Report: GameSpot's Gerstmann Fired Due to Negative Kane & Lynch Review

by Chris Remo, Nov 29, 2007 7:09pm PST

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#257

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By: DM7 x Show Full Post

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o{lol}o

Dec 03, 2007 2:24pm PST

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o{lol}o : DM7
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- lol : DM7

#91

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By: utgaardsloke x Show Full Post

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First Greg left, then Rich. Now Jeff's been fired. All the old guys are now gone. Gamespot is dead to me :(

Nov 29, 2007 9:10pm PST

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First Greg left, then Rich. Now Jeff's been fired. All the old guys are now gone. Gamespot is dead to me ... : utgaardsloke
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- gspot started downhill after Greg, they used to be all about the hardcore gamer. Jeff probably tried to ... : shznit

#77

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By: burning eye x Show Full Post

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Wow, if gamespot had any kinda of gaming journalistic integrity they would've given Eidos the finger and made the threat known.

Nov 29, 2007 8:53pm PST

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Wow, if gamespot had any kinda of gaming journalistic integrity they would've given Eidos the finger and ... : burning eye
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  indeed, now that it is known how much credibility can they possibly have. Now every review I read from th... : nutcrackr
- Gamespot did give Eidos the finger, Jeff was the highest ranking editor and they all basically shit on th... : shznit

#165

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By: Ted168 x Show Full Post

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I work as a magazine games reviewer. Im shaking with fear now as ive got through my review copy of K&L and still have to review it (gulp!).

As for those comments about reviews being paid for. Actually giving items apart from the review unit isnt in fashion anymore. What you get now are huge "launch events". These are just shameless plugs to make a mini-E3 so you go "wow if its got this hype it must be good". I dont mind giving bad scores on games but there was one occasion when I was told by the company that sent me the game to "rethink your review because IGN gave it a good score". That was in reply to a 1/5 for a game that just stank. So you know I didnt cave and the review was shelved. Even if the reviewer isnt worried you can get blacklisted by the companies so you dont get any future games from them. If you get blisted with some of the big ones then you are in trouble!

I think it is very possible that Jeff got fired for a few bad reviews but just the one is possible but I dont know.

Nov 30, 2007 2:28am PST

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I work as a magazine games reviewer. Im shaking with fear now as ive got through my review copy of K&L an... : Ted168
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- and this is why I dont buy games based on review but actual players reports on the forums. If one were t... : shznit

#175

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By: JasonReece x Show Full Post

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Is there a good alternative to C|Net for mp3 or phone reviews since that is who this is coming from? Somehow I doubt a reviewer of those products would have even the slightest of integrity compared to a game reviewer.

Nov 30, 2007 3:44am PST

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Is there a good alternative to C|Net for mp3 or phone reviews since that is who this is coming from? Some... : JasonReece
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- cnet has terrible reviews. They go after bullet points and frequently miss or ignore serious problems no... : shznit

#199

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By: niceguynick x Show Full Post

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Eidos Forums Screenshot before the 'cleanup'

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/5830/eidosjn4.jpg

LOL

Nov 30, 2007 6:57am PST

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Eidos Forums Screenshot before the 'cleanup' http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/5830/eidosjn4.jpg L : niceguynick
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- wow. thanks for the screen grab. : pbmader
- zomg that is awesome, maybe now these corporate fucks will learn that this kind of behavior only hurts yo... : shznit

#67

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By: jason bergman x Show Full Post

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I don't buy it.

I mean, it's possible, but I respect GameSpot too much to believe something like this.

On the other hand, I respect J.G. enough to believe that if it came down to it, he'd quit before changing a score he believed was accurate.

But really, I don't believe this is true. ALL of the major sites gave the game a score like that:

http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/934403.asp

So I can't see why C|Net would have come down that hard on GameSpot.

Nov 29, 2007 8:37pm PST

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I don't buy it. I mean, it's possible, but I respect GameSpot too much to believe something like this.... : jason bergman
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#47

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By: slambast x Show Full Post

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The 6.0 review I don't think was the issue. His comments in the video is probably what did it. Saying 'Multiplayer is interesting, but I don't think this game is worth buying' is probably what got Eidos really upset. If I put that much advertising on the site, having the reviewer explicitly say not to buy the game would have seemed like a slap in the face. I think the other critiques were fine and not fire worthy.

