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Latest on GS Scandal: Employee: They Wanted Higher Scores For Games

More leaked information confirm what many have feared and suspected. Following the resignation of one reviewer along with Jeff earlier today, a GameSpot employee suggests more could be on the way out soon.

"...a ten-year employee gets locked out of his office and told to leave the premises and then no one communicates anything to us about it until the next day. It's all about the money"

Plus:

- GS employees confronting and criticising the Executive Editor.
- They're suspicions of shady principles emerging from advertising deals.
- Recommend gamers away from GS reviews.

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Meus Renaissance - contributor
Published: 761 days 14 hours ago | News | PlayStation 3 | Xbox 360 | Wii | Sony PSP | Nintendo DS | PlayStation 2 | Gaming | PC | Industry News

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Meus Renaissance - 761 days 15 hours ago

1 -

This opens the flood gates. This now means anyone can fairly, and justly, claim that the review of their favourite game(s) on a site were bias and it'll warrant suspicion with valid merit because this doesn't just imply that Eidos took their ball home and didn't wanna play anymore, thus forcing GameSpot to take action, but it implies that any company who were willing to pay for advertising on this website, that there'd be influence from the men in suits upstairs to pressure the reviewers to give these games higher scores.

So just think to yourself, what games have you seen heavily advertised that you think, or has an issue, with people claiming that it's over-rated and think to yourself, "were they bought off too?"

There needs to be a formal inquiry to investigate if other sources and websites suffer from the same thing because many people have suspected a bias in the industry over the past few months, beginning with PS3 exclusives. PlayStation fans protested but were dismissed as nothing more but an excuse for poor games. Now this revelation from GameSpot gives that protest a voice loud enough to reach the gaming community online.

No review of a highly anticipated game will be trusted. They will always be questioned. The game ranking's have been undermined. Where do we stand?

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Gamespot-equals-EGM - 761 days 14 hours ago

1.1 - Good find and nice read

This guy (that the article quotes) says Gamespot has traditionally catered to the 'hardcore' gamer. What the hell does that mean?

You know there's NOT just two types of gamers (hardcore and casual). There's a lot of people who fall in between. Me, for example. I'm neither 'hardcore' nor 'casual'. Although I follow the industry closely I don't game all that much (because I'm in school). In fact, because of finals and my hard-as-hell schedule, I haven't played a video game in about 3 weeks. But when I play it can be for 3-4 hours at a time.

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Meus Renaissance - 761 days 14 hours ago

1.2 -

Exactly. And what casual gamer, as they imply, would go to watch a video review of a game?

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The Brave 1 - 761 days 12 hours ago

1.3 -

I knew something shady was going on the day they gave Rachet and Clank a 7.5. Sellouts!!!!!!!!!

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razer - 761 days 12 hours ago

1.4 - Ah yes and let me guess..

You suspect all the 360 reviews as being the ones that are suspicious and all the PS3 reviews as being unjust and given a poor shake??

Your statement would mean so much more if you didn't favor the PS3 so much. You have lost credibility because of it.. I am the same way because I lean to the 360. But I also don't go around on these forums screaming about conspiracy and how reviews are unfair. I just suck it up and make the decision for myself.

Where do we stand? Well, now it's whenever there is a PS3 poor review PS3 fanboys will scream more conspiracy and whenever a 360 game gets a good review score the PS3 fanboys will scream that it was paid for and biased. Basically, it's the perfect cop-out for all PS3 fanboys. Everybody loses and nobody will know who to trust, just the way the fanboys wanted it because being in last place is taking it's toll on the PS3 fanboy armies.

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Chubear - 761 days 11 hours ago

1.5 - Not only that my man

but what other great game was lynched by reviews cause it threatened some other game? and was given grotesquely lower than warranted scores?

Look around and open your eye people. If this doesn't at least make you raise an eybrow then you are the kind of fool these editorial gaming sites bank on. ALL of them, 1UP, GT, Eurogamer, IGN etc all of them follow the same crooked business module cause they all need to compete.

It was obvious since late 2004 that things were changing and I was called all sorts of names cause I stated that these editorial reviews were fixed, now look.

