| theRepublic said: I read about the Jeff Gerstmann thing on Penny Arcade back when it happened. I thought "ohh, it's a conspiracy" like everyone else. But looking back on it, it seems more like sour grapes. He gave the game a 6 when the average was about a 6.5 (IGN gave it a 7 for comparison) which wasn't that far of the mark. Eidos was the publisher that was suposed to have put all the pressure on Gamespot, but thay aren't that big a publisher, are they? They're certainly no EA. Reading some of the reviews on Gerstmann's new website leads me to believe that Gamespot didn't lose anything in letting him go, and maybe is better off without him. We will never know the whole story, but you have to take Gerstmann's side with a grain of salt in my opinon. Although if it is true, I guess that would be pretty damning for Gamespot. I just don't see any real changes in Gamespot since he left. |
If you don't see the changes in GS since he left then you either dont want to see them, or you are not LOOKING at all.
There has been a massive and completely un-ignorable EXODUS of VETERAN game reviewers and journalists from the site, ALL of which have gone on the record about noone wanting to stay there due to a feeling of lack of job security. Whos to say writing an honest review wont get you axed? You really need to go read more of the actual EMPLOYEES who left Gamespots posts and rants. Not trusting Gerst is no reason for you to not believe GS is selling reviews, because there are TONS of others who have confirmed what happened. Trust Gerst or not, its just a fact. Its not speculation or rumormongering, what happened happened, and its a damn shame. We have known the "whole story" for a while now. I'm sorry but it annoys me to see you say "We don't have any details" or "We will never know" or "Perhaps it was just sour grapes" when theres more than enough material out there for you to go and seek out yourself and plenty of proof that the man was axed due to Eidos paying GS for lots of Adspace, then putting pressure on GS after the bad review of a game they were hoping to make a big splash with.
In fact a GS employee actually DETAILED how the merging of certain departments and changes in staff higher up the chain resulted in that nonsense where marketing gained the control it has within GS. I don't like Gerst. His reviews sucked, especially his Nintendo reviews. He sucked IMO, but that just doesn't justify what they did to him and why. Letting him go because they felt his writing sucked? Sure. Letting him go because he showed up to work Drunk with a shaved head? Ok. But firing the man because he did his job and rated a bad game badly, despite the fact that the publisher was pumping ad dollars into the company is wrong. And inexcusable. We have few reliable review sites as is due to bias (Some sites just hate the Wiimote period, Some are just in love with the 360, and others are bitter Nintendofans that hate the PS3) to let any more fall to that type of nonsense would be silly. Thats why theres such hatred for GS.
IGN doesn't sell their reviews, and they have different teams for each console. This prevents some guy who hates Nintendo and the games and nongames they make the Wiimote and ALL motion controls from reviewing Brawl. It prevents those types of things from happening and thats good. You get different scores for multiplats depending on each reviewers opinion, and thats perfectly fine. If you want to know which multiplat is the best then you need to stop looking and the number scores and read the TEXT in the review. Thats where you will find mention of any technical issues, and from there its up to you to decide what fits your taste better. No reviewer knows you better than you, they give their honest opinion and the rest falls on your shoulders.
