Double Fusion's President and CEO announced Larson's hiring along with several others, saying that the new folks share a love of games and a "history of strong results and success in their prior roles." Larson's previous role was to manage business strategy and product direction at GameSpot.com. He's been dubbed the point man in the firing of Jeff Gerstmann and the exodus which followed, leaving GameSpot an editorially tarnished brand. If "success" is determined through money and not reputation, then it's probably being used to describe Larson's small roll in CNET's purchase by CBS for $1.8 billion earlier this year.
Gerstmann-gate 'villain' leaves CNET for advertising company
Double Fusion's President and CEO announced Larson's hiring along with several others, saying that the new folks share a love of games and a "history of strong results and success in their prior roles." Larson's previous role was to manage business strategy and product direction at GameSpot.com. He's been dubbed the point man in the firing of Jeff Gerstmann and the exodus which followed, leaving GameSpot an editorially tarnished brand. If "success" is determined through money and not reputation, then it's probably being used to describe Larson's small roll in CNET's purchase by CBS for $1.8 billion earlier this year.
C-list celebrities + Gamespot party = Awkward
PS: Thanks again to the 300+ people who attended -- or used astral projection to attend in spirit -- our Joystiq E3 meet-up. Watching something like this makes us appreciate you all even more.
Continue reading C-list celebrities + Gamespot party = Awkward
Ryan Davis talks up Giant Bomb's explosive re-launch
We talked to Giant Bomb co-founder Ryan Davis about his thoughts on the new site and his departure from Gamespot, and game journalism in general. Some excerpts from our conversation (be sure to click the "Continue" link for the full interview):
On Gerstmann-gate and the state of game journalism
"Obviously we still have lots of friends and a ton of history there [at CNET], but we're so focused on the good stuff we're doing now. ... [Gerstmann-gate] certainly helped get our names in people's mouths in certain circles. ... Before [Gerstmann-gate] even happened, I felt like people needed to be more skeptical about what they read, with the massive influx of news-blogs giving little distinction between rumor and fact.
"We're not in the business of reporting news, but as far as the review process goes, we're being very open about a review being that person's perspective. We don't use fancy math to come to our reviews, we just go with what the reviewer feels the game merits. I think when a review has to represent an entire organization's perspective on a game, that's where you can run into trouble. Also, for what it's worth, I've never considered myself a 'game journalist.' I think they exist, but I'm a reviewer and a commentator more than anything."
Continue reading Ryan Davis talks up Giant Bomb's explosive re-launch
Today in Joystiq: June 17, 2008
Joystiquery
A week with Spore Creature Creator: Day One
BigDownload offering big prizes to see your Spore creatures
Joyswag: Win a Kojima-signed copy of MGS4
Meet the Team: Kevin Kelly
Podcast Rodeo for June 17: ... And Ear Back
The best of WoW Insider: June 10-17, 2008
News
Championship Gaming Series coming to G4
Wii Move to do "something" with the Wii Balance Board
Team Fortress 2 Pyro update coming Thursday
EA extends Take-Two offer to July 18
Crytek shows interest in PSP development
Underworld's Len Wiseman set to helm Gears of War movie
MGS4 sells 476K units first week in Japan; UK PS3 sales impact 'minimal'
Spore Creature Creator demo available now on PC and Mac
Nintendo promises 'core' gamers will be happy with E3 showing
All Tecmo employees sue Tecmo
Sega: leaked 'Crucible' video not our Silicon Knights game
Marathon 2 map pack thrown up on Wednesday
First Call of Duty: World at War trailer to roll onto XBL
Reminder: Preorder Hail to the Chimp, get $10 of Onion Store credit
Stardock launches Impulse digital distribution system
Boom Blox sales: EA content, analysts less upbeat
PS3 2.40 update includes in-game XMB, trophies
Sims Carnival is now in open beta
Force your older Mac to evolve and run Spore Creatore Creator
Screamshots: Dead Space
PS3 firmware v2.36 available now
Rumors & Speculation
Rumor: Heavenly Sword 2 cancelled; Ninja Theory 'bitter' with Sony
Culture & Community
Bodysurf: Where the Wii Balance Board meets Audiosurf
Boom, headshot! Meet the Team Fortress 2 Sniper
Gamespot compares 360, PS3 graphics; calls it a tie
Though they ultimately rule that the Xbox 360 still slightly wins out in the overall, the difference is negligible enough that they're willing to call it a tie. The 360 rocks the boat in high-res textures and texture mapping, but the PS3 conquers in shadowing and anti-aliasing (whatever all that means).
CBS to buy GameSpot, rest of CNet for $1.8b
Vinny Caravella leaving Gamespot
Again, we have no idea what pastures Caravella is moving on to or what made them seem so much greener. We are, however, continuing to use the above picture. Why? Well, in all honesty, we still think it's funny, and also, it took us a while to make and we don't know if we'll get to use it again. ... Wow, that's a horrifying look into our decision making process isn't it? Sorry about that.
