xtraman

LosMerengues

He can use his tubby lard as shelter, and absorb it for meals during the day.

Yay!

thereturnoftheufo

convoy

I for one don't even pay much attn to reviewers from major sites, instead i go to fans of the genre who i feel have more credentials than the average GTA/HALO/MADDEN fanboy oops i mean ign reviewer...

my 2 cents

60Hz

amped602

Unlike others, I am going to wait until Tuesday to here the full story before I go rampant and start deleting my account and screaming conspiracy everywhere. Many think this will make headline news in major publications and will mark the end of GS--I am not getting my hopes up.

KingBaxilixBearArmor

Also, giving a zelda game an 8.8 is very generous. Zelda games aren't exactly original anymore. You always play as *surprise here* Link and there's always some special artifact that plays a key role that you have to get. "The Legend of Zelda: the Artifact Of Some Kind" is the title of just about every game, just replace the "Artifact Of Some Kind" with the name of some crazy sounding object. There could be a Legend of Zelda: The Magical Fortune Cookie and it'd sell like hotcakes to drooling fanboys trying to simultaneously fulfill and surpress their male elf fetish. If I reviewed games every Zelda game would get a 4 right off the bat just because it is a Zelda game, unless something significant changed, like you got to play as Gannon, and maybe once upon a time he was a hero. Now that would rock.

theandorif

Now, I am not saying what they did was right, heck no it was not, what I have always done with my companies and sites is have a separation of church and state per say. Meaning, editorial and advertising are separate entities and advertisers are told up front to expect that advertising money will not influence reviews.

I personally applaud any editor that sticks to their guns about their opinion, heck I want to hire Jeff now to do reviews on our network. Game Reviews should always be about the opinion of the editor and discuss the pros and cons of the title, everyone has different tastes ( hence our game site, www.thegamereviews.com has multiple reviews of the same title and allows user reviews ).

We are going to write a piece up on this subject and would love to hear from readers about your thoughts.

thegamereviews

Seriously, were do these fucking idiots get these ideas?

ca$h

Langis

Sweet Justice, now my theory as to the corruption of Gamespot is true.

looks like ign and 1up and truly the only places to get real reviews.

If I had an account w/ them i'd be getting rid of that real fast. but i don't so haha.

BalloonFighter64

As a test, I just sent a message to josh.larson@cnet.com, and I haven't recieved a bounce-back notice yet.

Feel free to spam.

RandomEncounter

As a test, I just sent an e-mail to josh.larson@cnet.com (who supposedly gave jeff G the boot) - the e-mail went through. Feel free to spam.

RandomEncounter

RandomEncounter

Some of 1up's reviewers, such as Jeremy Parish, have been writing controversial, yet excellent reviews for over a decade. Sure, 1up occasionally has found itself in a pickle due to a bad review (not bad score-wise, but because the review itself was poorly thought-out) such as the NWN2 one, but they've always been forthright and honest - and quite willing to bash games which were giving them advertising money.

So don't drag them down with GS and IGN, okay?

Sugoi

KaneRobot

Bakachan

Bertsura

JangoFett353

glamnesia

this doesn't surprise me, Gamespot is a shit site that supports "payola" for good reviews. they always have and always will.

www.pressstart.vg at least here you get the real deal by actual game industry workers.

Tkat

Purple Dave

Aej

I wont be going to gamespot anymore for reviews because even if I did not agree with all the points in the review I could at least trust that it was the reviewers opinion not the one of a video game publisher...

Loker

Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB

Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB

Now lets talk about how great Halo is. ;)

Aflack: Likes slushies

and plus I just love the 1up show :P

That Girl Hates You

popdem

actually citscenes are skipable for the most part by hitting the "x" button

ArmyofJuan

DELETED

KidU

A lot of us have reviewers we trust and share tastes with. And considering that purchasing games today is like playing russian roulette with your wallet, I'm glad they are out there, because there are a lot of shitty big budget games released that the hype machine would have you believe are gold.

It's a goddamn shame when someone who is obviously doing their best to be honest with the gaming community is punished in such a way, and it's made worse when it's celebrated by members of the community themselves. You didn't agree with his opinion, he obviously didn't agree with yours. Grow up. People disagree. If you act like a child dancing on his job's grave, then all it does is de-value anything you have to say.

I hope he lands a job somewhere else pretty quick.

Red_Bedlam

I'd discredit his opinion after reading that, but this does not deserve a sacking.

