Jeff Gerstmann - Let Go !!?!?

I'm not sure if anyone cares about this, or even knows, but Jeff Gershman (<--sp?) a Senior Editor of GameSpot.com was "let go" the other day. He has worked for the site for like 10 years.

Anywho, the part to this story that concerns us (or well...me that is) is that it is widely considered a fact at this point that he was let go due to his latest review of Kane and Lynch, which he gave a rather lousy review of. So this brings Gamespot's "unbiased editorial" reputation into question. In other words, everyone now thinks that Gamespot has been functioning as a shill for game developers.

I should also mention that this is just a rumor and that it is not confirmed. It is just widely believed, and based on the circumstances I have to say that the whole idea really seems quite logical and therefore believable. Gamespot.com put the video review of Kane and Lynch on the site originally and then took it down some time after it was online. They have since re-posted it, but after Gershman was let go. They also stated that it was taken down due to poor quality. The sound WAS bad in the video and the there was not a lot of game play footage, but still - seems a little "fishy" to me. After all, if this video was bad enough to fire Gershman, why would they re-post the original version of it and not "fix" the problems with it? To prove a point that it was worth firing an employee of 10 years over? Wow, those guys have some stones on them huh.

So, I thought this was note worthy seeing as how I mainly use Gamespot com for a lot of game reviews and info. I don't solely depend on them, but I definitely rely heavily on them. This whole thing makes me think twice about trusting them at all now.

I mean, I trust Jeff's review of Kane and Lynch, but the other guys that work for the site have got to be shaking in their boots now because they must know that the same thing can happen to them. So, if the reviews on the site suddenly take a rather large jump in the numbers (like instead of seeing a lot of 7.0's you start seeing 8.0's and 9.0's) then we know something is up. Quite frankly, I believe that something is up and has been up for a while in light of this. I am let down. I considered Gamespot to be a good site because they were generally harder on games, review wise, than other sites. I came to trust their judgment. Now I wonder if they were just pushing what they were told to push. Of course, I should also mention that the games that have received high ratings on their site I have enjoyed a lot, soooo I guess there is an argument either way. We don't know the REAL reason why he was fired as the company has not released any type of information on it. All we know is what we can speculate on based on what has already happened.

In any event I think it is an interesting topic for discussion.

Here is a link to the official company line. http://www.gamespot.com/news/6183666.html