Confirmed: GameSpot's Gerstmann Fired

Rumors have been swirling today that Jeff Gerstmann, executive editor at CNET-owned major video game site GameSpot, was fired after giving a generally unimpressed review of Io Interactive's Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. Gerstmann awarded the game a 6.0. (Though Shacknews does not score its reviews, our own Kane & Lynch review was similar in its verdict.)

Shacknews can confidently confirm via its own sources that Gerstmann was indeed fired yesterday from his position at GameSpot.

[HeartlesskizZ]

that should teach him a lesson and learn to be professional and neutral about reviews not personal

He was also complaining about the use of the F word to much in the game.
I think he is looking at Jack T. as an Idol.

[jackdoe]

How? He was being neutral and did not score the game higher than it deserved. The rumor is that he was fired because he did not score the game high, as per Eidos's supposed wishes.

[unlimited]

I dont trust his reviews or anyone working at gamespot. Its clear they are getting paid from people to review their games high or give out money to review other games low..I question all the reviews of all the games they done.. Sorry but gamespot have to go now..No one will care about them anymore..

[felman87]

he was fired for not being biased towards it

[mikeslemonade]

This was probably about the Assasin's Creed review because his score was higher than most. It's obvious he's accepting gifts from developers and rewarding them with higher scores. All reviewers receive gifts and it's just the matter of accepting them or not. I'm looking at you Microsoft for!

I will miss Jeff for his awesome podcast host position because he's really funny and better at hosting in my opinion than Garnett Lee. I won't miss his bias reviews though. Dan Shu you're next to go!

[tmug]

Jeff did not review AC, it was Kevin VanOrd. It's curious because AC also had the same ad-skinning on gamespot, which clearly affected the all-too-flattering review. Guess Jeff didn't want to play ball and give a mediocore game a good score. Good for him. I'll be getting my game-info from somewhere else from now on, gamespot lost the last remaining shreds of credibility with Jeff.

[gaffyh]

Jeff Gerstmann was the least biased person in GameSpot. He was standing up for his review score, to a game that isn't very good 6.0 is more than enough. I can't believe they fired him, there's no point ever going to Gamespot anymore, he was the only good unbiased reviewer.

[Gamespot-equals-EGM]

On 2nd thought, I'm glad Jeff got fired. GS needed to change IMO.

Gamespot's video reviews are/were by far the most unprofessional out of the major gaming websites (compared to IGN and Gametrailers).

CNET fired Jeff because of the unprofessional tone of his reviews (he actually drops the f-bomb during his Kane and Lynch review). Hopefully this will make GS's reviews (video reviews specifically) better and more mature.

Seriously, no real professional drops the f-bomb during a video.

[Wii60_FTW]

if the game sucks then it deserves to be called out. he shouldn't have been fired just for that.

[skyline2003]

To me that just adds more fuel to the fire about reviewers being paid to score a game higher. That game got similar scores across the board. Apparently its not a very good game.

If it got 6's everywhere else and a 9 on gamespot where there are HUGE ads everywhere for the game, it would kinda make you go HMMMMM..

[brianpk80]

I was really suspicious by all of the overly high Final Fantasy XII reviews. I love the series, but that that game felt really incomplete and rushed. I'm not even talking about the real time battle thing, which I actually liked. Many fans were disappointed with the story and characters, which is what the series was formerly known for. I think privately, it's regarded as a major let down while all of the public reviews are glowing. Very, very shady.

[MK_Red]

GameSpot shouldn't have let Gregg Kasavin go. GS become a worse and worse after his departure and this is the final blow to their crediblity. A staff member being fired (And the suspected reason is even worse... fired by request of game company).

[Charlie2688]

I can bet you my Bionic Implants (quote from Zero Punctuation :P) that they will damage control on this tomorrow saying he had to leave to do "other stuff" or for "personal reasons"...which makes me question about the TRUE nature of Richards departure since he left for "personal motives" and was VERY unexpected >.>

But since GS decided to mix HEAVY business with the site all their original spirit seems to have mixed with corporate BS, and each time more and more of GS is turning into a business than a gaming site

[TheIneffableBob]

Greg left at his own will to pursue a career of developing videogames as that has always been his dream. GameSpot couldn't have forced him to stay.