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MK_Red - 761 days 11 hours ago

1.6 -

Great find and comment. Flood gates have indeed been opened and now all reviews (Lower than usual, higher than usual and even the usuals!) are under question.

And indeed this is beyond PS fans protest and a louder voice than anything before it. This is the first really big and major scandal of game industry IMO.
God helps us all :)

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fury - 761 days 4 hours ago

1.7 - I could back up my comment with arguments razer...

....but no, I won't waste my time. You're the fanboy. Halo 3 is overhyped and overrated.
Now call me fanboy.

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2 wil4hire | 761 days 15 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show

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Zhuk - 761 days 14 hours ago

2.1 -

i actually find myself giving you a bubble, good post.

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Icewake - 761 days 14 hours ago

2.2 - I don't think 10/10 was ever

Meant to be taken as perfect. Look at 5/5star restaurants and hotels. They're not perfect. They are however above and beyond the rest, same thing can be applied to games. But I guess enough people don't look at it that way for it to work.

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Meus Renaissance - 761 days 14 hours ago

2.3 - Zhuk

I'm sorry but were you not the one constantly trying to water shed PlayStation fans with bad scores of PS3 exclusives?

EDIT: Yeah, wow, pressing the DISAGREE button will really hide this comment..

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antoinetm - 761 days 14 hours ago

2.4 -

its "5 stars" not 5/5 Stars...
6 and 7 stars hotel do exist

so yes : 10/10 is an abuse.

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Zhuk - 761 days 14 hours ago

3 -

I for one am boycotting Gamespot and I hope that every gamer that cares about journalistic integrity and objectivity does too. Corporate money interests should not be influencing critics and journalism, it has gone on far too long in our society

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Meus Renaissance - 761 days 14 hours ago

3.1 -

I'll agree with you on that. I don't see how anyone, gamer or not, can take anything from GameSpot seriously now. For an industry that lives on reputation and integrity, CNET might aswell save up on hosting fees and close GameSpot because it's over and done for them.

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ruibing - 761 days 13 hours ago

3.2 -

So after GS, what other solid sites that anyone would recommend? I think I can still depend on IGN and the occasional Gametrailers video review.

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Guwapo77 - 761 days 12 hours ago

3.3 - I'll have to disagree...

Gamespot did the investigation against it's own writers. They could have kept the entire thing under wraps by paying off the editors to keep their mouths shut. But they did it the honorable way...they made the news public.

I had a gut feeling about the bias reviews against the PS3 from GS but I've been reading their reviews pretty much since they came online.

I can say now they gained much respect from me because they are doing something about it. I know for sure GS editors aren't the only ones being paid off either. Thus far the only site that seems to put out good solid scores is IGN. Can't say I care too much for IGN UK (seriously bias) IMO.

In closing...good stuff Gamespot! They are making the right moves and I'm sure this will be only a temporary set back.

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v1c1ous - 761 days 14 hours ago

4 - Gamespot is going through an internal struggle

you have the advertising team with a new executive head who had no previous gaming experience, only business. of course he's going to **** everything up for more profit.

then you have the review team who has to, as a team, approve every single review by every individual. but now that individuals are getting fired because of the power of the advertising team, this is going to turn into a sh*tstorm.

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Charlie2688 - 761 days 14 hours ago

5 -

This pretty munch confirmed what a lot of GS people knew...after Gregg left ALL went to hell and also confirms what many users have said GS scores and tone of review is sometimes directly proportioned to the hype and advertisement on the site...you know those reviews that mysteriously had very little to no criticism and the obvious flaws of the game were for some reason not mentioned >.>

and you know what that means guys...you now know were that Assassins Creed 9 and ultra positive review came from >.>

Well after this GS credibility went...FURTHER down the sink -_-

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antoinetm - 761 days 14 hours ago

6 -

Objectivity doesnt exist anyways.... why bother.

The less biaised value is the average (metacritics) even tho it is owned by CNET (i think)

LAW OF LARGE NUMBERS FTW!

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7 IGNFTW | 761 days 14 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show

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Nagthragarthoth - 761 days 14 hours ago

8 - This is isn't going to go well.

Just proves that people actually are out to get the PS3... in a bad way.

