Is Someone at Activision Asleep? COD 5 will be another WWII game?

On Gamer,"

Call of Duty 5 back to World War II

Story By Jay Filmer

Thought Call of Duty 4 meant no more WWII? Think again

Those of you who enjoyed the latest Call of Duty’s modern-day approach may be saddened to learn that Treyarch (the dev team responsible for three, and, who will quite possibly end up doing seven) is taking the series back to World War II for the fifth game in the series.

Well, that’s if a job ad on the Treyarch website is anything to go by.

The ad, which is for a level builder, in case you’re interested, doesn’t give away any concrete info as such, but after asking for applicants with “working experience with First-Person Shooter or Third-Person Shooter genres”, does go on to add, “if you’re a fan of World War 2 shooters, then even better!”.

Which if you ask us is a bit of a giveaway. Why would the ad say that if the person lucky enough to bag the job ends up on designing levels for a modern-day or futuristic shooter anyway?

What do you reckon? Are we reading too much into it? Also, what do you make of the step back to WWII? After the success of COD4, is this what you really want? As ever, let us know in the comments section below.

Oh, and cheers to forum user ‘farquad92’ for the heads up. Your stock is rising number 92…"

OK, I know it was a lot to ask for Infinity Ward to come back and do another Call of Duty so quickly. But how about just not making a Call of Duty game next year?

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.

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.

Jaffe Shows off Twisted Metal Head-On for the PS2?

Today. Playstation Blog had the exclusive story on David Jaffe and the first project from Eat Sleep Play. This game is for the PS2... Yes, you heard right. It's for the PS2! Seems Jaffe and crew can't get over their old console home. I hope one of these design geniuses will head over to a modern console. Yes, there certainly are plenty of PS2s out there; But considering some of the new Playstation 3s won't have backwards compatibility, there probably won't be as many customers out there as they might hope by the time this game releases.

Hopefully, Jaffe's next project will be for the PS3....

Kane and Lynch PR, you dirty fibbers!

" Kane & Lynch Site Fibbing About Reviews, Scores

It's not like the relationship between Kane & Lynch and review scores wasn't messy enough. But now this? Visitors to the game's official site will notice, once the page's flash intro is done, that two review scores for the game are flashed for your perusal. One from GameSpy, one from Game Informer. Both look positively glowing! Both give the game a very encouraging five stars! Thing is, both are...well, not real. They're fabricated. Lies, if you will.

GameSpy did not say "It's the best emulation of being in the midst of a Michael Mann movie we've ever seen" in their review of the game. They said that in their E3 2007 coverage. In other words, a preview. They also did not give the game five stars. They gave it three.

As for Game Informer, same deal. The highlighted quote does not appear in the review of the game. Nor do they give it five stars. Game Informer don't even score in stars. They gave it a 7/10.

To assist you in correcting your error, Eidos, and you in procuring all the necessary facts, dear reader, attached below are how the two review selections should appear.
Kane & Lynch Review [Game Informer]
Kane & Lyncn Review [GameSpy]
Official Kane & Lynch Site [Eidos]

Official Kane & Lynch Website LIES About Its Scores [Gamebump]"Kotaku,,

Wow, is there is really that much riding on this game to break all the rules and take all these chances to get it some sales?

Virtua Fighter 5 Version D Preview

Jeff Gerstmann speaks and there is a black out over at Gamespot!

Today, many Gamespot forum members have called for complete boycott of Gamespot and all CNET owned internet properties. This is a protest against the firing of Jeff Gerstmann over a disagreement over the review score of Kane and Lynch dead men. Head over to the jump for full details. Th e members are calling the boycott,Black Monday. In related news Gerstman finally speaks to Joystiq about his firing and his statements are as follows:

"Exclusive: Gertsmann speaks about K&L review, future

74 Comments by Kyle Orland Dec 3rd 2007 4:00AM
Filed under: Culture, Hacks

"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.

Call of Duty 5 and Guitar Hero 4 Confirmed!