I hope Eidos and GS gets lots of negative publicity over the this. I actually liked Gerstmann's reviews. I'd rather have someone being overly critical and still give a high score (> 8.5), than read a game informer review which just boosts its average score.

Nov 29, 2007 8:11pm PST

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The 6.0 review I don't think was the issue. His comments in the video is probably what did it. Saying '... : slambast
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#88

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By: burning eye x Show Full Post

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check out Gamespot's player's review for K & L

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/kanelynchdeadmen/players.html?tag=readerreviews;alluser

haha

Nov 29, 2007 9:05pm PST

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check out Gamespot's player's review for K & L http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/kanelynchdeadmen... : burning eye
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#247

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By: stevesan x Show Full Post

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wow. what does IO interactive have to say about this? they should join another publisher in protest. sure..K&L wasn't so hot...but IO is clearly a talented studio.

Nov 30, 2007 7:14pm PST

wow. what does IO interactive have to say about this? they should join another publisher in protest. sure... : stevesan

#214

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By: stratedge x Show Full Post

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Short sighted. This is how game piracy (and most piracy) is justifiable. People say when you talk about pirating games to try them out "just look at the reviews". Obviously, the problem there is that reviewing of both games and movies has been corrupted for a very long time. If the publishers are paying money to have lies printed about their game, then just how is it morally unjustified to demand to try the game before buying it anymore?

Nov 30, 2007 8:29am PST

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Short sighted. This is how game piracy (and most piracy) is justifiable. People say when you talk about p... : stratedge
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#210

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By: Jeepy McJeeperton x Show Full Post

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I remember when Gamespot was covered in ads for the underwhelming Freedom Fighters game a few years back. Oddly enough they gave it a 9.3 score. So much for their integrity.

Nov 30, 2007 8:18am PST

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I remember when Gamespot was covered in ads for the underwhelming Freedom Fighters game a few years back.... : Jeepy McJeeperton
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- wat : feek
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  Wasn't freedom fighters a fantastic game though? : stgdz
  - yes : feek
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  Freedom Fighters deserved the 9.3. Game rocked. : Sturm08
  - Not really - it was pretty uninspired. The fact that you don't hear anyone clamoring for it today should... : wytefang
- A well deserved 9.3 I might add : wendigo
- I thought Freedom Fighters was pretty awesome. : deject
- wow they gave that a 9.3? i thought that game was garbage : kill9

#244

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By: OverloadUT x Show Full Post

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The Penny Arcade strip wasn't outside their regular publishing schedule. They do comics Mon, Wed, Fri, and usually have the comic up a few hours early. Since this was Thursday night, it was simply Friday's comic going up early (which is not early for them).

Nov 30, 2007 3:15pm PST

The Penny Arcade strip wasn't outside their regular publishing schedule. They do comics Mon, Wed, Fri, an... : OverloadUT

#231

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By: pbmader x Show Full Post

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this is so fucking subversive of Eidos to do something like this...

Nov 30, 2007 10:06am PST

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this is so fucking subversive of Eidos to do something like this... : pbmader
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  are you Harvey Smith? : yAak
  - Nah, Smith would have said that it was super fucking subversive. : Johnny Law

#234

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By: sinclair4217 x Show Full Post

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You would think that companies that deal in the digital world would by now understand the Streisand Effect and how utterly devastating it can be to their image.

Complete...fucking...morons, the both of them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect

Nov 30, 2007 10:39am PST

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You would think that companies that deal in the digital world would by now understand the Streisand Effec... : sinclair4217
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- Removing the video review is the icing on the dumbass cake. It buys them nothing, but confirms our suspi... : unreleased

#233

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By: rythex x Show Full Post

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Gamespot and Eidos just gave themselves a whole lot more negative publicity than that review ever gave them heh.

Nov 30, 2007 10:32am PST

Gamespot and Eidos just gave themselves a whole lot more negative publicity than that review ever gave th... : rythex

#226

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By: derean x Show Full Post

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After watching the video review, there is only one scenario that seems plausible to me.

