influence
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Rumor: Gamespot's editorial director fired over Kane & Lynch review
Update 2:45 PM EST: Gamespot has issued a massive Q&A addressing many outstanding issues surrounding the firing.Update: 11:50 AM EST Dec. 5, 2007: Check out Joystiq's analysis of the edits to Gerstmann's Kane & Lynch review. GameSpot editors comment on their Hot Spot podcast. Also: Tuesday and Wednesday updates from around the web.Update 10:00 PM EST: Gamespot has posted official notice of the firing on their website. Meanwhile, some editors at CNET have commented on the controversy in a podcast.Update - 11:20 AM EST Dec. 3, 2007: Further updates, and Gerstmann's exclusive comments to Joystiq.Update - 11:00AM EST Dec. 2, 2007: More updates from around the web.Update - 3:45PM EST: Ziff Davis employees rally for GerstmannUpdate - 9:00AM EST Dec. 1, 2007: The latest developments on the story.Update - 5:45PM EST: CNET has amended their earlier statement with Joystiq.Update - 3:20PM EST: We just noticed that Gerstmann's video review, previously accessible only through a direct link, has been removed from the site. Here's an alternate YouTube link.Update - 2:20PM EST: We got a response from CNET, GameSpot's parent company, that totally explains the whole thing away ... you see. Actually, they don't say much. Update - 12:52 AM EST: Penny Arcade, which helped popularize this story with their comic last night, has posted an accompanying commentary piece on the issue. The story they were told (by whom, we do not know) has Gamespot management angry at Gerstmann for long-standing problems with his reviewing "tone." The Kane & Lynch review, which allegedly caused Eidos to withdraw "hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of future advertising from the site," served as the straw that broke the camel's back. There's no named source for this information, but the piece does say that "the firm belief internally [is] that Jeff was sacrificed."Update - 11:00 AM EST: The anonymous source/speculation train rolls on. Rock Paper Shotgun has posted a story citing an unnamed "very reliable source" as saying that "while Gerstmann wasn't the most popular man with the CNET owners, it was his Kane & Lynch review alone that saw him lose his job." Meanwhile, a poster at Forumopolis who claims to be directly involved with the Kane & Lynch ad campaign says that the whole thing is just a matter of bad timing. "I sincerely doubt that Eidos made Gamespot fire him," the poster writes. "CNET doesn't kowtow to its advertisers, and I've more than once seen the higher-ups turn away big advertising dollars for the sake of the company's integrity." Make of this what you will.Update - 10:44 AM EST: Gamespot PR representative Leslie Van Every has responded to Joystiq's request for comment with ... a predictable 'no comment.' "It is CNET Networks' policy to never comment on individual employees--current or former--regarding their job status," Van Every told Joystiq. "This policy is in place out of respect for the individuals' privacy."Update - 7:12 AM EST: Jeff has confirmed his firing to us via e-mail, but says he's "not really able to comment on the specifics of my termination." He added that he's "looking forward to getting back out there and figuring out what's next." We're still digging.Update - 1:35 AM EST: The Kane and Lynch ads that blanketed Gamespot's front page are no longer being shown. Check out the picture above to see what the site looked at just an hour ago.Original Post:So before we get going, we should make it clear that this post is still just a rumor and many of the facts behind it are still up in the air. That being said, word around game journalism's virtual water cooler is that Gamespot Editorial Director Jeff Gerstmann has been fired because publisher Eidos was unhappy about his negative review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men.What seems in little dispute, going by forum chatter as well as multiple published sources (referencing conversations with multiple CNet employees), is that Gerstmann has indeed been fired after over ten years working at the site. We were not immediately able to confirm the firing with Gamespot or Gerstmann directly, but an e-mail sent to his Gamespot address did get returned with a "permanent failure" error. Seems pretty serious to us ... (see 7:12 AM update above)
Miyamoto makes the print version of Time 100
We all knew that Shigeru Miyamoto would rank pretty highly on the online version of Time magazine's list of the most influential people; after all, it was people like us determining the rank.What's surprising is that Miyamoto also appears in the print version of the Time list, which was not determined by Internet polling, but by Time magazine editors, who probably know a little more about who's influential in the world. This one isn't ranked hierarchically; the fact that Miyamoto is #92 out of 100 is only because he's categorized in the last section, "Builders and Titans." Put down your torches.Strangely, the piece about Miyamoto is written by Johnathan "Fata1ty" Wendel, who, as a competitive PC gamer, seems pretty far removed from the fun-for-all Wii phenomenon. He's also possibly the first Time writer with a part-1337 name.