If the readers of the site (you know, the reason they can even sell advertising) are displeased with Mr. Gerstmann, then THEY should be the deciding factor when CNET makes personnel changes, NOT the advertisers.

It is not sad to see him go, but the manner in which it transpired, if true, is disgusting. Eidos just made it much harder for them to garner my gaming dollars.

ncsbert

I was never a fan of Jeff's reviews. I remember going up and arms about his 'Twilight princess' review and probably said something to the effect of "He is shit! He should be sacked! He is rubbish". (I'm a Nintendo fanboy. I'm not willing to listen to reason when a game I think deserves a 9 gets scored lower. *lol*) But in absolute fairness he did not deserve to be fired over his review. I guess it goes to show where alliances lie. Gamespot higher ups should've stood by their editors' review, but instead they let him go because he scored a game low and that game just happened to be one a company was plugging money to Gamespot to advertise. This is somewhat confirmation that bigger gaming sites and conglomerates are somewhat under the thumb of gaming studios and publishers. Many of us knew this already, but stories such as this one make this more of a definite reality and I wonder how this Gamespot issue will affect many other reviewers at other sites and if they'll be more generous with their scoring and tread the thin line between a good review and really crap one.

This is why I prefer personal blogs from regular gamers with no ties to the gaming industry. They're honest about shit because they have nothing to lose and nothing to gain but some new readers of their blog.

I personally think that if Jeff WAS fired over his review (which I damn well think he was), then Gamespot should've taken a stand and said "F**k ya advertising. Pull it if you must". But instead they didn't.

This definitely gives gamers and reviewers something to think about. As if many weren't skeptical about many game reviews from big sites already.

*sigh*

Random J

monstericreated

orionzdrm

TheIrishNinja

Metroid Prime 3 was freaking awesome. Much better and fufilling than Warioware ever was... even with other people, it just got too repetitive and boring.

Ignatius

KidU

astroglide

wait a month or two after a game comes out and go there and see what real customers think of the game. yes there are idiots, but more than likely a handful of in depth comments will help you paint a clearer picture of the game than an infinite number of paid reviewers could hope to do.

professional reviewing leads to corruption since the most direct path to the dollar bill will always be taken.

lastly, people PAY real dollars to read an ad drenched poorly designed game review website? why??

railskins

"Gerstmann's reviews were almost universally negative."

Oh really? The ten most reviews on the page you linked to he rates the games:

Fair
Superb
Superb
Fair
Good
Good
Good
Superb
Good
Fair

3 out of 10 are "Superb." 4 more are "Good." 3 are "Fair." If that's your idea of "almost universally negative" it's no wonder why the editors thought they could get away with firing him. I think a lot of gamers have no sense of perspective and feel that anything less than a 9 out of 10 is a "negative" review. Look at the last 10 movie reviews a film critic wrote or the last 10 book reviews a literary critic wrote. I guarantee you 7 out of 10 of those reviews won't be "good" or "superb." If anything, Gerstmann's reviews were "almost universally" positive.

Sloopydrew

I read the Kane and Lynch review and was a bit shocked at the time at how blunt it was that the game sucked. I was happy to hear that though as it did pretty much clear up any nagging questions I had about maybe being interested in the game. And I suppose that is exactly the kind of thing Eidos does not want happening...

So, is there any true journalism in the game industry (in the conventional sense)? Investigative journalism? You've got all the major mainstream sources of that kind of information drawing their revenue from the industry they are reviewing, so there isn't going to be any objective takes there.

I have a lot of experience now with the current generation of MS products and I know first hand there are multiple issues they have that don't get seriously covered in terms of the media doing anything to protect consumers. I'm an adult mechanical engineer who has gone through 3 360s on hardware issues. I've done everything MS has asked to keep the thing out of danger (it's in a well ventillated area, no other heat producing deviced around it, it plugs into a wall socket all by it's lonesome with no power bar, etc.) and I sure as hell don't abuse it, yet they keep crapping out on me witht he longest lasting 8 months and the shortest at 30 days. You telling me there isn't a real problem there that should be addressed in terms of consumer protection? And the DRM for XBL is broken. Hear anyone in the media ever talk about that on the business page?

There really isn't any true objective journalism out there other then sources like this one, which are fantastic for info, but really don't count in terms of what I'm talking about. Bashcraft has multiple 360 hardware failures and reports on them. Does that mean MS is more likely to address the issue for it's consumers in a real fashion? Nope; just means they send him an Elite loaner unit to make him happy and less likely to keep spreading the bad press. My third one craps out and all I get to do is wait 30 days for the next defective replacement console to show up. I don't get special treatment and the problem doesn't get addressed and the money-go-round keeps spinning...