Gerstmann had played the game before release, and thought it was crap and was annoyed at Gamespot for agreeing to take part in the big publicity stunt on the web site (obviously Eidos trying to save a crappy title with a huge marketing campaign).

So he probably reviewed the game a little more aggressively than was needed because he wanted to "get back at them". I'm pretty sure he was expecting to be fired, just from his manners of "I dont give a shit whats going to happen".

Nov 30, 2007 9:17am PST

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After watching the video review, there is only one scenario that seems plausible to me. Gerstmann had ... : derean
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  Yeah, I just watched the video review on YouTube, and have to say, it was a little more negative than nor... : donjuancarlos
  - maybe this guy rules and should start posting here : feek

#158

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By: Avatar x Show Full Post

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What about the guy that gave CoD4 an 80? Every other review was 90 or above and this guy single handedly took us down over half a point.

Baaaaaaaaah.

Nov 30, 2007 1:42am PST

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What about the guy that gave CoD4 an 80? Every other review was 90 or above and this guy single handedly ... : Avatar
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#222

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By: MasonL87 x Show Full Post

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This is bullshit of the highest caliber. Gerstmann fit in at Gamespot perfectly, and just seemed like a really cool guy. Now the only legacy guy that is there is big Ryan. This sucks major balls, Eidos should bite their tongues and should've spent more time making the gameplay better. It's not like Gamespot is the only site to give K&L a lousy review, everybody did. Eidos, quit waving around your ad-money like you're threatening these sites. Gamespot, you shouldn't have fired Gerstmann over this shit. If it was any other reviewer I'm sure everything would be cool.

Nov 30, 2007 8:54am PST

This is bullshit of the highest caliber. Gerstmann fit in at Gamespot perfectly, and just seemed like a ... : MasonL87

#220

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By: lsc78 x Show Full Post

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Hey Eidos.

Kane and Lynch fucking sucks.

And Fuck You.

Nov 30, 2007 8:52am PST

Hey Eidos. Kane and Lynch fucking sucks. And Fuck You. : lsc78

#217

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By: feek x Show Full Post

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So this is incredibly bad publicity for both Eidos and Gamespot. How could they have not seen this coming, or do they just not care?

Nov 30, 2007 8:48am PST

So this is incredibly bad publicity for both Eidos and Gamespot. How could they have not seen this coming... : feek

#212

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By: mancide x Show Full Post

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I don't care how may pretty skins I can put on Gamespot. I played the damn game. It's not that great. Sure, it has a great idea, it has a great concept, but it has poor fucking execution. It doesn't matter that this is the video-game "Heat". Maybe that wasn't such a hot idea that everyone thought it would be. I don't know, I think they just stumbled on the execution and the gameplay.

But seriously, everyone gave it similar reviews, so it's not like they were just picking on it.

Nov 30, 2007 8:27am PST

I don't care how may pretty skins I can put on Gamespot. I played the damn game. It's not that great. Sur... : mancide

#187

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By: imperator x Show Full Post

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Personally i just see Eidos doing their job, why would you spend any significant amount of your marketing budget on a site with a bad review, when it could be better spent elsewhere, gamespot is at fault for not having the integrity to stand up to them.

Nov 30, 2007 5:07am PST

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Personally i just see Eidos doing their job, why would you spend any significant amount of your marketing... : imperator
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  or they could worry about publishing good games instead of threatening objective journalism sites. It's ... : kainen1
  - ^^ IAWTP -- oh boo hoo your game sucks ass, so you're going to threaten the site financially? That's fuck... : Madwacker

#125

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By: Porkasaurus x Show Full Post

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The only way this seems reasonably true is if Gamespot higher ups directly told Gerstmann what to give the game as a score. If he said "fuck that, I'm giving it whatever I want" then he's insubordinate in which case firing is in line with what I would expect.

I don't know anything about Gamespot management specifically, so I don't know how much integrity they have.

Nov 29, 2007 10:27pm PST

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The only way this seems reasonably true is if Gamespot higher ups directly told Gerstmann what to give th... : Porkasaurus
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#198

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By: byorn x Show Full Post

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Another site saying they have talked to an anonymous who confirms the firing and the reason why:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=670#more-670

link to the video review at the bottom of the page.

