If I hadn't gotten banned during the 8.8 fiasco, I might go to this potentially up-and-coming site.

Hitokage

Dont know and cant talk for him but it looks to me that he still wants to stay in the business of video game journalism.

Thats the feeling I got from watching his latest Points blog which was the longest 1 EVER 1 hour & 15 minutes or so

Ruisu

Oh, and on a side note:
There can be only one.

Haz4rd

Lol. Unless the site is entirely different on structure from any other "news & reviews" it will be the same shit.

Wyld

Hopefully this is true. I wonder if Alex Navarro would join the site?

seasponge

I am far more likely to go to Gamefaqs and read user reviews about a game. Or listen to people right here.

My favorite game I played 2007, M2Total War/Kingdoms, is something I only heard about here.

SSJPabs

Sadly, I don't think it'll make much of an impact on anything really. I mean, most people just quote up Metacritic numbers for things nowadays, so unless they can conjure up a new way to get information up there, and pull in traffic (Or rather, keep the traffic, cause there'll bound to be plenty of people peeking in just to see what it's all about.) I just don't see how well it'll work... well, outside of scavenging the corpse of Gamespot itself, whilst pirating away all it's editors.

ampillion : Will comment for money.

I'm totally in. Gerstmann KNOWS games to an... well, past an unhealthy level. In short, he's EXACTLY the kinda dude you wanna get your reviews from, hear analyze current news, or just shoot the shit and talk about the our beloved industry past, present, and future. GS has been dead to me since... has it really been three months? This would be awesome!

ARboom

I'd be so into this site if I didn't think Gerstmann was a pretentious douchebag!

The_Foo

@EnigmaNemesis:

No doubt. I hope that Jeff is actually working on this. I didn't agree with all of his reviews, but I do admire his honesty ... and to me that means a lot when you're trying to connect with the reviewer and his review. After all, you don't want someone blowing smoke up your ass just because he'll get fired for telling it how it is.

dead_red_eyes

I support Mr. Gerstmann!

Haz4rd

Anyhow, forgot to add this. 1up is all about the "gamespot and advertising spin" this year. Must be their MO to run with throughout the year.

EnigmaNemesis

I liked the idea that Jeff might join one of the more known gaming blog sites, but this in itself has gotten me interested. I'd like to see how it'd stack up, and see if it can reach the same popularity and success of IGN, 1up, Gamespot, etc.

JarenFace

Competition is always good =P...

katorok

@edb87: Bah, I meant "when it gets bought out".

I need sleep...

edb87

I'm all for competition =D!

katorok

Wow, very interesting.

Imagine if they come out, and it causes one of the downfalls to that site.

Wouldn't that be some karma right there!

EnigmaNemesis

This would be good stuff.

Shindokie (PSN and XBL)

@Sparx88: Five American dollars on "until it gets bought out by IGN".

edb87

I'll be behind this web site if Gerstmann swears to never use the words "quite good" or "solid but unspectacular" in a review ever again. The man needs to learn to write with some punch.

badasscat

i am in !

Waza

I AM IN !

Waza

I am behind this new website (if it even exists) 100%.

VipingViper

Intersting

Now if it happens we should take bets and see how long it takes for that site to get corrupted too.

Sparx88

Hes going to use this newfound internet attention to form a site. Hopefully it will work so i'll look forward to it.

Kerrell

I had a feeling Jeff was going to start a new site. It's good that he still wants to do what he did on Gamespot. I'll join that site when ever it opens. Hope this rumor is true.

Kajiba

lol, Autoerotic Asphyxiation?

Chief2BeaR

Is Gerstmann okay? I was watching a video blog @ [blog.jeffgerstmann.net]
and at about 10:40 in, he sorta lets out about his job. He doesn't say much, but you can sorta see that he misses gamespot. Anyways, maybe this new site will cheer him up.

devilgoku

Now if Alex came to that site and he and Jeff started a new podcast I'd be completely satisfied with this development. Hopefully they could lure Ryan and Brad with them, but that might just be wishful thinking on my part.

A lot of people talk smack about game reviewers, but their job is hard and many of them really care a lot about what they do. People are so quick to throw out accusations of corruption or bribery or whatever with the slightest provocation. Of course, skepticism on the behalf of consumers is necessary (which is why I don't buy the concept of 'user reviews' because they're often 15% or more higher than critical reviews), but these are actual people that can see what is being said about them, and a lot of it is very hurtful and for the large part totally unnecessary. All the incredibly venomous stuff spread about the individuals who are just doing their jobs after stuff like the Twilight Princess or Rachet and Clank reviews is just juvenille.