[MK_Red]

I know. Been following that story. I'm not saying GS fired him. Just stating that problems started after his departure.

[Shaka2K6]

Even when they get hot news like this ones, im glad they are doing bad and i hope they all die, still i havent been to that site in years probably joke site i hope 1up is next..

[unlimited]

1up will take gamespot as a lesson if they get caught slipping..a lot of xboxfanboy working there..

[BloodySinner]

Wishing death now, are we? Has your love for the Sony brand driven you mad? I think it's time your bubble went down.

[nobizlikesnowbiz]

n00b

[Charlie2688]

Makes me wonder about the integrity of other reviews from the site that had HUGE add campaigns...mmm (hell if not ALL of the hyped games there >.>)

I think its all pretty obvious, all the publishers that pay CNET to have their adds on GS (the number one Gaming site according to that article posted here on N4G) in such brutal quantity (and probably its pretty expensive) are obviously excepting something nice in return (for their "investment")...whil e some apparently don't mind receiving an average review it makes you wonder which others might have pressured someone to boost a score >.>

[jackdoe]

Shame. There was something about IGN a while back as well about Prey. The former editor of the 360 channel wanted the reviewer to score the game higher because the publisher wouldn't give IGN exclusive review rights if they didn;t.

[MK_Red]

True. This makes me question all their reviews because they had similair ad campaigns for other games before (But hey, I believe they lost crediblity after ranking WarioWare Wii higher than Zelda Wii, Giving 7.5 to Ratchet PS3 and other things).

[PS3 Limps on and on]

There needed to be a firing!! That dude is the head reviewer and Gamespot was going down to crap, with the fanboyism.

Great news!! Especially the anti PS3 sh*t. PS3 is a star on the rise.

This confirmers it!! IT'S REAL. Reviewers can and are shady.

[felman87]

= multiplat

[Mr PS3]

That all of the conspiracy theories are true!!! If you give a honest review you get fired just because the publisher don't like it
Just how many game site's/reviewers are paid off by Micro$uck to give average games better score's without the fear off gettin fired or having all of the privileges that come with gettin paid off taken away
Microsuck are manipulating the review system just to sell more games and goes to show yet again that they don't give a rats a$$ about the xbots who buy into there system !! But do the xbots care !! No they just get in line and follow and except being manipulated!!

[mboojigga]

Great detective work on that on Sparky.
Blame it on MS to solve all the issues and make this about the PS3.
The game was released for both systems.
Fuc*ing idiot fanboys.

[Frances-the-Mute]

they should clean out sites and mags of these people!

[Sevir04]

hell they need to start firing the whole damn team of reviewers. they are too freakin biased. with that being said the video gaming market and media dont need biased reviewers. because it's destroying the fun in gaming and giving more fuel to the fanboi console war fires that rage senselessly on the net. i remember the days when 7-8 were considered great accomplishments and no one cared, now this AAA status crap has and reviews of games getting 8s and such have made it that games cant shine because of fankids screaming... when they start getting rid of biased reviews and reviewers then the fankids from both camps will settle down and this idiot gaming war waged between the 2 will end.

[Real gamer 4 life]

I dont know much about computer and stuff, but i will be glad to help in any shape and form.

[Prismo_Fillusion]

Who here has website making skills and wants to start up a non-biased video game review site?

[dead serious]

PM me!

Edit: Do any of you (besides wolfmoon) have the skills to create a decent-looking functional website for this purpose though? I have writing skills, but little knowledge of html/javascript/computershtuff s.

[Wolfmoonstrike]

excellent Idea man let me know if you get that working.

Edit: ouch I feel like excludy(drawn together) naw j/k lol.

2nd edit: who the hell disagreed with this guy about an unbiased site? you better state your reason for it.
3rd edit: lol I find this funny and really am starting to feel like excludy but where's my disagree? I feel so left out. lol

[MK_Red]

Great idea that I'd gladly be happy to help anyway I can.