Nov 30, 2007 6:44am PST

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Another site saying they have talked to an anonymous who confirms the firing and the reason why: http:... : byorn
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- but other then that, he liked the game? :) : Ziz

#203

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By: mnsnota x Show Full Post

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"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."
Are there not any laws that regulate this type of collusion? Gerstmann was probably given a nice severance package because this has lawsuit written all over it.

Nov 30, 2007 7:51am PST

"According to the reports, the layoff came after Kane & Lynch publisher Eidos took issue with the review ... : mnsnota

#201

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By: sherwinpg x Show Full Post

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i do like gamespot's site, i visit it regularly to check on review numbers (Usually checking user reviews moreso than actual reviewer) - yeah this hurts what i thought about them, not that i took every review as the holy grail but now i've gotta weave through even more player reviews to get a clearer picture on a game....damnitttttttttttt

Nov 30, 2007 7:36am PST

i do like gamespot's site, i visit it regularly to check on review numbers (Usually checking user reviews... : sherwinpg

#139

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By: JasonReece x Show Full Post

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I don't think he should be fired for giving Kane & Lynch a bad score but I do think he should be fired if The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift is one his favorite films, even if he's a game critic and not film.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Gerstmann

I'm sorry but the man had to go.

Nov 30, 2007 12:06am PST

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I don't think he should be fired for giving Kane & Lynch a bad score but I do think he should be fired if... : JasonReece
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- Hahaha : aznboysix
- But wait: "Purchased Garou: Mark of the Wolves on the Neo-Geo for about $1200." GOOD MAN. : unreleased
- FU IT'S A GOOD MOVIE!!! : phate81

#192

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By: kaijuseijin x Show Full Post

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If there was any doubt reviews are bought and paid for, this is it. Never, ever, ever trust a review someone gives. How anyone can ever trust reviews again, especially coming from Gamespot is beyond me.

Nov 30, 2007 5:49am PST

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If there was any doubt reviews are bought and paid for, this is it. Never, ever, ever trust a review some... : kaijuseijin
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  Edit-Ugh, Shacknews I trust though. :P : kaijuseijin
  - What if someone is fluffing Remo's garfield behind the scenes to get higher scores though? You never know... : avatar_58
- reviews are not usually important enough to be paid for. The only ones that could be influenced are the e... : byorn

#49

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By: kingdepork x Show Full Post

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A lot of people thought his reviews were too cynical and didn't like him. I loved it. I always looked at his reviews as "when the hype is all gone, what will most people think of this game?" A lot of games are substandard and hyped as fuck. if he takes a shit on them, good. Plus a 6 doesn't mean it's terrible, but that's a whole other debate.

It's a beautiful view of the bullshit that goes on behind the scenes that we expected, but were never really sure of.

Nov 29, 2007 8:13pm PST

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A lot of people thought his reviews were too cynical and didn't like him. I loved it. I always looked ... : kingdepork
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- Agreed. Jeff always tried to keep it real. : utgaardsloke
- Exactly, I'm glad something like this happened tbh, bit of a slap in the face to these review sites. prom... : niceguynick

#186

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By: bagelcc x Show Full Post

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Anyone have a link to a youtube of this? I looked but cant find it

Nov 30, 2007 5:02am PST

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Anyone have a link to a youtube of this? I looked but cant find it : bagelcc
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- toggle
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FuJ81sDR2o : Bobangry
  - haha awesome E I D O S ' D : bagelcc

#134

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By: timaste x Show Full Post

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This is why I hate all gaming press except shack.

Nov 29, 2007 11:48pm PST

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This is why I hate all gaming press except shack. : timaste
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  Until Remo signs a recorddeal at Sony and bans Haiku for not liking Assassin's creed. : [7]kami
  - I think this would just make me like the place more! : Evil Benius
- Leak us some news or you're banned! : d fluke

#162

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By: engelak x Show Full Post

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This just makes me sad. I'm happy to have the Shack at times like this. Think of all the attention Kane and Lynch is going to get for this.

