4:05 mark.

I'm unfortunately right there with you. It's as if my intentions of a career have been lost.

I just discovered your blog, very nice! I am tracking you now

Jeff is gone, it is not official, but it is true
It is a very very sad day

This would be the end of my time spent here if all of this is true. I honestly never saw this coming.

dude tht really amazing podcast....really mirrored my thought...and i also felt the same abt losing apsiration for writing reviews cuz something like this just doesnt sit with me well...sure there are some real good editors on GS like brad shoemaker and alex navarro and eve the newbie Keven Vanord...but Gertsman (and Kasavin) r the reasons for me going into game journlsim...anwyaz gr8 job bro

Don't give up your aspirations of becoming a games journalist. If you see things in the field you don't like, just try harder to get into it and make things better. If someone doesn't, the things you don't like will never change.

While I haven't totally given up on my aspirations, this certainly makes me rethink them quite a bit. For things like this to stop, it's the management that needs to switch up. I'm fairly sure that any one of the people working on the creative process at Gamespot would not have made this decision lightly if it were their own. What this seems to have come down to is advertising revenue. While this is certainly important to a sites growth, I think losing a rather large chunk of your readership does quite a bit more harm. I can say that my aspirations are intact, but redirected. Maybe once the dust settles, I'll have a better idea of where things are going.

Brendan:

I appreciate the comment--but when someone like Jeff gets fired from GameSpot over what he allegedly did, what does that say about the effect one person can have on the industry as a whole? Jeff Gerstmann was the face of this website and he got fired for "tone", on the spot, because of advertiser pressure.

When Jeff Gerstmann isn't safe, no one is. And until things change, I have no interest in ever pursuing a job in games journalism. (as if I had the talent to begin with) I was a person that came here religiously and looked up to Jeff as someone of unshakable integrity--you'd always get a straight answer out of him on the reviews that he wrote, no matter what. I modeled the writing I've done after Jeff and some of the other editors of old, (Greg Kasavin) trying to show that same kind of openness and honesty in all of my writing. I believe that kind of integrity that was synonymous with GameSpot left when CNET decided to fire Jeff.

This casts a dark cloud over the work that you and all your colleagues do, (fair or not) and people will be wondering if your motivations are ad revenue or giving us objective news and reviews like we used to think GameSpot and CNET were about.

I am in shock that the face of Gamespot, Jeff Gerstmann gets fired over something unbelievably stupid as this and it sicken me too. Jeff has been at Gamespot for 11 years and for it to end the way it has is crazy.

I have done a video giving you my thoughts but I pretty much agree with what you said anyway and you did a better job than I did. Good job!

I have the feeling that Jeff wasn't fired (would look bad in a press release), but was pushed to resign with the choices: 'Give certain sponsored games better reviews or leave Cnet.' (I remember his written statement late in a points report; 'Is not going anywhere' after Rich Gallup quit - this makes me extra sad now.)

your video blog is spot on, i'm with you 100% on every word. gamespot has turned into an eidos fan site. BTW; dunno if you guys noticed, but the video review for kane and lynch was pulled off the site, which pretty much confirms it.

It's like you've read my mind.
This is the way I've evaluated the situation:
Companies are out to make cash. CNET is one of those companies. Cash corrupts.

A good video with some damn good points.

It still leaves a pretty bad taste in the mouth. It is somewhat reassuring that Jeff's been able to move on and so has much of the community.