EDIT: Sorry, I have no knowledge of that whatsoever but one of my close friends does.
LOL at disagree. Someone doesn't want me to be glad to help!

[Sevir04]

and it would cost less than 6 bucks a month.

[PiTCHBLaCK]

I've done HTML before, and have 11 years of computer/Internet experience.

[RadientFlux]

I have 10 years of professional website design/development and I am pretty sure I could be somewhat helpful.

[Jen5en]

Great idea there! I haven't got any experience making websites, but you have my support nonetheless.

[pwnsause]

gamespot is dumb, they should of fired the guy that rated Rachet and clank a 7.5 for being a small brain instead of this guy.

[TheHater]

What he said. He shouldn't have even been allow to review the Ratchet and Clank game in the first place.

[Wolfmoonstrike]

ok so he got fired for giving a low review score? can somebody give me the link to the gamespot review so that way I'm not drawing the wrong conclusion? please & thank you.

Edit: Thanks and I took a look at it, and I gotta agree he does seem to be upset. But as I was looking at the game in the background I gotta agree at this moment and without trying it. It looks like a 6 ,though I think I'm going to go try it just to make sure because I had heard from a friend of mine that it was good. Also though I think he gave the right score he did not review correctly; in otherwords the end does not justify the means.

[unlimited]

Video Review
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

He looks like his very upset..and keep bashing the game..

[PiTCHBLaCK]

did he swear?...LOL, he did seem very uptight, the game might not be to awesome but I don't think It Looked THAT bad as he made it sound.

[gamesblow]

& now... the end is near... Jeff faces his final curtain... he's made mistakes... in the past... and now his future... Seems uncertain.

couldn't have happened to a better guy.

[PS3 Limps on and on]

racisist motherf*cker! He onces gave a bad review to a game because it had Mexicans.

I'm glad that fat b*tch is fired!!!

And I hope nobody again ever hires that B*tch!

[freakyzeeky]

What game is this?

[PS3 Limps on and on]

...

[macalatus]

@ps3 limps on and on,

.................!!!......??! ?...............
............................. .???..Huh?!?

I thought the GRAW 2 controversy was about the ambiguous, Republican-laced message about unprotected borders and Mexican terrorists. And you're saying that he's racist because he gave a supposedly 'racist game' (for the record, NOT my personal view of the game, which is a pretty awesome game BTW) a bad review? I'm confused...

[Zhuk]

I personally hated this guys reviews, but the situation that he was fired in makes Gamespot lose any credibility whatsoever.

I for one call for a boycott of Gamespot, I know I will never visit the site again

[felman87]

I agree

[wil4hire]

But I agree with you Zhuck.

[PiTCHBLaCK]

I Have stopped visiting GS since they gave R&C a 7.5 rating while everyone else scored it much higher, and now this, by by GameSpot, IGN is far better anyways.

[akumous]

There is no way he got fired for this review, if so gamespot is one of the worse companies ever. Jeff has his hands in too many Gamespot projects to be fired for such nonsense. Aren't you gamers ashamed of yourselves for wishing ill for Jeff? He's a human being and he has the right to express his opinion.

[Sevir04]

when you start to blurr the line of professionalism and personal feelings then you distort gaming and you end up with what he did. even though the game sucked because i rented it. there is no reason to carry on the way he did. simply put firing him is the easiest way to remedy the situation.

[TheIneffableBob]

CNET fired him.

[freakyzeeky]

Even System Wars are considering looking at GameRanking scores instead of GameSpot scores... They took GS scores as gospel in that community, so this is big.

[greenenvy]

and I'm being serious, good riddance to jeff gerstmann....

that video review of kane & lynch, was one of the most non-objective reviews I've ever seen in journalism......

