Gamespot fires Gerstmann

Gamespot shuts down user reviews for the game after more than a few users seemed to not like it much....

 

But if he didn't like the game (as he clearly didn't), why would he go play it on his own time right after he played it to review it for work?

 

This made the news papers in Denmark, first time i ever had read something like that in a danish newspaper.

 

Many car magazines use advertisments from car manufacturers and are supplied test vehicles. Many movie reviewers see free advanced screenings. Most of the techology sites are loaned review versions and have adverstisements of said products on the site. If we want, we can lump all advertisement supported reviews and "advanced copy" priveledged reviews as susceptible to corruption, but we shouldn't say the game industry is any more corrupt than the others.

Also, there are many reasons why a reviewer would not be completely transparent other than money. Reviewers often represent their site so they may need to pass it through an editor to make sure it has consensus. They may also not want to have a reputation as a curmudgeon or they may not want people to know they enjoy the "Barbie Dressing" game. They may be system biased (even sub-consciously). Etc, etc.

 

Reviewers play the games on their dev kits for the most part, so those achievements do not show on their xbox live profile.

 

I've canceled my subscription. If they had a good story, they'd have had a post up sooner, I'd hope. If it turns out I was wrong, then maybe I'll renew. For now though, if things are what they seem, I'd rather they get some swift feedback.

 

No point in discussing here what has been discussed elsewhere but someone pointed out that the details in the [written] review indicates someone familiar with the game.

As for why he only has so few points on his personal account has already been addressed but I would guess that since he is an achievement-*ho*e he wanted to get a few quick ones before turning back the disc or whatever.

Anyway, judging by how the other reviewers have reacted I would say he wasn't fired for legitimate reasons.

 

Advertising is a good thing. It pays the bills and keeps prices reasonable. But there is a tradeoff: Your biggest clients have more than a cursory say in how you conduct your business.

 

Assassin's Creed was also advertised like crazy on Gamespot and they gave it a way higher score than most other big sites and almost 10% over the current metascore. They didnt mention any major problems (there are MANY) and even say that the PS3 version runs smoother when it does not. I have a feeling the Cnet management want the reviewers to play ball with "AAA" titles that bring in lots of ad revenue. If you read the post on ValleyWag.com from an anonymous Gspot employee he says some interesting things, like how they have to give the publisher a heads-up on bad scores and are not allowed to put up a negative review at launch but have to wait a while so the review doesn't affect the intial sales, while 9.0 or higher reviews can go up even before the game comes out. Gamespot is dead to me now, i have cancelled my account and I'm never going back, fu Cnet.

 

Did many people here actually have a subscription?

I'm trying to quantify how much difference people "voting with their feet" might actually make.

 

Someone has it on their gamespot blog, the link has been posted earlier in this thread I think.

I'm trying to find it again.

 

http://uk.gamespot.com/pages/module...st_title=&mk=a96d52ed31ae32168c2f0d2a46747de4

Although it seems to point to an invalid board now.......

 

His achievements doesn't 100% guarantee whether he finished the game or not. If he was playing offline the achievements doesn't show up at least if he hasn't logged on for a long time. What is his tag? Just interested!

 

Are people canceling their subscription (membership) or their renewal? I canceled my renewal which doesn't happen until May. I never really use the site for anything except HD downloads but there are cheaper and even free alternatives for that now. $30 was a ripoff to me.

 

I cancelled my renewal. I haven't yet cancelled my membership.

 

Same here and the d/l speeds have been horibble over the past year. I usually end up cancelling the GS d/l and just going to Filefront and getting whatever I wanted faster than way.

 

I did...I just cancelled my renewal last night. It's not up until January.

 

Indeed, the download speeds from their "high-speed servers" became incredibly erratic once the GameSpot downloader client was introduced. Of course I always get full speed using the client, but I don't much like the idea of having to use a separate app to do something my web browser already does quite well.

 

I read this as well, but I can't help but think of all the other countless similar examples of this, so being surprised sort of escapes me. What about refs choosing sides in sporting events for the sake of money they have invested in the game? As awful as all of this sounds, I also, personally, haven't read any factual evidence that this was the case, nothing outside of the PA comics and a lot of other speculation. But I'd be curious to know if there was. Also, at this point, what's stopping Gerstmann from exposing all the skeletons in GS' closet, and solidifying any lack of faith in his martyrdom?