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Former GameSpot reviewer sheds light on more PR hijinx
In an interview with former GameSpot reviewer, Alex Navarro, MTV Multiplayer Blog was able to extract a telling tale from the newly appointed community team member at Harmonix regarding the oil-to-water relationship public relations practitioners have with the press.When tasked to review an unnamed Wii launch title, Navarro was sent a note along with his copy of the game--which he provided as evidence to Steven Totilo.The note read: If the review is 9.0 or higher you can post immediately. Lower than 9.0, could you please hold until launch day, November 19th? Thanks."And that's not the first time I got something like that," Navarro told MTV. Navarro, who left GameSpot after the public and controversial firing of then-reviews editor Jeff Gerstmann, said GameSpot ran their review for this game based on a copy bought in a store and they panned it for what it was.
Gamespot compares 360, PS3 graphics; calls it a tie
Gamespot's been stirring the fanboy stew with their graphics comparison features for a few years now, highlighting the visual differences between major consoles. Now in their third round of 360 vs. PS3, Gamespot has a startling revelation: it's really hard to tell them apart.Though they ultimately rule that the Xbox 360 still slightly wins out in the overall, the difference is negligible enough that they're willing to call it a tie. The 360 rocks the boat in high-res textures and texture mapping, but the PS3 conquers in shadowing and anti-aliasing (whatever all that means).
CBS to buy GameSpot, rest of CNet for $1.8b
CBS will pay $1.8 billion in cash to become the proud parent of CNet and its spawn GameSpot in a deal that's expected to close in the third quarter pending shareholder and regulatory approval. The acquisition values the company at $11.50 per share, a 45% premium over CNet's closing stock price on Wednesday, reports the Associated Press. Sheesh! Well, CBS, you've just been robbed "welcome to the internets" ... but as The Washington Post puts it, you've certainly got your work cut out for you not to become known as "CNet Buy Sunk."
Vinny Caravella leaving Gamespot
We're not sure if at this point, five months after the origin of Gerstmannia, you can still point to people leaving Gamespot as a "trend" per se, or if it's just a case of people moving on. Regardless, we thought it worth bringing to your attention that staffer and host of Gamespot's podcast The Hotspot, Vinny Caravella, is leaving the company.Again, we have no idea what pastures Caravella is moving on to or what made them seem so much greener. We are, however, continuing to use the above picture. Why? Well, in all honesty, we still think it's funny, and also, it took us a while to make and we don't know if we'll get to use it again. ... Wow, that's a horrifying look into our decision making process isn't it? Sorry about that.
Gamespot: Brief 9.5 for GTA IV was a 'bug'
[Update: Gamespot EIC Ricardo Torres has posted a fuller explanation of what exactly caused the bug. In short, Torres says the 9.5 review was not final and was changed to a ten during the regular peer review process. A glitch in Gamespot's servers caused the score to be briefly published before it was ready.]Given the flood of perfect review scores for Grand Theft Auto IV, observant gamers were justifiably surprised when a score of 9.5/10 briefly appeared on Gamespot.com Monday. That surprise turned to confusion in some quarters when the score (which had no accompanying review) was quickly taken down and later replaced with the fifth 10/10 in Gamespot's history (complete with corresponding review text). Message boards and some blogs jumped at the change, throwing around charges of "review fixing" and alluding to Gamespot's recent Gerstmann-related credibility problems.Don't go running for your pitchforks and torches just yet, though. According to a forum post by Gamespot's Aaron Thomas, the briefly displayed 9.5 was just a pre-production glitch and never an official review score. "We never posted a review with the score of 9.5," Thomas writes. "What you saw was a bug that sometimes causes scores to appear on the site before reviews go live. Sometimes that score is correct, sometimes it isn't. In this case, it wasn't." Nothing to see here, folks. Move it along. Save your indignation for the thugs trying to push Niko around.(full disclosure: I write a weekly column on the game media for Gamespot)
Doctor clarifies MMO addiction study
We've all heard the warnings before: If you keep playing those MMOs, you'll become addicted, or WoW players live in their parents' basement, never to see the light of day, or you'll shoot your eye out, or you'll grow hair on your palms. Many people proclaim to know what's best for everyone else, but recently a study by Dr. John Carlton of England's University of Bolton declared a similarity between MMO players (playing Asheron's Call) and traits common among people with Asperger's syndrome. In many media interpretations of this research, Dr Carlton's true findings were misconstrued.So in a recent article at GameSpot, Dr. Carlton set the record straight. He explained that there are different levels of gaming "interest". There's a fine line though between the highly engaged and the addicted gamer. He goes on to clarify certain issues that were overlooked in previous news stories on this topic, including the fact that of the 391 people tested for this study, none were actually classified as having Asperger's syndrome. It seems the bottom line in his clarification is that more research would be needed to specifically say one way or another if MMOs actually cause addiction.
