Word out on several gaming sites and blogs (not to mention popular webcomic Penny Arcade) is that GameSpot editor Jeff Gerstmann has been fired over his largely negative review of IO Interactive and Eidos' Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. As Shacknews explains, Gerstmann awarded the third-person action shooter a 6.0 score, complaining in his review of bad storytelling, unlikeable characters, and frustrating gameplay. Gertsmann's video review of the title was overwhelmingly negative, as well.
The 6.0 score and negative appraisal aren't at odds with other reviews—Kane & Lynch has a 68% critic score and 5.2/10 user score on Metacritic—but they did clash rather spectacularly with an extensive Eidos ad campaign on GameSpot. As part of the campaign, GameSpot had almost entirely re-skinned its website with imagery and banners from the game, and it allowed readers to put together their own Kane & Lynch trailers.
According to Kotaku, which quotes an anonymous tipster, Eidos "took issue with the review and threatened to pull its ad campaign." Gertsmann was subsequently fired "on the spot." Links to his video review were removed, and so was the ad campaign. The folks at Joystiq received e-mail confirmation from Gertsmann that he had indeed been fired, although the former editor said he wasn't able to comment on the reason for the dismissal.
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