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Jeff Gerstmann fired... over a bad review?


BlackKnight

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PA_jeff.jpg

 

As much as I couldn't stand Greg Kasavin, I liked Jeff Gerstmann. If you don't know who he is, he was, until recently, Editor in Chief at Gamespot.com where he had worked for more than 10 years. Now out of the blue he gets fired and the rumour is that its because of the 6/10 scathing he dealt to Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, a game which has had ads plastered all over Gamespot until recently.

 

Update - 7:12 AM EST: Jeff has confirmed his firing to us via e-mail, but says he's "not really able to comment on the specifics of my termination." He added that he's "looking forward to getting back out there

and figuring out what's next." We're still digging.

 

Update - 1:35 AM EST: The Kane and Lynch ads that blanketed Gamespot's front page are no longer being shown. Check out the picture above to see what the site looked at just an hour ago.

 

So before we get going, we should make it clear that this post is still just a rumor and many of the facts behind it are still up in the air. That being said, word around the game journalism's virtual water cooler is that Gamespot Editorial Director Jeff Gerstmann has been fired because publisher Eidos was unhappy about his negative review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men.

Here is the conclusion of his review; the video review is far more scathing, calling it an 'ugly, ugly game' and is conveniently missing from the K&L pages at Gamespot.

 

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men is a premise with promise, and if you've been waiting patiently for a game to really dive into the whole "crew-based heist tale" concept, you might be able to look past some of the story flaws. But when you consider the nearly ridiculous number of extremely high-quality shooters available recently, there's not much room for something like Kane & Lynch, even taking into account the somewhat unique nature of its story. That said, the multiplayer is a smart idea that's worth seeing, even if playing it makes you wish that it was used in another, better game.

Basically this stinks. Whether or not he got fired over this (what else could it have been?) it sucks that Gerstmann is gone. I've been quick to denounce Gamespot's integrity in the past, but I still think they've sunk to a new low now that he's out.

 

Anyone care enough to want to weigh in on this?

 

 

Source: Joystiq... and a bunch of other places. Penny Arcade for the comic. Daily Motion for the review link.

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well, not trying to criticize him or anything but I feel like his reviews are rather harsh or least not giving the game a fair score. Take for example, He reviewed Zelda: Twilight Princess Wii and gave it a 8.9. I mean the heck with that score. I played and beaten Zelda and it's one of the best zelda out there, maybe not as good as OOT but it's definitely up there with MM. And yes, I get the it's "everyone's opinion" but still can't believe he underscored this game to represent gamespot's score. What gamespot, IGN or anyone else should do is have 3 or more people to review one game, kinda like 1up (EGM).

 

So quite frankly I'm not so sure if I should side with him on this one, but I still feel bad a veteran employee would get fired for something like this. Yes it's harsh criticism but it's still his opinion, and he happened to get fired for stating his honest opinion(I hope).

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Basically this stinks. Whether or not he got fired over this (what else could it have been?) it sucks that Gerstmann is gone. I've been quick to denounce Gamespot's integrity in the past, but I still think they've sunk to a new low now that he's out.

 

Anyone care enough to want to weigh in on this?

 

 

I always thought GameSpot to be a reliable site for reviews...Guess Game Revolution is better: better humour, no commercial influence really, simple grading system.... :)

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I think the entire rating system used by most people is crap. An 8.9 for Zelda should be considered PHENOMENAL, not subpar. What's worse is that I've never seen a game rated anything between one and five. Even this six is surprising. I have no doubt that the majority of, if not all, reviewing companies are heavily influenced by producers.

 

On the bright side, most games aren't complete piles of crap. They're usually at least decent average quality games. You tend to know the kinds of games you enjoy, so as long as you stick to those, the reviews fed to you by a corrupt media won't leave you hurting after a bad purchase.

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I think the entire rating system used by most people is crap. An 8.9 for Zelda should be considered PHENOMENAL, not subpar. What's worse is that I've never seen a game rated anything between one and five. Even this six is surprising. I have no doubt that the majority of, if not all, reviewing companies are heavily influenced by producers.

 

On the bright side, most games aren't complete piles of crap. They're usually at least decent average quality games. You tend to know the kinds of games you enjoy, so as long as you stick to those, the reviews fed to you by a corrupt media won't leave you hurting after a bad purchase.

Well said = best post of the thread.

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It seemed like he did it on purpose if you ask me, or he just hates the series (is it??). Then agian, the game did look like crap.

 

Like he gave a bad review on purpose? I should hope so. Kane & Lynch isn't part of a series though so no reason for him to have it in for the franchise or anything like that.

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Gamespot is the site that gave VF5 online an 8.0. Lame.

Compared to SFIIHF, TDR and DOA4, it's a step back in what they could of done compared to those.

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