Nov 30, 2007 2:19am PST

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This just makes me sad. I'm happy to have the Shack at times like this. Think of all the attention Kane a... : engelak
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- Yeah, but think about bad press and general hate toward Eidos, C|Net and Gamespot (especially to the latt... : Nitrium

#57

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By: kingdepork x Show Full Post

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The Eidos forum looks purrrrty. http://forums.eidosgames.com/forumdisplay.php?f=72

Nov 29, 2007 8:24pm PST

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The Eidos forum looks purrrrty. http://forums.eidosgames.com/forumdisplay.php?f=72 : kingdepork
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- Shit right when i post it, it exploded from negative energy. : kingdepork
- haha. That's awesome. Personally, I like the guy calling himself "Jeff Gerstmann Militia". : PoweredBySoy
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  Wow that is great, they should really just take their forums down. : dmaownsyou
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    I cant get it to come up. : Freon
    - easy joke goes here. : j0nchan
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  Should someone tell them that Gamespot fired Gerstmann, not Eidos? I mean, sure, pressure from Eidos led... : trOmblyj
  - Let 4chan have its fun. One less raped underage furry schoolgirl. :( : Ebu
- I just got on. Woooo venting alert! : donjuancarlos
- this is great stuff! Internet vigilantism! : utgaardsloke
- I have to admit, it's very funny. : pigvomit
- wow they got raided by everyone hahahaha : datoo
- hahah wow, what a shitstorm : yAak
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  wow ... there are some ... uhh ... really nasty pictures in some of those threads. I think I'm going to g... : qwpeoriu
  - all hail my supperior alt+f4 reflexes. posting on stoofoo has taught me that. : Hoax
- Yeah its a bit fucked up :/ : thewindcriesmary
- ***NWS*** : imperator
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  LOL "We are currently making a change to the forums. They will be up shortly. Please check back later... : aznboysix
  - haha seems like the gerstmann militia managed to sink the forum. : Hoax
- We must remember that C|Net or Gamespot's Staff is as bad as Eidos (if it really was Eidos who asked to f... : Nitrium

#153

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By: much2much x Show Full Post

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This may be true. But what if it isn't?

The video review isn't well done at all. The swearing rant is sloppy and the hating the characters thing isn't described very well. The other issues with the controls sound legitimate and I'm sure are hard to articulate. The review might not have been satisfactory enough for their editorial staff even. What if it really was just a big shouting match over the quality of his work that got him fired?

Nov 30, 2007 12:56am PST

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This may be true. But what if it isn't? The video review isn't well done at all. The swearing rant is ... : much2much
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  (Random speculation here.) The video could have been an extremely unprofessional final Fuck You as a resu... : jake2000
  - toggle
    I'm mildly surprised after actually watching the review that there's really nothing wrong with it. It's ... : unreleased
    - It didn't bother me much either, but people seem to be pointing large fingers at it. : jake2000

#173

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By: T-900 x Show Full Post

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This is what happens when you're paid to review games by companies that derive much of their revenue from the makers. It's a biased system. The only trustworthy review is a voluntary review.

I only use Metacritic these days, checking the top and bottom of the list to work out an average between lunatic hype and optimistic stupidity versus the pessimistic whores at the bottom of the ranking. Seems to work.

Nov 30, 2007 2:58am PST

This is what happens when you're paid to review games by companies that derive much of their revenue from... : T-900

#151

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By: mallfouf x Show Full Post

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Tim T. quit Cnet. I am not sure of the exact reason, but the threads are speculating his action is out of solidarity for Jeff.

http://www.gamespot.com/users/TimT/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25233420#post_comment

WTF is going on at Gamespot.

I have been a subscriber at GS for years, and i hope we get to the bottom of this really soon, because if they're taking bribes for better scores, i will seriously cancel my account and not look back. I hope it's not the case because i really enjoyed the video reviews.

Nov 30, 2007 12:38am PST

Tim T. quit Cnet. I am not sure of the exact reason, but the threads are speculating his action is out o... : mallfouf

#146

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By: OrkO x Show Full Post

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http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa261/anthony105/jeffgif_2.gif

Nov 30, 2007 12:32am PST

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa261/anthony105/jeffgif_2.gif : OrkO

#140

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By: Portax x Show Full Post

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That's fucked up. I hope he bounces back quickly, creates his own review site, and calls it "Kane and Lynch Sucks Balls."

Nov 30, 2007 12:08am PST

That's fucked up. I hope he bounces back quickly, creates his own review site, and calls it "Kane and Lyn... : Portax

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