(please don't take that as a knock on Kotaku or Bash, just the lack of accountability to consumers the industry displays...)

dbushik

Anyway, if that is the way they do it i think i'll head somewhere else for my critics.

malu05

Yahtzee may be a satirist (don't take his reviews seriously), but he manages to present his arguments much stronger.

This Jeff guy, in the video review, he criticises K&L story, writing and characterisations saying they are impossible to like. Well no, if it was impossible to like, then everyone else reviewing this wouldn't have disagreed with you over this point. The F word? Do you think your audience cares about this?

His text review, is written like it's for kids. It drills done into pointless minutae about plot points and gameplay mechanics. No one cares about your waggling of the controller to get into cover, just tell the reader that the system is flawed. It's the problem with online, because you have all the space in the world, you forget about editorial control.

I've read the Edge and GamesTM review of K&L. They both give the game 6/10, but their thoughts and opinions are so much more coherent and relevant.

hahnchen

PA has labelled the forum post by an employee who worked on the K&L advertising campaign as the "Gamespot Management" story. That's bullshit. That's wrong.

hahnchen

It seems to be a harsh review but it does spotlight a few highlights. If a game is a must rent I appriciate someone letting me know. These things are $62.50 with tax and the days of buying 3 new games at once are over at this price point.

Now more than ever honest review of games is required . The movie experience can not be an good comparison anymore -at most you sit back view maybe 3hours (gotdammit that Transformers movie was about 90minutes too long) But in a game 7-20 hours of interaction are required so I need a little help with deciding on if I am going to undertake such a commitment.

So goodbye Carrie Gouskos, greg Kasavin
Rich Gallup, and Jeff

Gamespot or is ti now (I/O) what's really going on?

PresDNA

If, indeed, he was terminated for his review, then I strongly suggest people boycott GameSpot.

Langis

And, speaking truthfully, the part of my personality that is prone to flights of fancy and delusions of grandeur occasionally echoes that sentiment.

The write-up accompanying last night's early comic is now live, however, and I'm once again astonished by their nuanced take on the situation. Working with the same information that has appeared on other sites (I couldn't find any additional specific detail in their analysis), Tycho manages to relay the events better (and more believably) than I've seen elsewhere.

The Confessor

provoko

ajiezer

Link to his reviews:

[www.gamespot.com]

Jordan Lund

It seemed like one of the older gaming magazines (I think it was EGM)the editor used to talk about these issues and how advertisers will quickly pull their ad dollars if a review wasn't up to their _vision_ of their standards.

Most of those gaming sites have a letters to the editor type section so maybe we could send them some questions about their stance on outside influences and how they deal with pressure's from the gaming industry. We could also just look over their reviews & scores and come to our own conclusions.

lostalaska

Wow...you REALLY need to grow up.

Superman64

Brelston

taomaster99

Mrclumpy

Moment of silence pls
.
..
Ok enough of that

drevid

BurningRevenge

giovonti

That's pretty dangerous in his line of business... or so it seems.

retronaut

Zantagor

The possibility that he may have been fired for the above accusations is appalling to me. It's certainly no secret that the big game websites take a lot of money from big companies, which makes it difficult to offer truly unbiased reviews. However, terminating a reviewer for going against an advertisers game seems to undermine the purpose of these websites; to provide HONEST commentary on video games. If a game is crap, it's crap, and there's no amount of advertising money that should sway a review.

Good luck to Jeff, and wherever he winds up in the future, I will be there to listen and read.

Benjo

Granted I shouldn't be so hard on a person who just lost their job. I wish him luck on his future search of employment. But I can honestly say that I won't miss him being a game journalist.

joshuamcc

If Gerstmann was let go due to advertiser pressure, it's a sad day indeed.

Karyyk

"Editor's Note: This review has been updated to include differences between the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions and a clarification on the game's multiplayer mode"

latinogamer

Wickerman1972

I still like ZD, but no matter who's review I read, I take it with a grain of salt...

fuchikoma

If you knew anything about games, you wouldn't be a member of that kid's website anyway. And instead of attacking CNet or Gamespot, you're attacking IO. Great going guys.

hahnchen

hehehhehe

LevelHead

oneasianthug

When are most people gonna figure out that as long as the game review magazines/websites are almost exclusively sponsored by the subjects they're supposed to be objectively critical about, reviews will always be biased positively and flawed?

