos video game Kane & Lynch: Dead Men.

Utilizing the strengths and communities of three media giants - IGN.com, Playboy, and MySpace.com - the Cyber Search will span three major online targets, from the gaming community and the leading men's lifestyle and entertainment site to one of the world's largest social networking sites - actively involving these communities to find the perfect girl who can best evoke Kane and Lynch's dangerous vibe. Gamers can visit kaneandlynch.ign.com to submit and vote for their favorite candidate in the Cyber Search.

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men is a cinematic crime drama that tells a raw and gritty tale of two anti-heroes - one a flawed mercenary, the other a medicated psychopath - set in an intense third-person action shooter. Forced to embark on a violent and chaotic journey, hating each other every step of the way, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men features a gripping storyline, relentless third-person action and an innovative twist on the online multiplayer gameplay experience.

IGN Movies reports that Lions Gate has script in hand for their upcoming adaptation of Kane & Lynch. The script, they report, was penned by screenwriter Kyle Ward, a relatively new writer whose only previous work is a yet to be produced film called Fiasco Heights which he sold to Michael Bay's production company.

Ward's script beat out a rival screenplay being written by Jieho Lee and Bob DeRosa. The story will follow the game's plot, which follows the bloody antics of mercenary Kane and psychopath Lynch in a bid for revenge against a cover ops organization.

Kane & Lynch Scoop! [IGN Movies, via Rotten Tomatoes]

From the PAX floor, GameVideos bring us a gameplay clip from the upcoming Kane & Lynch. Sorry fellows, I don't think there are any panty shots in this one. But there are guns. Lots and lots of guns.

This is a little disturbing: I was playing Kane & Lynch on the Games Convention show floor earlier today when I accidentally shot a business woman who was running around on the floor I was on. Instead of killing her, I apparently winged her shoulder. She lay sprawled on her back screaming in pain with the camera angle shooting straight up her skirt exposing a pair of white panties. (That's her in that picture laying next to a dead body, one of my henchmen headshot her as I was about to take this picture.)

It wasn't at all sexual and I don't think it was meant to be. The sight of this terrified and injured woman, her panties invertently exposed highlighted the terror of the moment for this woman and how very vulnerable she was. Good idea or taking things too far?

"That pretty much is Heat," he smiles. "These guys are big fans of that movie."

That's hardly the only Hollywood crime movie that gets a nod in IO
Interactive's Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (published by Eidos). When
the walking red-headed punchline from Gamezone.com asks about the
bandage over Kane's nose (he's one of two anti-heroes that give the
title its name), the producer points out it's a reference to the
classic Chinatown, but the flighty kid has already Aspergered
his way to his next distraction: "Could I get a picture of these
benches?" he asks, pointing to the glass-topped pulpits in Eidos'
viewing room that have been filled with fake cash, cocaine, and
ammunition. "I'd like to show them to the gamers of the world."

Kane & Lynch's calling card is not its gameplay, which is
easily-digested stuff, looking a fair amount like Hitman or any
other third-person shooter. Instead, IO Interactive is trying to tell
a realistic, if hyper-stylish crime story, starring two amoral
sociopaths, evoking the work of Hollywood directors like Michael Mann
and John Frankenheimer. That the player controls two wicked
anti-heroes who gladly slaughter bystanders and punch women in the
face if it serves their needs is only surprising in how legitimately
disturbing their actions feel when so many games before have been
accused of being "murder simulators" or worse. Kane & Lynch
makes Grand Theft Auto look like the cartoon it is.

Which is not to say that it's all violence for violence's sake.
(Although I suspect there will be several legitimately gory moments in
the game that are there just to induce cringing.) Instead, it's clear
IO is trying to tell the story of two men who place their personal
ambition above all else. The characters, devoid of any sympathetic
qualities, have the heft of realism that most games sacrifice when
they try to provide a justification for their criminal protagonist's
action. I had to nuke that orphanage because twenty years ago my
wife was passed over for promotion.

Of course, Kane may have a sympathetic backstory after all; I only saw
a few minutes of gameplay. I hope not, but even if he ends up being,
you know, human, it becomes clear from the in-game patter between the
main characters that the balding, greasy Lynch is an unrepentant,
selfish cock. He's great.

Other sections of the game will bring back the gameplay from IO
Interactive's sadly under-appreciated Freedom Fighters, making
it easy to deploy a small squad of henchman to—say—rappel
down a skyscraper to blow through the plate glass of a boardroom,
punching a dagger into the face of an enemy chairman. I played
Freedom Fighters all the way thought, which is pretty high
praise from me. The combination of its light tactical gameplay and a
mature, harsh backdrop could be a very potent tonic. –Joel Johnson

The more I see of these two in action the more I want to see more. I love the dynamic between them even though I've only seen them in a few stylized trailers where they rarely talk. There is chemistry there. If someone doesn't make a Kane and Lynch music video for the song "Happy Together" I just might have to break out my video editing software, toy around with it for a few minutes and then go back to playing WoW.

Man, I'm even hypothetically lazy. Michael Fahey

SCi today announced that two of their upcoming titles, originally planned for Xbox 360 and PC release, will now also be coming to the Playstation 3.

Kane & Lynch, announced in July as an Xbox 360 and PC title, and Crossfire, announced in September as an Xbox 360 and PC title, are now both officially hitting two next-gen consoles.

Neither Forbes nor Reuters report on the matter explained the reasoning behind the decision, but officials with SCi said they expected the increased cost of making the new version will be more than compensated for by the upside of having a version for the PS3.

Things, it appears, are turning around for the PS3. Brian Crecente

SCi says new games plan to cut current year profit [Reuters]

Direct from some sneaky person in Leipzig comes this hidden video of the best third-person-shooter Michael Mann never made, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men for the Xbox 360/PC. Looks pretty dang cool, especially that Collateralesque nightclub shoot-out. Brian Ashcraft

Thanks, Tony