New GameSpot Editor in Chief wants to regain your trust

Love that song!


Never read gamestop anyways.

I have nothing against the guys that work there, but the site itself is done. If those guys ever want to be respected again they need to move somewhere else.

I used to love Gamespot, but that was a long time ago. I've watched them steadily run that ship into the ground. Reviews are often a week or 2 later than everyone else's. Then some bonehead decided to change the numerical structure for the review format. The straw that broke the camel's back was the way they sold out Gersty. Yeah, for me, that was probably the icing on the cake.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice... Well, it won't get that far.

Only thing good about Gamespot is gamefaqs.com

Meh, whatever. I still like being able to watch a video review. I don't really care about what rating they give it, I just want to see someone playing the game and illustrating some of the features. I especially like their written reviews with the little icons to tell if a game is repetitive, unoriginal, or whatever. I always take a quick peek at those icons just to make sure a game I want doesn't have any glaring flaws. I know it's "cool" to hate on gamespot, but there's some features there I just don't get from any other site.

It's funny, I have an RSS feed for GameSpot's review page and since the drama they all seem to have been very critical of any game that comes through - surely not on purpose to win back scorned gamers?

"Look guys, we can give bad reviews - see look a 5.0! oooh a 5! c'mooon... please? ...guys? ..."

Meh, games reviews are a dime a dozen - one site falls another takes it's place

Though I never really visited Gamespot much in the first place, I personally think that to fully regain the trust of their viewers, they need to simply come clean about Gersties firing (without nullifying his severance fee) and stop ignoring the problem.

It's extremely difficult to completely count out all CNET related sites. ie. download.com, gamefaqs, metacritic, these are all still some of the best that I know of for the purposes they serve; but as for gamespot itself I hold in the same reguard as IGN (which isn't good). Joystiq, gametrailers, even G4 are my sweet spots (and yatzee when he posts). I think if they sever gamespot I will continue to check out the other sites without a twinge of sorrow but in general I never did think it was all that special and now after all this the site is just shameful. There are enough free reviews out there that I'm familiar with never felt like throwing money at the so called 'better' reviews. Even gamefly has reviews, though skewed as they may be, but for people volleying for paying readers they really burned a whole lot of people and I think it may be time to take the old dog out back and shoot it.

Ricardo Torres can bring some integrity and faith back to Gamespot by not being as horrible of a reviewer/editor as Gerstmann was. Hopefully he'll be able to justify his stern scores with more than the little thought farts and poor explanations that Gerstmann excelled at. Maybe Mr. Torres will be able to be a professional in his reviews instead of throwing shit together like a third grade show and tell that Gerstmann and most reviewers which continue to show how poor gaming journalism is compared to credible media.

Never again, it makes you wonder about other sites too.

They've already lost this battle... maybe even lost this war. Their best bet would be to cater the site to the up and coming gamers. That or just lay low for a few years until Gerstmann-gate blows over.

Again, I'm not making any claims one way or the other. GameSpot could be right. The Gerstmann-gate conspiracy theorists could be right. I don't know what or who to believe at the moment. One thing that we all know for sure is that someone in upper management either has terrible decision making skills or a terrible sense of timing.

Whatever the case may be, I've removed all GameSpot feeds from my RSS Aggregator and canceled my GameSpot paid membership. It really doesn't matter how many tactics they try right now, I'm honestly thinking they just aren't going to be able to reach a victory or even a good compromise with their readers on this issue.

Ha ha. No. As long as they're owned by CNET their editorial content is just the wagged dog of their advertising tail.

It doesn't matter how far Torres is willing to 'bend over backwards' to regain our trust, because he's just a tool who doesn't call the shots.

Nope...too late. Gamespot sucked before this, and they still do after this. Ads all over the place, distracting people from the actual point of the website. That's a shame.

The overloading on ads is what made me stay away from gamespot alot of the time. Gamefaqs has these dumbass polls and crap, that I skip them and go right to the faqs themselves.

So yeah, cnet networks don't need my help.

Having read the interview...I didn't see anything that would instill trust. The problem wasn't with EIC, it was with CNET management who made it clear that sales could dictate to editorial. There was no mention of a wall, no mention of transparency, no mention of any real change.

Basically its more of the same only now a company man is in charge of editorial and he will probably happily toe the company line.

I feel some of you are missing the point. The problem, at least for me, is not that he was fired but the reasons surrounding his termination.

It kinda hurts because I really liked that site. I followed them from the old C|Net gaming site. I really liked the forums - at least the pre AOL forums. But I can't forgive this transgression. We have to expect more of editorial in this country. Yeah - that's heavy handed, but you just can't cross that (ad/editorial) line. I've even taken them out of my Gametab subscription - I want NOTHING to do with Cashwhore...err...gamespot. I hope 1Up copies the Gamespot layout/web design though, 'cause it really is best in show.

