In the wake of the rumors surrounding Jeff Gerstmann's suspicious removal as editorial director of Gamespot, Gamespot owner CNET has issued a short, official comment on the situation. "GameSpot takes its editorial integrity extremely seriously," the statement reads. "For over a decade, Gamespot and the many members of its editorial team have produced thousands of unbiased reviews that have been a valuable resource for the gaming community. At CNET Networks, we stand behind the editorial content that our teams produce on a daily basis."As for Gerstmann specifically, CNET repeated their assertion that "it is CNET Networks' policy not to comment on the status of its employees, current of former."
While it's nice to see CNET taking the accusations seriously, the statement doesn't confirm or deny the facts behind the controversy, or add any significant information to the story. With the rumor still generating significant discussion throughout the online gaming community, such a short, pat statement seems unlikely to stop the gathering storm of attention.
(Page 1) Reader Comments
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...Unless someone pays us to say nice things about them, and one of our reviewers says their game is crap, in which case, we fire them.
To back it up, the Metacritic scores don't lie! Why Gamespot? Why!?
A happy time for gaming indeed, one less rabid radicalist to sully the name of videogames.
Maybe you might not have agreed with all of his reviews but at least the guy knows what he's talking about. I hate it more when they have clueless gamers that NEVER play games and give a shit game a bloated score.
This guy is a bit on the looney side but fuck... at least he gives his honest opinion.
And come on, no one is unbiased. Reviewers post only their opinion of a game that they rushed through to play the next, so why does their opinion even count for anything.
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Now with the fall of Gamespot I have to A) Go to blockbuster every time I want a game to rent it and decide if it is worth buying, that means spending in rents, gasoline and well popcorn and gummy bears (Hell is blockbuster after all) or B) Ask other gamers and well that normally isn’t a good idea.
Other options include the search of another site and that is going to be hard since 1up sucks, IGN just no, Gamespy is a mixed bag and Gamepro well lol.
Now please don't vote me donw into oblivion.
And of course I like how the word "significant" links to NEOGAF. =P
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBD0cUeeEQc
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-Socrates
I leaned that from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.
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Oh and sorry for the "donw" I mean "down”, I need to change this keyboard ASAP.
Now the problem with IGN is that they aren't as reliable as GS was. They might have some good reviews here and there but normally those are reserved for unknown games or games which don't have any hype.
A quick example would be their PSP reviews, those are good because no one really gives a damn about the PSP but if you see their XB360 reviews is a different story.
Also their movie reviews suck, big time.
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Viva la Gerstmann!
This is utter BS.
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At this point I gave up reading their crap.
Everyone knows that site, along with quite a few others, are reviewing games based on advertising budgets.
I come on Ratchet and Clank Future Tools Of Destruction, a 7.5.... PLEASE.. I think even the most biased fanboy can tell it's a 9.something...
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I dunno if that happened for the new r&c, but i've heard of it happening in the past for some things
But the question is, do the reviewers even give a shit about ad space? I mean how much of that money Edios gave Gamespot do you think trickled down to the actual staff of gamespot. Probably not alot. In fact I honestly doubt Jeff got a bigger check because of it.
:)
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Half these journalist would give any company a free pass for nothing more than a free console and some games. Just imagine what you get for a free press junket to Redmond or L.A.
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You do realize that most of these sites only have a couple of consoles that they use only for reviewing, and that if they want to play on their own time they have to buy their own consoles and games.
Also yeah they get swag from game companies, but I highly doubt a Master Chief plush toy is going to influence anyone's review.
But your telling me every single reviewer and writer is above it all?
I think what CNET did was pretty lame, but in the print media, these guys are always skating on the edge, they ALL have a sales department that has to sell ad space and they have people who have to review those companies products...you think they ever talk? do you think a writer or reviewer isn't aware of this? Of course they are.
Translation: C'mon, trust us. You trust us, right? Right?
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Also added to my hosts file /etc/hosts
gamespot.com 127.0.0.1
www.gamespot.com 127.0.0.1
This isnt because Jeff is gone or because Jeff was fired about Kane and Lynch. It's because he was fired period. I was sad to see Greg and Rich go, but they left on their own accord. It's crazy and inexcusable for Gamespot to fire their best personality, who brought with him a huge fanbase. The best I can hope for now is the rest of the top crew (Ryan, Tor, Alex, and Brad) jumps ship as well.
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Eventually it'll be clarified that he was fired for something specific like coming in late constantly, or sexual harassment. But who cares? He was the best personality they had there. I hope every one of his fans cancels their subscription to Gamespot so the company knows exactly what their decision cost them.
Most of my anger is directed towards the bigwigs and corporate bastards of GS and Edios. I understand all of the staff are just doing their jobs and I respect that.
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The problem is more within a compensation structure that has a conflict of interest with the reviewer's job. Fix that, and you'll have honest and accurate reviews.
Of course, fixing that is not that easy...
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