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GameSpot issues short comment on Gerstmann firing
In the wake of the rumors surrounding Jeff Gerstmann's suspicious removal as editorial director of Gamespot, Gamespot owner CNET has issued a short, official comment on the situation. "GameSpot takes its editorial integrity extremely seriously," the statement reads. "For over a decade, Gamespot and the many members of its editorial team have produced thousands of unbiased reviews that have been a valuable resource for the gaming community. At CNET Networks, we stand behind the editorial content that our teams produce on a daily basis."As for Gerstmann specifically, CNET repeated their assertion that "it is CNET Networks' policy not to comment on the status of its employees, current of former."While it's nice to see CNET taking the accusations seriously, the statement doesn't confirm or deny the facts behind the controversy, or add any significant information to the story. With the rumor still generating significant discussion throughout the online gaming community, such a short, pat statement seems unlikely to stop the gathering storm of attention.
Rumor: GameSpot Editorial Director fired for Kane & Lynch review
It seems as we slept last night, big things were happening over at GameSpot. Rumors are flying (flying we say) that GameSpot's Editorial Director Jeff Gerstmann was fired thanks to a negative text review and a very negative video review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. As you can see from the above image, Eidos is obviously sending a lot of advertising money GameSpot's way, leading many to think that publisher pressure had something to do with the firing. Adding fuel to the fire, the Kane & Lynch skin at GameSpot seen above has since been removed, within hours of the story breaking. It's all still hearsay at this point -- the only confirmation is currently coming from anonymous sources -- but if it's true, it's likely to rock the game industry. The news is already exploding on GameSpot's forums, while the resulting posts on the Eidos forums have apparently been purged. There's a lot to go over with more likely to break. Hit the links below to read Joystiq's coverage from early this morning. Check out Gerstmann's video review of Kane & Lynch after the break.Read - Rumor: GameSpot Editorial Director fired over Kane & Lynch reviewRead - Eidos and GameSpot forums exploding over Gerstmann incident
Eidos and Gamespot forums exploding over Gerstmann incident
Although Gamespot and publisher Eidos have not yet made public statements over what led to the firing of Gamespot's Editorial Director Jeff Gerstmann, the accusation of publisher pressure is exploding all over the companies' forums. Gamespot currently has numerous threads on the incident, with one thread in particular having thousands of posts. Eidos has taken a different approach, locking down all threads on their site after apparently purging derogatory posts from thousands of angry gamers reacting to the rumor yesterday night.More sources are now confirming that Gerstmann's firing was indeed over his Kane & Lynch review. The situation will likely continue to escalate among the gaming community until somebody either tells the truth or gives some reasonable spin to what's going on. At this point the reputations of Eidos, Gamespot and Gerstmann actually do hang in the balance within the industry. In the wake of Sony's stumbles attacking Kotaku, we just can't imagine that the Gamespot executives didn't expect this to explode as it has. Are they so out of touch? The simple fact of the matter is until someone talks, this isn't going away.
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)
Win Kane & Lynch: Dead Men from GTR
The gang over at Gamertag Radio is giving away five copies of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. All you have to do to win is figure out how you identify with crazed psychotics. Specifically, GTR wants to know which of the game's protagonists you identify with more. There's Kane, the brutally violent mercenary, and Lynch: the brutally violent psychopath. If you need help figuring this out, you may want to listen to the latest episode of GTR or spend some time on Wikipedia. Once you've got your answer, head over to GTR and post it.We're going to have to go with Lynch, the paranoid schizophrenic, because we're pretty sure that the gaming industry is conspiring to take all of our money.
Shipping this week: leap of faith edition
The holiday onslaught continues this week with nine new games for the Xbox 360. Assassin's Creed is arguably the most anticipated of the bunch -- and it's likely many gamers will be buying a copy on faith alone -- but we're sure there are plenty of people out there interested in the likes of BlackSite, Kane & Lynch, and Need for Speed Pro Street. And there are five more games aside from those. What the hell is a frugal gamer to do? Just take a look at all these games. Assassin's Creed BlackSite: Area 51 Beowulf: The Game Kane & Lynch: Dead Men Need for Speed Pro Street Monster Jam Soldier of Fortune: Pay Back America's Army: True Soldiers WWE Smackdown Vs. RAW 2008 We hope you've paid the bills already.[Via Joystiq]
Video: Kane & Lynch devs on multiplayer, co-op
In the third of the Kane & Lynch Insider series, the developers at IO Interactive discuss the multiplayer mode of the game and the (offline only) co-op. One thing that stands out to us as we watch the video is that the graphics aren't all that spectacular. A petty complaint perhaps, but early trailers had us impressed. Maybe it's the bland UI, but something seems off. But, gameplay is paramount, and the multiplayer mode (called Fragile Alliance) looks to change things up a bit. As we've discussed before, players cooperate to pull off a bank heist, with victory being awarded to the criminal that gets out with the most money. To spice things up, players can betray their teammates to steal their cash, and those who are betrayed are resurrected as police officers.Honestly, it's a little hard to listen to the developers talk about how much co-op adds to the game. Call us jaded, but the fact that co-op is an offline only option is sorely disappointing, making the developers claims about how it changes the experience fall a little flat. Don't get us wrong, we love couch co-op as much as any gamer, but considering that nearly all major titles have online co-op now, it seems like a hefty oversight.Still, let's try not to dull our excitement for Kane & Lynch, hmm? Watch the video and tell us what you think.
