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The Art of Not Second-Guessing: How Death Threats, 'Kane & Lynch' Controversies And Other Aggravations Affect Reviewers

MTV Multiplayer writes:

Could you imagine reviewing hundreds of games, filing each review just hours or maybe one day after finishing the game you were scoring? Don't you think you'd second-guess yourself?

Well, the death threats used to give former Giant Bomb reviewer Jeff Gerstmann pause. And former GameSpot reviewer Alex Navarro, who said he has written about 700 reviews, could give me the number of reviews he regrets.

But, no, they don't really second-guess.

"I'm at a point where I rarely second guess what I think about a game upon finishing it," Gerstmann told me. He said he's long gotten over the doubt that could set in "when you are facing the raging fury of the Internet." He used to get death threats about some of his scores. "Now that stuff just rolls off. It's the ranting of insane people, which you could say about a lot of internet stuff."

Gerstmann is known for many reviews. But some scores he issued while at his former outlet GameSpot stick out. The 8.9 he gave "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess" earned him scorn from many "Zelda" fans. The 6.0 he awarded the console version of "Kane & Lynch" may have cost him his job.

"Over the years you eventually take that long view," he told me. "There are some reviews I've written over the years that stand out more to some people but I feel fine about that stuff just as much as the games that people don't come out of the woodwork for."
Superfragilistic - contributor
Published: 538 days 17 hours ago | Article | PlayStation 3 | Xbox 360 | Gaming | PC | Industry News
 
 
 

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