digg

Join DiggAbout

The Digg Crew wants to hear your thoughts!
Please take our short survey about Digg and potential feature ideas.

Not Only has Jeff Gerstmann Left Gamespot, so has Tim Tracy

gamesindustry.biz — A source close to the editorial team has revealed that the row focused on the tone of the content of the original review, which was apparently subsequently altered. Tim Tracy, former head of video at the company, has also departed, although it's not clear at this time whether or not the two are linked. Man, this site is going downhill from here on!

show profanity settings
expand all
  • piper999, on 12/01/2007, -0/+95Well, I won't be relying on Gamespot for reviews any longer. I guess the message to anyone who still uses them is that if an advert for the game they are reading a review of appears anywhere on the site then the review has been bought.
    • sirbeta, on 12/01/2007, -4/+3Really, it's hard to rely on any review except from someone you know.
    • Godlike, on 12/01/2007, -4/+8lol @ relying upon gamespot for reviews
      • pegisys, on 12/01/2007, -1/+7a couple years ago gamespot was one of the first places I looked for reviews. The reviewers had the same opinion as me about many games and the reviews that I didn't agree with the reviewers I still respected their opinion because the had well thought out explanations of why they scored a game the way they did. Then it turned into the reviewers would criticize the game but still give it high scores.

        Now it has just gone to crap but for people that didn't read the reviews and only looked at the scores probably didn't notice the change and just thinks there are a lot of good games that came out
    • Buckiller, on 12/01/2007, -0/+2After all this i checked out gamespot... and honestly it is way better than magazines... maybe not other online sources but still...

      Prolly cause they dont hand out 10's like crazy... I think the secret is, you have to know who is reviewing it and know how your preferences are in relation to theirs.

      Anyway, I dont even look at reviews except for fun (like ROck Band)
  • darkchild82, on 12/01/2007, -1/+28I'm really upset over whats happening to my favourite gaming website. I'm really gonna miss these guys. Tim with his crazy metal videos & napkin collection - & Jeff, man...that guy made podcasts & the videos funny !
    • Laxaloot, on 12/01/2007, -2/+7I agree with the guy over on the rev3 forums that said he should join rev3
    • dahuf, on 12/01/2007, -1/+10I'm gonna opt out of my GameSpot Complete subscription if Jeff really got fired for a rating. I always looked forward to Jeff's video reviews. This is complete *****.
  • Traziun, on 12/01/2007, -1/+9I feel the same way you guys do, although I already stopped going to Gamespot and started watching independent gaming podcasts about a year ago. I suspected this would happen eventually, but it's still really unfortunate.
    • Christbait, on 12/01/2007, -0/+1Independent podcasts? Which ones? I'm looking for more reliable outlets to glean impressions of games from...
      • BugMeNot2, on 12/01/2007, -0/+1PC Gamer Podcast and the GFW Podcast are great. I haven't listened to it, but I heard GameTheory is good, too.
      • Traziun, on 12/03/2007, -0/+0Personally, I watch the "NooBTooB" reviews every week (you can find it on google). They're show is an hour long, but it's some of the funniest stuff I've heard in a long time. And they'll tell you straight up if a game is ass or not, just like Jeff did.
  • tektalk, on 12/01/2007, -9/+4Now I'm going to wonder if digg will start saying EFF GAMESPOT! as a new trend...
    • CapnDeviance, on 12/01/2007, -1/+7What does the Electronic Frontier Foundation have to do with this?
  • gozeronline, on 12/01/2007, -1/+33Jeff was possibly the single best reviewer I have ever seen. Although you might not agree with his review scores, you have to admire him for giving his honest opinion about them. This whole thing is ridiculous. And every one thought IGN was the one getting money hats.
    • Wartz, on 12/01/2007, -2/+5I liked greg k's reviews better, but jeff was still damn good.
  • falese, on 12/01/2007, -16/+2No not TIM TRACY!!!!!!! Oh god noes, what will the interwebz do without themz.
  • TalkingBanana, on 12/01/2007, -1/+11'Least Alex Navarro is still there...
    • dsmx, on 12/01/2007, -3/+2He's gone as well.
      • TalkingBanana, on 12/01/2007, -0/+7Well then ***** gamespot.
        • TalkingBanana, on 12/01/2007, -0/+4edit: I just checked I think he's still there.
        • dsmx, on 12/01/2007, -0/+1he left because he girlfriend moved.
      • mrfreeziexp, on 12/01/2007, -0/+1I don't think he's gone.. yet.He should leave though while he still has a shred of respect.
    • essjay, on 12/01/2007, -1/+2Not for long if he's got any self respect.
  • Konrad9, on 12/01/2007, -1/+14Crying out loud.
    I wish I was an actual employee and and not 'just' a forum moderator, so my leaving could have more of an impact.
    • Talena, on 12/01/2007, -0/+1i feel sorry you are `just` a forum moderator , but even if you were an actual employee, you could not have done *****..
    • Arkavus, on 12/01/2007, -0/+5If you got several other mods to quit also it would have an impact.
  • brainboy77, on 12/01/2007, -1/+10i knew something was wrong when jeff wasn't on the hotspot. jeff is always on the hotspot. always.
    anyway, the site sucked after rich left. and agree or disagree about his review, jeff's humor is the only reason why people go to gamespot. i thought cnet was above being their advertiser's bitch. i thought if anyone did this, it would be RUPERT MURDOCH-owned IGN. not gamespot, and definitly not jeff.
  • Jadinlee, on 12/01/2007, -0/+2Gamespot will become the new SOE among gamers. I'd be jumping ship at Gamespot if I worked there and didn't want to be associated with a sinking ship. This strikes at the heart of their credibility and that is much harder to recover from. I'm happy to modify my gaming news intake to be Gamespot (and CNET) free! I did it with SOE and there is room for more.
  • Talena, on 12/01/2007, -15/+1Hahahahaha, who gives a *****!

