koolcat

As long as you advertise and promote a game that you are supposed to be objectively reviewing, there is always going to be doubt as to the authenticity of the review.

Even if he was fired for tone and poor content, Gamespot management should have know the backlash that would have come from abruptly firing someone when a poor review surfaces on a heavily advertised game. They should have handled it better and possibly waited to fire him when the timing was more appropriate. Now there is irreparable damage done to Gamespot and really all similar gaming sites that are high end enough to warrant big name advertising.

What can Gamespot do? Abolish advertising of games that they are critiquing. Find an alternative source for advertisement. If that is not possible or lucrative enough to pay the bills, their integrity will always come into question.

CNET review policy to all reviewers:
To stay more in line with our advertisers we are asking all reviewers to apply a "professional" filter to all their reviews.

If we are advertising a game you are reviewing, you must not score the game below an '8.5'. Here are some guidelines to follow:

If you find the game is excellent, please mention the publisher and developer at least 10 times in the review. Mention how much you enjoy playing other games from that company and how much you look forward to upcoming titles from them. A nod to how great their city is last time you "visited" can go a long way towards future advertising contracts (and maybe something extra in your paycheck). Please use this formula for review score:

score = real score * 1.5


If you found the game middle of the road, accentuate only the positives. If you must point out a negative, make sure it is something trivial like the hero's biceps were just a bit too chiseled. If you come across an obvious glitch for instance a framerate slowdown, explain how it was a much needed slowdown so you could keep up with the high intense, fast action. Please use this formula for review score:

score = real score * 2

If you found the game subpar, well you have your work cut out for you. Most peer sites would probably have similar scores so your high score must appear legitimate. Point out that you found "secret" areas in the game that most reviewers probably missed. These areas had outstanding content and gameplay that surpassed even the high standards already in this game. If questioned on how to find these areas either don't respond or claim you forgot but it seemed pretty obvious at the time. It is acceptable to attack the integrity of the other reviewers to appear as if they are unable and inept at reviewing. It is NEVER acceptable to attack the developer or publisher of game. Even if this was a rushed game with the intent of making a holiday buck, it was paid advertisement on our site and it shall be treated as such. Please use this formula for review score:

score = real score * 4

If the new score exceeds our perfect score of 10, please assign the game a score of 10 and explain how if you could you would have given that score. for example:

3(score) * 4(adjustment) = 12 (adjusted score).

"This game was truly a marvelous wonder. If it was possible I would have given this game not an 11 but a 12. Considering we can't score that high, I leave it with just a lowly 10 and highly, highly, highly recommend you purchase this game and possibly 2 or 3 others from this publisher."

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