I used Gamespot for many years, mock me if you like, because I found it to be a great source for informed, well-written critical opinions about games. The site took a big blow when Kasavin left in January of last year, and it started to show leading up to when Jeff was fired. Still, I felt like I knew and trusted a lot of the workers there because I read their blogs and listened to them on the podcast, and it's really a shame how they have to put up with having their names beaten like a pinata on the Internet when they had to make a hard decision about scoring a game. As I said, if this new site is real then I hope all of the people I enjoyed hearing from on Gamespot make their way there somehow.

Stormrider900

I am 100% behind anything gerstmann does. Been a while since a fresh new site has been introduced.

devilgoku

i hope its true.also if any one cares gerstmann has a lil gaming blog he has been updating alot more now.
[blog.jeffgerstmann.net]

Truepatriot

I was pretty pissed off about the whole Gerstmann thing at the time. But I've been giving Gamespot a chance. And frankly, haven't really seen much compelling coming out of them (granted, not having much in the way of new games doesn't help). But both the podcast and the live show have been off since Jeff got shitcanned. So I'm visiting the site less and less, and will probably remove it from my bookmarks next time I clean them up.

One interesting thing to note is how on a recent podcast, they plugged all of theirs (and their departed colleagues' off-site blogs) when in the past they would always promote the blogs they maintain within Gamespot. If the rumour pans out, I wouldn't be surprised if more folks jumped ship to it. And would definitely support such a site.

4dSwissCheese

that would be awesome! I would definitely visit that site.

giantenemycrab

I'm definiately supporting this new website if it's true.

Trochan

Nice, don't let them beat you down, I hope they make a new site :)
¨
I know I would visit it, atleast once to check it out, because I havn't been to Gamespot forever since the whole site is cluttered with xbox fanboys spending waaay too much time in systemwars arguing how bad the PS3 is with themselves and their "on the spot" allways talking about how great every XBLA game is. Even the bad ones and their lame jokes.

Oh, and it would be nice to get reviews that matter and ain't crap, I swear I like 1up and IGN reviews more, even if their scores are most of the time bad.

Irenicus-the one and only

I'm Spartacus! Woops I mean I'm in.

zeuberhippyvandriver

If this is true it shall be interesting to watch.

KindGalaxy

Gamespot lost their best people over that stupid firing. I can't wait to see what the new site is like.

munkah

@EnigmaNemesis: Arguing over 0.1 decimal is meaningless yes lol I don't know what is dumber, whining over a decimal or giving the game a decimal short of 9 in a review.

Scores suck anyway, I just read reviews and then unless it get like below a 7 out of 10 I don't care about the score at all. Also I try to read reviews from many different sources. I guess fanboys need points, because they think we are playing a game over who wins console war, I wonder if they keep track and write down all the score on a blackboard too with white crayons.

Irenicus-the one and only

FINALLY!

TechnoPirate

@Irenicus-the one and only:

I agree, but I still think it is uber geek to keep dwelling on it. We are all geeks, but man that takes the damn cake. To let something so meaningless to effect you so long. VERY MEANINGLESS!

EnigmaNemesis

I will be there supporting them if it comes to that. Also, gamespot sucks.

Grind_Axis

@EnigmaNemesis: I hate decimals... Infact I hate a scale of 1-10, they don't use the whole thing anyway and 0.1 or 0.2 makes no difference.

I rather have 1-5 or 1-3 or thumb up, thumb down. If I would ever rate games I use a 1-5 scale myself I think. I never felt movie reviews lacking because of scale.

Irenicus-the one and only

cool. power!

Makaru

ive never liked gamespot. so if this new site actually have journalistic integrity im all up for it.

2th

@almypal:

My goodness, let it go. It was an 8.9 actually. You people round down if it is auto 9+?

EnigmaNemesis

Hope its true. At least they'll have some interesting stuff. If it does become reality I think some GS users will do the switch, but not that many - since the community aspect of GS is where many user preferences are =D

Hades

I'd support Jeff... but... he did give Zelda: TP an 8.

almypal

lol

foxuser17

@Kerrell:

I don't blame him, 1up is using the new found internet attention to write articles and form their "stance" for the year on this subject.

EnigmaNemesis

I hope Alex Navarro is in.