Win a chance to play Age of Conan PvP [updated]
So would you like to play some Age of Conan PvP non-stop starting on April 18th and going through to the 20th? If so then Funcom, Eidos and GameSpot have just the beta event for you -- with a catch. You've got to go through the GameSpot website to sign up for the chance to be one of 15,000 lucky winners, which means you also need to have a GameSpot account to sign up in the first place. We're not all too happy about the GameSpot side of this awesome beta event, but read on to find out why we think it's still very much worth it to sign up.Update: It looks like the sign-up page is having technical issues that are being worked on.
Spying on The Agency
Hal Milton, The Agency's lead designer, recently had a lengthy chat with GameSpotUK about Sony's upcoming spy MMO. He revealed quite a bit of new information about the game, including its spy versus spy (PvP) mode.PvP will have a mix of arenas supporting both casual and official game types. There will also be optional crossover missions that start off as PvE and morph as UNITE and ParaGON agents come into conflict over shared or competitive objectives.At launch hundreds of PvE missions will be available and take place throughout Europe, Central America, and East Asia. The modular system will allow them to easily expand to cover the globe.%Gallery-12934%
Gamespot Exodus: Say 'adios' to Brad Shoemaker
We've joked before that, with all of the resignations post Gerstmann-gate, Gamespot's content must be generated by a lonely janitor in the offices, taking a break from picking gum out of the carpet. We're sad to report that his life is about to be even harder: Editor Brad Shoemaker (who has written for the site for eight years) will leave the company this Friday. He hasn't reveled where he's headed, but he's maintaining a personal blog to keep fans up-to-date.The list of departures from the site is getting long enough that we'll soon have to set it to the tune of the "William Tell Overture" to remember it all. But for right now it's at Jason Ocampo, Ryan Davis, Alex Navarro, Frank Provo and, of course, Jeff Gerstmann himself. Just so we know, is this officially "fiasco" level yet? Are we at Code Fiasco?[Thanks, Robert]
Gerstmann's next thing: Giant Bomb
He's been teasing it for a while now, but Jeff Gerstmann has revealed where he's rebuilding his house after the Gamespot Quake of '07: GiantBomb.com, a collabo between Jeff G. and fellow former Gamespotters Alex Navarro and Ryan Davis. As you probably could have guessed, it's a site all about knitting, knitting supplies, knitting culture and (of course) knitting humor in the monthly feature "What A Stitch!" (also, video games).This week, Gerstmann takes you behind the scenes on an exclusive, backstage tour of the new Giant Bomb offices. Who knew a start-up could be this glamorous?
New Age of Conan trailer drops Thursday
Ten Ton Hammer is reporting this morning that Funcom and Eidos have announced that a new Age of Conan trailer will appear on Gamespot.com Thursday. According to the announcement on the AoC official forums, the video will launch at 1700 California time ( -8 GMT). Since I'm bad with that whole international time thing, the TTH guys have done my work for me... apparently "1700 California time" translates to roughly 12pm EST. If it's as bloody as the above pic - wow! We'll let you know when the ball drops so you can make a beeline for Gamespot.
Jason Ocampo leaves Gamespot for IGN
The post Gerstmann-gate metagame of "who's leaving Gamespot" continues with the announcement that former editor Jason Ocampo has landed a job as Editor-in-Chief of the PC team at IGN. Although Ocampo's leaving supposedly had nothing to do with Gerstmann-gate, the loss of almost every "known" person at Gamespot in such a short time is ... awkward. On the plus side, now there's hardly anyone remaining at Gamespot who'd be worth noting if they left. Yay, the epic is almost over and we can march forward (Ocam-ocam-ocam-po).
Pong creator Nolan Bushnell to enter MMO space
The man many call 'the Father of Videogames' -- as he is responsible for founding Atari and creating Pong -- Nolan Bushnell was recently interviewed by GameSpot at this year's GDC. The piece reads along smoothly enough, with Bushnell offering up his opinion on the marginalization of game arcades since the 80s, how to monetize casual games, and the importance of socialization.On this line of questioning, GameSpot asks 'Do you have anything in massively multiplayer games?' After a long pause, Bushnell confirms he does with a single 'yes', but reveals no further details, saying intriguingly ' ... as compelling as World of Warcraft is, it too shall find that there are other ways to play a game.'It's a given that he knows a lot about the industry, but that's not necessarily a quality guaranteed to create a fun game. However, he does know quite a bit about creating social spaces, which could be a big advantage in designing an MMO. What do you think, could something interesting come from Nolan Bushnell?
The exodus continues: Jason Ocampo leaving Gamespot
At this point, when we think of the halls of Gamespot, we can't help but envision one lonely janitor who, taking a break from his full day of sweeping, occasionally tries to put a video game into a console and, on the rare times when he's successful, writes 800 words about it. We know that's not the case, but our grim image of the place has only been further cemented by the news during this week's Hotspot (the site's official podcast) that PC gaming specialist Jason Ocampo was leaving the site for another opportunity.Ocampo said that he hadn't been considering a move three weeks ago, which would seem to rule any Gerstmann-gate connections out. That said, we'd be willing to bet that having so many of his co-workers jump ship didn't make the decision any harder.
