Hack fired over a negative game review

A SENIOR HACK working for the C|Net affiliated gamer's website Gamespot apparently has been fired for panning a game marketed by a major advertiser.

Reportedly Gamespot Editorial Director Jeff Gerstmann was summarily fired because game publisher Eidos didn't like his negative review of its first-person shooter game Kane & Lynch: Dead Men.

Gerstmann's text review of the game gave it a score of only 6 out of 10, but it seems his video review was even more direct, criticising it for, among other failings, "impossible to like" characters, a "lazy script" and excessive profanity.

Gamespot's review guidelines state it has never "altered our verdict about any game due to advertiser pressure." Well, that rings rather hollow if they're going fire reviewers who don't always write nice things about every game, doesn't it?

Kyle Orland at Joystiq fairly well nails the issue, and we couldn't agree more. He writes:

"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. ... Giving a [software] publisher the power to fire a senior editor is a line no outlet should be willing to cross."

If Gerstmann was really fired due to advertiser pressure, why should gamers trust the integrity of Gamespot's game reviews ever again? µ

L'INQ
Joystiq