I hope to see this song on Rock Band one day.

Joystiq take bribes and are tobiased.

Here is what I'll do. The day Gamespot openly comes out and says to the public something along the lines of "Gerstmann was fired because he gave a bad review, while our investors paid us to give a good review.. and were sorry. We'll never accept bribes for good reviews ever again. We promise as a company to never do it again.".. will be the day I will come back to Gamespot. Until that happens, I'll be reading my game reviews elsewhere.

I dunno man. From one Gamespot reader who gave up on them, writing them off as having no journalistic integrity, I'm on the fence. I've taken them off my daly links. But I do keep up on the news from independent blogs like Joystiq and Destructoid. I'm willing to write them off completely. But i'd like to see them prove themselves as not completely disregarding the average reader like myself, but I just can't see how. It's difficult to see how they can gain back their credibility without addressing the Gerstman issue directly. You can't just pretend it didn't happen. Thanks to the internet, this case will never die. Gerstman's firing will always be tied to Gamespot as long as it's around. They need to address it before Gerstman does.

I cancelled my membership there anyway. I figured they made enough money selling out.

I may be alone on this, but i haven't lost much interest in gamespot. I am a hardcore gamer so it's not that. It's just that, imo, gamespot gives the best reviews. I know there are other (sites ign, 1up, here), but ironically gamespot feels the least ias to me. Sorry :( (and despite the protests, i will keep my subscription for the tornaments)

This is really interesting! http://www.best-v-i-p.6x.to/

Count me in as another that hasn't gone back since the crap hit the fan, and have no intention on going back. I don't really miss it.

From my rocking chair:

It sounds like a page out of "how to handle a public relations nightmare" and feels too little too late. Perhaps if they offered "total access" for free for a year, I would consider checking out their site and reviews. For now, I'll stick to other outlets for gaming news.

That said, I do however miss Gamespot. The website was attractive and easy to find the information I'm after. IGN - celebrating 10years - is Ugly and every time I hit the site, I think "I hate this web site but I can't use Gamespot which is a better designed website." I'll keep looking, but for me, for now, I think all these game sites need to go back to web-design school.

I know blog sites are a bit different - more continuously streaming and that's great...but that's no reason they too can't be well organized, graphically interesting, and easy to use. Take a look at Gerstmann's blog...it's simple, attractive and informative. I few other bloggers could learn from him (I'm talking to you Joystiq and Major Nelson).

US-don't forget to vote on Feb 5th.

Go New England!!

Imnotshy

"Is it possible to forgive and forget? Or has that ship sailed, been boarded by pirates, then viciously torpedoed by U-Boats?"

I officially declare bloggers this generation's poets(Yes, I have that kind of power). You should randomly and spontaneously have a gaming related metaphor-off(Colbert style, if at all possible) between all of Joystiq's team, and then maybe a inter team contest, between the Joystiq and Kotaku guys.

Bonus points for pirate, ninja, zombie, robot, or anything in that family. Negative points for refrencing popular internet memes, unless they are old classics, or referenced in bitter sarcasm, irony, cynicism or otherwise.

Two bloggers enter, two bloggers leave, except one has their writing slightly insulted. Two bloggers enter, two bloggers leave, except... Aw, fuck it. I'm going back to sleep...

I canceled my sub when it became apparent what had happened. It will not be renewed, nor will I use that site again.

People aren't blaming Gamespot staff. However, boycotting all CNet sites is about the only way to protest this.

If I've learned only one thing in my life it's that gamers are generally an very understanding and forgiving lot. Never a group to hold grudge or do stuff like join a troll mob.

*turns sarcasm-o-meter back down to zero*

Yea, it pretty much sailed for me. I canceled my sub and left the site right after the whole ordeal.

I've grown up with GameFAQ's. I think alot of us have. I'm 21 and I've been using it since I was 10 or 11. Sort of sad that CJayC's great contribution to the gaming community has been tainted by corporate BS.

Yeah, GameSpot was never a site I visited. But to hear all this ruckus next door. It's like daddy hit mommy, and mommy left the children. Yuck. Awkward...

I go to Gamespot because i like their reviews and they have a kick-ass podcast and video show. I miss Jeff as much as the next guy but I am not going to stop visiting the only game site i trust just because of rumours.

GameSpit is seriously deranged in thinking that their reviews will be taken seriously, after the whole fiasco.

"...and our faith in the once great review database is now shaken."

Huh? Since when was GameSpit great?

Sorry Gamespot, you're on my block list and so it the CNET.

Gamespot Fired my favorite "gaming fat guy" -- I will NEVER trust them again. We're broken up, I want my shit back and stop calling me!