Kane & Lynch excited for GTAIV
Never once have we thought to use the word "cute" to describe Kane & Lynch -- a game about robbing banks at gunpoint, among other things -- but it really seems the best word to describe the video embedded above. Most of the video is simply listening to Lynch talk about how much he likes the Grand Theft Auto series, and how excited he is to play GTAIV. Of course, we all know it's been delayed until next year, so it looks like he'll have to wait. As we said, it's a cute video (it's also got some salty language, so watch at your own discretion). Give it a watch and give the folks at Eidos some props for their cleverness.[Via Joystiq]
Kane and Lynch releasing a week earlier
Eidos has just announced that their crime ridden title Kane and Lynch: Dead Men has reached gold status earlier than expected and, as a result, will release to retailers earlier too.Kane and Lynch's new release date is now scheduled for November 13th, up a full week from its previously announced November 20th date. Mad props to the development team, we always knew their hearts and heads were in the game ... high five! The only thing left for us to decide is who exactly we want to play in the game. It's either a crazy, medicated psychopath or an angry, flawed mercenary ... such tough decisions to make.
Kane & Lynch insider vid talks story development
The first in what a appears to be a series of video diaries, the Kane & Lynch Insider #1 has been released. The video focuses on the story development of the upcoming crime action game from IO Interactive. Jens Peter Kurup, the game's director, discusses how the story has developed over time. Interestingly, the game was originally based solely around Kane, with Lynch playing only a background role. As development progressed, Lynch became more central to the story, until the developers decided to essentially turn the game into "a buddy movie." Also, Kurup stresses that players may not necessarily like Kane and Lynch, but that players should still care about them at least a little bit. In this he compares Kane and Lynch to characters like Scarface. He's a horrible human being, but you still manage to care about him. Basically, that's the goal for Kane & Lynch. Here's hoping IO Interactive manages to pull it off.Warning: Video possibly NSFW thanks to violence and one instance of profanity.
Kane and Lynch has bank heist multiplayer, offline co-op
Alright, we've got good news and bad news about Kane and Lynch. Pick a hand. You sure you want that one? Alright, bad news first then. The bad news is that the game will not feature online co-op. Yeah, a game that centers around two characters working together doesn't have online co-op. The news was confirmed by Eurogamer in an interview with the game's director Jens Peter Kurup. From what we can gather of Kurup's circuitous answers, online co-op was scrapped in order to deliver the game on time.In happier news, the multiplayer mode for Kane and Lynch has been revealed and it sounds like a lot of fun. Described by the developers at IO Interactive as such a good idea that they were surprised no one thought of it before, the multiplayer mode has players performing a bank heist. Titled Fragile Alliance, the mode has players attempt to rob a bank within a certain time limit while avoiding police fire. The twist is that players can turn on each other in order to get more loot. However, killing teammates immediately flags you as a traitor, so one has to pick the right moment to betray. Make it back to the getaway car with extra cash and you can purchase better weapons the following round. As a bonus, betrayed teammates are resurrected as police officers so they can exact their bittersweet revenge. In short, it sounds like a great idea. Here's hoping it makes us forget about online co-op.[Via Joystiq. Thanks, THA1icarus]Read -- CVG multiplayer previewRead -- Eurogamer multiplayer interview
Joystiq hands-on: Kane & Lynch
"Get down!" That's the last thing you're told before your vision fades away. You hear what's going on: somehow, Lynch, the psychopath partner of yours, has managed to bust you out of a prison van. Your vision returns, blurry, as you limp away, following his directives.So begins Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. It's clear why the game is already optioned for a movie -- it's intense, visceral, in your face. Dazed and confused, you follow Lynch's directives and join your fellow inmates in a mad escape. The cops are on hot pursuit, and bullets fly in every direction. You're not just seeing a massive gunfight unfold before your eyes -- you're a vital part of it. The cons ahead of you are also fighting for their lives. You realize you have no choice but to follow, for the sake of your own survival. As your vision slowly returns and you're able to start walking normally, you see that the world developer IO Interactive has created is a very real one. Don't expect the gritty browns and grays that are so typical of modern action games. Instead, the colors are refreshingly un-stylized. As your progress through the first chapter of the game, you end up in a rather un-spectacular backdrop: a local diner, taking cover from an increasing barrage of bullets. This is where you fight back.