GDC08: Dennis Dyack is worried about GDC
During the Game Developers Conference, 1UP.com was able to record interviews with developers in the guise of their weekly 1UP Yours podcast, one such episode was with outspoken Silicon Knights boss Dennis Dyack. In the episode on February 21, Dyack outlined his worries for the future of GDC based on the marketing spin put on the, "once sacred," developer gathering."I worry about GDC [because] how many talks are you learning something versus when somebody is trying to sell you a product?" Dyack asked the crew made up of editors Garnett Lee, Shane Bettenhausen, Bryan Intihar and former 1UPer Mark MacDonald. "Are we calling this the Game Developers Conference [or] are we calling it the Game Demo Convention?"
FLS CEO does the rounds at Aussie gaming sites
The CEO of Flying Lab Software, Russell Williams, has been busy promoting the fantastic deal that involves Aussies getting Pirates of the Burning Sea for free, and has stopped in at the Australian branches of both GameSpot and IGN to discuss the finer points of the game.Both online publications have worthwhile articles, but while IGN's is intended (and named) as a PotBS Primer, the GameSpot interview with Williams focuses on the game's launch in Australia. Williams says that there is no retail launch planned at all for the Australian market, and that PotBS will only be available as a digital download through the aforementioned deal. He also says that there will be Australian servers -- although they won't actually be located in Australia. Check out both of the articles from the links below.GameSpot: Flying Lab Software on Pirates of the Burning Sea down underIGN: A Pirates of the Burning Sea Primer
Blizzard discusses its methods for success at DICE '08
The D.I.C.E. Summit is a yearly gathering of the gaming industry's top talent, there to discuss everything from business practices to development methods to the latest in crazy game mechanics ideas. This year, not only did Gore Verbinski go a little nutty, but the Big Guns at Blizzard -- Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder; Rob Pardo, vice president of game design; and Frank Pearce, executive vice president of product development -- got on-stage to give a talk entitled "Blizzard: From Developer to Worldwide Publisher".The talk covered a great deal of ground in discussing how Blizzard has gotten to be the king of the hill in the gaming world. Key elements included retaining complete creative control, noninterference from parent companies, and building up layers of knowledge over the years that helped them take calculated risks with each successive title. "If we tried to do WoW from scratch, it would be a monumental effort. We already had the community for WoW. Even though they weren't MMO players, they were willing to try it out," said Pardo.Go check out the entire article at Gamespot here.
Ryan Davis talks Gerstmann, Gamespot departure
It's fair to say that the controversial firing of Jeff Gerstmann was a contributing factor to Ryan Davis' recent decision to leave Gamespot. But it was far from the only factor."Jeff's firing just destroyed me, and I think it shed a light on the other stuff that I had been kind of rolling along with," Davis told Joystiq in an exclusive interview.For Davis, who had worked for the popular site since 2000, the daily grind of working at such a large site was beginning to take its toll. "It's just that I had been at the job for a long time, and a lot of the stuff that made the job fun for me has dissipated," he said. "Sometimes you don't love the job, but you make your way through it by focusing on the good stuff. Gamespot is also a huge site, and an organization of that magnitude comes with a fair amount of bureaucracy, and everyone ultimately ends up spending a fair amount of time doing stuff other than producing the content."
Gamespot exodus continues: Ryan Davis to leave
Update: Davis discusses his departure with Joystiq.Joystiq has confirmed with new Gamespot editor-in-chief Ricardo Torres that longtime staffer Ryan Davis has given notice that he intends to leave the site. While we haven't been able to get in touch with Davis directly, a source close to Davis inside Gamespot told us, on condition of anonymity, that the controversial firing of editorial director Jeff Gerstmann was the catalyst behind the decision. The planned departure follows similar decisions by freelancer Frank Provo and staffer Alex Navarro in the wake of the scandal.In a Dec. 1 blog post, Davis spoke of his close relationship with Gerstmann since before he started writing for Gamespot in 2000. "Jeff Gerstmann has been a significant figure in both my personal and professional life for a long, long time," he wrote. "By my recollection, we were fairly fast friends, though I was also kind of pushy about it." The pair played together as part of alternative rap group Suburban All-Stars.
New GameSpot Editor in Chief wants to regain your trust
We know that a lot of you harbor resentment towards GameSpot in the wake of the whole Gerstmann-gate affair, and we can't blame you. We've all got hefty, Gerstmann-shaped holes in our hearts, and our faith in the once great review database is now shaken. However, Ricardo Torres, GameSpot's recently appointed Editor in Chief, is determined to regain your trust in the site, regardless of how many stern 7.5s he'll have to hand out in order to do so.In a recent interview with GameDaily,Torres claims that GameSpot staffers are coming back to work (those who haven't resigned), and that "people are getting back into the swing of things." He also hopes that their strengthened dedication to putting out untainted content will win back their original readers. What do you think, gang? Is it possible to forgive and forget? Or has that ship sailed, been boarded by pirates, then viciously torpedoed by U-Boats?