I mean that in all honesty.

he called the game ugly, he said it was stupid and had non-likeable characters, he said nobody should really buy this game because it uses the F word too much and in a bad way, and worst of all....instead of just explaining the technical issues, he insulted the characters in the game and said that NOBODY should enjoy kain & lynch.

that was just plain god **** awful to watch, seriously gerstmann fell off his wheels with that as well as the ***** zelda and blue dragon reviews.....

how dare gerstmann act like he is the sole authority of what makes a game good!!

I played it, and overall Id give it an 8 or 7.9 not a 6 and its an enjoyable game....and its JUST A GAME.....

what really peeved me off about his review was he was acting as though this was not just a f****** game, he was acting as though it was real life or something else.

no offense gerstmann, but that's pathetic even for u unless your main audience who watches your reviews is 15 years old!?!???

do 15 year olds buy M rated games???

and is this why jeff gerstmann, u gave a perfect 10 to grand theft auto?

right?? and didn't it use the "f word" and all sorts of things far far more, wasn't it the same kind of story, and didn't we all enjoy that game and it deserves a 9.2 but not---- not a perfect 10?

grow up gerstmann. he acted like kane & lynch was going to have everyone run out and start shooting up hookers, run around heisting banks, and generally become a stain on society!!!!!

uhh no gerstmann, we're not idiots when we can purchase 'M' rated games. we know damn well what a video game is and what isn't.

and the reason games like that sell so well is, its a fantasy to begin with and people would much rather have fun doing that there then EVER have it happen in real life.

unless you're god**** 14 years old, and I just can't see it otherwise. so gerstmann grow up, and that blue dragon review was **** sakaguchi made an incredible game. it didn't deserve what u said, period.

the game should have sold a million copies....I feel bad for sakaguchi now as blue dragon will never sell that, and its an RPG that really deserved to no thanks to your ***** review...

the whole review system needs to be overhauled, starting with firing people and changing the scale IMO!

[Wolfmoonstrike]

about the scale thing and him not reviewing it correctly. IMO I think they should destroy the whole system and build back from the ground up and rework it till it works correctly. No more of this average bullsh!t.

[greenenvy]

- game had spotty A.I (that makes you have to duck & cover, ouch.)

- bad A.I. does not hold up in multiplayer so the last part of the game feels rushed, but still fun.

overall score for kane & lynch: I'd give it a 7.9, it did the things right it needed to & nothing else was really needed for the co-op.....

i'd give an 8 to blue dragon and a 9.1 to halo 3 or jeff gerstmann's most precious game in the world, tony hawk pro skater 3/half life: the orange box

[akumous]

You guys are sick mean people...YOU THINK ASSASSIN'S CREED DESERVED A BLOODY 9.5 OR 9.0 FROM GAMESPOT? YOU COULD TELL THAT SOMETHING WAS BEING WRONG HERE...BECAUSE WHEN THAT DUDE GAVE RACHETE AND CLANK THE 7.5, WHICH IT PROBABLY DESERVED AND JEFF DEFENDED HIM, YOU GUYS WENT NUTS. I'VE PLAYED ASSASSIN'S CREED AND IT IS BORING AND REPETITIVE, THE ONLY THING THAT WAS GOOD ABOUT IT WAS ITS GRAPHICS.

Jeff and many other Journalist have the right to express their opinions and not be tainted by money or companies. Twilight princess deserved that 8.8 review because it wasn't nothing new but the same crap.

Jeff is a person and we should be begging or wishing ill things for him..If gamespot don't reconsider I will no longer go there or buy any games from edios ever again.

Jeff and journalist like him are there to help us make our choice..not the other reviews who fall pray to give games reviews they don't deserve

[akumous]

correction: we shouldn't be begging or wishing ill things for him

[greenenvy]

jeff gerstmann's review of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 was the most horrible, and borderline racist thing I've ever watched or read...

it was jeff, just like other GS reviewers taking bribe money from the competition to lower GRAW's score....but what he said, is what turned my stomach...

he said...

