Jeff Gerstmann to launch Giantbomb.com for game fans
Jeff Gerstmann got fired from his job as head of reviews at mega-game-fan site GameSpot in December. Fans rallied to his cause because it appeared that he was let go by managers who feared his scathing review of the widely-panned Kane & Lynch video game would cause a loss of advertising. GameSpot denied that Gerstmann’s firing had anything to do with advertising pressure but it wallowed in bad publicity. Gerstmann became a cause celebre.
While I’m sure that firing was painful, it clearly hasn’t hurt his career, and he will have plenty of followers. Now Gerstmann is launching his own web site to blog about video games, and will continue to do a podcast on games with Ryan Davis. Right now, the site only has a few reviews, but Gerstmann promises there will be much more by this summer. He’ll be able to be as loose a cannon as he wants now — at least until he gets some advertisers. I hope he gets off the ground and continues supplying some much-needed perspective on the whole game-review universe.
GameSpot better watch out. Since Gerstmann’s firing, the site has seen other talent head out the door.
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About the Author, Dean Takahashi
Dean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.