Joystiq Interviews Jeff Gerstmann

December 3, 2007

Over at Joystiq, scribe Kyle Orland has scored an interview with deposed GameSpot editor Jeff Gerstmann.

Among Gerstmann's comments:

Losing a job you've held for over 11 years in an abrupt manner is shocking, yes.

Gerstmann wouldn't talk specifics of the Kane & Lynch review that proved his undoing, but said:

I stand behind my work, regardless of where I do it... I'm not really sure what I want to do next. This whole situation has left me with a lot to think about... Despite the number of people who are taking these rumors ... to mean that game writing is ethically bankrupt, I don't feel that's the case...

Posted in Media People

Comments

Submitted by Robert (not verified) on Mon, 12/03/2007 - 16:49.

Exchanging an email is not an "interview." It cheapens the term to misuse it like this. An interview is when you speak with someone directly and have a spontaneous conversation of questions and answers, not when someone responds in writing to a canned list of questions.

Submitted by Rammsoldat (not verified) on Mon, 12/03/2007 - 09:43.

Well jeef when you have as little faith in game reviews as I do this whole situation basically justifies my stance. However I know that alot of people have a hard time making their minds up about stuff and so I can see the merit in reviews.

Im just hoping gamespot get ripped a new one over this debaucle.

Submitted by Skylar (not verified) on Mon, 12/03/2007 - 09:48.

I personally have never felt that game reviewers were completely objective to begin with. Even terrible games get average scores.

I don't hang my purchasing decisions on people I don't even know based on a number and a 2-page description.

It sucks that he lost his job, but this isn't some far-reaching conspiracy to bury a bad game review. This doesn't warrant a boycott, but maybe more people will start to be more skeptical about videogame reviews, as they already should have been.

And maybe, just maybe, it will motivate developers and publishers to make quality products instead of rushing derivative crap to the market. But probably not.

Submitted by Gray17 (not verified) on Mon, 12/03/2007 - 12:25.

@Skylar

I don't think people see this as a far reaching conspiracy to bury a bad review. Rather they see it as the first step in burying all future bad reviews if a game's creator buys enough advertising.

That'd switch reviews from being one person's opinion that's attempting to inform others, to reviews being just another advertisement that won't actually warn you about any bad aspects.

Submitted by Video Games Blog » Joystiq Interviews Jeff Gerstmann (not verified) on Mon, 12/03/2007 - 14:09.

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Submitted by Dave (not verified) on Mon, 12/03/2007 - 18:21.

I wonder if "independent" gaming sites will make their triumphant return following this situation. The cost of bandwidth has gone down considerably since The GIA closed, so the possibility exists.

Submitted by Wallo (not verified) on Mon, 12/03/2007 - 23:47.

hmmmm. sounds like a couple people who wanted what they say to get heard. Instead of really commenting on the article, you gave your own version of "right". Not terribly useful to the reader.

Shout box

ZippyDSMlee: sigh...was playing anice game of empire at war and then boom crash...hope new oparts come soon ><05/22/2012 - 1:17pm

Andrew Eisen: I still say the particular word or phrase the MPAA uses to describe what it's fighting against is the least of its problems.05/22/2012 - 1:12pm

ZippyDSMlee: MPAA finally admits piracy is not the same as stealing, kinda http://tinyurl.com/chtcf8p05/22/2012 - 11:55am

ddrfr33k: @EZK Bwahahaha! @Michael: Yeah, several news sources have said that google DNS can bypass the TPB roadblocks.05/22/2012 - 11:38am

Michael Chandra: Weird, I can still visit piratebay. Wonder if Google DNS is related to that, or I simply have an exotic ISP?05/22/2012 - 9:03am

Lisa Pham: No harm done, E. Zachary Knight. :)05/22/2012 - 4:50am

Uncharted NES: BSA Claims Half of PC Users Are Pirates- http://slashdot.org/palm/17/12/05/22/0051216_1.shtml05/21/2012 - 11:18pm

E. Zachary Knight: Ah. Missed that. My mind just connected DDR3 with ddrfr33k and ran with it. Oh well.05/21/2012 - 10:12pm

Lisa Pham: He also mentioned the game "Shadows of the damned" which is on PS305/21/2012 - 8:08pm

E. Zachary Knight: ddrf33k, I think Zip is referring to computer hardware.05/21/2012 - 7:33pm

ddrfr33k: @Zip: Excellent game. It's a trip.05/21/2012 - 7:09pm

Lisa Pham: IanC - if you read/looked at the report (PDF and written) then you'd see where they failed and why. Some games have come close to passing and some have passed. The list of games evaluated. http://www.reclaimyourgame.com/content.php/18-RYG-Evaluations05/21/2012 - 5:49pm

Andrew Eisen: Maybe I'll luck out and the Wii version won't have this retail exclusive DLC nonsense.05/21/2012 - 5:12pm

ZippyDSMlee: Bought new guitar...trying to find a nice DDR3/mobo combo under 200$ sicne I need new ram thats 100$....fun times..... picked up shadows of the damned tho!!05/21/2012 - 4:56pm

E. Zachary Knight: Yeah, that's how I feel about retail exclusive DLC too. ;)05/21/2012 - 3:37pm

RedMage: That's what I started to figure too. They seem to have trouble coming up with an effective scare tactic. At one point they referred to it as "online looting" which just sounds stupid.05/21/2012 - 3:34pm

E. Zachary Knight: Of all the sucky suckiness that ever sucked. Lego Batman 2 will suffer from sucky retailer exclusive DLC. Suck! http://tinyurl.com/ckq67vg05/21/2012 - 3:30pm

E. Zachary Knight: As for Dodd, I think it is mostly that he realizes that calling copyright infringement "theft" is bad for PR and that they need to change tactics. Just like how they went from using "piracy" to using "theft."05/21/2012 - 1:48pm

E. Zachary Knight: Ian, I think in this case, the rating is well deserved. To get a good rating, I would assume that a company would have to release the game with no DRM, or at least fully disclosed DRM.05/21/2012 - 1:46pm

IanC: Lisa - what do companies have to do to get a good rating from that site?05/21/2012 - 12:54pm

All shouts

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