Jeff Gerstmann from Gamespot.com fired...

trick_m0nkey

trick_m0nkey

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Oct 11, 2005
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I know this isnt exactly game specific, but I do believe it deserves a spot here for discussion.

[H] is all about honest journalism, about telling it how it is, and it seems that [H] has gotten a little lonlier today.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/rumor/gamespot-editor-fired-over-kane--lynch-review-328244.php

Granted this is only a rumor, but if you look at the facts at hand its very suspicious. I find it appalling that they would fire a reviewer because the advertising company threatened to pull out after he gives a less-than-favorable review. Just ridiculous. I've tried emailing cnet.com about it...all the emails came back negative. So much for email. I just want to say that I am never even thinking about reading gamespot.com or cnet after this unless the company comes out with something explaining their position and it's not utter cow shit. I refuse to stand for this kind of crap. It would seem that forums are the last bastion for honest game reviews these days because really you can only trust the people who payed for it to play it...
 
It's pretty much confirmed.

Screw CNET, Eidos, and Josh Larsen, the dude who replaced Greg Kasavin and fired Jeff.
 
Nothing new there. Magazines are victim of corporate advertisement as well.
 
The [H]ard should get into game reviews and magazines, they would make big bucks considering [H]ard reputation.
 
If [H] doesn't fall under corruption. It's hard to keep the corruptors at bay...
 
GeForceX said:
If [H] doesn't fall under corruption. It's hard to keep the corruptors at bay...
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I don't think Kyle is the type at all that we'd ever have to worry about that.

As for the GS situation, it's truly appalling. Whether this has become a more common occurrence over time or not with magazines, that makes it no better.

GS's reputation has already been going down the drain for some time, and this is the straw that broke the camel's back for me.

It's about principal as well, for whether or not Cnet is the parent company that makes those kinds of decisions, for GS to not stand up for one of their employees who is facing unfair circumstances, especially just for doing their job and being honest, makes them as guilty as those who are actually seeing the $ from their unprincipled practices.

Any magazine that reviews any product has a duty to offer accurate and unbiased judgments of the product they're reviewing, as much of the public base their decision on the opinions of those they believe to be trustworthy and knowledgeable.

So, if GS wont even put up a struggle (they've still issued no statement, making their guilt and their fear of reprise from their parent company very apparent) to try to maintain some semblance of professionalism and principal, then deserve to lose all the paying customers who have actually already jumped-ship due to this fiasco. Especially after having already losing several well-known and respected editors in recent times. Wonder why... :rolleyes:

Well, whether there are those who would admit it or not, IGN actually gives very in-depth and accurate reviews, with few exceptions. And despite them being owned by the joke known as FOX, their reviewers have never shown an inkling that their parent company tries to sway them into giving something a good review for the purpose of monetary gain.

So, I'm back to IGN for my information and reviews, though someone above made a point I've been saying for years: it's the consumers themselves you can and should trust more, as since they paid to play the game and don't play games just to make a living, you can trust the "general consensus" sometimes more. Sometimes less, but it's usually a far more accurate picture of the truth.
 
I don't think Kyle is the type at all that we'd ever have to worry about that.
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I am sure that is said about all of those people who did turn, not saying Kyle would, but just pointing out many trust worthy people / sites have been bought.

Perhaps just the scale alone of [H] will keep it true cause that would be ALOT of pissed of people if it did ever happen.
 
MrGuvernment said:
I am sure that is said about all of those people who did turn, not saying Kyle would, but just pointing out many trust worthy people / sites have been bought.

Perhaps just the scale alone of [H] will keep it true cause that would be ALOT of pissed of people if it did ever happen.
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Certainly. Even in your personal life, there are many who you'd think would never turn on you, and the next thing you know, you've got knives in your back.

But I've spoken with him personally, and have seen his attitude all around here for years and how he runs [H], and I think he has some strong principals I couldn't see him going against. Anything could happen, but...

...and yeah, I could only imagine the revolt of all the loyal [H]'ers here... it would be Bedlam ;)
 
I really only trust IGN's reviews. I read other reviews as reference only. I find that after playing many games I agree with the IGN reviewers' opinions 90% of the time.
 
What the hell do you exect?

The internet is almost completely powered by advertisement driven revenue, and targeted advertising is some of the most common and powerful types of advertising...

It only makes sense to have game developers advertise on game orientated websites, in this respect we can never really completely trust what they have to say, there is always a conflict of interest ALWAYS.

