Gamespot Editor Fired Over Kane & Lynch Review?We've heard an unsettling rumor today from an anonymous tipster that longtime game reviewer Jeff Gerstmann from Gamespot has been let go. That wouldn't necessarily be newsworthy, but the conditions under which he was allegedly dismissed were. According to the source, Gerstmann was fired "on the spot" due to advertiser pressure for his review of Eidos' Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. A visit to Gamespot shows that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game has taken over the site very prominently, with backgrounds and multiple banner ads all pitching Kane & Lynch. Allegedly, publisher Eidos "took issue with the review and threatened to pull its ad campaign."Jeff's review was certainly less than glowing. He assigned the game a 6.0, otherwise known as "Fair" on the Gamespot scale. The game is currently enjoying a Metacritic score in the 65 to 69 range, which the site describes as "mixed or average reviews." According to our tipster, it wasn't necessarily the score that was reason for Gerstmann's rumored axing, but the "tone" of the review.Gerstmann has been no stranger to controversial reviews, as his scores of 10 for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and 8.8 for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess had sensitive internet users up in arms. It's now possible that many bitter fanboys may have had their wishes for his firing granted.As our tipster points out, if the rumor is true, it could point to a distressing precedent at Gamespot and parent company CNet. "As writers of what is supposed to be objective content, this is our worst nightmare coming to life," wrote the tipster.Our efforts to confirm the story with Gamespot haven't proved successful. Our current requests with PR, Gerstmann and other CNet contacts have either gone unanswered or yielded a "no comment."Update: We did get confirmation that Mr. Gerstmann is no longer with Gamespot. The circumstances in which he was terminated or left of his own accord, however, were not disclosed.
Update - 9:00AM EST Dec. 1, 2007: The latest developments on the story.More tidbits surrounding Jeff Gerstmann's controversial firing from Gamespot, from around the web and our own reporting:Gerstmann has confirmed to Joystiq that there are "legalreasons" why he can't comment on the controversy, in addition toquestions of "respect for the product team still on board at GameSpot,who are some of the most amazing people I've ever met." He added thathe is not under any sort of non-compete agreement regarding future workin the industry.Eidos issues a 'no comment' to 1UP: "Eidos is not able to comment on another company's policies and procedures." Valleywag says Eidos "insiders" are "freaking out"over being blamed for something they say they had nothing to do with.Still no response from Eidos to our requests for comment.Former Gamespot editor-in-chief Greg Kasavin, on his GameSpot blog: "As the longest-tenured GameSpot editor, Jeff Gerstmann deserved a respectful send-off."Current Gamespot editor-in-chief Alex Navarro compares the whole situation to hitting the disaster button in SimCity.Former Gamespot staffer Bob Colayco and Adam Buchenclarify that just because Gerstmann was fired doesn't mean Gamespotstaffers routinely get paid off for good reviews. Buchen also cancels his Gamespot account and urges others to do the same.An anonymous Valleywag commenter going by the handle "gamespot"and claiming to be a company insider: "There has been an increasingamount of pressure to allow the advertising teams to have more of a sayin the editorial process." More:"Also, despite the fact that this occured [sic] two weeks ago, therewas no way they were going to fire him then; the last big games didn'tcome out until just before Thanksgiving, and there was no doubt thatmanagement knew that the rest of the reviewers would refuse to writeany reviews after his termination, which is indeed what is happening. [emphasis added]"We'll continue to update as more information comes out. Thanks to Gamespot user subrosian and all the tipsters who sent in information. Keep it coming.Update - 5:45PM EST: CNET has amended their earlier statement with Joystiq.Update - 3:20PM EST: We just noticed that Gerstmann's video review, previously accessible only through a direct link, has been removed from the site. Here's an alternate YouTube link.Update - 2:20PM EST: We got a response from CNET, GameSpot's parent company, that totally explains the whole thing away ... you see. Actually, they don't say much.Update - 12:52 AM EST: Penny Arcade, which helped popularize this story with their comic last night, has posted an accompanying commentary piece on the issue. The story they were told (by whom, we do not know) has Gamespot management angry at Gerstmann for long-standing problems with his reviewing "tone." The Kane & Lynch review, which allegedly caused Eidos to withdraw "hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of future advertising from the site," served as the straw that broke the camel's