Money talks - advertisement money, that is

[fastpunk]

Well, yesterday's OnTheSpot show (which Jeff hosts) was canceled on the last moment. I remember seeing the countdown to the show's beginning on the site and then it was gone. There was no show either... too bad. It's just another proof of how things really work in the gaming media.

 

[VonVentrue]

Frankly, the mere fact all the big gaming sites allow themselves to be threatened makes them lose all credibility.
Truth be told, we've known that they're rotten to the bone for quite a while now, so... No surprise here.

 

[fastpunk]

For every action there's a reaction. Take a look at the player reviews for Kane & Lynch on Gamespot.

 

[Amasius]

I like how open-minded Eidos reacts:

It is a rumour. That is all we here know.

And there will be no further discussion.

Sounds familiar...

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

:Sigh: And another publisher tries to dam the great river of truth. The information leaked. No sense in denying it.

 

[Herbert West]

:Sigh: And another publisher tries to dam the great river of truth. The information leaked. No sense in denying it.

For doing that they deserve a huge "dumbfuck" banner on their site. The thing is all over the internet, it won't dissapear when they turn their back on it.
If anything GS and Eidos PR teams deserve a kick in the face. Are they sleeping or what?

 

[Kingston]

Well if anything, we now have confirmation that Gamespot is run by a giant bunch of pussies. Or do I mean a bunch of giant pussies. Either will do.

Edit: His "money eidos has lost so far" blog post has been removed.

 

[Hory]

When censoring starts, you know that they have absolutely no intention or respect for truth and honesty - and it can hardly get lower than that. I don't know why, but I find it better if they out-right lied than if they censored everyone else.

 

[Herbert West]

Good, good! If they really backstabbed the guy, they deserve the worst. All the better if they shoot themselves in the foot- justice?

 

[Hazelnut]

Well if anything, we now have confirmation that Gamespot is run by a giant bunch of pussies. Or do I mean a bunch of giant pussies. Either will do.

Edit: His "money eidos has lost so far" blog post has been removed.

Can anyone post it here?

 

[Herbert West]

It was on gamespot itself, no wonder they deleted his blog. It was an appeal for GS subscribers to cancel their subscription, a link to the cancelation page, and the total sum of money lost by gamespot due to cancelations by people who commented on his post writing that they unsubscribed.
The sum was arround 2300 USD - that makes about 70 canceled subscribtions.
2300 $ is nothing for GS, however the message is expressed in the language the understand- money.

 

[cuthbert]

Does this mean deus ex 3 will get a good review now? Seriously this guy was a douche, he gave twilight princess a high score despite a slamming it for not innovating and being similar to the previous games (which was true).

 

[LRP]

Well given that he was let go for giving this score of 6 for Kane and Whatever, chances are, he dare NOT give the Princess whatever game a low score, but rather stated the truth of the Princess game in the text of his review for all to read?

We all KNOW these guys dare not give a truthful score to not just Edios games, but other big game publishers least they loose all their preview/interview access to these people.

The push is to be the first to get the news, and write it up at their game sites, because that's what sells and draws in people to their sites. Something very easy to spot when one sees what draws their scores in the 9's and so on. I don't even bother with the big gaming sties and their reviewers any more, preferring to go to smaller, still independent sites to get an idea if a game is worthwhile, that and user forums, fanboys aside, give me a pretty good idea if a game is something I want to bother with.

 

[LRP]

What I really don't get at all is how these so called journalists at these sites, can get up and go to work day after day after day and still continue to live with themselves. What does it feel like, I wonder, to review something one knows isn't all that great and have to give it a high sore? IMO? I think a lot of them had Oblivion's number but rather than alienate Bethes and further access to other products, went overboard. A lot of these guys are experienced gamers and can't help but know something s's a piece of crap when they play it.

A PR guy can push a load of bullshit hype knowing that is what he's paid to do, but a journalist, who's supposed to represent the interests of the consumers who come to the site, has much to answer for.

 

[Krafter]

LOL, gaming media.

All this is not really news to anyone. All the mainstream sites are corrupt. They are the marketing arm of the publishers. I don't take any reviews seriously, anywhere.

This is both why I would like the Codex to do more 'official' reviews, and why I wouldn't like them to all at the same time.

 

[Marsal]

I have not read the review in question nor have I played the game in question, but I will comment on the situation

I watched a few video reviews on GS (of older games too), couple of days ago. Yes, I was supposed to be studying... The guy's reviews were pretty decent, I liked him more than the other reviewers and remembered his name (I don't read the names of authors of written reviews). So that's +1 for him in my book.