Both titles have been confirmed from statements made by the newly minted Activision-Blizzard. The real question here is less about if these franchises would continue but when and how they will continue. This being that Call of Duty 4 is fresh out the gate as well as Guitar Hero 3 being fresh to publication. Most people thought that both developers would be making DLC not new games.
Therefore, any new titles created, at least from the Call of Duty camp would seem to be coming from someone else other than Infinity Ward. But most analysts now believe that since Call of Duty 4 did so well that Infinity Ward would be doing 5. But Call of Duty 2 was the most successful one in the history of the series and yet Call of Duty 3 was done by a different developer to a luke-warm response.
As far as Guitar Hero 4, perhaps this is a response to Rock Band's continuing content and the seeming lack of innovation from Guitar Hero 2 to Guitar Hero 3. This is possibly the Guitar Hero 3 that should have been. But banking on people having bought Guitar Hero 2 and 3 by making new and even harder tracks for GH4 seems a little insane. If they go back to the proverbial drawing board and come up with something completely new it might alienate those people who just bought GH2 and GH3.
Hopefully the statements that these games are in development only means that there are plans for them and that we won/t see either title for at least a year. Coming out sooner, would be jumping the gun on both titles and not allowing the franchises to properly mature. Activision is doing really well right now, but these are certainly the exceptions not the rule. Hopefully Activision will use it's experiences as a publisher to lead them into the future and not unnecessarily rush these two premier. franchises.

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:

• 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.
  

One thing is clear: This story is not going away anytime soon.

[Thanks to all the tipsters who sent items in]"Joystiq....

XBOX 360 Fall Update: 1UP brings us a lovely video

Discovery Channel's Rise of Video Games: It started out as history, what is it now?

" LEVEL TWO

• Premiere: Wednesday, Nov. 28, at 8 p.m. ET/PT
  In the late 1970s and 1980s, instead of controlling "things" like spaceships and tennis rackets, videogame technology let players command recognizable characters with real faces and back stories. Game developers were liberated to create more complex video games with heroic journeys — and Japanese creators like Shigeru Miyamoto rose to prominence with star characters Mario, Donkey Kong and Zelda. But in the 1990s, Generation X emerged and the games of their childhood couldn't satisfy the new teen angst that now permeated pop culture. With Sega's Genesis and Sony's PlayStation, gamers dismissed cutesy cartoon characters in favor of grittier heroes like Sonic the Hedgehog and anti-heroes in games like Grand Theft Auto III. As players grew up, their youthful idealism was replaced with a warier view of the world and a yearning for photorealistic, angry anti-heroes. This episode features interviews with Trip Hawkins (Silicon Valley entrepreneur and co-founder of Electronic Arts), Al Lowe (creator of Leisure Suit Larry), Tim Schafer (creator of Full Throttle) and other notable figures in the gaming industry."Discoverychannel...

OK, the first show was pretty bad. But this show? Who wrote this? The show begins where it left off. But when they reach the Playstation One they go directly to the present. Talking about the newest technology and trying to talk about how Hollywood has taken notice. The main theme of the show seems to be about stories in games. They try to say that Super Mario Brothers has a story? What story is that? Save the princess? I suppose that's a story. For a 2nd grader.

There is much hyperbole about how important games are becoming in the larger medium and I really hate to say that this is really an exaggeration. The mass media industries aren't taking any more notice of video games than just another form to publicize their latest film or try in some pathetic attempt to get more money out of people who play games. It's not about excitement or passion folks, it's about money. This also makes me wonder, if games are so important why isn't this show on CBS, ABC, or NBC rather than Discovery Channel?

I know I've been hard on this show. I am really happy it exists. I just wish it was better. But since it became cool to have shows about video games on cable, isn't that what we all have wanted...

HDCGAMER Podcast Episode 6

We do Newsstand this week and keep it under an hour. That isn't all but you are going to have to listen to find out that much.

Click here to subscribe

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

by Chris Remo Nov 29, 2007 9:09pm CST

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...

1UP gives words to our affliction with their MOST HATED things in Games!

Check it out. This article gives voice to just about every gamers pain. I can't wait to see if they continue with this. I have mentioned many of these things in reviews and it's nice to see that I'm not alone. Thanks 1Up...

Deus Ex 3 Debut Trailer