back. There's no named source for this information, but the piece does say that "the firm belief internally [is] that Jeff was sacrificed."Update - 11:00 AM EST: The anonymous source/speculation train rolls on. Rock Paper Shotgun has posted a story citing an unnamed "very reliable source" as saying that "while Gerstmann wasn't the most popular man with the CNET owners, it was his Kane & Lynch review alone that saw him lose his job." Meanwhile, a poster at Forumopolis who claims to be directly involved with the Kane & Lynch ad campaign says that the whole thing is just a matter of bad timing. "I sincerely doubt that Eidos made Gamespot fire him," the poster writes. "CNET doesn't kowtow to its advertisers, and I've more than once seen the higher-ups turn away big advertising dollars for the sake of the company's integrity." Make of this what you will.Update - 10:44 AM EST: Gamespot PR representative Leslie Van Every has responded to Joystiq's request for comment with ... a predictable 'no comment.' "It is CNET Networks' policy to never comment on individual employees--current or former--regarding their job status," Van Every told Joystiq. "This policy is in place out of respect for the individuals' privacy."Update - 7:12 AM EST: Jeff has confirmed his firing to us via e-mail, but says he's "not really able to comment on the specifics of my termination." He added that he's "looking forward to getting back out there and figuring out what's next." We're still digging.Update - 1:35 AM EST: The Kane and Lynch ads that blanketed Gamespot's front page are no longer being shown. Check out the picture above to see what the site looked at just an hour ago.Original Post:So before we get going, we should make it clear that this post is still just a rumor and many of the facts behind it are still up in the air. That being said, word around game journalism's virtual water cooler is that Gamespot Editorial Director Jeff Gerstmann has been fired because publisher Eidos was unhappy about his negative review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men.What seems in little dispute, going by forum chatter as well as multiple published sources (referencing conversations with multiple CNet employees), is that Gerstmann has indeed been fired after over ten years working at the site. We were not immediately able to confirm the firing with Gamespot or Gerstmann directly, but an e-mail sent to his Gamespot address did get returned with a "permanent failure" error. Seems pretty serious to us ... (see 7:12 AM update above)What is in some dispute is the reason behind the firing. The current leading theory is that Eidos, a major Gamespot advertiser (just look at the current Kane&Lynch-ified front page shown above) was unhappy with Gerstmann's review of their game and brought pressure to bear on the site to remove the longstanding editor (Eidos representatives were not immediately available for comment). Gamespot's text review of the game is definitely very negative, and the 6/10 score rather low, but it's the video review of the game that really eviscerates it for "impossible to like" characters, a "lazy" script and excessive profanity, among other things. It does seem plausible that Eidos might not be too happy with either review, and that Gamespot might be willing to do anything to prevent losing such a large advertiser (notwithstanding the site's posted review guidelines, which state they have never "altered our verdict about any game due to advertiser pressure").But there are some parts of the story that don't quite fit. For one, the review was posted on Nov. 13, yet the evidence points to Gerstmann being fired only recently. For another, it stands to reason that if Eidos was so unhappy with the review, that they would also demand it be taken down from the site, a step that has not yet been taken (though the video version doesn't seem to be actively linked on the site's Kane & Lynch videos page has now been removed from the site completely. See 3:20 pm update, above)? And while GameSpot's 6/10 score was low, it certainly wasn't out of the ordinary. Why would Gamespot be singled out, and why would such a senior and generally respected editor be demanded (and accepted by Gamespot) as sacrifice?The ramifications of the story, if true, are huge. Readers should fairly expect there to be an inviolable firewall between advertising and editorial in journalism, and game journalism (yes, that includes "just reviews") is no different. While our industry has had its fair share of accusations of impropriety, nothing so far has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. Giving a publisher the power to fire a senior editor is a line no outlet should be willing to cross.We hope that everything is not as it seems here, and that there has simply been some sort of misunderstanding brought on by a game of telephone. The circumstantial evidence, however, is hard to ignore, and significant enough to make us seriously question what exactly is going on here. We'll of course be following this story as it inevitably develops over the next few days.