VicViper

ken1985

-100 points for Eidos and Gamespot.

doubtful

KevSlider

Then they came for the ones who the fanboy subscribers disagreed with, and I didn't speak up, because the fanboys didn't disagree with me.

Then they came for everybody who scored anything by a major publisher under an 8.0, and I didn't speak up, because I give everything at least a 9.

Then they came for me, and nobody was left to speak up for me, because everybody had left to find a review site that'll actually review games, instead of just writing ad copy for the publishers.

Here's to hoping Gerstmann told them right where they could stick their ad money, and I hope he finds a soft place to land.

PositivelyGreg

pastepunkjames

If Gerstmann was, indeed, fired for nothing toeing the line on Kane and Lynch, then my guess is that makes his resume that much more attractive to reputable outlets.

I haven't read Gerstmann's reviews, so I can't comment on his professionalism or the way he reviewed the games he played, I'm just willing to wait for more information before I pass judgment.

pastepunkjames

hahnchen

number8888

(check it out before it is gone)
It was harsh but was it really worth losing a job over??

PresDNA

Money money money money money

Muppetmeat

Now the site really is going to hell. All the talent is gone and they have to many shows/podcasts to fill with such talent as the oldies.

AeroZeppelin

Worst part about the game is the horrid accuracy of the guns, which seems to be a cheap way for the developers to attempt to build "tension" for the players during gun fights.

Witzbold

Plus I liked his reviews.

evilkoala

rainofwalrus

I'd have given it an 8. and I really liked it.

little_dragon

This is NOT cool!

mordennight

@hahnchen:
FUCK OFF! Douchebag....anyway regardless of who owns metacritic, it still provides a comprehensive overview of game reviews. Dick!

zeezee

Sunjammer

Woodwater

Gabryael

---

I've just watched the video review that this guy did. He totally lays into the game, and absolutely fails to justify the score of 6. That said, he lays into the game in a totally inept and lame way.

I hope he was just fired for being shit at his job. But given that he's been ploughing this for years, it looks fishy.

hahnchen

GameStop does own Game Informer but not GameSpot. They just have similar names, which may have caused the confusion.

Sloopydrew

ca$h

who8myrice

This is why I check metacritic.It's the only way to get a true view of how good/bad a game is.

zeezee

Sometimes I didn't agree with his opinion but he wasn't afraid to be controversial and didn't buckle to outside pressures and I respected that. Sure I wouldn't have given TP a 8.8, but having finished it I can surely see why it is a fair score subjectively. If you like Zelda games maybe it's a 10 to you, but it's been the same game forever and a lack of innovation is a fair reason to dock a score under a 9. And let's not forget am 8.8 game is still a fantastic game!

With Jeff gone I vow never to visit the site or watch On The Spot again.

And I will be writing to Gamespot management to complain. I encourage you all to do the same, even if you don't like Jeff for the sake of honest journalism!

Parabolee

seafisch

frygar

[www.gamespot.com]

TC

Good luck to Jeff in whatever he does next. I always enjoyed his reviews and it's really unfortunate that the editorial and advertising departments have started working hand in hand in such a way that monetary concerns always trump honest reporting/reviewing. And it's really unfortunate that fans are walking in lockstep with the advertisers in many cases complaining to and boycotting a magazine/website for giving a game an 8.8 out of 10 (Zelda). Or, for that matter, a 6 out of 10. Neither is a negative number and after reading Jeff's review for Kane & Lynch, I think his "6" rating was incredibly generous and, if he weren't scared of something like ... say ... getting fired, he would have given the game a 3 or 4 out of 10. GameSpot should thank him.

Sloopydrew

But if he really was fired for putting down a game that also happens to sponsor the site then gamespot just looks pathetic and all their high reviews come in to question if there was advertising of that game at the time on the site.

"advertise with us and you can pick your review score"

Chippo

Sucks that he's gone. After Greg Kasavn (sp?) he was the only editor that actually stood out from the pack to me. With him gone, gamespot is just like IGN or 1up to me.. just a bunch of names who review games who I dont relate to at all.

Ah well, life goes on.. I guess now I can go ahead and cancel my renewal on my gamspot:complete account, since the only enjoyment I got from that subscription was having easy, fast and high quality access to on the spot and tournament tv both of which wont be at all the same without Jeff.

asphix20

Mr.Waffleton

Rebochan

Glames

EndersGame

Sugaray

Stupid economics. *shakes fist*

EdwinJ85

Yeah, after reading the review, I have doubts he even played the game, or at least played it above Aspirin level (pussy). As for AI, again, stop playing on baby difficulty, they said the same thing about teh Haloz 3; don't play on less than Heroic, come on! You want casual, grab a Wii.

