Yup! I've arrived back home in the USA. This means I can do stuff on GameSpot proper again. Doesn't mean I'll be AS involved as I once was back in the days but I'll be around. I'll be doing edits on Giant Bomb and doing general game stuff here.

As most of you probably know, Giant Bomb dot com blew up! I'm pretty immersed into it and I love that I get to have both GameSpot AND Giant Bomb. They each offer unique content in almost every aspect in which the best parts are shared. GameSpot has borrowed a little site mechanics from GB and Giantbomb takes the editorial content that has been seen before at GameSpot but moved over to Giant Bomb too.

At the time of this typing GS is still in it's new GameSpot WIDE! beta. I personally love it and adds some more useful mechanics and makes the site much more appealing. Options, browsing, content, it's all better now.

Also at the time of this typing I'm in Romania on vacation and have been here for a month and will be here for another three weeks. I've been doing a bunch of stuff and relaxing and why I'm not so involved with stuff too much.

That's it. You've just been updated!

We all know the phrase "beating a dead horse" but what if it's a zombie horse composed of decaying awkward that didn't die the first time? I'm talking about the infamously titled "Gerstmann-Gate". An issue that rocked the foundation of GameSpot and gaming journalism as a whole. I'm not here to talk about the events that happened. I'm going to talk about that undead walking equine corpse and what it's done after we've all stopped talking about it.

GameSpot

Giant Bomb

Yeah I said it. Unfortunately it seems like one can't be blunt and mature about situations anymore. Four months later and the awkward is still so thick you can cut it with a knife. Did I stress awkward? Neither site has mentioned nor seriously recognized the other. It's very similar to an ugly breakup in which there are people who are friends with both. I'm here to address the perspective of the friends who've witnessed this ordeal unfold. I'm one of those friends.

As you know both Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis as well as a, so far unnamed, small staff have begun and almost finished creating their video game website Giant Bomb. Currently content is delivered in blog form. Giant Bomb and GameSpot both record their weekly podcasts on Tuesday and post various news stories, reviews, previews, and various other content. Anyone else see something interesting happen. Giant Bomb plans in their full site to have forums, hubs for various content, ability for users to contribute to the site personally and receive points based on how much they contribute. I swear I've seen that type of video game website before… Both sites are too seemingly stubborn to acknowledge that they are both wings on the same video game loving bird.

Actually the features I've mentioned aren't something exclusive to GameSpot but I highly doubt Giant Bomb isn't taking bits and pieces of concepts and features from GameSpot. Since those features work very well, I can see why they would adopt those. As one who has contributed to GameSpot, it feels like I'll be doing the same thing for Giant Bomb as well. I'm actually very excited for Giant Bomb and those features because I'm willing to go through the process of contributing to Giant Bomb the same way I did for GameSpot. The problem is that no one has decided to grow a pair and mention the other site and the fact that both parties have had great times for well over half a decade. That seems to have been dissolved thanks to the poorly handled debacle in the space of weeks. At least that's the message I've been getting.

One has to ask, will the hatchet ever be buried? Will this situation ever be officially addressed? Will Giant Bomb and GameSpot live together as friendly rivals or bitter enemies? The latter will only yield something very malicious. Not something that will end well for anyone. I'm not one to beat any horse but unfortunately this isn't the whole story.

A big part of this touchy tale is the group of people who are a fans of each site. Many reluctantly stayed loyal to one side or the other and most in fact decided to follow both. Many want answers and yet receive none from any side. Many lay blame where there is none. Some still cling to the almost conspiracy theory-esque explanation that is known to be false to some degree. I know there are good people out there and most of them compose the fans of these sites but there are those few, the proud, the jerks. These are the same crowd of internet jerk that has defined what evil means on the System Wars forum. They are only making a bad situation worse but have done so so subtly that no one has addressed the issue. Who knows, maybe bygones are bygones but we sure as hell don't know that yet, and this is why I'm writing this. The small group of jerks sure aren't helping and the lack of a mature explanation thanks to legal BS in the beginning has come together in an absolutely ugly and awkward situation that is seriously effecting some and angering others.

Getting official answers or even sentiments from either side has proven to be harder than fixing the economy. I highly doubt that Jeff will respond if I ask him if he thinks that GameSpot and Giant Bomb can be friends on a public scale. This issue has been addressed but I'm getting the feeling that Jeff won't even say the word "GameSpot" publicly and the same goes for GameSpot when it comes to saying Giant Bomb. There are a few who are willing to talk about the way they feel now but here we are. Months later and what do we have? Two great video game websites and river of awkward between them. I hope I'm wrong. I hope that both parties have talked frequently and are willing to recognize the other. Maybe they are restricted by the legal aspect of this mess. I don't know that, and neither do you or anyone who frequents both sites. No one knows and the ones who do can't tell us anything regardless of how the situation has improved. That fact has caused more damage than one would want to acknowledge or admit.

Maybe horse will once and for all be dismantled with a chainsaw but one can only hope.