我们都知道游戏业喜欢评分，每当一个新游戏推出的时候，都会有一大群人围着评分指指点点，就像每部新电影推出的时候都会有一大群影评人和一群民间影评家在IMDB上晃来晃去一样。不过，在行业内真正重要的分数却只有两个：Gamespot分数（只对英语世界的游戏）和Fami通分数（只对日本游戏）。每当有一个重要作品的分数出来，无聊的群众就会云集在各重要论坛上展开口诛笔伐，或引为奥援或咬牙切齿——在很多论坛专gate有个叫做“System Wars”的板块来放这种帖子。有个著名的战场论坛叫TGFC，上面的百姓专干这事儿，如果没有见识过的人可以去见识见识。当然，我们也一直听说这两个最重要分数私下里都是受到某些美日大厂的控制的，专gate嫌贫爱富，鄙视小公司作品和创意作品，专gate捧大公司类型化渣作的臭脚。从统计分布来看，这个现象肯定是存在的，至少在GS分数里面是存在的。可以确认的加值大概包括以下：大公司原创+0.5~1.5大公司代理+0~0.5小公司-0.5~1额外广告投入+0.5糙俄国人做的-0.5死德国人做的-1第三世界国家？What the fuck，他们还会做游戏么？-2（备注：在游戏界，我们一般认为第一世界是美日，第二世界是英法德俄加，其它都是第三世界国家）次世代主机初期作品+0.5本/次世代主机重要作品，主机商给了钱+1~2本/次主机拖期移植作品-0.5上世代主机作品-1~2（备注：拖期移植指的是那些独占六个月以上的作品。上世代现在包括PS2，可能会包括Wii，将来有可能会包括PS3）电影改编作品-0.5~2PC版本-0.5~1（只适用于没有家用机版本的游戏）热gate类型（越肩视点射击、自由类GTA游戏）+0.5~1.5死亡类型（战略、冒险）-1~2备选死亡类型非大作（RPG，RTS，二战游戏）-0.5~1第二代续作+0.5第三或四代续作-0.5大系列的[屏蔽]复兴作品+1编辑很不喜欢/编辑很不高兴-??（备注：大公司给过钱的不许用这个属性加值）不过这不是今天我要谈的事情，毕竟他们已经[屏蔽]了过去的评分方法。当然，新方法下这些统计规律仍然存在。对于某部分读者来说，GS的旧评分方法和Fami通的评分方法都耳熟能详了。但为了方便其他读者，我还是简单介绍一下。Fami通的评分方法很简单：四个自称是编辑的人，每人各打一个介于1~10分之间的主观分数，然后把四个分数加起来，总分介于4~40之间，没有单项评分。总分30~31为银殿堂（相当于 7.5~7.9），32~34为金殿堂（相当于8.0~8.5），35~40为白金殿堂（相当于8.7以上）。GS的旧评分则是分项评分的代表，他们把游戏的五个重要方面（不外乎游戏性、图像、声音、价值什么的）单独打1-10的分数，然后取平均，再加上编辑加权得出最后分数。最后分数介于 1.0~10.0之间，事实上是百分制的。没错，前者的系统就是电软和游戏机这样TV系[屏蔽]抄袭的对象，后者就是像大众软件和家游这样PC系[屏蔽]抄袭的对象。GS的分项评分系统甚至在某种程度上影响着项目开发，经常在项目中可以听到“啊，这样的画面去年能拿九分，今年应该能拿个八分罢”、“音效怎么也得有个八分，游戏性低点儿也无所谓”、“最后应该能拿到两个或者三个八，八分就有保障了”之类的话。不过，这一切在今年夏天变成了历史——GS不用分项制了，他们改用优缺点制了。优缺点制Review的核心思想是把游戏容易犯的错误和容易出的彩编成一个标准化的表，让编辑们在其中随意挑选，然后打到游戏分数上。一个游戏想要得到8.5、9.0甚至更高的分数，至少也要拿到四五个优点；当然，如果他被挑出了四五个缺点，肯定就只能面对四五分的结果了。最后的总分跟画面多好、音效多棒不再有直接关系了，编辑们也不用再昧着良心给一个音效很棒的渣游戏打一个音效4分了。非常重要的一点是：原则上，一个游戏如果优点多过缺点，编辑们就不会把小缺点列出来了；相反，如果缺点严重多过优点，编辑们就会放过那些优点。他们鼓励的不再是平均化作品了，而是那些优点非常容易看到，缺点非常不容易看到的游戏。一些在旧标准中很容易被忽略的东西，比如镜头（Bad Camera是最常见的缺点之一）、故事（Weak Story每两个游戏就会打出一个）、缺乏游戏内容（游戏设计太过缺乏深度）、上手度/难度有问题（太难或者太简单都是缺点）在新标准中都变成了清晰的标杆。甚至就连图像和声音也得到了细化：现在的评论图标会直接告诉你图像的优缺点在哪里，是美术概念设计、图形技术还是配色？音效上，有问题的是配音，是音效还是原创音乐？一个像Hour to Victory这样使用UE3引擎的游戏在旧标准下很可能靠着图像混到6分，但在新标准下它被无情的挑出来9个缺点，打了个2.0。这个新标准比以前更主观，但也更加细致和有趣。现在我们可以清楚地知道那些2.0或者3.0的游戏问题出在哪里，这比知道8.5或者9.0的游戏好在哪里更加重要。把所有的缺点凑在一起就可以弄出一篇“游戏制作过程中应该避免的五十种问题”之类的文章。如果你打算作出一款好游戏，那么要先确保你的游戏里面没有这种明显的问题 ——或者，如果不能避免，把你的屁股擦干净，尽量别让人看到。哦，至于优点部分？他们不重要。套用那句老话来说，烂的游戏都是一样的，而杰出的游戏各有各的杰出。你没必要去学到别人所有的杰出，一部分别人的加上一部分自己的就足够了，真的。
