Game Reviewing... is it Journalism? Part III

Back in 2007 a nice little game called Kane & Lynch hit the market and enjoyed an average rating of the 6-7 range out of 10. Now honestly, in this day and age, that isn't that awful of a rating... however, that's not what Eidos Games thought when they read Jeff Gerstmann's review on a game review site, Gamespot. Jeff gave the game a 6.0, stating the game was "fair".

Eidos had an advertising campaign running on Gamespot at the time and demanded the website take action or else it would withdraw its ad campaign. In response to Eidos' frankly childish demand Gamespot did something even less honorable... they fired the reviewer. If that is not a sign that this is a rotton business than I don't know what is.

The fault doesn't only rest on the shoulders of the magazines and websites however. The world of gaming public relations is a dark and manipulative one that has influences good reviews for eons. Some publishers go as far as to throw parties for the reviewers and executives with strippers and alcohol galore.

The next and final installment will explain how some reviewers cut corners and write full reviews on games they barely even played and how to find reliable reviews.