It's human nature to hasve bias towards things you're emotionally involved with, such as people who effect your lives, pay your bills, are part of your livelyhood, I don't care how honest that person is there is always an uncontrolable amount of bias in your point of view or opinion.

There will ALWAYS be a conflict of interest, gamespot obviously showed they cannot control their actions to remain unbais enough to offer honest reviews, and eidos have showed they're not above manipulating reviews for their games, rather than simply making better games to begin with.

Its all very sad.
 
One could hope for a little integrity in journalism though. This is pretty sad news for gamers that like to keep current in the media.

I liked Jeff.
 
As some already mentioned, this doesn't really surprise me. It's nothing new and in a society where money talks, it will happen again.
Moral values, integrity and professionalism, sometimes go out the door, given the right price. Sometimes it's all about priorities too. When a single person stands in the way of the survival of a company, then the needs of the many out weight the needs of the few, even if, from a moral standpoint, it's an unfair situation. This doesn't seem to be the case though, since AFAIK, gamespot is not having financial difficulties...

It's a sad state of affairs indeed, but again, it's nothing new.
 
I have absolutely no worries about [H] and it's staff. Though some people say that anything could happen, I think history has proven time and time again that Kyle is willing to go down to the mat for us in the name of fair journalism. Love him or hate him, he is the kind of man who's principles dont break. Kind of like John Clark or Jack Ryan in the Tom Clancy series (the good ones) :p.

Other than [H], I'm finding only 2 places where I have a reasonable amount of trust: IGN and Maximum PC. Games for Windows isnt bad either I trust them much more than PC Gamer, which has been going to hell lately. I used to think that cnet or gamespot was a decent place for reviews seeing as they have been around for a while...clearly I was wrong. I wish I could do more but really, this is a collective thing and the only way they can hear our voice is by hitting them where it hurts: site views. And they are going to get zero from me.
 
The guy was fired for doing his job properly...

That completely sucks. Goes to show you how much reviews really mean these days.
 
I'm not going to be too quick to jump on the rumor wagon here but if this is true then I have lost a great deal of respect for GS and the makers of kane & lynch (I am a huge fan of the Hitman games)
 
GeForceX said:
If [H] doesn't fall under corruption. It's hard to keep the corruptors at bay...
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I doubt Kyle would ever turn corrupt. How many times have we seen him turn in bad reviews of products from major advertisers? It's Kyle and Maximum PC that have that "You can eat my ass and take your advertising elsewhere if you don't like it" attitude that I like.
 
its sad really. Im cancelling my total access pass over this, you dont fire someone over a ledgit review because the game compay has ads on the site and cant take the heat.

:mad:
 
Ick...this makes me feel dirty. I use GS all the time for reviews and strategy guides and such, and tend to agree with the reviews a good bit of the time. Not anymore though...

I second the prospect of [H] game reviews. It could be sort of like [H]Consumer and such, but without the investment in insanely expensive gaming computers and laptops to review.

Perhaps something a little less through than GS or IGN, in the vein perhaps of Ars or the really good (but few in number) [H] Console game reviews that you guys did for a while. More direct, honest sort of stuff, perhaps a bit after a game's release to avoid jumping the gun on things or writing an entire review based on an initial good/bad impression that changes later.

Anyway...boo cnet and GS.
 
Wow that really sucks, he's been there forever, the only familar face I would remember if someone mentioned gamespot. (along with that other guy that looks weird and has the long hair) I would'nt worry for Jeff though, I dont think it'll be hard for him to find a job at another review site lol.
 
Gamespot has gone down hill. Their reviews use to be more inline with 1up, giving out average scores to even the hyped games. Lately, they've been tossing fantastic scores at every big ad budget game.

Example
3 of the 5 top rated PC games of all time have come out in the last 2.5 months.

http://www.gamespot.com/games.html?...ames&dlx_type=all&date_filter=all&sortdir=asc

The Hellgate review also comes to mind, but atleast it wasn't as bad as PCgamers 89%.
 
Are there editors at gamespot.com? It seems like the control of information there would be the same as it is at the nytimes. Where you have editors whom will not allow a article/report to be released because of its damaging effects to the US/military/capitalism propaganda machine. This is about video games, though, less serious advertisements are no different as they're the main revenue for companies like the nytimes and gamespot.
 
The_Law said:
The guy was fired for doing his job properly...

That completely sucks. Goes to show you how much reviews really mean these days.
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That's why I pretty much base my decisions on what the [H] has to say....pretty much the only site I truly trust to lay it out like it is.

Thanks Kyle and company.
 
