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Penny Arcade 11/30/2007 Jeff Gerstmann fired from Gamespot, allegedly for K&L review

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P

Patrickula

Member
RSTEIN said:
Coconut_Monkey.jpg
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Ah the memories... Cheers Gary, golden years indeed!
 
S

Shalashaska

Member
Woo-Fu said:
Doesn't make much sense to fire him over the review due to pressure from the publisher and still leave the review up. Has to be more to it. I suspect it is more likely just the final straw in an ongoing management dispute.

Due to the poor way it was handled, though, everybody will remember the final straw. I just get the image of whoever fired him stepping on the tines of a rake only to realize he was about to get smacked in the face by the handle.
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The video review, which was much more negative was taken down.
 
Z

ZeoVGM

Banned
volmer said:
Shame that he was fired, but that video review of IO's new game was pretty distasteful, bad game or not.
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No, it wasn't.

How was it distasteful in the slightest? Explain yourself.
 
J

JumpJeff84

Member
Hey Mosaic-

Did Jeff get along well with all the other Gamespot editors? Judging from the Hotspot, everyone really played off each other well, to the point where it seemed like a real group of friends. Is that pretty accurate?
 
F

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Well, if you watch Aaron Thomas' videos on the GameSpot staff, Alex and Ryan were friends of Jeff from before GS and were actually hired by him. I imagine it was a pretty tight group.
 
V

Vyse The Legend

Member
Whoompthereitis said:
Hey Mosaic-

Did Jeff get along well with all the other Gamespot editors? Judging from the Hotspot, everyone really played off each other well, to the point where it seemed like a real group of friends. Is that pretty accurate?
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Considering TimT resigned because of Jeff's termination, I'd say they are a close-knit group. I imagine more people would too, but people have bills to pay, so it's not that easy.
 
B

bishoptl

Banstick Emeritus
volmer said:
Shame that he was fired, but that video review of IO's new game was pretty distasteful, bad game or not.
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How so? I've finished the game, and all of the issues he named, I agree with. He wasn't overly vicious, backed up his points well, and made mention of aspects of the game he did like.

As someone who has also had games slammed in the press, this was pretty benign.
 
G

Gary Whitta

Member
bishoptl said:
How so? I've finished the game, and all of the issues he named, I agree with. He wasn't overly vicious, backed up his points well, and made mention of aspects of the game he did like.

As someone who has also had games slammed in the press, this was pretty benign.
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Totally agree. I don't get where this hate is coming from, at all.
 
F

fallout

Member
bishoptl said:
How so? I've finished the game, and all of the issues he named, I agree with. He wasn't overly vicious, backed up his points well, and made mention of aspects of the game he did like.

As someone who has also had games slammed in the press, this was pretty benign.
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Bleh. I bet he could have said all that, given the game an 8.0 and nobody at Eidos would have batted an eyelid.
 
X

Xater

Member
Gary Whitta said:
Totally agree. I don't get where this hate is coming from, at all.
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Maybe some Zelda fans still can't fathom the 8.8? :lol

I always liked Jeff. I think he is funny and I always thought that he gives the games a fair shot. I might not agree with him in everything but that is nothing that would make me dislike him as a person.
 
J

Jenga

Banned
fallout said:
Bleh. I bet he could have said all that, given the game an 8.0 and nobody at Eidos would have batted an eyelid.
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Nobody looks at game reviews, just the score. Well, that's the impression the internet gives me but whatever
 
F

firehawk12

Subete no aware
I don't know if this was brought up, but the guys on Buzz Out Loud did address the issue but they were apparently told by their Editor in Chief not to talk about the issue.
 
V

Vyse The Legend

Member
Xater said:
Maybe some Zelda fans still can't fathom the 8.8? :lol

I always liked Jeff. I think he is funny and I always thought that he gives the games a fair shot. I might not agree with him in everything but that is nothing that would make me dislike him as a person.
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That's pretty much my take on Jeff. I sometimes didn't agree with his reviews, but he's hilarious. I used to listen to the Hotspot for him and Rich, the dynamic duo.

Btw, hi Rich! I know you are lurking out there.
 
E

El-Suave

Member
Whoompthereitis said:
Hey Mosaic-

Did Jeff get along well with all the other Gamespot editors? Judging from the Hotspot, everyone really played off each other well, to the point where it seemed like a real group of friends. Is that pretty accurate?
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I've been a member of Gamespot for ages (quit a while ago because they lost too many good editors) and I'm under the impression Jeff knew a lot of members of the editorial staff privately and was friends with them before he hired them. Makes their situation all the more complicated.

The only way they can remotely salvage this situation is to offer lots of money to Greg Kasavin to bring him back for editorial integrity. And also bring Rich Gallup back as a well liked personality on the site.
 