I thought the game was awesome, for a rental! The story is a great dark story, and is not for kids, I doubt they would even understand it. That's the real information reviewers need to give us: what price point is it worth. I don't give a shit if they liked it or not.

Personally, I would have fired him long ago, I certainly won't miss him.

rezlow

belo

To suggest bias is and of itself bad displays a lack of understanding
regarding the simple realities of what it is to be a human being.

b) shallow

What rot, I just watched his review of Kane and Lynch, to call that shallow is a nonsense.

c) wrong

Wrong?

How can someone's opinion be wrong?
It's an opinion ferfuxsake, there isn't just one correct answer to the question what do you think of this?

Cruithne

BTW:

I have already asked this question twice,
and I hope that someone can answer it.

What happened to the stories:
"Some Punctuation On Yahtzee's Art Of Theft"
and
"Nintendo Can't Smash All Piracy"
...why are the stories gone?

Garo

fonfa

Sure... but: the cake is a lie! ;)

Garo

CheechWizz

I know it won't happen, but I can dream, can't I?

edb87

You're telling me that Gamespot is not the pinnacle of integrity in modern journalism?

Next you're going to tell me that Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny aren't real.

danzigeevil

sincitycircus

Bad games, KILL reviewers

Tei

Herbal23

dv8godd

Garo

Fuck 'em.

bastardcake

Jeff's reviews have been notorious for being:
a) biased
b) shallow
c) wrong

... yet it takes pressure from advertisers to get him fired.

The question really is, why does it take such measures to get rid of someone who frankly shouldn't be working there?

This really comes down to the senior staff at GameSpot.

When you have a staff member who doesn't do as they should, you should ask them to move on, rather than wait until their bad work begins to affect your own profits. The latter is not how good editoring works, and that is not how to be a good source of any sort of media, no matter what industry you happen to associate with.

theicephoenix

"I'm still waiting for Kotaku or some other site to do an honest to god exposé of the bribes taking place within the industry"

If you guys did this, I'll mail all of you Kotaku writers a fruitcake for Christmas.

edb87

With the online guys, the more of a game they manage to sell by click through, the more money is made. And that will always cast a shadow over the integrity of their content.

Still, I doubt that Gamespot are still playing this game, CNet is a strong diversified brand, Gamespot don't have to bow down to advertisers like they used to. It could be the straw that broke the camel's back though.

hahnchen

One Way Mule

There was some awful shit being posted over there and it takes a lot to offend me.

MasterFramer

edb87

MasterFramer

"We are currently making a change to the forums. They will be up shortly. Please check back later."

Crisis control. I wonder how damaging this will be. To anyone. Hopefully quite so.

I can tell you now that every AAA game that gets an 8+ score on Gamespot from now on will be scrutinised at least, crucified at most. Losing trust will do that.

elevenoverzero

Although this is a rumor, all of Gamespot's reviews will be suspect, and undermines gaming journalism in general. I mean, a few of mine friends and I have started our OWN gaming blog, simply because we trust friends and not half of the review sites out there (I'm especially looking at you 1-UP and IGN). I guess I can add Gamespot to that list.

@KaneTaker: Thanks for the Gamernode link!

edb87

gique

I don't check Gamespot for reviews, nor do I revere IGN's rating system either, as I do believe that these "high profile" game critics have gone wrong in a very big way, but that's just the way I would see it.

Nickname

You are all fucking hypocrites.

Elixir

Tibbe

I've always wanted to leave a comment on Kotaku, but I was saving it for something that I really felt I wanted to voice my opinion on (as you can tell I am not a man of few words). Recently I've only been visiting Gamespot out of habit, and now I'm ready to pack it in and forget that it exists altogether should this be substantiated.

If it's true, Eidos has clearly reaped what it has sewn and I can honestly say that I don't ever see myself buying another one of their games. You can't make a shoddy product and buy your way out of it- time to discover that there is such a thing as bad publicity.

boogiewithmoose

Knoxximus (360/PSN)

Jmoney666

Jurai

SoulPunch

mcderek3000

When Greg went, Alex and Jeff were keeping me around. With Jeff gone, i doubt Alex will stick around. Which means bybye.

This is really, really sad stuff guys :(

Sunjammer

(Double Dash sucks, lets play some Super Mario Kart)

Yaroze