Jens Peter Kurup, Director of Kane & Lynch at IO, tells GamesRadar that "there was something in the tone of that review that was tough on people, and on me."

Calling the GameSpot thrashing of Kane & Lynch — a nasty 6.0, when many reviews range from 7.0 to 10 — "a review that I would like to forget," Kurup is surprisingly honest in his feelings about the judgment.

Kurup says that single review has molded the opinions of gamers everywhere, even ones who haven't played the game.

"In glimpses I still feel it, because when I meet somebody who hasn’t played the game, I can be fairly sure that his or her opinion is based on the GameSpot review," Kurup said. "It just won't go away."

It doesn't sound like we've heard the last of the unlikable Kane and Lynch, according to Kurup's assessment of the franchise's future. When you sell a million copies, you're almost guaranteed another go — even if Jeff Gerstmann doesn't like your game that much.

Kane & Lynch: How it feels to be critically panned [GamesRadar]

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]

The confusion over the reasons for Gerstmann's termination, compounded with a lack of transparency from management has created a feeling of "irreconcilable despair" that may eventually lead to an exodus of Gamespot editorial staffers. "Our credibility," said the source, "is in ruins." Over the course of the previous days, a "large number of Gamespot editors" have expressed their intentions to leave. Tales of emotionally deflated peers, with no will to remain at the site, were numerous.

Unless cooler heads prevail or concerns are addressed, Gamespot could see "mass resignations", our source revealed.

Rank and file employees of the Gamespot organization are unaware of the real reasons behind Gerstmann's termination. Our source admitted that Eidos was less than pleased with the review scores for Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, but the team has "dealt with plenty of unhappy publishers before." Our contact stressed that "Money has never played a role in reviews before" and that "[Gamespot] has never altered a score." No pressure from management or sales has been exercised to remove or alter content, the source reiterated.

However, the source did speculate that disagreements between Gertsmann and VP of games Josh Larson may have been the root cause of the former being terminated. Larson, successor to former editor in chief Greg Kasavin, was described as out of touch with the employees who report to him. The VP is the one allegedly responsible for telling Gamespot editorial staff that it was Gerstmann's "tone" that was at the heart of his dismissal.

"People used to think of Larson as a sort of non-intrusive cousin of Bill Lumberg from Office Space—an empty suit who was more of an annoyance than a liability," our source told us. "Now, people are referring to him as the moron lieutenant from Aliens who sits around stunned, doing nothing as everyone drops dead around him."

The source also indicated that Larson's paraphrased assertion that "AAA titles deserve more attention" was not necessarily a hint that Gamespot's reviewers be more lenient to those titles. Instead, in light of some rather controversial review scores—for example, the 7.5 for Insomniac Games' Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction—the editorial team needed to be more conscious of accuracy and impact of its scores.

As for the now-pulled video of review, it appears the reasons for it's removal are less nefarious than assumed. "Jeff showed up late. It was thrown together quickly, the sound sucked, there was only footage from the first level of the game—it was a mess," our source said. We were told that the redacting of the clip was based on a producer's decision and not a demand from upper management.

However, rumored perception from management that Gerstmann's work had become sloppier, more flippant and smacked of a celebrity attitude may have only been solidified by the questionable quality of the review.

And the removal of the Kane & Lynch site ads, following initial reports? A reflexive action taken by the sales team, a move that may have been executed too late.

What was accurate, according to the Gamespot staffer, was the account of user "gamespot" at sister site Valleywag. The anonymous blow-by-blow "could have been written by a stenographer", indicating that it perfectly captured the sequence of events and emotional landscape at the company—one of confusion, fear and anger.

The overflowing emotions, combined with a lack of transparency from CNet and Gamespot management has lead the full-time editorial staff to near mutiny. Some feel the site's brand has been irrevocably tarnished, that the controversy is "a cataclysmic event in Gamespot history."

At this point, editors at Gamespot seem most frustrated that CNet management isn't listening to their concerns. Poor decision making has been and continues to be a sore spot, with a CNet internal investigation into Gamespot's review practices and code of ethics—one handled by outsider Jai Singh, editor in chief at News.com—adding to that frustration.

Our Gamespot source pointed out that during the course of the week, we may see a more human, more revealing version of the story, as editorial staff will address the situation in podcasts and videos. If parent company CNet will respond to editorial requests for greater transparency of the situation, a move that may help repair the mental health of staffers and the bruised credibility of Gamespot itself, remains to be seen.

CNet Networks Entertainment VP Greg Brannan goes on record, assuring readers that advertising dollars do not affect the Gamespot's editorial content. He calls accusations that Gerstmann's termination was due to pressure from Kane & Lynch publisher Eidos "unsubstantiated and untrue." Brannan points to unspecified "internal reasons unrelated to any buyer of advertising on Gamespot."

Additional statements from Gamespot staffers are at the news story linked below.

Gerstmann, GameSpot part ways [Gamespot]

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.

Mass Effect (X360)
Space, ho!

Rock Band (PS3, X360)
Rock out with more than just a guitar.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3)
Relive every great 80's adventure movie you ever saw.

Unreal Tournament 3 (PC)
Get real with Unreal..3!

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (PC)
It's like a buddy movie with killing.

Ghost Squad (WII)
Fight the war on terror at home on your Wii

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (DS)
More Final Fantasy... more!!

College Hoops 2K8 (X360, PS3, PS2)
Next-gen college basketball.