X

Xater

Member
Vyse The Legend said:
That's pretty much my take on Jeff. I sometimes didn't agree with his reviews, but he's hilarious. I used to listen to the Hotspot for him and Rich, the dynamic duo.

Btw, hi Rich! I know you are lurking out there.
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Yeah the Hotspot stuff was awesome. Well we will never have that again and either way we boycott GS now.
 
J

jonabbey

Member
Xater said:
Yeah the Hotspot stuff was awesome. Well we will never have that again and either way we boycott GS now.
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So was watching Rich G. hosting their video feeds / interpretations from Tokyo when a new console came out, etc. Good times.
 
S

Splash Wave

Member
So I just watched the video review and it was pretty harsh (in an entertaining way). Not that I've even played the game, but it almost seemed like a response to pressure to give it a positive score? I haven't read much of the thread, so my idea is probably very fresh, but it's just what I was thinking when watching it.
 
A

ant1532

Banned
jonabbey said:
So was watching Rich G. hosting their video feeds / interpretations from Tokyo when a new console came out, etc. Good times.
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:lol

Fuck man, those were so funny. Rich was fucking hilarious. Even though it seemed like Jeff and Ryan were the closest of friends it seemed like Rich and Jeff had the most similar humor.
 
H

HylianScribe

Member
Xater said:
Maybe some Zelda fans still can't fathom the 8.8? :lol

I always liked Jeff. I think he is funny and I always thought that he gives the games a fair shot. I might not agree with him in everything but that is nothing that would make me dislike him as a person.
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Only the ignorant moron Zelda fans bitched about the 8.8. The point where he dug a hole for himself is whe he wrote that crap "defense" editorial piece explaining why the Zelda series has sucked, in a nutshell, since Ocarina of Time. Dumbest thing you can do as a journalist is pick a fight with the fanbase.
 
S

Splash Wave

Member
Jimmy Stav said:
So I just watched the video review and it was pretty harsh (in an entertaining way). Not that I've even played the game, but it almost seemed like a response to pressure to give it a positive score? I haven't read much of the thread, so my idea is probably very fresh, but it's just what I was thinking when watching it.
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EDIT: and whatever happened to Rich Gallup?
 
H

hellclerk

Everything is tsundere to me
TSA said:
Only the ignorant moron Zelda fans bitched about the 8.8. The point where he dug a hole for himself is whe he wrote that crap "defense" editorial piece explaining why the Zelda series has sucked, in a nutshell, since Ocarina of Time. Dumbest thing you can do as a journalist is pick a fight with the fanbase.
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well him doing that didn't exactly help his credibility. it showed he was going into it with a bias, not something you want.

either way, i would be interested in seeing where he ends up next.
 
P

probune

Member
Vyse The Legend said:
Considering TimT resigned because of Jeff's termination, I'd say they are a close-knit group. I imagine more people would too, but people have bills to pay, so it's not that easy.
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He didn't.
 
Petrae

Petrae

Member
The "Stick of Joy" just amended its story regarding CNET's statement with added details from a spokesperson:

We just got off the phone with Sarah Cain, a CNET spokesperson who wanted to amend CNET's previous statement to ******* on the recent firing of executive editor Jeff Gerstmann. While reiterating that CNET does not discuss personal employee matters with the press, Cain said directly that "we do not terminate employees based on external pressure from advertisers." When asked specifically about whether any such pressure was even attempted on Eidos' part, Cain had no comment. We're still waiting for a response to multiple e-mail requests for comment by Eidos PR.

While we had Cain on the line, we also asked her about the odd disappearance of Gerstmann's video review of the game from the Gamespot site. She responded by pointing out a note at the bottom of the still-running text review for the game, which states that "this review has been updated to include differences between the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions and a clarification on the game's multiplayer mode."

When pressed for clarification, Cain said that this note applied to the video review as well. "At the bottom of the post of the [text] review we made a note that we have updated the review, and we made those decisions based on our own editorial standards," she said. "It was our decision to take down the [video] review." Given this justification, we can't help but wonder why Gamespot couldn't just edit the video review, as they did the text version. Why remove the entire thing if the problem was really just a "clarification?" When asked just that question, Cain reiterated her initial statement.
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D

dr3upmushroom

Banned
bishoptl said:
How so? I've finished the game, and all of the issues he named, I agree with. He wasn't overly vicious, backed up his points well, and made mention of aspects of the game he did like.

As someone who has also had games slammed in the press, this was pretty benign.
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Not to mention he gave Freedom Fighters a high score when that came out, so he must have been disappointed by the game as well.
 
A

ant1532

Banned
Jimmy Stav said:
EDIT: and whatever happened to Rich Gallup?
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You can see his farewell episode from On The Spot here. Just go to the end of the video where they have the montage and every talks about how they will miss him and all.

