I won't go into detail about how terribly shocked I am about the firing of Jeff Gerstmann, because everyone else has done so already, better than I could have expressed it myself. But I am shocked and appalled. I just can't believe that he "allegedly" got fired under such circumstances. That's just weak and absurd. He was just doing his job for crying out loud. But I guess this is how the world is now. With the merit of morals and virtues becoming more and more insignificant with each passing week, who knows where we'll be as a society in a few years, or even this time next year. It's just depressing.

I've heard of bribery in politics before, but never in the gaming industry. It's so simple: make a quality game, get a good review. If you don't want your product to get bad reviews, don't make a bad game! I mean, just last night, I was all upset over the realization that Myst DS is more practical as a bulky coaster (if kept in the case) than as an actual playable video game. It is by far the best example of a bad port that I have ever encountered. I don't think Midway could ever pay enough to have that game see above even a 4.0, not like they would. It's just really unfortunate that some companies would stoop to such a low level just to earn more sales. I honestly been living under a rock the last four years because it never used to be like this. I can't believe it has gone from how it used to be in the 90's to how it is now. Such a shame.

So here's my take on the situation, at least regarding how I intend to react. As I'm not a paying subscriber of the site, I have no subscription to cancel. I don't plan on leaving the site forever, as Gamespot isn't and never was my sole online source for gaming news (mine is a melting pot of GS, 1up, IGN, and Gametrailers). But what I am planning to do is never rely on online game reviews ever again. It doesn't matter what site they're on. It has obviously become evident that we've all been blindsided and now that the truth has been blown into the open, we don't know who to trust or where to go. Anywhere could be unsafe. I'll trust reliable reader's reviews and my own intuitions. And that's it. I'll do like my brother has been doing all along. In fact, he just pays attention to his intuitions. It's never failed him before. And so I don't expect it'll fail me.

Jeff, wherever life takes you, I wish you all the best.