Director: Kane and Lynch are bastards
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men director Jens Peter Kurup doesn't have many nice things to say about his nefarious duo. In fact, he doesn't really like them that much, but he says they're the type of characters who he wanted in the game.Interestingly enough, Kurup says the title started out starring only Kane with Lynch as a sidekick, but he was so interesting that the pair quickly grew into the crime duo we're growing to love. With Kane & Lynch and Army of Two on the horizon, buddy games have quickly grown up since the time of Ratchet and Clank and Jak and Daxter.
Kane and Lynch wreak havoc November 20th
So far we've been pretty impressed with what we've seen of Kane & Lynch. The blackguards at Joystiq seemed to enjoy their time with the game at E3 as well. Thus it's with both a little joy and trepidation that we report the game is scheduled to hit store shelves on November 20th. We are happy that we'll finally be able to give the game a proper once over, but also a little worried that November is fast becoming the most densely packed month we've seen all year. Mass Effect, Rock Band (presumably), Call of Duty 4, Blacksite, Army of Two, and now Kane & Lynch. Of course, we're probably forgetting some, too.Sorry kids, looks like we're eating hot dogs this Thanksgiving. Turkey's expensive, and these games won't buy themselves.[Via Evil Avatar]
PSP Fanboy Theatre: Volume 23
PSP Fanboy offers the latest and greatest movie and game trailers, formatted for the PSP in this new weekly feature. Check it out every Saturday. PSP owners can download files wirelessly via m.pspfanboy.com.Instructions: Save all movie and thumbnail files to the VIDEO folder. These high resolution 480x272 videos require firmware 3.30 or above. (Note: OE custom firmware will also play these videos.)New for PSP: Get selected videos delivered automatically to your PSP via our new RSS feed. Metal Gear Solid 4 [PS3]Download MP4 (84.9MB) | Download JPG The following videos are featured after the break: Kane & Lynch (PS3 & 360), PLAYSTATION Network, You Kill Me
Kane & Lynch trailer terrorizes Marketplace
You may recall the German Kane & Lynch: Dead Men trailer we posted yesterday. If you happen to speak English, then we have good news for you, the trailer has been released (in English) on Xbox Live Marketplace (it's also embedded at the top of this post, because we love you). Yes, now you can enjoy the trailer in both English and high definition goodness. The trailer focuses on Lynch, the long-haired, heavily medicated psycho. We've been intrigued by Kane & Lynch ever since we first laid eyes on it, so here's hoping there are more details coming our way.Note: This trailer contains loads of blood, guts, and foul language. Definitely NSFW.
Video: Das ist Kane und Lynch? Ja!
It's been a while since we've heard anything about Eidos' Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, so we are all over this new trailer. There is one little caveat though: it's in German. It's okay though, because, as we all know, wanton destruction is the real universal language. Honestly, could there be anything better than a man with anger issues teaming up with a highly medicated psycho? Well, no, obviously the answer is no. We think that's perfectly clear. Give the trailer a watch and tell us what you think.
Kane and Lynch on PSP?
Future Gamez is reporting that Atari Australia's release schedule listed Kane & Lynch: Dead Men as not just a PC and Xbox 360 game, but also for PS3, PS2 and most importantly, PSP. The game is due out June 2007 and features (at least on home consoles) co-op play with two characters. One is a morally challenged mercenary and the other is a pill popping psychopath. If this listing is more than just a mistake, it could mean great things for PSP fans. The game is developed by Io Interactive, creators of Freedom Fighters and the Hitman franchise. This game was a must buy for me on the Xbox 360 and if it comes out for the PSP as well, I'm such an Io Interactive fan that I'll likely buy both. [Via DCEmu]
Kane & Lynch trailer shows us how it's done [update 1]
Those wonderful boys at Xboxyde have posted the Kane & Lynch trailer that hit Marketplace this morning. Now this is how you make a trailer. Let's just put it this way, if it was a movie, we'd watch it. Ubisoft Eidos is making it clear that story telling is going to play a big role in this generation. Let's just hope that the gameplay lives up to it.Update:Oops. It's Eidos not Ubisoft.
