Gamertell

On Thursday (January 31, 2008), Gamespot anointed Ricardo Torres as its newest Editor-in-Chief, a position that hasn’t been filled since previous EIC Greg Kasavin left to work at Electronic Arts in January 2007.  Upon taking the job, Torres told GameDaily, in an interview, that he wants to win back the readers who were disgusted with the site after December 2007’s infamous ousting of its Editorial Director, Jeff Gerstmann. Rumors perpetuated that Gerstmann was allegedly fired for giving a negative review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men and drawing the ire of advertiser Eidos and CNet’s management, although CNet contends it was due to unrelated “internal reasons.”

Unfortunately for Torres, his plea doesn’t pack the punch it needs to change any skeptical minds.  The only addressing of the incident was extremely vague, not unlike the above-mentioned press release.

A lack of a direct explanation, even after the controversy has died down a bit, seems to further justify the general consensus among gamers and media professionals - that Gerstmann was purposely lynched because his opinion wasn’t congruent with the ad campaign that Eidos was running on Gamespot, one that Eidos was paying more than just a few pretty pennies for.  Awkwardly-presented damage control won’t make that kind of suspicion go away.

Read [Joystiq]  Also Read [GameDaily]  Also Read [Interview]  Also Read [Gamertell]