Gunhaver

Navarro is the best of bunch (if one can't have Greg Kasavin). Gerstmann and Davis are borderline 360 exclusive in their gaming habits and they promote that system far too much.
Also while I like Jeff, he seems to have lost touch with what the average gamer wants while he was in office. For example he's brushed off the awesomeness of downloadable demos more than once labeling them useless and uninteresting. They might be if you're supplied with material from the publishers at your job but for a normal gamer, they're invaluable. He was also a little TOO glad, when the old E3 was gone. Sure it's probably easier to work there now but he was borderline insulting to people who went in the past that weren't in the inner circle of the gaming media. Problem is those folks are his readers and the people he should at least feel a little for.

El-Suave

great article

I always liked gamespot because if it was a bad review, the game blowed chunks, if it was a good review you could buy it blind, anything between 7 and 9 you really had to read whether the criticism on the game were reason enough to let the game pass you by.

So where do you go know for honest critical reviews? If a game I have on my wish list I want to know why I shouldn't get it, not just because the reviewer doesn't like but because of the camera, shoddy level design, bad ai stuff like that.

JakeDunn

More shadenfreude from Ziff Davis. Still, GameTrax seems interesting.

hahnchen

I ran into *** ****y at a bar in S.F. and he spilled the beans that Jeff was fired for purely financial reasons (not for Kane & Lynch) and that the whole review staff of GS were not schills and wrote what they believed-- though he did say that a reviewer at Wired, Chris Kohler, was a corporate schill.

He completely emphasized that none of the people on the GS staff reviewed a game with anything but their honest opinion in mind.

He was very peeved off at GS and the management team with out a doubt. Gerstmann and others spent many a years there and didn't get their credit or respect due.
Having ten years on the pay roll put Gerstmann and others at a pretty hefty salary.

Though, everyone that left recently did leave with a hefty severance package!

I know that the firings have more to do with the possible buyout.

elpoep

averages of other review sites like metacritics, I check gamespot, eurogamer, ign and even gamespy but none blow me away as the site to check.

Years ago gamespot did provide that.

Gerstmann doesn't write that well but he knows his games and at least seemed honest in his opinions, we can't all write like David Simon.

JakeDunn

@JakeDunn: [www.gamerankings.com] but normally I tend to look at trailers and gameplay footage on youtube - if it strikes up interest grab a demo. Over the years I've seen Gamespot churn out bad review after review, just look at user rating vs reviewer rating. Gamespot went commercial (read fubar) years ago now everyones looking at Gerstmann like hes an iconic figure - has anyone actually read/watched his reviews? ughh terrible

2kreative

and 1up's advertising is any different ? Puuleease

spot778

I never liked Gertsmann OR Gamespot in the first place.

Roto13

Jeff already has a new site, its here:
[blog.jeffgerstmann.net]
Or is it about a bigger site than that?

tomsamson

Gerstmann is a fair and concise reviewer who didn't allow his own preferences to sway his review content. I would back a game review site that he founded. Good gaming journalism is ridiculously hard to find.

Homard

Gertsmann was always a bit pretentious, but on the whole I could trust his reviews in 98%. Meaning his judgements were quite similar to my impressions when playing the game (I also checked a couple of his older reviews to verify whether I was not influenced by his views).

And his video review of Need for Speed : Most Wanted was hilarious - "Let's do it!".

So, if he opens a new webpage, I will definitely join to see how it turns out.

Barts_706

well, ok, cool, too :)
and you´re welcome regarding the link, i just stumbled upon it recently, too (well,seems like hes just recently started it anyway :) )

tomsamson

@tomsamson: Thanks for the link! I didn't know he had a blog.

As for your question, though I have no definitive answers, I'm almost certain that if the rumor is true, it is supposed to be one of those big commercial endeavor-type websites.

Homard

Naturally.
If he's not contractually barred from working on similar sites, then I'm all for it and I didn't even know him at GS... but if his fans want to see him, let him open another site! Cool.

fuchikoma

anyone talking about navarro should check this out: [blog.jeffgerstmann.net]
see whos sitting there in the bg ;)

tomsamson

I will be there. Did we have any doubt that Jeff would be back with another site? Maybe Navarro will be there too.

Benjo

I knew it! Hope they will get more GS folks to quit, like Vinny, Jason, Brad and of course Ryan and come join them... Praying...

TeaRunner

@ Spot 778
How about by not selling front page coverage like Gamespot's "gumball" section? That good enough?

Sam Kennedy has been one of the most insightful voices of the industry since before the term "games journalism" was even coined. The rote blanket 1up bashing is esspecially funny when they seem woefully unaware of this.

Naphtali61