Joystiq just got off the phone with Sarah Cain, a CNET spokesperson who wanted to amend CNET's previous statement to Joystiq on the recent firing of executive editor Jeff Gerstmann. While reiterating that CNET does not discuss personal employee matters with the press, Cain said directly that "we do not terminate employees based on external pressure from advertisers." When asked specifically about whether any such pressure was even attempted on Eidos' part, Cain had no comment.
1UP confirms through their own source that Jeff Gerstmann was fired for his negative review of Eidos Interactive's Kane & Lynch.
Although GameSpot and publisher Eidos have not yet made public statements over what led to the firing of GameSpot's Editorial Director Jeff Gertsmann, the accusation of publisher pressure is exploding all over the companies' forums. GameSpot currently has numerous threads on the incident, with one thread in particular having thousands of posts. Eidos has taken a different approach, locking down all threads on their site after apparently purging derogatory posts from thousands of angry gamers reacting to the rumor yesterday night.
Rumors have been swirling today that Jeff Gerstmann, executive editor at CNET-owned major video game site GameSpot, was fired after giving a generally unimpressed review of Io Interactive's Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. Gerstmann awarded the game a 6.0. (Though Shacknews does not score its reviews, our own Kane & Lynch review was similar in its verdict.)
Aeropause heard of some people asking about cross platform play for Kane and Lynch and decided to take a look at the box. Sure enough on several copies that all the writers looked at, the game states cross platform support via Live for Windows.
LOVEFiLM, Europe's number one online DVD rental service, expects Assassin's Creed to top sales and rentals this holiday season.
SCi's latest interim management statement states that the company remains in talks over a possible buy-out, while outlining its latest quarterly sales results.
Pacific Crest Securities' Evan Wilson says new version of Nintendo's portable complete; holiday release torrent creating retail woes.
Pro-G's writes:
Have you got some questions you'd like to ask IO Interactive about Kane & Lynch: Dead Men? If so, this is your chance to have your questions answered...
Though "Black Friday" isn't until the day after Thanksgiving, November 20 was shaping up to be doomsday for gamers' wallets. The Tuesday will see Rock Band, Mass Effect, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, and Time Crisis 4 all hit store shelves the day after the PC Unreal Tournament III goes on sale.
Creative advertising 101. In an effort to beef up their gaming coverage, Playboy Magazine will be running the following advertisement/interview with Kane of the upcoming Kane & Lynch video game. The piece will be titled "A candid conversation with a convicted killer about a final assignment that left 25 dead and why he looks forward to his own execution".
By now you've probably heard all about Kane & Lynch's intriguing multiplayer mode, 'Fragile Alliance', which puts 8-players in the middle of a bank heist and lets them be as greedy or backstabbing as they fancy.
Eidos Interactive has announced the official release date for Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, it'll be available in stores throughout Europe from Friday 23rd November on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.
IGN has learned that Lionsgate is so wildly enthusiastic about Kyle Ward's script for the videogame-to-film adaptation Kane & Lynch that the studio is fast-tracking the project to begin shooting this fall.
Eidos Interactive has dated the Australian release (and presumably other PAL territories) of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men for this November, according to Gameplayer.