Gamertell

Way back when I worked at Gamestop, I noticed that a lot of the new games coming out came with this extra junk that came bundled with the game as an incentive for reserving it. It would range from free in-game items or weapons to a Call of Duty dog tag.

Sometimes it seems like a wasted effort. If you reserved a copy of Harvest Moon for Gamecube, for example, you got a free stuffed cow. That’s cute but the only people who are going to reserve that game are people who wanted to buy that game in the first place. It’s doubtful some newcomer is going to walk into the store and think, “Well, I had absolutely no interest in this game but a free cow? How can I pass it up?!..”

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Do game ratings even matter if kids can get their paws on M-rated games either way? That’s what Cnet writer Don Reisinger contemplates in a recent editorial, and he concludes that the answer is a big fat “No.“ Citing a recent survey that found that 17 percent of Grand Theft Auto IV buyers were under the minimum age, and that a full 80% of the underage buyers had no problem getting their parents to buy it for them, the ratings clearly aren’t doing their intended job.

I think the solution to the whole thing is adequately educating parents so they can (hopefully) make informed decisions about what their kids play. Sites like What They Play, which explains games and breaks down objectionable content in a parent-friendly format - are really the way to go.

Read [Cnet] Also Read [What They Play]

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CNET’s Don Reisinger is sick of the me-too mentality in our industry. In a post titled “Why I’m boycotting first-person shooters,“ Reisinger lays out his annoyance with the “suits” running development studios and the Hollywood mentality dominating the once-creative and quirky world of videogames. is plan of action: boycott FPS titles, since he sees them as the most offensive…

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And the corporate consolidation of media continues - Kotaku is reporting on CBS’ acquisition of CNET networks cache of sites, including gamespot. Apparently, CNET’s board of directors unanimously agreed to the merger, and the transition is slated to occur by the third quarter of this year.

From the post:

“Upon closing, CNET Networks’ sites will be combined with CBS’s stable of dynamic and growing interactive businesses. These include CBS.com, CBSSports.com, CBSCollegeSports.com, MaxPreps.com, CBSNews.com, last.fm, Wallstrip, MobLogic, CBS Radio and CBS Television Stations digital media platforms, and the distribution network of the CBS Audience Network, which is made up of more than 300 partner Web sites and reaches 82% of all online users in the United States.“

As if gamespot hadn’t already had its share of nasty business in the corporate relations department… but business is business, right?

Read [Kotaku]

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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…

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Accusations that one gaming publication or another has been paid off by a developer or publisher have existed for as long as the gaming media itself.  Recently, though, it looks to be a truthful statement at CNET-owned Gamespot. Editorial Director Jeff Gerstmann, who has been with the site for roughly a decade, was recently fired concerning his review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men to which he gave a negative review and a score of 6.0 out of 10, and even more so for the video version of such, which is far more scathing, and no longer available on Gamespot (though can be viewed on YouTube.

Apparently Gerstmann’s review seriously ruffled the feathers of Eidos executives, who had invested heavily in K&L ads on the site, as well as Gamespot’s advertising team, who had reportedly aggressively pushed for the sale of said ads. According to anonymous comments across the Internet by supposed Gamespot employees, he was locked out of his office and told to leave the premises with no prior notice.

The news first broke out via the latest Penny Arcade comic.  According to a post made by an alleged CNET ad team member on Forumopolis, Gerstmann was let go due to “unprofessional reviews and review practices” as that individual puts it.  CNET has since released an official statement on the issue.

GameSpot takes its editorial integrity extremely seriously. 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.

However, responses handed out by people involved with and/or researching the story are singing a different and far less vague tune.

An anonymous commenter who referred to himself as “gamespot” on Valleywag who claims to be a Gamespot employee was fairly sure it was specifically over the K&L review.

I was in the meeting where Josh Larson [Executive Editor replacement for now Electronic Arts employee Greg Kasavin] was trying to explain this firing and the guy had absolutely no response to any of the criticisms we were sending his way. He kept dodging the question, saying that there were “multiple instances of tone” in the reviews that he hadn’t been happy about, but that wasn’t Jeff’s problem since we all vet every review. He also implied that “AAA” titles deserved more attention when they were being reviewed, which sounded to all of us that he was implying that they should get higher scores, especially since those titles are usually more highly advertised on our site.

While, on its own, its accuracy could be questionable, the statement of moderator on Gamespot’s message board in response to the scandal appears to lend credence to that employee’s testimony.

People, don’t direct your anger at Gamespot. This is CNet’s meddling. Gamespot consists just of the editorial, news, community, and development teams. It’s CNet’s marketing that puts the ads up. CNet’s marketing that complained. CNet is who can fire their EIC.

An interesting fact that has been reported since, relating to a change in management at CNET that occurred a month ago.  Since the end of October, Stephen Colvin, the former CEO of Dennis Publishing, which publishes magazines such as Maxim, Blender, and Stuff: publications whose editorial practices are incongruent with those of Gamespot’s up till most recently, as a source reported to 1UP that “New management has no idea how to deal with games editorial.”

My comments will be very short: If this is all confirmed (as if we’ll ever get an official confirmation) then I will say it’s a damned shame that a site that I used to read religiously and what helped inspire me to seek out a gig much like the one I’m currently writing for had to shamelessly sacrifice their credibility.

Read [Kane & Lynch Review]  Also Read [Penny Arcade]  Also Read [GameIndustry.Biz]  Also Read [Valleywag]  Also Read [Game|Life]  Also Read [1UP]  Watch [Gerstmann’s Review on YouTube]

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