So I may not be the most involved in the inner-workings of Gamespot. I may not watch all the episodic content this website has to offer. I may not know every single editor's name. I'm pretty busy, and I'm not the biggest cpu guy out there, so I'm not always on the Internet. I go to about 4-6 regularly and I don't stay on there for long periods of time. But I do know Jeff, and I have heard rumors in the past that Gamespot may be receiving payment for good feedback in reviews for advertised games on the website. This may be incident that proves those rumors to be true.

Jeff Gerstman (I hope that's spelt right, to tired to go and check) has been an editor here at Gamespot as long as there has been a Gamespot. Recently, if you haven't heard, he was supposedly terminated from Gamespot's services for the tone of his Kane and Lynch review. Though it's nothing official, people close to the Gamespot staff, and many websites have said that Jeff was let go.

While this whole situation isn't pulling that hard on my heart strings, I'm pretty disappointed in what the higher management here at Gamespot and Cnet has done. How can we, the people who rely on reviews to help us decide what games we may purchase trust this site if this is true? I have a problem with reviews as it is, (check out my Thanksgiving special for more on my thoughts on the reviewing system) and now, if people are being let go for expressing their opinion they way they want to, what's next? Firing for a bad score? Last time I checked the U.S. Constitution it said the Government didn't have the right to control our speech. Who does Gamespot think they are, letting someone go due to pressure from a game developer? This is outlandish, stupid, and above all, uncalled for. This is shady business, and I don't like it.

Gamespot should have stood up for their man. They should have stood behind Jeff's review, or they should never have let him post it if they thought it would cause problems. This site is going to lose a lot of business from the common gamer who pays for the site's premium services. They made a mistake if they really let Jeff go. They made a big mistake. I'm anxious to see this story unfold.

Comments? What do you think about the Jeff situation?