Gerstmanngate, what a fitting title for this scandal .

I have a chance to watch yesterdays On the Spot tonight and you know what? I believe them. I just don't see them standing there getting all emotional and banding together to lie and tow the company line. They said outright that the whole thing was handled like crap and everyone was hurt and pissed and everything you would expect one would feel when something so seemingly shocking like this has happened. I also don't buy that Eidos had anything to do with it. I admit I jumped all over it just like everyone else because it was just to big a coincidence. It looked bad, really bad ! It was all just seriously bad timing and the big boys who are supposed to anticipate every contingency !@#&ed up royally. They completely underestimated the community support that Gerstmann would have and they paid no attention to how what they were doing would be received.

I believe Cnet and Eidos had nothing to do with pulling down the video and I'm equally sure that they did in fact have everything to do with the written review being edited. I watched the video and the sound was jacked, it did not have very much game play, the F word could be seen on the screen many times. If it had been pulled at any other time I would not have given it a second thought. It was all just a steaming dung pile that rolled down hill picking up speed and massive amounts of all kinds of garbage before slamming right into the front door of Cnet headquarters. After that, damage control was horrendous and only made things worse. The "new" management has dove right in all right and they did so with a massive belly flop. They probably never thought of the sites K&L advert skin and the fact it would end the day after firing Jeff. They probably never made the connection that EVERYONE else immediately did.

I think as a community all we did was hurt those we all are such big fans of, the writers. We made not one little bit of difference to the jerks that are running the show. If anything we gave them something to rally around. Now they can always say "well look how they all acted when we fired that guy, why should we care what they say now as long as we are still making money?"

I don't think anything would have stopped Jeff Gerstmann from being fired and I don't think the Kane & Lynch review had anything to do with it with the possible exception of being the proverbial straw that broke the camels back. His firing is not going to change anything for the better and I still think it was a mistake but that's my opinion. The new review system is still garbage. Instead of getting rid of what they obviously thought was a problem they got egg on their face and the fans rallied behind the sites "Lead Man". Jeff comes out looking like a martyr and Cnet the villain. I hope the site can recover. Gerstmann is not super hero but he was and is honest. I think the people that spoke on the show are too.

Corporate waited till the big gamming release season ended and I bet that looked good from a business point of view. They paid no attention to the possible repercussions of firing the FACE OF GAMESPOT. The GameSpot staff is not the bad guy but they're the ones having to take it and that sucks.

In the end, management got what they wanted, they got rid of the most significant obstacle standing in the way of turning GameSpot into their vision. I'm sorry to burst your bubble but that vision is not a site for the "hardcore" gammer. Nope not at all. It's a family friendly, Chuck E. Cheese, Grandma kissing, Brady Bunch, preppy, peachy keen, dumbed-down version of it's former self.

I'm pretty well done with this topic and I doubt I will have anything more than this to say on the subject.

I have never been a huge Jeff Gerstmann fan because I always thought he was a bit of an Xbox fanboy . One thing I did know is that I could always count on Jeff to be honest and tell me what he thinks. He was often funny and I think he did his job very well. The only thing I think he is guilty of is becoming a little to comfortable with his place and not moving on soon enough. Jeff, you will be missed.

This blog is of course late. I seem to be a little slow in getting things posted and I suppose I can chalk that up to getting older. I don't feel old but it seems to be showing.