I've been on this site for nigh on 8 years now. I've been through three site designs, many reviews, and of course, Trivia Robot (voiced by Jeff).

This is probably the worst moment in the site's history. Or at least, the most shameful.

I have not always agreed with his reviews, (nor Greg's or Alex's), but I have always respected them and at least considered the qualities of their arguments. When Jeff got fired, Gamespot (and Cnet) effectively said "Being honest in a review is against site policy". Jeff didn't say anything that was "off the wall", he didn't bring up stuff from out of left field, and he most certainly didn't say "I don't like this game because Eidos is lining my office with shwag".

Eidos simply didn't make a good game. Jeff pointed this out. Now Jeff has to explain to his bank why he can't pay the mortgage next month.

I have further lost respect for Gamespot for their backhanded story in the news about his severance. I don't for a minute think that either G-spot staffer were actually interviewed. Their quotes reek of spin and PR bolstering.

I also find it shameful that the remaining staff cannot post in their blogs specifically, for fear of losing their jobs. I think Bob, Greg and Adam, who worked with Jeff for a good amount of time have considerably aided the endeavour for thought and information into this matter. Unfortunately, none of them work at Gamespot (or for Cnet).

In the end though, this further proves that Gamespot is indeed no longer serving the people who matter most, the user (people like myself). Gamespot was established to provide the home user with meaningful information as it pertains to video games. Gamespot today it seems, exists to spew advertising from big name publishers, Mountain Dew and Toyota. I'm really quite sick of being branded. It seemed like Gamespot was too, as in game advertising is now something they look at. I really wish they'd look at on-site advertising and say "Gee, maybe our users hate being bombarded on the internet as much as they do in-game".

I suppose my last point was more of a quibble than anything.

If they ever offered Jeff work again, I would hope he turns them down, lest he look like a schill for doing so. I respect his thoughts, find him humourous, and will greatly miss his Points Report. (although he hasn't done one for a while).

I'd stop listening to the Hotspot and watching On the Spot if I hadn't already in probably September 2006. I'll probably shun this website from now on. I'm sorry for the editors and staff remaining, I really do enjoy your work, especially Brian's sports related stuff and anything by Alex. It's your company that has me annoyed. I also highly respect Tim for presumably quitting over this contentious issue. That takes guts. And a lot of grindcore.

My psychiatrist told me I was crazy and I said I want a second opinion. He said "Okay, you're ugly too".

I was on Google Video Search today, and I came across the video from last years GDC of Will Wright acting out what Spore can do to developers and publications.

Basically, Spore is a game where you control life from the cellular level, until your "creatures" leave their world for space and beyond. It's got really neat creature and building/vehicle editors in it.

If you're interested, and I highly recommend you become interested, here is the video:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8372603330420559198&q=spore

This being Tuesday, Apple has released the 64th version of the iPod. Here is an artists rendition:

Notice the subtle differences?

Me neither.


I often wonder why Apple releases so many different versions of the iPod, I mean the first one held music, had a functional interface, and was reliable. Nevertheless, Apple fealt the need to 'improve' this through (6?) generations, each getting smaller. Pretty soon they're going to be so small that you won't be able to use the touch pad without poking the screen.

I'm not saying that hardware revisions are bad, just keep them to once a year, if not once every two years. That way my first generation iPod actually looks recent, instead of a brick with a screen.

You is a 3-letter word. U is just a letter.

On it's own, U is naked, it has no meaning; it's part of a word. If you leave it alone U feels lonely, its waiting for it's brothers Y and O. So think of U and put the two extra letters in, otherwise I will ignore your post.

Notice how I took the extra second to type the word Your? Similar to U, UR is not a word. It is a pair of letters who long day and night to be paired with two other letters, Y and O. Think of it as a double date for letters. You can't have a double date with two people, just like you can't spell Your with two letters. If you mean to say You're and you put Your, you're wrong.

It takes all of 2 seconds to spell words properly. People will respect a post made up of words that are both well chosen, and coherent. You might even get a coherent response back.

Thank you for considering the following.

Yeah it's after E3 and here's what I like:

• PS3:
  
• Killzone 2
  
• Vision Gran Turismo
• PC:
• Age of Empires 3
• Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends
• Quake 4

So anyhow, whats everyone else's favourite stuff?

Yeah I decided to restart the use of my journal.

You know, the first entry I made was supposed to be a weekly story. What happened to that idea, God only knows. Probably a bad idea, because I'd have to make a story up each week.

So anyhoo, give me some ideas, or if you need a shout-out done or something that's cool.


On the topic of anything that comes to my head, here's a cool flash game where you get to launch Kittens from a cannon.

Flash game right here!

If you missed my post earlier in the forums, here it is again:
Right Here!

Here's a snippet, check the post for more pics, or visit the website (also in post)


Its the Doom3: Project Mars Case.


Awesome.

That's something Plutarch said. I think it is still true today.

Edit: Plutarch was a Greek philosopher who lived from 46AD to 120AD. His most famous works include Lives and Morals. Lives deals with the stories of famous generals and Emperors, Greeks and Romans.

Here's an excerpt from the Encarta Encyclopedia:

Best known are Plutarch's Parallel Lives, a series of 4 single biographies and 23 pairs of biographies. Many of the pairs, such as those on the legendary lawgivers Lycurgus and Numa Pompilius, the generals Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, and the orators Demosthenes and Marcus Tullius Cicero, are followed with a brief comparison. Composed with great learning and research, the Lives are not only historical works of great value, but they are also, and purposely, character studies with a moral. The first translation of the Lives into English was by Sir Thomas North in 1579; this is the translation Shakespeare followed closely in the composition of his plays based on Roman history, such as Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, and Antony and Cleopatra.

__________________________________________________

In other news I've got G-Mail (the nod goes to Koomaster)

If you need to reach me, drop me a line at lazlow1988@gmail.com

G-Mail is a banned word apparently.

I wish I did, it sounds like an interesting idea.

If you do, and you have an invite, could you send me one, it would be most appreciated :D