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v1c1ous - 761 days 14 hours ago

8.1 - where the hell do all of you

keep pulling out of your asses that the ps3 is involved in ANY way?

how do you link a story of a reviewer getting fired for giving a multiplatform game a low score to ps3 games getting low scores?

are you that much in denial?

this website is filled with headcases.

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Mr_Kuwabara - 761 days 14 hours ago

9 -

Well I guess it's all downhill for Gamespot if these rumours are indeed true.

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Chubear - 761 days 11 hours ago

9.1 - Oh please, nothing will happen to GS

They'll make some idiotic statement that they're changing management to bring back integrety to the site and fools will believe them and continue to support them.

Nothing's going to change at all. Even now they're getting crazy traffic to their site. They don't give a 'uck cause the vast majority of the gaming community are just sheep now and they know this.

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Daishi - 761 days 14 hours ago

10 -

Hopefuly this will open the door for all journalists hiding behind the curtain to come out and expose what's been going on. Like hell GS is the only site doing it... Maybe to balance this the add teams can have sugested retail reviews.

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Skerj - 761 days 13 hours ago

11 -

So more unwarranted scores from GS eh? It's funny how we've been discussing this in passing for the past few months and now the sh-- has hit the fan. Good!! People have been putting too much stock into reviews like Moses wrote them on stone tablets. Now that everyone is seeing that the system is highly flawed, they'll get back to judging games on their own tastes. Hopefully stopping some of these dumbass review score wars on this site in particular, especially when they never even played the games they're arguing about.

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sheng long - 761 days 13 hours ago

12 -

it would be nice if sites such as metacritic and gamerankings would remove all of gamespot's reviews.
it is obvious none of their scores can be taken seriously now.

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Xiphos - 761 days 13 hours ago

13 -

Fortunately I haven't visited GameSpot more than once or twice in the past few years. Still a very sad day for the industry. Finally proven, advertisers are buying their way into higher scores, and those who don't play along are now getting the boot, at least at GameSpot.

It's just what happens when something gets tangled into the mainstream and popular culture. Adios integrity, hello money!

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ElementX - 761 days 13 hours ago

14 -

Great pic.

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15 goldenxbox | 761 days 12 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show

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Xiphos - 761 days 12 hours ago

15.1 -

No chance of it being wiped off Metacritic. GameSpot and Metacritic are both outlets of CNET.

Edit @ whoever disagreed with me: Go to Metacritic, look at the top toolbar. It says it's part of CNET.

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KidMakeshift - 761 days 12 hours ago

16 - Last 2 cents

So it seems gamers either hate Jeff because he's "bias" and gives "unfair" reviews or they hate Gamespot since apparently it's been corrupted by lucrative deals with various publishers.

A majority of these gamers talk about free speech and honest opinions but lose their tops when a game they love, and probably haven't even played yet, has received a score less than 9.5. These are also the same people who get outraged when a game they don't like, which they probably haven't played either, gets a decent or a rather high score.

The thing is, would you rather have a guy who believes a game like Zelda: Twilight Princess deserves a 8.8 or one who gives it a 10 because the media site he belongs to is being funded by that publisher and wants to keep good ties and score future exclusives with them?

Do you actually think all the perfect 10's and high 9's for Halo 3 weren't swayed by the thousands of dollars of advertising invested by the publisher on the media site or influenced by the fact that it has a huge fan base that helps keep this media site in business.

Every publication, media site for games, music, movies, news and so on are all influenced by money and exclusive deals. Everything owns everything nowadays and businesses must function as businesses and accommodate if they want to gain in a overly competitive media age.

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name - 761 days 12 hours ago

17 -

I really hate gamespot(especially the forums), but honestly I'm feeling really bad for them. They've played a major role in the gaming community for quite some time, and this mishap has definetly tarnished their image. The damage control earlier about them taking pride in their "integrity" only made me feel worst considering that the majority of their reivews could have possibly been honest and legit reviews. And this is coming from a PS3 owner.

So overall the people that need to be considered in all of this are the honest reviewers. I know it feels good to finally have your suspicions confirmed and it should, but they're actually getting subscriptions cancelled here. If this continues to spread alot of people might lose their jobs.(lol not for giving a bad review though)

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SuicidalTendencies - 761 days 12 hours ago

18 -

Even if these good reviews are bought, how does it effect the way a game sells? I've seen good reviewed games sell like crap and bad reviewed games sell a million. My advice is to do a little research and make up your own review before buying a game.

