Thursday, December 27, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
What Every Gamer Should Know about the Reviews They Read
If you ever had any doubt that N'Gai Croal is one of the best writers out there; let this piece on the Level Up Blog dismiss them. N'Gai hits game journalism and the review process with the hard sledgehammer of reality. The problems that exist in video game journalism are those that I'm trying to avoid by being independent. I hope it becomes profitable someday.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Kotaku, you rumor mongers!
Kotaku is reporting some rumors about massive resignations coming over at Gamespot after all the hoopla over the firing of Jeff Gerstmann. I was wondering when this shoe would drop. But if it does, I certainly support these guys and what they are trying to do.
I just hope in trying to fix the huge gapping hole in CNET's ship they aren't just sinking it forever. As bad as Gamespot looks right now they are still one of the three biggest and most influential sites on the internet. Think hard about what you do young padowans.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Jeff Gerstmann speaks and there is a black out over at Gamespot!
"Exclusive: Gertsmann speaks about K&L review, future"Losing a job you've held for over 11 years in an abrupt manner is shocking, yes."
While the above quote should perhaps win Jeff Gerstmann the 'understatement of the year' award, the former Gamespot editorial director is still staying silent about the specifics surrounding his recent firing (citing the previously mentioned "legal reasons," among others). He has, however, told Joystiq that he still stands behind his controversial review of Kane & Lynch.
"I stand behind my work, regardless of where I do it," Gerstmann told Joystiq in an e-mail. "If there was content that I felt I couldn't support, it wouldn't see the light of day." Gerstmann did not comment specifically on the edits made to his text review of Kane & Lynch, or the site's removal of the video review, but he did support the editing process in general. "If factual errors are made, I have no problem owning up to that error, correcting it, noting that a correction has been made, and feeling like an idiot for making the mistake in the first place," he said.
Gerstmann also directly addressed the somewhat pernicious rumor that he did not complete Kane & Lynch before he finished his review. "A reviewer's Xbox Live Gamercard is rarely a good place to look for answers about how much that reviewer has (or hasn't) played a game," he said. "For the record, I saw both endings in Kane & Lynch before writing about it."
As for his future plans, Gerstmann seems to be keeping his options open. "I'm not really sure what I want to do next," he said. "This whole situation has left me with a lot to think about. While this sort of clean break would be an acceptable time to think about trying game development, I feel like I still have more to say and do on the editorial side of the fence, too."
Surprisingly, the experience doesn't seem to have soured Gerstmann on video game journalism as a whole. "Despite the number of people who are taking these rumors ... to mean that game writing is ethically bankrupt, I don't feel that's the case," he said. "Either way, I'm currently keeping my options open and have been in contact with interesting people on both sides."Joystiq...
Certainly Jeff's statements ring true considering the folks over at 1UP quickly came to the support of Jeff's stand on his review and if they are hiring Jeff couldn't pick a much better place to work. I really look forward to seeing what Jeff Gerstmann does next considering I was all ways a huge fan of his work and the man himself. I have found Jeff to be both a straight shooter and an excellent writer. If I could pay, I would put out an offer to him myself.
Friday, November 30, 2007
More on Gertsmann's Firing
Hit the jump for the info in detail. I'm updating everything on the original post. I would just like to say that if this was the New York Times or the Washingtom Post firing a guy over a controversial story there would be people picketing the paper and writing angry letters to paper owners.
Secondly, I would love to know why the rest of the folks over at Gamespot haven't left. I know people have bills to pay but if it could happen to a veteran like Gerstmann it could happen to anyone.
-UPDATE- But wait there's more.... Most of your questions will be answered.
"Developments have slowed down a little bit over the weekend, but there is still plenty of chatter around the web about Gamespot's controversial firing of Jeff Gerstmann. Among the juicier bits from around the intertubes:One thing is clear: This story is not going away anytime soon.
- In response to a Gamespot forum thread, the new Gamespot Manager of Community Development said he is "eagerly anticipating the official word to be released on Tuesday."
- Gamespot has halted user reviews of Kane & Lynch after a flood of 1.0 ratings lowered the game's user score to a 2.6/10.
- Destructoid has registered cashwh0re.com and changed their front page banner in support of Gerstmann.
- GameSpot employee Aaron Thomas explains why more employees aren't speaking up on the matter: "This isn't GameSpot suddenly clamping down on me or any of us here--this is how it is for anyone with a job."
- Gamespot freelancer Frank Provo: "Personally, my respect for CNet is shot, and writing for GameSpot is going to feel like a chore for quite some time going forward."
- GameSpot users are reportedly canceling paid subscriptions left and right, and planning boycotts of Gamespot and its advertisers.
- Rumor has it that Gamespot forum moderator have been told to squelch any discussion of the controversy. This seems unlikely, though, as the main discussion of the topic on the site has reached 11,110 posts as of this writing. UPDATE: Numerous Gamespot moderators have written in saying discussion on their forums isn't being stopped, but redirected to one of these two threads to maintain order.