I have seen K&L in action and I really don't think it's a bad game. Reminded me a bit of Hitman (same developers?). It could be a 6 on a "real" 1-10 scale. But if Oblivion and Unreal get 9+ grades, I think it deserves at least 7.5 from my limited experience (I didn't play it, but the action seamed "solid" and I heard that the story is pretty interesting).

I think he brought this on himself, but the editor should have known better to publish it, if it was that big of a deal (and it seams it is). There was no need to trash the game (6.0 score is trashing by GS standards). He should have given it 7.2 (neutral) and left the tone of the review unchanged, keeping his "integrity" and his job. I mean, who would buy the game based solely on 7.2 score and a negatively toned review?

I know I'll get flamed for the above statement, but the game is somewhat innovative and I'll be sure to play it and inform The Codex of its real "value" (as soon as I get my rig in order). The Hitman games were also a bit "iffy" in some parts, but I enjoyed them and think they are great games. The same goes for STALKER.

Eidos must have thought their bribes were not good enough. I bet one of the arguments involved Oblivion and Bethesda's way of handling bribes. They should hire Pete Hines (or at least learn how it's done from him).

 

[Hory]

The sum was arround 2300 USD - that makes about 70 canceled subscribtions.
2300 $ is nothing for GS, however the message is expressed in the language the understand- money.

It was about 3360 when I saw it last, and it would have kept increasing (if only on paper).

 

[Koby]

A user comment I liked on DailyTech coverage :

...
To allow a writer to decline writing something due to an inherent bias requires a very high degree of integrity as a news service.

Gamespot clearly lacks the integrity necessary, if they chose to fire a writer based on a negative review of a client's products. They pay him to create content - not to report the company line. It's fundamental.

Either you're saying he should have been honest with his dishonest bosses, in which case it seems he would've been fired anyways; OR you're suggesting he should've stuck his head in the sand and "towed the company line" to save his neck, sacrificing his integrity, the integrity of Gamespot and betraying his audience.

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

The last time I checked the link with the cancelation it was something 3300. Now it's gone.

Now it's the time that the "BIG" company and GS learned the power of the internet - where the real power belongs to the people/users :twisted:

 

[Tinkies]

Pretty off topic, but since Gamespot is the topic of the day here, and I really don't want to start a new thread,
http://www.gamespot.com/news/show_b...vert&om_clk=latestnews&tag=latestnews;title;0

And on topic, this doesn't surprise me in the least. I wasn't aware that anyone actually still took the reviews of the major gaming sites seriously anymore.

 

[fastpunk]

Btw, anyone know a link to the K&L video review that got Jeff fired? Gamespot took it down so...

 

[Marsal]

Btw, anyone know a link to the K&L video review that got Jeff fired? Gamespot took it down so...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBD0cUeeEQc

Just saw it. It is pretty harsh, but it does seam credible, so I'm backing off of my previous comments. I'll have to try it for myself.

Oh and if I was Eidos, I would have fired his ass too

EDIT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqOmVnvxVf8

The guy worked at GS for 11 years? GS really are fucking assholes

 

[A user named cat]

Three or four years ago they were an absolutely top notch site.

Gamespot has sucked cock for quite a while, stemming back further than just 3-4 years. I remember realizing that they were twits the day their Chrono Cross review came up giving it a perfect score, then doing the same for other games that were nowhere near perfect or deserving of such blind praise.

Their forums became trash when they merged them with gamefaqs.

More like Gamefaqs' game only boards became trash when cJayc merged with Gamespot and brought upon their hoard of dipshit users. 95% of their userbase are bottom of the gene pool, complete morons. Gamefaqs has always had its good share of dumbasses (that you can just put on ignore), but nowhere near the level of Gspot.

 

[Marsal]

I wonder if we are possibly getting the story backward. I wonder if Gerstmann knew he was going to get fired, and hammered the game as a sort of an "up yours" to his former employers.
This would have been a master stroke on his part by making GS look bad, and making himself look the good guy with the proof being what happens next.

Interesting theory

 

[fastpunk]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBD0cUeeEQc

Holy shoot! He started off the review like a mad bull!!! "It's an ugly game!" He seemed to make some valid points but wow, what a beginning! I can understand why the bitches at Eidos were mad... not to mention the ending: he said that K&L is probably not worth the purchase. Capital crime!!! To the gallows!

Jeff's got my respect to be perfectly honest. I can't say I agreed with all of his reviews but he always seemed to make some good point along the way, plus he was pretty good at hosting shows (or co-hosting while Rich Gallup was still around). GS is falling apart.