"And the reason we can simply say there isn't a reason to fully enjoy this game, is because of the bland characters. Some of them are gringos and albinos, but what we have here is an experience filled with mexicans. And there's alot more mexicans in this game. The game suffers from a lack of plot, but having mexicans who can shoot at you isn't much of a plus in that area."

he's a racist mother****** who gave GRAW 2 a lower score for including mexicans, and he accepted a payoff.

i'm not saying the reviews aren't corrupt but jeff's part of the review system.....he deserved everything!!!

those reviewers needed to go, and the next step is we need to uncorrupt the review system - take away all the advertising campaigns FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!

create rules, demolish it and go back to the normal scale!!!
have the 5- point scale rule overall, no more 10 scale. have gamers do the reviews, no more unprofessional hacks. remodel the review system!!!

and down with gamespot, it deserves to burn IMO.....definitely the most biased site i've seen, they took $$$ money to rate mass effect a 8.0, uncharted an 8.0, and tony hawk perfect 10s ...
GRAW 2 review was the most racist, piece of **** trash I ever seen and I hope that one is deleted one day.............

[QQcrybaby]

As much as some of us dislike Jeff, this is really terrible news if this turns out to be true. There are no objective reviews of sites are at the mercy of advertisers.

[Killer Cop]

I don't trust Gamespot anymore. They have edited theri scores several times and now this. Gamespot has only become a piece of sh**.

[chrno6]

This just further proves that develoipers/companies pay off reviewers in order to get their games rated higher than they should be. Sad, very sad.

[Skerj]

I've not visited Gamespot exstensively for about 2 months, not missing much either it seems. Man I miss Gamer's Republic and GameFan, I wish they came in site form.

[solar]

i loved gamefan magazine. hat ever happened to them? they just go under?

[Skerj]

Yeah somewhat, then ECM (used to play PSO with him) and Haohmaru started up another magazine called GameGO! that was pretty awesome. Unfortunately it only had 2 issues, one print and one digital. E. Storm (Dave Halverson) and a few more editors started Gamer's Republic and Play Magazine, the latter which is still going on but I don't read it. Those were the days man.

[FCOLitsjustagame]

Gamespots reviews are almost always on par with other gamesites and user reviews. Recently since their change to a .5 system their reviews have been lower a bit lower then many other sites. There are a few exceptions but that could be just reviewer personal taste (i.e. I mean a person who doesnt like platformers reviewing a platformer).

I dont know the reason Gerstmann fired just what the rumors say. I do know that users on the forums have complained about him for years. It is possible there is a lot more going on then people know. But heck, people like to beleive the conspiracies, gives them something to talk about.

[narked]

they should have fired the guy who reviewed ratchet and clank. lol that guy sucks

[Vojkan]

EUROGAMER is only unbiased site that i know of. American sites are corrupted trash

BTW- VIDEO REVIEW of KANE & LYNCH has been removed from GameSpot!! So that must be it.

[MK_Red]

http://www.gametrailers.com...

There you go, the link to GameSpot's video review of Kane & Lynch.

[UltramanJ]

When websites run high review scores just to keep themselves from upsetting rabid fanboys who constantly want their games to be 9s and 10s.
As for the firing there had to be more to it. I find it impossible to believe he was fired because of a Kane and Lynch review, when everyone and their mother is scoring the game in the 6 range.

[PiTCHBLaCK]

The game might have been a 6 score, but he went about it very unprofessional, I've seen many reviews, but his was just simply very harsh.

[Devr]

Man, screw IO interactive. They got this guy fired for giving his honest opinion. I never thought about buying Kane & Lynch, but now it seems I'll have to pass on all IO's future projects. F*ck them.

[nix]

the skeleton is coming out of the closet.

by being biased, the reviewers were shooting at their own feet. it was bound to happen.

sadly this time, (according to news so far) he's been fired for being straight.

[Gamingisfornerds]

Atleast he's not been fired for being gay!

Sorry, lame joke. Couldn't resist. :P

[Gamingisfornerds]

Reviewers always have different preferences, and being the human beings we all are, they can get their emotions in the way and sometimes give a game a bit of an extreme score, rather it be too high or too low (according to the averaging scores).

This doesn't mean they are bought out by MS everytime a 360 game get's a good score. I've seen people mention this and they really need to wake up and smell the coffee.