[Thanks to all the tipsters who sent items in]"Joystiq....
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Penny Arcade explains what happened to Jeff Gerstmann!
"After publishing a critical review of Eidos’ new shooter, Kane and Lynch: Dead Men, long-time Gamespot reviewer Jeff Gerstmann today finds himself without a job.According to a fellow Gamespot contributor and close friend of Gerstmann who wished to remain anonymous, the editor was fired Wednesday morning because of his negative review of the game, which he awarded a 6.0. Comparably speaking, Metacritic lists Kane and Lynch as currently having a 68% average from critics. I recently reviewed the game, bestowing it with a score of 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Eidos is heavily advertising Kane and Lynch on Gamespot this week, including interactive Flash banners.
The latest Penny-Arcade comic features a brief overview of this controversy. However, because the comic isn’t scheduled to ‘go live’ until tomorrow, commentary from neither Gabe nor Tycho is yet provided.
Gerstmann had been with Gamespot since 1996 and was largely responsible for its growth. Several past reviews of his have been controversial, including an 8.8 awarded to Twilight Princess and a 10.0 for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3.
It is possible that other factors contributed to Gerstmann dismissal in addition to the review, although this is completely unsubstantiated at the present. While we stand behind the information presented here and our source, no official announcement has been made by Gerstmann or Gamespot. Expect more details to emerge online in the next 24 hours"Primotech...
More on the way as I know it for sure. I don't want to print rumors but I don't honestly think we will know too much for a fact. Normally these kinds of things have a way of being made to silently go away.
UPDATE-Shacknews puts some more out there and it's not good!
"Report: GameSpot's Gerstmann Fired Due to Negative Kane & Lynch Review 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.)According to the reports, the layoff came after Kane & Lynch publisher Eidos took issue with the review and threatened to pull its considerable ad contract. GameSpot's front page is currently almost entirely re-skinned with Kane & Lynch imagery.
The rumor began bouncing around various industry circles over the past day, and this evening was reported by Kotaku. Popular webcomic Penny Arcade posted a strip about the alleged incident tonight, outside of its normal publishing schedule.
Shacknews can confidently confirm via its own sources that Gerstmann was indeed fired yesterday from his position at GameSpot. The source declined to comment as to whether the firing was directly related to the reported Eidos situation, but the circumstances are suspicious at the least.
Gerstmann had been an employee at GameSpot for about a decade, and took the place of former executive editor Greg Kasavin when Kasavin left the company to work for Electronic Arts as a producer"Shacknews...
UPDATE-Not much new but it's something
"We just got off the phone with Sarah Cain, a CNET spokesperson who wanted to amend CNET's previous statement to Joystiq 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."Joystiq...
-UPDATE
"It's been a couple weeks discussing reviews and reviewers around here, but somewhere along the way I neglected to mention that their job is essentially impossible. The 7-9 scale they toil under is largely the result of an uneasy peace between the business and editorial wings of the venue. No matter what score they give it, high or low, they're reviled equally by the online chorus. Apparently, even when they do it right they're doing it wrong.Jeff Gerstmann is no stranger to controversy. In general terms, Gamespot can be relied upon to give high-profile games scores which are slightly lower than their counterparts elsewhere. It's almost as though there is an algorithm in place there to correct the heady rush associated with cracking open an anticipated new title. Gerstmann's review of Twilight Princess cemented his reputation as a criminal renegade with no law but his own, even though he gave the game an 8.9 - a nine, essentially - out of ten.
I will tell you the Gerstmann Story as we heard it. Management claimed to have spoken to Jeff about his "tone" before, and no doubt it was this tone that created tensions between their editorial content, the direction of the site, and the carefully crafted relationships that allowed Gamespot to act as an engine of revenue creation. After Gerstmann's savage flogging of Kane & Lynch, a game whose marketing investment on Gamespot alone reached into the hundreds of thousands, Eidos (we are told) pulled hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of future advertising from the site.
Management has another story, of course: management always has another story. But it's the firm belief internally that Jeff was sacrificed. And it had to be Jeff, at least, we believe, precisely because of his stature and longevity. It made for a dramatic public execution that left the editorial staff in disarray. Would that it were only about the 6.0 - at least then you'd know how to score something if you wanted to keep your Goddamned job. No, this was worse: the more nebulous "tone" would be the guide. I assume it was designed to terrify them.
For Gabriel, this tale proves out his darkest suspicions. People believe things like this anyway, but they don't know it, and the shift from intuitive to objective knowledge is startling. I think it rarely gets to this point. The apparatus is very tight: there are layers of editorial control that can massage the score, even when the text tells a different tale. A more junior reviewer might have seen their Kane & Lynch review streamlined by this process, divested of its worrisome angles and overall troubling shape. It was Jeff Gerstmann's role high in the site's infrastructure that allowed his raw editorial content to pierce the core of the business.
(CW)TB out."PennyArcade...