    *added some more haha' s to better reflect my emotional state
  • Kila, on 12/01/2007, -2/+49#1. I refuse to buy another EIDOS product ever the games they have are Irrelevant anyways Tomb Raider Kane and Lynch Hitman bahh 90's relics

    #2. I support Jeff and Tim they have integrity and journalistic smart the review was 100% accurate and harsh its a horrible game.

    #3. Shame on EIDOS for crying

    #4. Bigger shame on Gamespot/CNET for bending over for a few measly bucks. CNET/Gamespot = Irrelevant

    • Daevlong, on 12/01/2007, -3/+3Re #1: What about the Thief series? That was EIDOS wasn't it?? I loved those games...
    • MutatedNantuko, on 12/01/2007, -4/+1When was the last time you paid for a thief game? Thief 3 was trash.
  • brwright, on 12/01/2007, -1/+4User reviews are the only way to go nowadays. I used to be able to trust sites like Gamespot and Download.com (both owned by cnet, coincidence?) but not anymore, money is number one.
    • TH3W1R3D, on 12/01/2007, -0/+1Yeah, nobody has really mentioned it, but Download.com has really gone downhill. Farther than Gamespot I'd say.
  • ProjectRice, on 12/01/2007, -6/+1It's not like they ever gave good reviews, they just followed what their sponsors told them to
  • Taikomochi, on 12/01/2007, -0/+7I love how the ad on the site when I visited said "When the going gets tough, CHEAT!" gg Eidos
  • MalikNYC, on 12/01/2007, -0/+9http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FuJ81sDR2o
    This is the review that is in question...
    • geartype2, on 12/01/2007, -7/+3after watching this, I'm going to assume he was fired for being a horrible journalist/reviewer. An angsty high school student could review games better.
    • YoungBeur, on 12/01/2007, -0/+1This video should be posted everywhere. They took it down so it won't be seen, so it should reach at least 200k views to show those *****. The game sucked and it got what it deserved imho!
  • z0zin, on 12/01/2007, -0/+7I've been using Gamespot ever since they launched the website. Posted on the forums for a while as well. Their reviews used to be tough, almost never giving a game a 9 or above. Lately, ever since they dumbed down the review system, all the reviews suck. How the hell do you give Assassin's Creed a 9/10 and Mass Effect 8.5/10? I'm just gonna use metacritic from now on.
    • Bulletbillx, on 12/01/2007, -3/+1metacritic and gamerankings are also both owned by cnet. gamestats is owned by IGN though.
      • Talena, on 12/01/2007, -0/+1yea, and IGN doesn't have any game ads at all....
        • Bulletbillx, on 12/01/2007, -0/+0Well. most of the people posting want to boycott Cnet, and that was the only non Cnet owned site that I could find. I personally dont trust any reviews. I either rent or borrow from friends or just impulse buy.
  • slaystench, on 12/01/2007, -0/+2I was wondering if other staff at GameSpot would leave, if Jeff was indeed fired.
    • brainboy77, on 12/01/2007, -0/+1if anyone, ryan davis. maybe, jason/aaron/brian eckberg.