Sony just didn't have that good of a year (not as bad as some are making it out to be though), software wise. There were just more quality games on the 360 this year than on the PS3. So don't be such a sour "looser" about it and quit the silly conspiracy theories. Next year PERHAPS, the PS3's line up will blow the 360's away. And if so, trust me, this WILL reflect in the average scores.

That said, I'm sure a few reviewers here and there get approached to be a bit more considering and some probably take the bait. And now Eidos made themselves look like complete idiots with this stunt they pulled off.

But that doesn't mean that every review that doesn't meet your expectations of the game in question is payed off. That's just silly fanboy talk.

[darx]

Someone should have told the guy that Eidos had paid their "good review" payment before he reviewed.

[nobizlikesnowbiz]

I don't understand why Gamespot would make this move. It just seems like a bad one. Firing a reviewer for giving his honest but harsh opinion?

It just makes them look like they were paid for all their reviews now.

I expect to see some sort of comment from Gamespot later explaining a little more.

[J@D]

The answer for this is... MONEY. MONEY is the reason for all this problem and th reason cuz this guy was fired.

[Caliber]

I stopped visiting Gamespot after the R&C incident, and even though I have very low opinions of Jeff, that was a very bad move from Gamespot.
I hope people don't forget this.

[J@D]

Finally someone think on the right way around here. Bubbles and congrats for that way of thinking ^_^

BRAVO!

[J@D]

People this clearly statement proof this...... DON'T BELIEVE ON REVIEWS from this "professional gaming site". Experience games by urself and don't let other "people" brainwashed ur mind and thoughts. Reviews are merely SOMEONE opinion as THIS as example reviews aren't dogmas or something like that.

If u like this games BUY IT and experience it by urself. Be ur own reviewer.

This incident proof that every single reviewer receive GIFT or MONEY for higher scores on they games.

Nice day everyone.

[Legionaire2005]

give their games a good score then don't trust any review from any game site including Ign. Ign gave Jade Empire(even when it didn't deserve it) a 9.9!!! for crying out loud!!! That game was shorter than then any other RPG out there, plus the master was way too easy, and the combat was poor and lack any depth to it. Gamespot gave it a 8.4(sometimes they are right). Sometimes the table turns around between Gamespot and Ign. Gamespot review Assassin's creed a 9.0 despite the repetition, and Ign gave it a 7.0 now who is right? I say ignore these reviews and rent the game before you even think about buying them. I personal think that Halo 3 deserves a 9.0, because it is basically the same Halo since Halo 1 and 2 with some add ons here and there. Nuff said.

[tplarkin7]

That game was utter crap. The problem was that reviewers had "KOTOR Goggles" on when they gave it high scores. Gamespot gave it a high 8 (Greg Kasavin). I would have given it a 6.

[Enigma_2099]

Why the hell are console vs. console debates even coming up in this thread?!?!?

And on the subject, did they remove his video review or something, because I didn't see it. And they can't be THAT pissed over that text review... They talk like he vilified the game, and I didn't get that vibe from the text review at all.

[Real gamer 4 life]

I agree with you zhuk, TO ALL REAL GAMER OUT THERE LETS BOYCOTT GAMESPOT, FOR THERE MISSLEADING REVIEWS!!! THEY ARE CLEARLY BIASED AND THEY WILL GIVE ANY GAME A GOOD REVIEW AS LONG AS THEY PAY THEM GOOD. THEY DONT CARE ABOUT US GAMERS ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS THE MONEY THAT THEY GET FROM PPEOPLE BUYING THERE REVIEWS.

[Cynical-Gamerzus]

Gamespot is full of of loser grown geek men that are arrogant nerd balls that
need to have real jobs,,Instead they except money from Paid Microsoft Subscribers and lick eachothers balls in the process ,
But Aroogant Geeks! is the best way to describe them..
They need to work for the games they review! WORK HARD and have real jobs..
THis Gamespot is Done with...Fire them all.!!!!=D

[tplarkin7]

Jeff is a good guy. He will find a job with some other magazine or site easily. If it's true that Jeff was fired due to a poor score, he will only have more leverage at his next job.

