Wow, things just got a lot colder here on Gamespot. The way in which Jeff (allegedly) lost his job is sickening and forces a shadow of skepticism over all the editorial content from this site moving forward. How much pressure do reviewers take from above to keep in mind their advertising partners when it comes to high profile reviews? How many times are they reminded of their own job security during this process? How often do they cave in and recieve a little something extra for their cooperation? Why is a refusal to comply with such practices considered proper grounds to fire a loyal 10 year employee, Editor-In-Chief and overall trusted face of their website? What company could possibly fathom this a sound business move?

The review wasn't even overly harsh, Kane & Lynch is getting universally mediocre scores across the board. I get the pressure from publisher's PR firms, I get the advertising pushes, what bothers me is the "we pay your salary with our giant flashy ads so we own your review" attitude that seems to have gotten Jeff into troube when it should never have been a legitamite position in the first place. Shame on CNET for doing this. Shame on Eidos if they had anything to do with this, ie. threatening to pull advertising, generally acting like a baby, etc. Shame on that idiot from Maxim who runs things now who probably made this decision in the first place, if just to shake things up and leave his mark. Who knows, I don't have any real info on the issue. But if things are what they appear to be it's a sad day indeed for the gaming media at large and the people that rely on them for objective content.

Say hello to the 8.0-10.0 review scale! It's been a long time coming, apparently there's just too much money riding on this industry for critical flops anymore. Especially when said flop is plastered left, right and top center of said criticism. Makes a man want to start a 1up account and never look back.