When I was in middle school, GS was 'the shit' to read and visit. I remember their old skin, much more humble, similar to [H]'s style - simplicity, but its good looking enough for the gamers to browse reviews and game information. Then, they got (bought out? I can't remember), but the site just started to suck for me, extremely new flashy overdone colors and 'pay to download' or some crap. That was when I realized GS was gone :mad:

My condolences goes to Jeff and I hope he'll find a new job.
 
Their own executive editor getting dropped didn't even make the news section on the site, wiiiiiiieeeeeerrrrrrrrd. That's something you usually want to inform your readers about. Fucking douchebags. They all deserve hypodermic needles to the eye.
 
Get your reviews at www.gamerankings.com or www.metacritic.com/games . They collect reviews (and provide links) and give an average score of all the review scores).

While Gamespot and IGN occasionally make good reviews, they're usually targeted towards one demographic (teenager fanboys). If you're serious about getting a game, check out more than one review, and DO NOT just look at GameSpot or IGN.

And please don't pay either of those two for file services/strategy guides/game trailers. There are TONS of other places that do it for free.
 
eurin said:
Gamespot has gone down hill. Their reviews use to be more inline with 1up, giving out average scores to even the hyped games. Lately, they've been tossing fantastic scores at every big ad budget game.

Example
3 of the 5 top rated PC games of all time have come out in the last 2.5 months.

http://www.gamespot.com/games.html?...ames&dlx_type=all&date_filter=all&sortdir=asc

The Hellgate review also comes to mind, but atleast it wasn't as bad as PCgamers 89%.
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That list is complete Bullshit. Deus Ex isn't even on it. 8.2? Who gives Deus Ex an 8.2? I remember it was voted greatest PC game of all time by a British site and is at the top of tons of other lists. It even got game of the year. Hope they loose lots of traffic due to the firing though. I tend to stay away from GS anyway.
 
mastertard said:
Get your reviews at www.gamerankings.com or www.metacritic.com/games . They collect reviews (and provide links) and give an average score of all the review scores).

While Gamespot and IGN occasionally make good reviews, they're usually targeted towards one demographic (teenager fanboys). If you're serious about getting a game, check out more than one review, and DO NOT just look at GameSpot or IGN.

And please don't pay either of those two for file services/strategy guides/game trailers. There are TONS of other places that do it for free.
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I like Metacritic a lot, but it is owned by CNET as well as Gamespot. Nevertheless, it does point you to many other reviews, but ad money is going to the same parent company if you really want to avoid the products of the parent company likely responsible for the firing.
 
enlightenedby42 said:
I second the prospect of [H] game reviews. It could be sort of like [H]Consumer and such, but without the investment in insanely expensive gaming computers and laptops to review.

Perhaps something a little less through than GS or IGN, in the vein perhaps of Ars or the really good (but few in number) [H] Console game reviews that you guys did for a while. More direct, honest sort of stuff, perhaps a bit after a game's release to avoid jumping the gun on things or writing an entire review based on an initial good/bad impression that changes later.
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Ditto: I really enjoyed the Game Reviews on [H].
 
Gamespot lost all respect on October 29th when they LIED by claiming to have perfect SLI results on the Crysis demo with the 169.01 drivers. Some how James Yu at Gamespot got nearly perfect scaling while not one other reviewer could even get SLI to work at all. Nvidia themselves even said that SLI did NOT work in the Crysis demo with the 169.01 drivers.

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6181908/index.html?tag=result;title;0
 
enlightenedby42 said:
I second the prospect of [H] game reviews. It could be sort of like [H]Consumer and such, but without the investment in insanely expensive gaming computers and laptops to review.

Perhaps something a little less through than GS or IGN, in the vein perhaps of Ars or the really good (but few in number) [H] Console game reviews that you guys did for a while. More direct, honest sort of stuff, perhaps a bit after a game's release to avoid jumping the gun on things or writing an entire review based on an initial good/bad impression that changes later.
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I don't read a lot of reviews on games, mostly because I feel that there will always be some sort of bias from whomever writes them. I rely usually on my friends' opinions cos I know what they like, and they know what I'll like. I think that reviews from people who have gone to the store, picked up the game, and sat down and played it would be interesting and insightful, more so than someone who was given a copy to play. I like your idea.
 
What a sad state of affairs, but I wouldn't trust any magazine enough to base a purchase on. The only PC mag I read is GFW, and that's because I get it for free.

I get all my game reviews here from my fellow [H] members in the gaming section. I do really enjoy GFW though, and generally agree with their reviews.
 
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