I'm pretty sure the end the camera is off focus because Rich didn't want it on him since you hear him say "thanks guys" and it sounds like he is cryin. Understandable since he had some real good times there and made a lot of friends and then make him watch all that and have everyone say buy and how they'll miss him.
 
O

Opus Angelorum

Member
...and we made those decisions based on our own editorial standards.
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Bullshit.

The Video Review has always been of the 'short review' style, in that it touches on the main points of the written review.

The addition to the review text is minimal to say the least, there would have been no need to amend the video.
 
A

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
Opus Angelorum said:
Bullshit.

The Video Review has always been of the 'short review' style, in that it touches on the main points of the written review.

The addition to the review text is minimal to say the least, there would have been no need to amend the video.
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Yeah, that whole exchange reads like . . . well, like how you'd expect it to read.
 
N

nightowl

Member
Man that latest "statement" from CNet is rich. It is exactly situations like this when you *HAVE NO GOOD ANSWERS TO HARD QUESTIONS* that various spokespeople, lawyers, and politicians will deliver a statement without taking questions afterward. It sucks, but it is precisely so they dont' step into potholes like this person did when she was asked some obvious follow-up questions.

I can't begin to imagine the madhouse scramble that is going on over there that they can't manage PR for their own fiasco well enough to not make things worse.

On a secondary note, how distasteful a job must it be to be a "spokesperson" where you have to realize your entire job is to obsfugate and spin things. That would depress the hell out of me if that was my "life's work".
 
Tieno

Tieno

Member
Opus Angelorum said:
Bullshit.

The Video Review has always been of the 'short review' style, in that it touches on the main points of the written review.

The addition to the review text is minimal to say the least, there would have been no need to amend the video.
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Yeah, thinking the same thing. That PR doesn't sound very believable.
 
K

Kintaro

Worships the porcelain goddess
Ugh, ok, back from a bit of work. UPS Deliveries + Hills = Oh god my legs.

Anyways, I'll just say this and prepare the blast shielding just in case.

This situation, I guess, really brings out what John Davidson meant when he wanted to make an "agenda free" site. There are agendas on both sides of this gaming journalism thing. You really can't have the good without taking the bad. You can't have companies sending you expensive swag/ads/whatever in attempt to woo you over their game one moment and expect not to get some backlash over reviews or whatever sooner or later (from the pubs or even your readers). You can't have them give out free trips to go wherever to see a game, and not expect them to be over your shoulder to see what you write about it. You can't have your cake and eat it too I guess. Nothing is truly free.

I believe, one way or another, we all saw something like this coming. Someone, somewhere, some site was going to bare the brunt of a publisher over something, and someone was going to lose their job over it. I believe we just didn't want to think it could actually happen.

If Eidos wanted Jeff fired: Fuck them
If CNET thought the best course of action to soothe Eidos was to fire Jeff: Fuck them
If all of this is unrelated to each other and this happened for some other reason: Well, it's still pretty shitty.

Personally, I'm not going to pretend that I don't attempt to see all sides of events. If I put myself out as being too much of a devil's advocate, oh well. I apologize. Right now, the story is still fresh, people are angry, it's heated, facts are up in the air and timing was probably off.

As for Jeff, it sucks he lost his job because of what looks like some bullshit. I've gotten fired over some bullshit. Most of us probably have. It sucks. The positive thing to this is, even if he can't talk about it, he will have some money in his pocket and the ability to find a new place of employment. This story just made him a highlight in the industry, even if for the past 11 years, this forum called him names, insulted his weight and worse. A lot of this feels like that it's not even an outrage that it happened to Jeff, but just that it happened at all. So...yeah. Best of luck to you Jeff. GAF apologizes for all the fat jokes.

The bigger issue here is, gamers may never look at sites the same again. Not only Gamespot/CNET (of course), but all of them. Gamers will be keeping a very close eye on what editors say on their sites and what they see advertised now. Like, for example, Penny Arcade. Do they really like Soul Calibur Legends...(as the game is advertised on their site)? Gamers will also be keeping a close on what kind of little bribes they pick up on. Any unpacking of future $800 bags of swag should probably be kept off camera for awhile.

There are only TWO definite truths in this industry right now.

1) WTF Gary Whitta was EIC of PC Gamer during those awesome years?! Holy shit! /bow
2) 97.5 The Brodeo >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> *
 
N

nightowl

Member
Ecchi-Time7 said:
His video review was pretty good IMO, so I don't see why they fire him, its not his fault the game was crappy.
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HA! Good point, its not like he MADE the game. THAT might actually be a firing offense. :)
 
E

EnjoyIncubus

Member
ItsInMyVeins said:
No comment from GS or CNET yet, huh?
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They have, it's just the same bullshit you hear from every PR response.

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.
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