GameSpot addresses Gerstmann-gate concerns in depth [Joystiq]

[DP ServBot]

Filed under: Culture, Hacks
After nearly a week of non-stop rumor, speculation and discussion fueled by insufficient comment from all parties involved, GameSpot has finally opened up and answered many outstanding questions surrounding the Gerstmann firing controversy. Tor Thorsen's recently posted On the Spot Q&A contains official comment on numerous matters that GameSpot was unwilling or unable to address before. Among the important new information revealed in the piece:

• Gerstmann's firing followed " an internal review process" by management.
• Eidos did express displeasure with Gerstmann's Kane & Lynch review, though GameSpot is adamant that this displeasure did not cause the review to be edited, the video review to be pulled, or Gerstmann himself to be fired.
• On why the text review was edited: "The copy was adjusted several days following its publication so that it better meshed with its score, which remained unchanged." (Is this fair? Read the edits and judge for yourself).
• The Kane & Lynch video review was taken down because the "audio was deemed inferior due to a faulty microphone. There were also concerns about the limited amount of footage that was unrepresentative of the game in the review." It was not put back up immediately because the busy holiday release schedule left "insufficient resources to reshoot and re-edit the video review." The version that was reposted recently is identical to the original and was put up "in the spirit of full disclosure."
• Eidos' Kane & Lynch ad buy was made weeks before the firing decision or the review were made. The prominent front page "skinning" of the site was automatically removed at midnight on Nov. 29, when the ad buy was previously scheduled to run out.
• Tim Tracy's departure was "completely unrelated."
• The company is coming up with this information now because of the "widespread misinformation that has spread following Jeff's departure."

While the full Q&A still won't directly address the specific reasons for Gerstmann's departure (citing "accordance with California State Law"), it does sufficiently explain almost all the outstanding issues surrounding the matter and should do a lot to quiet this controversy. Whether or not it actually will depends largely on whether readers can accept these explanations after six days of effective "no comments" left the rumor mill to grind out of control.

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[Xizer]

I still think they're full of it.

GameSpot sure knows how to dig their hole even deeper...

[esquire]

The fact that they totally removed the introductory paragraph, which sets the tone for review and score, and replaced it with the toned down paragraph says it all, but I'll let you be the judge:

[Key: Regular, unformatted text appeared in both versions of the review. Bracketed portions in italics were in the original review but removed from the edited version. Bracketed portions in bold were added to the edited review.]

Gamespot's Kane & Lynch Review
By Jeff Gerstmann

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men has a lot of promise, but nothing in this game works out nearly as well as you'd hope.

[Removed from original: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men is an ugly game, and we're not necessarily talking about the graphics. This criminal tale is packed with a collection of completely unlikable characters with no redeeming value whatsoever. It's impossible to even root for them as antiheroes. Once you get past the messy, meaningless story, things don't get too much better because you're saddled with clunky artificial intelligence on the part of your allies and your enemies, as well as a core shooting mechanic that simply doesn't satisfy. The unfortunate part is that the game does have a few bright points and feels like it had a lot of potential that just didn't come together as well as anyone must have hoped.]

[Added in edits: Io Interactive is best known for its stealth-focused Hitman series, but there's nothing quiet and sneaky about its latest release, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. This time around, the developer put together a crime-themed shooter that starts out with a couple of simple, heist-like objectives and then rapidly spins out of control until, without much warning, you're gunning down soldiers in the middle of a foreign revolution. While the journey sounds interesting at first, and has a few bright points, it's weighed down by bad storytelling, a real lack of character development, and a host of gameplay-related issues. The end result is a game that squanders much of its potential and just doesn't come together as well as it probably should have.]

[gepeto]

After watching the review again I think it was the Line

(don't pay full price) that set them off.

[Joker T]

In-depth?

Yeah ok, GameSpot cut the bullshit.