Gamespot: Brief 9.5 for GTA IV was a 'bug'
Given the flood of perfect review scores for Grand Theft Auto IV, observant gamers were justifiably surprised when a score of 9.5/10 briefly appeared on Gamespot.com Monday. That surprise turned to confusion in some quarters when the score (which had no accompanying review) was quickly taken down and later replaced with the fifth 10/10 in Gamespot's history (complete with corresponding review text). Message boards and some blogs jumped at the change, throwing around charges of "review fixing" and alluding to Gamespot's recent Gerstmann-related credibility problems.
Don't go running for your pitchforks and torches just yet, though. According to a forum post by Gamespot's Aaron Thomas, the briefly displayed 9.5 was just a pre-production glitch and never an official review score. "We never posted a review with the score of 9.5," Thomas writes. "What you saw was a bug that sometimes causes scores to appear on the site before reviews go live. Sometimes that score is correct, sometimes it isn't. In this case, it wasn't." Nothing to see here, folks. Move it along. Save your indignation for the thugs trying to push Niko around.
(full disclosure: I write a weekly column on the game media for Gamespot)
Gamespot Exodus: Say 'adios' to Brad Shoemaker
The list of departures from the site is getting long enough that we'll soon have to set it to the tune of the "William Tell Overture" to remember it all. But for right now it's at Jason Ocampo, Ryan Davis, Alex Navarro, Frank Provo and, of course, Jeff Gerstmann himself. Just so we know, is this officially "fiasco" level yet? Are we at Code Fiasco?
[Thanks, Robert]
Gerstmann's next thing: Giant Bomb
This week, Gerstmann takes you behind the scenes on an exclusive, backstage tour of the new Giant Bomb offices. Who knew a start-up could be this glamorous?
Jason Ocampo leaves Gamespot for IGN
Although Ocampo's leaving supposedly had nothing to do with Gerstmann-gate, the loss of almost every "known" person at Gamespot in such a short time is ... awkward. On the plus side, now there's hardly anyone remaining at Gamespot who'd be worth noting if they left. Yay, the epic is almost over and we can march forward (Ocam-ocam-ocam-po).
The exodus continues: Jason Ocampo leaving Gamespot
Ocampo said that he hadn't been considering a move three weeks ago, which would seem to rule any Gerstmann-gate connections out. That said, we'd be willing to bet that having so many of his co-workers jump ship didn't make the decision any harder.
Ryan Davis talks Gerstmann, Gamespot departure
It's fair to say that the controversial firing of Jeff Gerstmann was a contributing factor to Ryan Davis' recent decision to leave Gamespot. But it was far from the only factor."Jeff's firing just destroyed me, and I think it shed a light on the other stuff that I had been kind of rolling along with," Davis told Joystiq in an exclusive interview.
For Davis, who had worked for the popular site since 2000, the daily grind of working at such a large site was beginning to take its toll. "It's just that I had been at the job for a long time, and a lot of the stuff that made the job fun for me has dissipated," he said. "Sometimes you don't love the job, but you make your way through it by focusing on the good stuff. Gamespot is also a huge site, and an organization of that magnitude comes with a fair amount of bureaucracy, and everyone ultimately ends up spending a fair amount of time doing stuff other than producing the content."
Continue reading Ryan Davis talks Gerstmann, Gamespot departure
Gamespot exodus continues: Ryan Davis to leave
Update: Davis discusses his departure with Joystiq.Joystiq has confirmed with new Gamespot editor-in-chief Ricardo Torres that longtime staffer Ryan Davis has given notice that he intends to leave the site. While we haven't been able to get in touch with Davis directly, a source close to Davis inside Gamespot told us, on condition of anonymity, that the controversial firing of editorial director Jeff Gerstmann was the catalyst behind the decision. The planned departure follows similar decisions by freelancer Frank Provo and staffer Alex Navarro in the wake of the scandal.
In a Dec. 1 blog post, Davis spoke of his close relationship with Gerstmann since before he started writing for Gamespot in 2000. "Jeff Gerstmann has been a significant figure in both my personal and professional life for a long, long time," he wrote. "By my recollection, we were fairly fast friends, though I was also kind of pushy about it." The pair played together as part of alternative rap group Suburban All-Stars.
New GameSpot Editor in Chief wants to regain your trust
We know that a lot of you harbor resentment towards GameSpot in the wake of the whole Gerstmann-gate affair, and we can't blame you. We've all got hefty, Gerstmann-shaped holes in our hearts, and our faith in the once great review database is now shaken. However, Ricardo Torres, GameSpot's recently appointed Editor in Chief, is determined to regain your trust in the site, regardless of how many stern 7.5s he'll have to hand out in order to do so.
In a recent interview with GameDaily,Torres claims that GameSpot staffers are coming back to work (those who haven't resigned), and that "people are getting back into the swing of things." He also hopes that their strengthened dedication to putting out untainted content will win back their original readers. What do you think, gang? Is it possible to forgive and forget? Or has that ship sailed, been boarded by pirates, then viciously torpedoed by U-Boats?




