      on a side note, this may be why rich decided to leave...
      • darkchild82, on 12/01/2007, -0/+1yup, I think a lot more people are going to quit over this. Having followed Gamespot DAILY, pretty much, since 2003 - I can say Ryan Davis, Ryan McDonald & several old timers are gonna quit and join Jeff in whatever he has planned next. I just hope it doesn't happen, I want CNET to realize that what they did is gonna hurt them REALLY bad.
    • somesthetic, on 12/01/2007, -0/+2rich didn't even review games, he just hosted audio and video content.
      • slaystench, on 12/01/2007, -0/+1I stopped watching onthespot when rich left.
  • demonsnake69, on 12/01/2007, -0/+24Gamespot was once my favorite gaming website, but now they've lost all integrity. I won't be visiting the site anymore
  • reddevil3, on 12/01/2007, -0/+10Goodbye Gamespot...it was nice knowing ye.
  • schoate09, on 12/01/2007, -9/+2IGN FTW!!!
  • Trollmaster, on 12/01/2007, -21/+2HOLY CRAP JEFF GERSTMANN HAS LEFT GAMESPOT!!!! OHHHH THE HUMANITY !!!! AND... WHAT!?!!?!???? TIM TRACY TOOO!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO THIS JUST CAN'T BE!!!! END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT!!!!!
  • Talena, on 12/01/2007, -0/+3Come on, does any one really expect objective reviews from a site who is partly paid by the company who's products they are supposed to rate?
    Conflict of interest, if you want to avoid this, try finding a site that doesn't generate money through gaming ads.
    • gmiley, on 12/01/2007, -0/+1The folks over at Penny-Arcade seem to do a pretty damn fair job at reviewing games, albeit in their own pseudo-reviewish kind of way, while also getting money from advertising games. The thing is, they just refuse to advertise for a game they think sucks. They are among the few that I consider competent reviewers. As mentioned further up on this page though, I think user reviews are still one of the better sources of fairer reviews overall.
      • Talena, on 12/01/2007, -0/+2It's good they refuse to advertise bad games, but even if they did, you prob wouldn't buy that game anyway.
        The problem still remains for the games that matter
        • gmiley, on 12/01/2007, -0/+2Well what it means to me is, if they advertise a game, it's because they liked it. Don't get me wrong, I don't base my purchases off of any one persons review, but the fact that PA turns money down because they refuse to advertise a ***** game, well... that says to me that they have a good bit of integrity.
    • GaiaAP, on 12/01/2007, -0/+1Expect? No. Demand? Yes.
  • DreamVsPs2, on 12/01/2007, -0/+4Something fishy is going on. Not just GS but IGN, GT and 1UP.com. The truth is finally starting to come out. First the whole AC reviews crap and now people getting fired for an opinion? C'mon now.
    • Talena, on 12/01/2007, -1/+2He must have stumbled upon some secret documents revealing the long dream of the International Internet Game Reviewers to take over the world! It's amazing he still alive!
  • cambob76, on 12/01/2007, -0/+6What a poor decision! They should have told Eidos to go to hell. Sure they would have lost some ad revenue, but look at the alternative, i.e. what is happening now. It's gonna be far worse.