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Charlie2688 - 761 days 12 hours ago

18.1 -

Dude reviews DEFINITELY affect game sales in one way or another

the most clear example of this was Assassins Creed that when the first low score review came out people were saying how they were canceling preorder to buy other games and on the AC forums on GS there were many threads about people saying don't buy the game or I canceled my preorder and so on BUT after the mysterious 9 and ultra positive review there was a sudden change and now the mood was "I was about to cancel my pre order but I saw GS score and decided to buy it" that quote pretty much sum everything up also the players review scores after GS 9 also increased which tells you people (at least on GS) are VERY easy to influence and they appear to be the Marketing departments dream >.>

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SuicidalTendencies - 761 days 2 hours ago

18.2 -

If you let a review score effect your purchase of a game, then you are an idiot. Simple as that. The best place to get a review from is the gamers themselves.

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19 HarryEtTubMan | 761 days 12 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show

20 greenenvy | 761 days 12 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show

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MK_Red - 761 days 11 hours ago

21 -

Well, the guy says what I said: GameSpot went only downhill after Greg Kasavin left.

And he indeed suggests one thing that many have been saying in recent months: Avoid GameSpot reviews.
All of them becoming GOTY material... Just look at reviews and scores of games like World In Conflict (Its a good game but not a 9.5 and higher than BioShock and COD4).

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DJ - 761 days 10 hours ago

22 - This isn't just a gamespot problem.

It's industry-wide, and with journalists becoming more and more reliant on money from game publishers, it's not a problem that's going to go away. Remember the Halo 3 Gift Packs that came with a free Xbox 360 game console and three controllers for reviewers nationwide? (in addition to loads of other crap)

Game demos are great for consumers because it almost completely disregards the need to read review scores online, but they can be hurtful to companies that know they don't have a very good title on their hands. Lord knows how many PS3 owners said "F*ck EA" after trying out their numerous demos on PSN.

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tk - 761 days 9 hours ago

23 - It is over for the reviewers

They overplayed their hands, took the money - obviously took money to underscore some titles as well... and now... caught red handed with the hand in the cookie jar.

So this confirms what many has been saying now for a couple of months now... the scores are useless. If MS gave the reviewer a few gifts, imagine the gift the editor got...

And with the massive amount of Halo3 advertising - how much gifts exchanged hands for the 10/10 scores while admitting to flaws in the game. And then marking down the competition for "too much variation" crap.

This is the start of the revolt against the reviewer industry. Those who will protest are those whose favorite console and favorite games got the 10/10. Those who will yell for the heads to roll are those who saw 6.5 / 7.5 scores for their favorites with the stupid reasons for down marking. But in the end - everyone knows that the scores was not valid either way. This means the breach of trust is there. The Reviewing industry got themselves to blame for the furore that is about to follow. They sold themselves - and i would not be surprised if we don't see at least on lawsuit against them from publishers who will seek compensation for loss of earnings if a competitor paid to have their reviews marked down and unfairly criticized.

Let the war begin.

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AngryTypingGuy - 761 days 9 hours ago

23.1 -

But the thing is, Halo received high scores everywhere else. There are so many review sources, you can't pay them all off. Maybe Halo, Bioshock and Mass Effect are all amazing games that deserve 90% or higher. Just a thought.

I love how MS automatically gets accused of doing this. Maybe Sony paid off a few people too. Maybe Lair was really a 2.5 instead of a 5.

Sounds ridiculous, huh? Let's not go pointing fingers at all of the companies and publishers until we know for sure.

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AngryTypingGuy - 761 days 9 hours ago

24 -

This is a true shame, as GameSpot was a respected website. As far as past games having their scores influenced by advertising revenue, someone would have to dig up their past advertising partners to know for sure, and even then that's not guaranteed.

Games are expensive these days! The least that these websites can do is give an honest score and opinion.

From now on when I want a review, I'm going straight to gamerankings.com, since they are a collection of reviews, and not a single opinion.

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