-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Penny Arcade 11/30/2007 Jeff Gerstmann fired from Gamespot, allegedly for K&L review
- Thread starter mosaic
- Start date
- Status
Link648099
Banned
YOU TUBE ITkay said:
Grimm Fandango
Member
So GameSpot = moneyhats? I thought we all knew this...
Wow. Right now I am so fucking grateful I got the hell out of the games journalism racket. This is a complete disgrace.
I never interacted with Gerstmann back in my Gamespot / Videogames.com days, but he sure as hell knew his stuff, and he gave the site some much needed personality (seriously, GS would have to be one of the driest gaming sites on the planet since its inception).
I don't know what any of us can "do" besides unsubscribe from all GS podcasts, memberships etc and refuse to load any of those sites ever again. A GAF ban would be most appreciated. Since this decision was made by people (on both sides) who care about page counts and marketing more than written words, integrity or game quality, this is the only way we can show our diapproval.
Heh, I remember the day long ago when Sega Ozisoft called the place I wrote for and demanded I be fired because I called them all incompetent. Thankfully my boss had balls and laughed his head off as he hung up on them. Man, I even got blacklisted by Sony for a while...hell I'm sure I pissed off loads of publishers back in the day. I'm sure we all did. But back in the day games journalism was worth a damn and publishers knew their place.
Good luck to Gerstmann. I know all too well how it feels to be an unemployed games journalist. It's like being an ice sculpter in the Sahara desert. Nobody's hiring, and your skills are pretty much worthless in the real world.
I never interacted with Gerstmann back in my Gamespot / Videogames.com days, but he sure as hell knew his stuff, and he gave the site some much needed personality (seriously, GS would have to be one of the driest gaming sites on the planet since its inception).
I don't know what any of us can "do" besides unsubscribe from all GS podcasts, memberships etc and refuse to load any of those sites ever again. A GAF ban would be most appreciated. Since this decision was made by people (on both sides) who care about page counts and marketing more than written words, integrity or game quality, this is the only way we can show our diapproval.
Heh, I remember the day long ago when Sega Ozisoft called the place I wrote for and demanded I be fired because I called them all incompetent. Thankfully my boss had balls and laughed his head off as he hung up on them. Man, I even got blacklisted by Sony for a while...hell I'm sure I pissed off loads of publishers back in the day. I'm sure we all did. But back in the day games journalism was worth a damn and publishers knew their place.
Good luck to Gerstmann. I know all too well how it feels to be an unemployed games journalist. It's like being an ice sculpter in the Sahara desert. Nobody's hiring, and your skills are pretty much worthless in the real world.
time to pack it in and become a designer?
Can we please stop talking about Assassin's Creed/Penny Arcade? Aren't there other topics for that sort of thing?
EDIT: Oh yeah and on topic and stuff, this is nuts that they would do something so incredibly stupid. "games journalism" seems to be crumbling away more and more every day.
EDIT: Oh yeah and on topic and stuff, this is nuts that they would do something so incredibly stupid. "games journalism" seems to be crumbling away more and more every day.
At this point, all we know is that Gerstmann no longer works at Gamespot, and that prior to his departure, he wrote a not-so-glowing review of K&L, a game that had been advertised heavily on their site. Until we hear something official, these are the only facts we know, so I'd suggest we save all "Ban Gamespot" comments until then. If his review and firing are connected in any way, I'll gladly lead the angry mob, but let's try and stay levelheaded about this.
fortified_concept
Banned
Dante said:
Seriously. Gaming "journalism" has become a fucking joke this generation. It's so obvious that revews, scores and opinions are being affected by various "sponsors" nowadays it's not even funny anymore.
I hope this isn't true, Gamespot has been losing to many of their good people lately, if Jeff leaves I will find a new game site to go to.
BrokenSymmetry
Member
I just canceled my Gamespot subscription.
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
Amir0x said:
If that chain of events are true, then HUGE amounts of props to Jeff. I never really agreed with many of his reviews, but to stick to journalistic integrity like that is something worth congratulating.
I really don't think he lowballed games for hits. I honestly just think he didn't like them as much as others. Do I agree with him? No. Should he be fired for having a different opinion than myself? Hell no.
Graphics Horse
Member
Kittonwy said:I'm saying that once you have a business relationship with the publisher SPECIFICALLY RELATED TO THE GAME IN QUESTION, while you can play the game and enjoy it and express this sentiment, you're off the fucking high horse and really shouldn't be telling other people how not to judge games because your judgement is possibly tainted.