    Also, maybe Eidos shouldn't have tried to shove a piece a ***** game down peoples throats. That's just lose-lose.
  • Pinkshisno, on 12/01/2007, -1/+7While I did not fully agree with his review on Twilight Princess, I admire that he gave his honest opinion and did not ride the hype like the rest of the reviewers. That's what reviewers should be doing: not riding the hype wagon and state what they really feel about a game. He pretty much gave that game a 9/10 which it is a pretty good score. Twilight Princess was basically a refined OOT so it doesn't deserve a "perfect score." He was pretty entertaining and was one of the few reasons I still visited Gamespot. With him out there is pretty much no reason to visit that site.

    The review system is broken if honest reviewers are getting the shaft. Way to lose even more credibility game sites. Keepy giving away your 10/10's like free candy. Then again it's not free with all money given to them.
  • gdgi, on 12/01/2007, -3/+3'going down'? did anyone seriously think that these sites provide anything remotely close to legitimate reviews?
  • brainboy77, on 12/01/2007, -0/+7this was written by rich. apart from the numerous CoD4 references, there's no way you could tell that a gamer wrote this. really beautiful piece.
    http://www.gamespot.com/users/Richie-G/show_blog_e ...
    • Talena, on 12/01/2007, -0/+2I love this part: "yet I sympathize greatly with those left with the difficult choice of "kicking" (following one's moral compass out the door) or "sticking" (paying that San Francisco rent in a tough I economy)." It's a beautiful kick in the nuts to his colleges who chose to stay, who according to Rich have thereby lost their morale :P awesome!
  • Laxaloot, on 12/01/2007, -1/+2Its too bad that gamespot gets so much publicity for this :/ its like they are getting rewarded
    • gmiley, on 12/01/2007, -0/+3Sorry, but this is one of the times that the line "there's no such thing as bad publicity" just isn't going to apply. When credibility is is what your business is suppose to be based upon, and you drop the ball like they have here, it's going to be really hard to recover from that. I mean, seriously - why is anyone going to bother listening to their reviews when they know that a high score can just be bought?
  • rockyds, on 12/01/2007, -0/+2It was sad when Greg Kasavin left but now the last good reviewer on gamespot is gone, have to look for some other alternative review site now
  • Dweed, on 12/01/2007, -0/+1Eidos...worse than EA?
  • reed311, on 12/01/2007, -1/+2Well, it sucks that Jeff got the boot because of the review, but let me play devil's advocate.

    The video review that Jeff gave was pretty poor in terms of professional standards. He rated the game a 6.0, but he spent the *entire* time trashing the game. You would have thought the game deserved a 1.5 after seeing his review. Now, I certainly don't think he should have been fired over it. His bosses should have reviewed the video before it was posted to the site to see if it was appropriate or not. However, if it turns out Eidos had a hand in his firing, then I will not be purchasing anymore games from them.
  • SilverBack101, on 12/01/2007, -0/+1It's also interesting that the forums for Gamespot have been going through some "maintenance" work now and then all day.
  • SilverBack101, on 12/01/2007, -0/+3http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jeff_Ger ...

    This older draft of Jeff's wiki page is funny as hell. Especially, the last paragraph.
  • NotAgOat, on 12/01/2007, -1/+1"Man, this site is going downhill from here on!"

    It's been down hill for as long as I can remember...
  • darkchild82, on 12/01/2007, -0/+2The guy who fired Jeff is someone named Josh Larson, a jerk formerly from Maxim who took over after Greg Kasavin !
    http://digg.com/gaming_news/Josh_Larson_Director_a ...
  • nathanstarr, on 12/01/2007, -0/+1His firing it just stupid, they said that they check all of the reviews. If they thought that the review was too harsh then they don't publish that review. You don't fire a guy for his opinion, especially if he's right. It seems like Larson just didn't like the guy and was just looking for an excuse to pull the trigger.
  • DwightSchruter, on 12/02/2007, -0/+0Entering bookmarks: *remove gamespot* > *add destructoid*
  • lolo2007, on 02/29/2008, -0/+0Jeff was possibly the single best reviewer I have ever seen. Although you might not agree with his review scores, you have to admire him for giving his honest opinion about them. This whole thing is ridiculous. And every one thought IGN was the one getting money hats. http://download.paramegsoft.com/
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.