This is obviously going to work backwards for Eidos;
1) Eidos game gets bad review from gamespot
2) Eidos fears bad review will make people not buy game
3) Eidos puts pressure on gamespot to fire whoever wrote the review
4) That guy gets fired, but draws massive media attention
5) All that media attention draws people to the fact the game sucks
6) The game flops
Whereas it may have done better if they just ignored it at all, because now all the attention is given to one of the lowest hardest reviews.
If anything the stupidest thing anyone could have done is fire the reviewer. To begin with:
A. The Reviewer loses his job.
B. Gamespot loses a reviewer.
C. Eidos becomes demonized by the media.
I just watched the video and I have to say that opening the review with "This is an ugly, ugly game" was a bit harsh. He mellows out towards the end, calling it "fairly standard". Also I think it's interesting, as someone pointed out in the comments, that none of the video footage shows anything after level 2 which suggests that maybe he just didn't spend more than half an hour playing it. I agreed with his TP review but what's controversial is the lack of consistency between that and his other reviews. Tony Hawk's Pro 3 got a perfect 10. What.
It's a shame if he has been fired, because he was only doing his job and in this case, probably very well. I remember reading an interview with an Australian games magazine editor who said that publishers know very well the influence that reviewers have, and these reviewers are often being offered lump sums of cash, holidays and prostitutes(!!) (Edit: Ref: http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/28/pack-your-bags-australian-game-reviewers-offered-hookers/ ) IMO, Gamespot are quite obviously "being sponsored" by Sony. I'd be surprised if any of the large review sites have very much integrity at all to be honest.
I don't giva a damn about Jeff, Gamespot or Eidos. I just love the hype around it and the fact that people at Gamespot are massively giving it a 1.0 to rebel against this
Originally Posted by _Zigzag_ the Reindeer If anything the stupidest thing anyone could have done is fire the reviewer. To begin with:
A. The Reviewer loses his job.
B. Gamespot loses a reviewer.
C. Eidos becomes demonized by the media.
Its a lose-lose-lose situation.
yes but they didn't expect someone to reveal the story, in that case it would be a lose-win-win situation:
-Jeff loses his job
-Gamespot keep Eidos happy and ensure that further advertising deals with eidos will be made
-Eidos gets the reviewer out of his way as well as his video review.
Originally Posted by Hernan I don't giva a damn about Jeff, Gamespot or Eidos. I just love the hype around it and the fact that people at Gamespot are massively giving it a 1.0 to rebel against this
Originally Posted by Hernan I don't giva a damn about Jeff, Gamespot or Eidos. I just love the hype around it and the fact that people at Gamespot are massively giving it a 1.0 to rebel against this
Gamespot visitors are really taking this seriously.
I'm not bothered about the guy getting fired really - I'm more bothered about the fact that they let advertisers influence their review scores. The guy who got fired has been harsh for lots of games in his reviews. He gave Zelda for the Wii a 8.8/10 and everyone said he was crazy because it deserved higher. But I don't think he's ever made any invalid points in his reviews.
In hindsight he was right about TP. Fantastic game and all that, as a fan of the series I'd give it a solid 9 and not the 10 everyone else was shouting for.
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