Sure, but their policy of only being sponsored by games that they enjoy means that they don't have to deal with any dilemmas involving angry publishers demanding resignations.
Lazy vs Crazy
Member
That is not a 6.0 review. That is a 3.0 review.kay said:
John Dunbar
correct about everything
Now, I'm by no means happy that someone lost his job, but I'm not sure why there's a problem here. He worked for Gamespot. If his reviews/work didn't fit with what Gamespot is going for, I don't really see why they shouldn't fire, even if it's over something stupid as giving the wrong game a low score. It's not a good thing, but it's their site. I don't really visit Gamespot anyway.
Guess it's time to change my homepage from http://www.gamefaqs.com to http://www.google.ca or http://www.neogaf.com/forum
MickeyKnox
Member
Get EviLore on the horn, make it happen.Amir0x said:
And what a clusterfuck of retardation this is, the whole of the enthusiast press collective needs to react, investigate and respond to this in a unified and proper way or you should just pack it all in.
And yet they have a vested interest in Ubi, making comics for Brothers in Arms, Myst, Spliter Cell Chaos Theory , Splitner Cell Pandora Tomorw, Rainbow Six ect ect ect ect.
They also said that they liked Prince of Persia they just hated the generic rage shit.
Their connection to Ubi goes further than just "banner ads"
John Dunbar said:
Er, this is more over the fact that game publications in general have this issue where game publishers have FAR too much control over content. When someone gets fired because he expressed his opinion in a REVIEW, which in this industry is supposed to tell the reader what is a good game and what isn't, there is a problem.
Howard Alan Treesong
Member
Gazunta said:
Tell me about it...I knew I was making the right move when I got out, but I never expected shit to get THIS BAD...
Hold me, Gaz.
StopMakingSense
Member
Wow, that video review seems to give a feeling that he knew this was going to be his last review, so he just said fuck it, here's what I really think about this game.
edit: lol - 'Take a look at it, but its probably not worth a purchase'
edit: lol - 'Take a look at it, but its probably not worth a purchase'
typo said:
The ending is pretty harsh as well, but what he said was true. It's worth a rental. I can sorta see why Eidos can be super pissed over it though. He pretty much said: "Don't buy this game at full price."
MC Safety said:
A shit load of ads for GameSpot. I also believe that this may have been the straw that broke the camel's back though.
Still, losing your job over it is extreme. What happened to stern scoldings?
Mod posting on gamespot
""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. ""
WHAT THE FUCK SERIOUSLY WHAT THE FUCK
""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. ""
WHAT THE FUCK SERIOUSLY WHAT THE FUCK
disappeared
Banned
kay said:
He let them have it :lol
Mgoblue201
Won't stop picking the right nation
Sports are not a fair comparison. They're a meritocracy, but what you earn is always at the expense of another person. If you're not as good as the guy across the sidelines, then you're probably going to lose. I can root for a lot of people to succeed in other fields, and it generally isn't at the direct expense of another person. People can succeed at different levels. But success is always defined by a win in sports. Just by rooting for a team, I'm willing to see another team fail. So if someone gets fired, then tough. Not everybody wins. Find a job where everybody can win. To get into sports is the knowledge that if you succeed, then the equal and opposite reaction is for someone else to fail, so they should be prepared for that situation. Wins are the bottom line.Kintaro said:
But for Jeff, it's not about wins and losses. He should just do his job. And he did. And...allegedly...he got fired for it. I don't exactly agree with his opinions. I don't even really care much for him. But Jesus, the guy didn't deserve it that I know of. At some level I have to feel horrible for him. I mean who is losing by his reviews? I have to question anybody who would put their opinion about his reviews over his damned well being. Say what you will about what he writes, he is no different than nearly every other game journalist out there, so I don't see any reason for him to lose his job...allegedly (I'm turning into Jim Rome here).
Grecco said:
Yeah they do, but the thing is, I can still believe they're saying what they genuinely thing due to the way they've handled every situation that has to do with Ubisoft or even other companies. I don't care if a game site gets money from a publisher to do work or advertise. As long as that influence isn't spread heavily across their reviews, it's fine. I don't expect a website to run without advertisements.
Link648099
Banned
Oh my. Ohhhh my.Chumly said:
No one over there is going to be happy this info is leaking. What a mess.
Son of Godzilla
Banned
Gazunta said:
This isn't particularly the place, but I can't really agree with this. From the few GS events I have actually watched he seemed as vapid and uninterested as everyone else involved. GS just doesn't have it's shit together on anything really.
CurseoftheGods
Banned
Wow.
- Status