Miyamoto ends up at #9 on the Time 100
An expert team of historians and sociologists have finished their initial research, and have determined that Shigeru Miyamoto is the 9th most influential person of the year. We're totally kidding about the experts and the research-- it was just a web poll. Rather than taking the time to go down the top 8 and make fun of them, we'll leave the baffling revelation of who made the cut as an exercise for you. You'll be surprised, and kind of confused! Maybe even a little disgusted!
Miyamoto hasn't quite taken over this Time Magazine list
The list is the Time 100, which profiles 100 people that, in Time's opinion, are the most influential. And this year, our opinions will help shape Time's. And that's why we say Shigeru Miyamoto hasn't taken over the list yet. If there's anything gamers are good at, it's being vocal on the Internet. He's currently sitting at number 3 on the list with an average rating of 92, but we're sure that our collective clicking-on-things power will drive him to the top of the list. Sure, that's above every world leader and every scientist, but if they wanted carefully-researched decisions about relative world influence, they shouldn't have asked the Internet. They're lucky that we're even voting for real people.
Miyamoto nominated for Time 100
In 2004 it was Ken Kutaragi. In 2005 it was the Halo designers. In 2006 it was ... no one.Yes, Time's last list of the 100 most influential people in the world broke from tradition and didn't feel the need to include anyone from the game industry. While nobodies like Nicolas Ghesquiere and Rain got coveted spots on the list, the leaders of a $12.5 billion industry got bupkis.Luckily, you can help rectify this situation. Yes, you, as Time's person of the year, can go independently rate the nearly 200 candidates who are being considered for the 2007 list, including Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto. As of this posting, Miyamoto is ranked 60th, between Indra Nooyi and Albert Osterhaus (a.k.a. two people you've never heard of) with 113 votes and an average rating of 75 out of 100.The ranking system is based on total points accrued, not the average, so more votes equals a better rank. Vote early and vote often -- it's not like you have anything better to do at work.[Thanks hvnlysoldr]
Breakfast Topic: WoW's influence
People are always talking about WoW as the 800-pound gorilla of the current gaming world (or at least the MMO sub-world). I don't have much non-WoW MMO experience, so I don't know where WoW innovated or where it just took/refined standard genre tropes. I do know that WoW must be making a big splash in the economic side of the gaming industry, with its massive legions of subscribers. I remember reading a while back about some game developers saying WoW was bad for the business because a lot of people were just playing WoW and not buying other games, and there may be something to that; I, for one, would almost certainly have bought a Wii by now if it wasn't for WoW.What have you observed WoW's influence to be, good or bad, artistic or economic, in the gaming industry? What further influences do you predict it will have?
HD offerings gluing Americans to their couches
You won't color us impressed on these statistics, but it's finally becoming a bit more apparent that HD offerings are making more and more Americans park it on the couch for longer periods time. While we've given you plenty of reasons (that you probably didn't need) to gander at HDTV, recent numbers are showing that folks are watching HD broadcasts at times for no other reason than the fact that it's in HD. In a recent survey conducted on ESPN's behalf, a whopping "22 percent" of sports fans said they watched events now that they would've never even glanced at if it weren't in HD, while another 22 percent said that HD converted them into sports fans altogether. Although ESPN has been a frontrunner in the push for total HD programming, their offerings are apprently transforming folks who were previously indifferent about March Madness and Rivalry Week into dedicated viewers of all sorts of HD content, and we couldn't possibly agree more. Moreover, an astoundind one-third of all reposndents said that having the program in HD influenced their decision to watch or pass, so maybe there is something magical going on in that 720p / 1080i hubbub, after all.