[Snapple]

The Kane & Lynch video review was taken down because the "audio was deemed inferior due to a faulty microphone. There were also concerns about the limited amount of footage that was unrepresentative of the game in the review." It was not put back up immediately because the busy holiday release schedule left "insufficient resources to reshoot and re-edit the video review." The version that was reposted recently is identical to the original and was put up "in the spirit of full disclosure."

Does anyone buy that explanation? Honestly. So it's just a coincidence that the video review was pulled.

[Anthony1]

What a fucking joke. If anybody actually believes any of that, then they deserved to be slapped.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

"The audio was deemed inferior due to a faulty microphone."



Riiiiiiight.

[chrisbid]

you're never going to get a straight answer from GS, the fact is, they don't need a reason to fire anybody.

[Nature Boy]

you're never going to get a straight answer from GS, the fact is, they don't need a reason to fire anybody.

You always need a reason to fire somebody, or else that person will come back and sue you for wrongful dismissal.

What you don't need to do is justify a firing to the general public. Unless of course the firing leads to an uprising, as this one seems to have done.

Personally I find the whole thing amusing. I've never liked the holier-than-thou attitude of the VG press. They heap glowing praise upon a game for *months* in their 'preview' articles, and then admonish the public for buying the same game after giving it a bad review.

They can claim they have integrity when the preview nonsense goes away. 5 months of good press minus one page of a negative review doesn't equal independence from VG publishers...

[esquire]

Does anyone buy that explanation? Honestly. So it's just a coincidence that the video review was pulled.

Judge for yourself:

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

[Griking]

You always need a reason to fire somebody, or else that person will come back and sue you for wrongful dismissal.

Absolutely incorrect. Most employees do not have contracts and can be let go whenever their employer decides that they no longer want them and for almost any reason that isn't illegal (race, sex, age, etc..) I don't know where you live but that's how things are here in the USA

[PapaStu]

Absolutely incorrect. Most employees do not have contracts and can be let go whenever their employer decides that they no longer want them and for almost any reason that isn't illegal (race, sex, age, etc..) I don't know where you live but that's how things are here in the USA

I don't know what your talking about, but every company i've ever worked for (2 smaller firms(high tech and consulting) of about 40 people, former largest west coast chain of music stores (400 at its height) and a Distribution Center for a major auto maintanence supply company) has had me sign a contract that said I was 'AT WILL' employment when I was hired. Which allows both myself or the company to cease working there at any time, for any reason.

I'm pretty sure that most contracts that people are signing now-a-days when they get hired all include that wording in them when get hired up.

[Bratwurst]

Some states are right to work states where a contract isn't necessary for the employer to fire their employee for any reason, North Carolina is one of them. Nearly half of the USA is like this. Although it's still illegal to terminate someone based on their gender, race or medical condition it's hard to prove that's the case when the employer can just cough up some unrelated bullshit reason.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Judge for yourself:

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

There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with the quality of audio or his microphone.

The real reason he was fired?

That Mark Eko sweatshirt.

[udisi]

lol...check this out


http://cgi.ebay.com/Video-Game-Revie...QQcmdZViewItem

[Nature Boy]

I don't know where you live but that's how things are here in the USA

Ontario, Canada. The only time they don't have to provide a reason is during a probationary period, which is typically your first three months.

[Ed Oscuro]

Oh my goodness. I read the original version of the review a while back because I got interested in the game from an ad, and I'll admit the review turned me off it. Of course, y'all would've done that for me sooner or later anyway.

[Push Upstairs]

That bit of info Gamespot provided only served to make me dislike them that much more.

[sirhansirhan]

I'd like to go on the record as saying that I used to go to GameSpot almost every day, but I will never go there again after this. Even though it hasn't been quote-unquote "proven," the likelihood of the truth behind this scandal makes GS's reviews (the quality of which was always questionable--the only review I read on that site that I remember specifically as being helpful was their review of WTF on the PSP) and the site's management morally reprehensible.