Gary Marston of dualshockers.com has written an interesting article on how difficult it has become for game reviewers to write their true opinions on a game.

Go to the source for the full review.

Have you ever found yourself uttering the words: ‘I’m not a fan-boy, but…’?

Bingo. We’ve located the issue. As you may have already guessed, I’m under the belief that nobody is entitled to their opinion anymore in this day and age. Why does the term ‘fan-boy’ even exist if so many ‘fan-boys’ are against being called ‘fan-boys’? Reviewers are physically paid to voice their opinion, vent their frustration and to – as their title suggests - review something. It’s inevitable that such a saturated games market will coincidentally lead to a saturated forum of frantic fan-*bleep*ers, I just don’t understand why these people feel the need to spend hours of their life making sure they cuddle everyone who shares their devotion to a game, and rape everybody else!

The first time this whole situation came to my attention was during the onslaught of one of the gaming industry’s most famous viral outrages. Gamespot reviewer and free-thinking ladies man Jeff Gerstmann was apparently hounded, then fired for his “far too critical” review of Kane and Lynch: Dead Men. For anyone interested, you can watch the infamous review here. Weirdly, I enjoyed the game and for the most part disagreed with Jeff’s comments – however there was never a motive to attack him or the site out of my disagreement. It’s his job, it’s his opinion and at the end of the day it created a large buzz and interest. The resulting decision however is just ludicrous, and it is the most important reason I have supporting my argument. Perhaps a rather humorous bashing of others is fine in context, but when it reaches these extremes – bombarding the diverging opinions with genuine threats and ultimately making a human being get fired from their job, this is when we have to stop and think. How does this world work? You’ll employ me to review a game, then fire me because it’s not what the public want to hear?

Miss Razz via dualshockers.com »