Gamertell

After the internet flooded with comments and a protest held involving the firing of Gamespot Editorial Director Jeff Gerstmann over his review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, Gamespot address the issue last night (December 3, 2007) in a press release. The staff of Gamespot calling Gerstmann’s departure an end of an era:

“Jeff was a central figure in the creation and evolution of GameSpot, having written hundreds of previews and reviews, and anchoring much of our multimedia content,” Ricardo Torres, editorial director of previews and events, said. “The award-winning editorial team he leaves behind wish him nothing but good luck in his future endeavors.”

Of course many supporters of Gerstmann replied to the message agreeing that Gamespot was full of themselves, stating that Gerstmann’s departure will not effect GameSPot in any way.

“Neither CNET Networks nor GameSpot has ever allowed its advertising business to affect its editorial content,” said Greg Brannan, CNET Networks Entertainment’s vice president of programming. “The accusations in the media that it has done so are unsubstantiated and untrue. Jeff’s departure stemmed from internal reasons unrelated to any buyer of advertising on GameSpot.”

To ire the Gerstmann’s readers, the executive producer of GameSpot Live was tasked to respond as well.

“Though he will be missed by his colleagues, Jeff’s leaving does not affect GameSpot’s core mission of delivering the most timely news, video content, in-depth previews, and unbiased reviews in games journalism,” said Ryan MacDonald, executive producer of GameSpot Live. “GameSpot is an institution, and its code of ethics and duty to its users remains unchanged.”

To end the press release GameSpot had to quickly mention that the firing was not due to legal constraints and the company policy of GameSpot parent CNET Networks, details of Gerstmann’s departure cannot be disclosed publicly. However, contrary to widespread and unproven reports, his exit was not a result of pressure from an advertiser.

Read [GameSpot Release]

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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!

Read [Gamespot] Also Read [Kotaku] Also Read [Destructoid]

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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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