Soul Calibur Legends (WII)
The Soul Calibur franchise tries a new style.

Time Crisis 4 (PS3)
Shoot those bad guys up. Now with scrolling.

Link's Crossbow Training (WII)
Test out the Wii Zapper Zelda style!

Kane and Lynch blast on to mobiles

IO's two anti-heroes bring their explosive mix of action and betrayal to a game created specifically for mobile handsets

Eidos Interactive, one of the world's leading publishers and developers of entertainment software, will bring its eagerly-awaited next generation action title Kane and Lynch: Dead Men to mobile phones this November, in a specially-created version developed for mobile by Danish Developer, Kiloo, with input from Io Interactive, the original development studio for the game.

Timed to coincide with the PLAYSTATION®3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game, Kane and Lynch mobile will be released through the publisher's fast-growing Eidos New Media division.

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: Forced to embark on a violent and chaotic journey and hating each other every step of the way, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men features a gripping storyline and relentless third-person action.

Spanning 38 action-packed levels across five very different scenarios, Kane and Lynch mobile takes the form of a fast paced action game. Armed with a wealth of firearms, explosives, deadly booby traps and gadgets, the pair must blast a path through each heavily-guarded location, using simple yet effective menu systems to switch between shotguns and assault rifles with ease.

With its mixture of platform elements and exploration - coupled with a seemingly endless army of enemies and interactive backdrops - Kane and Lynch mobile is a testing game where the stakes are high and the action is unrelenting...

For full details of Kane and Lynch: Dead Men for mobile phone and release dates, please visit http://www.eidosmobile.com/kaneandlynch/index.php?lang=UK for more information.

Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton are said to be in the running to play Kane and Lynch, two escapees from death row - one "a flawed mercenary", the other "a medicated psychopath". The game is due for release next Friday.

Super Mario Galaxy (WII)
It'sa Mario again... in space!

Assassin's Creed (X360, PS3)
Altair is da man in 1191.

Crysis (PC)
Fight aliens!

BlackSite: Area 51 (X360, PC)
Fight more aliens!

Need for Speed ProStreet (PC, X360, PS3, PS2, WII, DS)
Race around the world in your custom car.

WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2008 (X360, PS2, WII, PS3, PSP, DS)
Wrestlemania. Wait, that's something else...

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (X360, PS3, PC)
Co-op killing.

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (PS2)
Dragon Ball Z. Still going.

SimCity Societies (PC)
Learn how buildings shape society.

Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (WII)
A zombie massacre on rails.

Soldier of Fortune: Payback (X360, PC)
The game based on the magazine based on killing and guns.

Medal of Honor Heroes 2 (WII, PSP)
Invade WWII with your Wii Zapper.

Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 (WII, DS)
Rayman's Raving Rabbids return.

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (PSP)
My money is on Aliens because they look cooler.

Unfortunately, it's now going head to head with big names Assassin's Creed and Super Mario Galaxy. We wish it the best of luck. Oh who am I kidding? Everything is coming out over the next two weeks. The Dead Men moniker couldn't be more apt.

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]

The skyscraper level starts with Kane, Lynch and second pair of equally leery characters in coveralls taking out a security group on a rooftop helipad. Following that, the group rappels down the side of the corporate tower, plants an explosive charge on the bulletproof glass, then proceeds to wipe out the Japanese business types of ill repute gathered around a table, against one of whom Kane has a personal vendetta.

The shooting is frantic and shows off the game's destructible architecture, giving one flashbacks to both The Matrix and Die Hard for its bullet play and choice of settings. In between the action, and at some points during, you'll hear bits of dialog bandied about between the two titular "dead men" shedding light on the duo's current situation. There's a bit too much "adult language" with a seemingly constant stream of fucks and shits punctuating their speech.

Where Kane & Lynch appears to be more successful is in giving the player an impression of their personalities via their actions. Following the siege on the meeting room, Kane takes time to not only secure the prized briefcase they've come to collect, but to provide its holder with a knife wound running from brow to eye to cheek, mirroring his own facial scar. Lynch's publicized cold-blooded killer attitude doesn't come through in the Games Convention demo, but I suspect that the final game will feature that in spades.

Personally, I found the line "I repay my debts.... to the penny", delivered as the group leaves the corpse ridden room into the next, to show how cold and calculating Kane and Lynch will ultimately be.

While Kane & Lynch's action and controls may be playing catch up to some of its peers, the game has a style that's hard to ignore. It's light on tactics, heavy on gunplay and oozing with charisma. Everything is brightly lit and the levels we've seen feature clean geometry, with the Tokyo police shootout echoing Mann's Heat with its ammo filled face-off.

Even though my skills didn't do me much good in the chaotic street fight, leading to many deaths and drug-fueled reincarnations, I still had a great time. While Kane & Lynch: Dead Man looks a little rough around the edges in its current state, it's still a solid game and may wind up being one of those titles that succeeds on merits that are hard to quantify.

FutureGamez is reporting that Atari Australia is listing Kane & Lynch: Dead Men as a title that is coming out on the PS3, PS2 and PSP, not just the Xbox 360 and PC as previously thought.

When hitting up the Atari Australia site, they still list the game as coming out just for the 360 and PC, so take this with a grain of salt until officially confirmed.

The game, due out on all platforms in June 2007, will be developed by lo Interactive, the folks behind Hitman and Freedom Fighters. Brian Crecente

Industry News [FutureGamez, thanks Bruce]