Lokus

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/50134
It was only a matter of time before something like this happened. While I had always considered Gamespot to be one of the better reviewing sites, it's obvious that many other sites are heavily influenced by companies that pay for advertising *coughPCGAMERcough*. I can recall a two week long promotion for Black and White on IGN which had a new blurb about the game every day, switching from the black to the white side halfway through. Do you think after that they would give the game a bad review? Hell no, it got a 9.7 Anyone that played the game can tell you that's completely ridiculous, even people that thought it was a great, which I personally did not, didn't think it deserved an almost perfect score. Anyway, it's a real shame how these sites are becoming shills, you can't trust any of the big names out there anymore. Now I get all my reviews from word of mouth and perhaps metacritic.

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ObieX

but.. Kane & Lynch DOES suck.. a lot.. its just.. bad. I saw the review in question before this came up and he didn't hold back with pointing out just how much it sucks hehe. It certainly was one of the harsher reviews. But if the game didn't suck so much ass he wouldn't have said it sucked so much ass. It's not his fault for pointing it out, its Eidos' fault for putting out such a very terrible game.

I've had people come up to me where i work, hand me the game, and literally say "worst game of the year". You can't fire a guy for saying the worst game of the year is the worst game of the year if its his job to tell you those things. I mean.. c'mon!

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Plan9

Hahaha, wow. I like reviews that are just product placement plugs. Pfft.

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Lasereth

I like how the article says he was fired for the review and then says it's unknown as to why he hired but it sure looks like it was the review. More info plz!!!!!!!!!

That is bullshit if it is real though. I still use metacritic and EGM though...friends word of mouth is almost never right. Cognitive Dissonance is too prevalent in word of mouth reviews. People buy a game and won't admit it sucks because they spent $50 on it.

Esoteric

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Shauk

yeah, fuck those money grubbing assholes. Another corrupt media outlet.

Seriously, the only mag I trust anymore is "Play" and on top of that, they have beautiful art on each cover.

http://www.playmagazine.com/

Plan9

Uh, Stephen King used to write for "Swank" but I don't trust their content.

The mission of any magazines is to make money... and they have "lobbyists" just like politicians.

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Whatever you can carry.

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Toaster126

I'm sure this happens with things far more important than video games. That's what bothers me.

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BulletCatcher

Of course everything is just speculation at this point. Is there an actual 'smoking gun' that undeniably proves he was fired for giving a bad review? Has Jeff Gertsmann himself confirmed this?

So far I've seen nothing but rumor and speculation with plenty of places claiming to have an inside source but no real proof. If Eidos pressured GS then why is the review still up for everyone to see? Why was the review even posted in the first place? Doesn't GS have an editorial staff that approves what gets posted or do the reviewers get to post whtever they want?

Too many questions and accusations flying around at this point. I'm no fan of GS (too console centric for my taste) but neither do I think it's fair for them to be blamed for something that may not be true.

blahblah454

I always used gamespot as one of my review sites, sometimes I wouldn't agree with what they posted but for the most part it was pretty accurate.

This is terrible news if that is indeed the reason he was fired.

Ustwo

Treat them like the real press.

Know there is bias, get as many sources as you can, and try to figure it out.

I find IGN very good except now and then they seem to be a bit more 'asskissy' on a big title than warranted, but I never buy a game based on one sites review and NEVER on a review that was put up in less than a day after release.

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biznatch

The review was removed from their site, but it can be found on youtube.

There is no doubt in my mind that this review was a major factor in his termination, even though it seemed to have been building up for a while.

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Shauk

www.penny-arcade.com is good for reviews too, because it's not the role of thier site, and they cover so little in thier writings, it's just an honest opinion. I would have never touched guitar hero if not for their raving about it

ObieX

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5FuJ81sDR2o&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5FuJ81sDR2o&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

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Prophecy

I'd take the following statement with a grain of salt, but I read he wasn't fired for the content of the review, but the tone of it. Either way something doesn't seem right.


That's the one real issue that keeps bugging me about this whole thing. There certainly has to be more to the story, and perhaps biznatch is 100% correct. He wasn't fired just for this review, but it was the straw that broke the camel's back.

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Daniel_

Look at it like this...

A reviewer gives an honest, but painful review of a moderately poor product.

The editor shows it to the producer of the product, and they agree to post it, and then fire the reviewer as a method of getting a shitload of publicity.

Not saying it happened, but loads of people are now talking about a game that otherwise would have passed them by.

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Porkchop

Whichever it was. He was right the game is rubbish.

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Prophecy

Any publicity is good publicity, eh?

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La Fede È Il Mio Schermo,
Non salti Ciecamente In Incertezza,
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xepherys

Play DOES have beautiful art, but I see to much of a Japanesque bias on their pages. While they didn't give it a perfect score, they liked Vampire Rain far more than any human really has any business doing so. I enjoy their pages because they give info about games, movies and products you would not normally see in most US gaming mags, but they still have a bias.

I'm a PA whore to begin with (and also contribute to Child's Play almost every year). But I agree wholeheartedly. They say what they say in passing, and it's driven me to check out a few games I may have missed out on.

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