[Probotector]

No more half-assed reviews from that freak! This is amazing.

[pshizle]

SONY FANBOYS STILL CRYING ABOUT R&C

GROW UP JEFF WAS THE GLUE TO GAMESPOT

jeff is gamespot and now with him gone i lost all my respect

[DarkSniper]

Now XBOX 360 games will get the piss poor reviews they deserve.

$niper

[i_like_ff7]

As much as i dont like gamespot anymore, Jeff getting fired is retarded. He was like the funniest one there. First Greg then Rich and now Jeff? Gamespot is over...

[IGNFTW]

WHO'S LEFT,JODY ROBINSON?AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I-G-N-F-T-W.

[Salvadore]

This makes me sick, he was probably their best staff.

[Bubble Buddy]

sigh, what is the world coming to... maybe we should all be reviewers. and not be a person who just doesn't dislike a console and gives it a 0 or vice-versa and gives it a 10. we need a fair site.

[SpaceCowgirl]

To give Edios credit, after listening to the review the guy did sound like a spiteful little kid taking his frustration out on the game because someone was mean to him on the playground.

[ironcreed]

Face it, Gamespot is a high traffic, ad spalttered site that is owned by a company (CNET) who's top priority is their bottom line....not honesty for the gaming community. So despite whatever damage control I am sure we will eventually hear regarding this, is there really any doubt left that money defines the definition of "integrity" as it relates to the bank accounts of the powers that be within companies like CNET who own sites like Gamespot? All of the people who have been laughed at for screaming "bias" were right afterall.

The taint of the almighty dollar always trickles down from the top. There is no mystery or fanboy conspiracy here, only the unfortunate truth as it relates to the corporate world where money wins out over honesty and integrity every time. Wake up, take a long look behind the scenes, and at the ads splattered all over these sites that they get paid to promote, and then realize who really controls these "fair and balanced" sources, lol. Then you might actually come to the realization that it is not only Gamespot.

[The Wood]

Most people knew. Most media is controlled and have some bias whether its to a person, political party, sponsor, team etc. Just the way it has always been. Bubbles for your 'final thought'

[eleaz14]

when they should be firing guys like the one who reviewed Ratchet & Clank

[Asraff]

he was fired for saying the truth....the truth is always painful-Asraff

[kornbeaner]

and a firing like this does nothing more then to prove all suspected low and high scores as false. Sad part is this is the industry norm now. Just like the radio and television industry are known for getting their palms greased for "FAVORS" it has now hit the gaming industry. In a way its good since the industry for the most part has hit Mainstream status, but just like TV and Radio its hard to know who to trust when you need an opinion on how best to spend your hard earned cash. I for one am sick of these "Professionals" taking money for their honesty and integrity, the main reason why these people started their jobs was for the love of the Industry and now all but a few are sellouts like all the Sportstars, actors and celebrities.

Enjoy your money and gifts losers!!!!!

[akumous]

Jeff Gertsman is a funny guy he has been with us for years..They are only two or 3 guys I love at gamespot who also write great grammatically correct reviews and jeff is one of them.

Despite of how big of fanboys we are for a certain franchise they are there to tell us the truth..Sure I do get mad when my favorite franchise gets a low score but once the hype is over and I get down to the game..I then say, "hey these guys were right."

For example:

FF 12 - it got a 9, I wanted to get a 10 because every other site was giving it a 10. However, after I played it and done with it, it didn't moved me as much as the other FF games.

Assassin's Creed - it got 9s and 10s..OMG this game doesn't even deserve a 8...it is well in the range of 7 to 8.

And so on and so forth..

I rented Kyne and lynch..weeks ago..and it is not worth a buy ..just a rental..so he was right...

So guys rather be lied to so we could hear our favorite franchise gets a 10 always than the truth? You guys are sick..I miss Jeff and I hope this is rumor because this guy has been there since day one..He's a cool guy with a great personality..who's well educated about the gaming industry..