Like many other GS readers, I'm just now discovering the fate of founding staffer Jeff Gerstmann. He was the one guy that kept me coming to the site. The GS Live content with Jeff, Rich, Ryan, Carrie, Greg and Alex are what made me decide to start paying for the TotalAccess account to see the high res video. One by one those people started to leave. It's not uncommon for many to jump at the chance to be a part of the creation of something you've loved for so long, many went on to work for game companies, others for more practical reasons. But Jeff was dedicated to being the best at what he did, be a game reviewer and be the top one in the field. Even in your final act at GS, you did what few others would, and put your integrity up against politics and revealed the biggest sham in the industry.

Which brings me to the real topic of this; I've been playing games since the mid 70's and when the early magazines like Electronic Games, VG&CE, and follow ups like EGM and Nintendo Power became the standard magazines, there was always suspicion that ads were a deciding factor in reviews. It was never proven, and usually it was written off as the lamentations of fanboys unhappy with a review. Now in the days of webzines and banner ads, advertising is more present than ever. Often I'd wonder why a review was taking so long, noticing that the site was plastered ads for that game, it seemed a little too coincidental that the review wasn't up until the game had a few days on the retail shelf. It's now been made painfully obvious that these reviews are often bought and paid for by corporate sponsors. It's not as bad as magazines like Play that give games like Lair a 10 along with the cover and 8 pages of saccharin review, but often a game would get a casual 7 that was good enough to appease the sponsor and low enough to make the bitter pill the reviewer had to swallow a little more palatable.

Now the fallout begins and we shall see how sites and magazines spin this. A few decades ago radio stations were actually prosecuted for "payola" the act of playing songs for money and benefits by the record companies. It still goes on today in some form, but it's more about getting exclusive interviews or promotional appearences than actual monatery rewards. I doubt we'll see the same thing, since video games are still viewed by many as a child's toy - thanks to Nintendo - so it will be largely ignored by people outside the industry. That's why we as the informed consumer and enthusiast of this hobby have to follow Jeff's lead and put our money where are mouth is. Do not buy games at face value, do not support the video game sites with paid subscriptions, do read forums and player reviews to get your impression if a game is worth purchasing. Until we show that we won't be part of this backroom deal crap, they will continue to do it.

I hope Jeff will find work at a new site, maybe start one himself, but in any case it's been real and I hope to see you on the flip side.

PS Kane & Lynch wasn't that bad, and certianly not worth the hassle of this magnitude.