Gamespot fires EIC Jeff Gerstmann for low game score

[Reality]

From Kotaku:

We've heard an unsettling rumor today from an anonymous tipster that longtime game reviewer Jeff Gerstmann from Gamespot has been let go. That wouldn't necessarily be newsworthy, but the conditions under which he was allegedly dismissed were. According to the source, Gerstmann was fired "on the spot" due to advertiser pressure for his review of Eidos' Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. A visit to Gamespot shows that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game has taken over the site very prominently, with backgrounds and multiple banner ads all pitching Kane & Lynch. Allegedly, publisher Eidos "took issue with the review and threatened to pull its ad campaign."

He gave the game a 6.0/10.0, and the review has been hidden from the main page, you actually have to search manually for it to read it.

This guy has been the main writer for that site for around 7-8 years, if not longer. I'm sure he'll get a job instantly at IGN or another comparable gaming site, but it's still quite hilarious how much involved money is in terms of reviews of games and movies on websites. Half the shit you read in terms of ratings and scores is heavily influenced by how much money these websites are given by companies that in turn would be getting free hype to their game.

I used to go to gamespot for my primary source of gaming reviews, as they were one of the few who didn't throw around 85% and higher scores for the hell of it. Fuck this site now, though.

(Yes, I'm aware Eidos paid CNet (owner of Gamespot) to put their banners and ads of the game, all over gamespot.com, and as such isn't at Gamespots discretion to fire the Ed-in-Chief, but rather CNet's instead)

[Exoduso]

He should've been fired after his bash (and low scoring..) on Twilight Princess.

With that said, he'll probably join IGN now heh.

[Slapper]

He gave Twilight Princess a bad score? What a fag.

[Exoduso]

removed

[Reality]

8.8 is terrible.

[thestalkmore]

game wasn't worth more than an 8.8

[archibaldcrane]

game wasn't worth more than an 8.8

[Rotsu]

Twilight Princess is the worst zelda iv played since OoT, i hated Nintendo for it because it was nothing more than an overlong clone of Ocarina of Time. And wow, never thought that something like this would come from gamespot.

[Zetah]

It's not just TP that was rated low though, it seems like all the good Nintendo games are rated much lower than they deserve to be (not that I think TP is the epitome of awesomeness, it gets a 9 at best from me, but that's completely besides the point). Honestly, it was a shocker that Super Mario Galaxy even got a 9.5 in the first place -- you'd expect the reviewer to give it a 8.9 or something. I mean, afterall, that's the score that was given to Super Smash Bros. Melee.

So, here's to hoping they hire somebody much less critical towards the Big N.

Not that I give a shit about Gamespot anyway, though.

[Charismatic]

I don't see why people get mad at folks for reviewing certain Nintendo games with lower scores than other sites.
Most Nintendo games are rehashes with one or two small things thrown in.

That's not 9+ material in my book.
8.8 was a decent score for TP, it's higher than I would have scored it.

[BRP]

Spoiler: Every game is a rehash.

Gamespot is shit anyway. I'm hoping this opens some eyes and people stop caring about these phony #.# scores. Likely, no luck.

[SephYuyX]

He gives Tony Hawk games a score of 10 lol, that alone should get you fired.

[Cephius]

Twilight Princess is the worst zelda iv played since OoT, i hated Nintendo for it because it was nothing more than an overlong clone of Ocarina of Time. And wow, never thought that something like this would come from gamespot.

Newsflash : OoT was by many accounts one of the best video games ever made, what people wanted WAS a game that played similar yet had a different storyline. That's exactly what we got. Also, what fucking game isnt a clone of another game? UGH CALL OF DUTY 4 SUCKS I MEAN ITS JUST LIKE THE CALL OF DUTY 2 EXCEPT WITH MODERN WEAPONS. Taking ideas and playstyles from a previous game isn't always a bad thing.

On topic: Does anyone really trust game reviews from the big sites anymore? I trust friends' opinions and those of random blogs 1000x more than anyone from IGN/Gamespot/whatever

[kuronosan]

TP was far too easy; an 8.8 is pretty generous.

[Kaisha]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/11/29

Good ol' Penny-Arcade for being there when we need some laughter.


Regardless, I'm a bit miffed now, GameSpot is lost a fair amount of their 'good' (I use the term relatively, as I only agree with them 90% of the time, which is more than any other site for me) reviewers this year......I'm going to enjoy the inevitable backlash this'll cause to the site though.

[Cephius]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/11/29

Good ol' Penny-Arcade for being there when we need some laughter.

Haha, yeah just saw this. PA=win

If you follow the Penny Arcade News and stuff, a few days ago Gabe wrote an article basically listing the reasons why gamers should give Assassin's Creed a chance in light of the 7.0s the game was given. A couple days later, IGN releases a podcast of the AC reviewer QQ'ing about what Gabe said and how he should "leave reviewers alone". Hilarious for a number of reasons including the fact that Gabe wasn't even referring to IGN's review (he was talking about 1UP's) it just goes to show you what a joke these big sites are.

[Artful Dodger]

Twilight Princess is the worst zelda iv played since OoT, i hated Nintendo for it because it was nothing more than an overlong clone of Ocarina of Time. And wow, never thought that something like this would come from gamespot.

Newsflash : OoT was by many accounts one of the best video games ever made, what people wanted WAS a game that played similar yet had a different storyline.

yea but when you need 3 pieces of a "magic mirror" to enter a "dark world" and you fight an "evil sorcerer" before ganon and you have to restore the lake by unfreezing the zora yet again, thats far from different

i usually prefer gamespot cause they tend to be tougher on games, or at least not afraid to say a game sucks , but both them and ign have lost a lot i think

[Marcicus]

Am I the only one who read this as Gamestop fires EIC Jeff Gerstmann at first? >_>

[Koyuki]

Twilight Princess is the worst zelda iv played since OoT, i hated Nintendo for it because it was nothing more than an overlong clone of Ocarina of Time. And wow, never thought that something like this would come from gamespot.

Newsflash : OoT was by many accounts one of the best video games ever made, what people wanted WAS a game that played similar yet had a different storyline. That's exactly what we got. Also, what fucking game isnt a clone of another game? UGH CALL OF DUTY 4 SUCKS I MEAN ITS JUST LIKE THE CALL OF DUTY 2 EXCEPT WITH MODERN WEAPONS. Taking ideas and playstyles from a previous game isn't always a bad thing.

On topic: Does anyone really trust game reviews from the big sites anymore? I trust friends' opinions and those of random blogs 1000x more than anyone from IGN/Gamespot/whatever

Could you possibly suck Nintendos cock more?

[Isiolia]

If you look at the actual scoring systems though, even a 7.0 or something is not bad. It's usually "Good".

Quibbling over .2 on a final score is past the point of it.

Ratings systems in general cater to the short attention span of the internet generation. Actually reading the review, assuming it's actually a review and not a few paragraphs of sarcasm, tends to illuminate more. The old CGW, for one, wouldn't assign numerical reviews for the longest time. Their new incarnation, GFW, does...but it was a concession as I understand it.