reviewer fired over kane and lynch review

[Himuro]

http://kotaku.com/gaming/rumor/gamespot-editor-fired-over-kane--lynch-r eview-328244.php

[Leb]

It's completely speculation at this point. The informant, who refused to identify himself, hasn't been proven to be someone privy to these kinds of secrets.

Both Gamespot and Gerstmann have been silent. And I will probably not research this topic any further, since it does not interest me in the least (stumbled upon it by chance).

[Tullaryx]

I know there are people who say that they never look at game reviews anyway so this might not be too much of a loss. While there's always been a certain amount of bias in people's reviews a sites like Gamespot, IGN, 1Up and others they mostly do a very good job of explaining why they like or don't like a certain game.

I'm surprised that it took this long for someone at one of this major gaming sites that rely on revenues from ads put up by gaming companies to cave to said gaming companies. Well, i really don't think they get fancy cigars, rooms and flights or even get laid on the publisher's tab. What they do get is the chance to play early builds of upcoming games months before anyone else. They also get copies of the game once it goes gold to play ahead of everyone else so reviews of it could be posted within days of a game's release.

I think the fact that places like Kotaku and Penny Arcade are willing to bring this news to light may make the editors of these gaming sites rethink their relationship with gaming publishers. With Gamespot part of the CNet company and this news coming to light this may not go away anytime soon. CNet has always been seen as being more objective with their reporting and this sure doesn't seem to be something they want to taint their reputation.

It's gonna be weird not to see Gerts with the rest of the Gamespot guys going off to lunch. Yes, I have met Gertsmann and the other Gamespot guys since the Gamespot office is half a block from where I work and we pretty much go to the same places for lunch. I'm wondering if the rest of the Gamespot guys are under a gag order in case Gertsmann decides to sue for unfair termination.
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[Himuro]

[Leb]

The guys at Penny Arcade jump on anything, so I laugh at the thought that the article suddenly gains credibility because a webcomic was made about it. I don't think you realize how ridiculous that actually sounds.

I read this article early on, so anything about this story aside from Kotaku is news to me. However, "mods at Gamespot" does not equal "staff at Gamespot". They usually have their own (separate) accounts which they use to comment. Usually infrequently.

The fact of the matter is that there is more than likely a string of events that led up to this termination, and I would imagine the Kain and Lynch thing was simply the final straw. Honestly, a man who gives a Tony Hawk game a 10 isn't in his right mind anyway.

[Username]

Come on Leb don't be like that, You can't use a any review he had about a game you didn't like to justify him losing his job. Also the "Kain and Lynch thing" can't be a final straw at all becasue firing someone becasue they did their job as defined by their employer while the employer wanted them to be slanted based on ads is not only wrong but it is grounds for a law suit.
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[Himuro]

You must be shitting me Leb. He gave THPS 3 a 10 back at the height of its popularity. I mean, look at THPS3's gameranking's profile.

lol @ The final straw. You must be kidding me.

How old are you Leb? 12?

As for the rest of your post: These are gamespot staff members, not simple mods. This is all over the place. Do you really think Gamespot staff would really stay quiet when stuff like this is happening all over the internet, especially their own forums?



Finally, you will be seeing more articles on this tomorrow.

Here's another article on it:

http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/11/sources-gamespo.html
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[Leb]

[Username]

O-K. Now that Leb has taken care of that let's try and discuss this without flaming one another?

I still contest that they have the right to fire someone for something like this. He gave reviews for games and he isn't supposed to review it based on the readers impressions of a game. He's suppose to review it based on his "Professional" opinion and sometimes he'll give bad reviews to games that a wide audience might end up liking or vice-versa.

He can't see the future, he can only use his own judgment. Which is what reviewers should be doing. What they shouldn't be doing is mis-leading people just so they can please their advertisers, That isn't a review it's a lie.
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[Yvl]

That line of threads was mostly by a few of the same person spamming again and again.

But yeah, typically you'll never see less than a 7.0 for a game from a major company because the publisher pays them off. I've known this for ages. However, actually FIRING the guy is a terrible business move, as you can see from the reaction here.
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[Overdose]

Its dreadful that someone was just expressing their oppinion about a game, in all fairness looking at the game I have to agree with some of his points abouth Kane and Lynch. The fact he got fired because of this is just ridiculous, there are many games developers out there who make sub par games and need to make do with average/fair reviews whilst other companies hype up games and throw money at games to make sure it sells well. Doing this by manipulating the media and in doing that in deceiving us (if you seriously take reviews into consideration).

Now I know from a trainee/student games designer the stance on how they see games journalists from one of the lectures I had last year on my course. Game journalists are frowned at by designers due to them looking for every flaw in a game, blaming this on the fact that they are the ones who failed to get into design and are being bitter because they are so crap (I was actually told something along the line of that).

I agree with Yvl, its a dreadful buisness move to fire the guy, then putting a gag order on his colleagues when its sort of obvious something has happened. This is one reason why i dont trust reviews. I gave props to an official playstation review of the new superman game in the past, it took up nearly 5 pages obviously due to the company wanting coverage but the verdict by the mag was that the game was 5/6 out of 10. People should have the right to say what they want when reviewing a game, definately shaking my head at Eidos over this as I was a fan of Hitman which was a very good game.
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[Sophita]

Dismissing the guy just because a sponsor threw a fit isn't just bad business practice, it's just plain stupid considering it's easy grounds for a lawsuit. I'm guessing if this guy really did get let go for just giving some game a bad review, one that someone will be filing soon. Very, very soon. I would say even "as I type" but it's around 2 in the morning in California as I type this, so that seems a bit unlikely.

I'm not sure if there's really a story here or not. Of course, reviewers are paid for their reviews - video game companies would not send free stuff to reviewers just to be nice. And I'm sure there's been kickbacks under the table for a positive review; matter of fact, isn't it a common and accepted practice in Famitsu? I'm pretty sure I've heard that before.

This, really, is the problem with any reviewing media that relies mainly on ad revenue; there's always the chance that a sponsor's movie/music/game/dish soap/wookie toy dispenser/etc. will not be the brilliant, sparkling diamond the makers want it to be to a reviewer. What do you do then? The most ideal of sponsors wouldn't care, but most companies aren't exactly looking for journalistic integrity: They're looking to sell their brand and their product. And when they get a bad review, well, if it has any power at all, then there will be people who will not buy the product based on that review. I suppose one could say that amatuer reviewers, then, are ideal in that they are free from corporate bias, but even that in today's corporate world is rarely true. We wouldn't debate "console wars" if brand didn't matter in videogames. Pretty much everyone is biased towards or against something.

I think the only thing anyone can do is not rely on any one review, but read a wide review if one wants to get a wider swath of opinion. I suppoe through combining different perspectives, you'd at least form a fuller picture of the aspects of what the game/etc. is.

Personally, though, I think of reviews as previews, for the most part: something to tell you the basics about the game, and report anything that either stands out as particularly great in the game or stands out as particularily awful.

All and all, I don't think this will get that much ink outside of the gaming community. Gamespot isn't saying anything, and I don't think the world at large is that bothered about the prospect of bought videogame reviews. And if it doesn't get mainsteam press, I don't see it stopping as big a company as CNET, which owns quite a bit of the tech sector on the web.

Although I do hope it does at least open some discussion. I don't think this is a topic without merit.
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[Futch]

[Himuro]

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/50134

[Ujitsuna]

Wouldn't really shock me if it were true to be honest, many a good games review site/magazine/TV show has rotted because of too much attention or sponsors influencing the way the they operate.