Gamertell

Most things on the Internet, particularly in relation to things which occur in the gaming media, usually amount to huge threads on various message boards that either degrade and/or are derailed within the first ten posts. 

The recent firing of Gamespot Editorial Director Jeff Gerstmann, which is alleged to be because his review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men severely angered the game’s publisher, has shown that, when it wants to, the internet can be a force to be reckoned with. To the point of it actually being newsworthy.

I present to the readers Exhibit A, Gamespot’s user reviews for Kane & Lynch, whose average score has plummeted down to 2.6 since word of the scandal broke out, easily indicated by the differences between the 7-10 scores prior to November 29, 2007, and the flurry of 1.0s that followed afterward.  It eventually got to the point where Gamespot’s site stopped accepting user reviews for the game.

As Exhibit B, somebody hacked into the November 30, 2007, poll on GameFAQs, which has since been returned to its original state.  Please note that I’m referring to the poll choices and not the big Mountain Dew ad above them, which is, amusingly, an actual part of the site.  I’ll admit it took some lurking on NeoGAF (which has since censored out mention of Gamespot, GameFAQs, CNET, Eidos, and a variety of their products for purposes of showing solidarity against the firing) for me to actually confirm this.

And finally, the grand poobah Exhibit C, of which a fuller picture can be seen here .  Eidos’ message boards were swamped with such an onslaught of obscene threads, they had to be closed for “maintainence” in order to remove the offending the items. 

The content therein was supposedly of the absolute lowest caliber.  Even battle-hardened internet posters were rendered weak in its wake, like this NeoGAFer:

WARNING DO NOT GO TO EIDOS FORUMS***

Just waring any of you that don’t know. The forums are under a massive raid right now so unless you want to throw up, gouge your eyes out, be scarred for life, and die. STAY FAR AWAY. Seriously

Dont go ;/ , I was eating and almost [expletive removed] puked at the images .

Granted, e-vandalism is probably no replacement for responsible action and probably not as powerful a message as 1UP writers marching outside Gamestop’s offices to show solidarity for their fellows in the competition or even Destructoid’s new banner.  However, considering I’m talking about the same Internet that was up in arms last year over Jeff Gerstmann’s “controversial” review of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess which was overall positive but gave the game an 8.8 out of 10 (also known as a score less than a 10 out of 10), this puts a smile on my face as they’re doing something that could be considered positive, if only in a destructive, roundabout way.  Besides, it also gives me what us net folk call “the lulz.”

Hell hath no fury like a gamer scorned!  Good job, Internet!

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