I’ll be the first to tell you that this week has been a sad one for the game journalism industry.

In case you hadn’t heard; Jeff Gerstman from Gamespot.com was apparently fired this week for his review of Kane & Lynch for XBox 360, which was heavily advertised on their site. I won’t link the review, but he gave it a 6.0. The rumor is that Eidos was so upset over the review, that they threatened to pull all advertising off of the site, to which Gamespot responded by firing their longest standing editor.

None of this has been confirmed, nor denied, but based on reports all over the web; this seems to be the most accurate description we’ll ever get as to what truly happened.

Here’s a link to the latest developments in this story

I’m not the biggest fan of Jeff Gerstman. I didn’t like his reviews for certain games (Twilight Princess for example), but he has been a respected figure in this industry for over a decade, and just to see him sacrificed like that is sad, and quite appalling.

We, here at LoadedGamer are striving journalists who are obviously not anywhere near the top of the food chain, but that’s ok. We like it that way. I will say this. You will never have to worry about us journalists at this site being “Bought” by publishers, or expended by the parent companies because we like, or don’t like certain games. If I end up making a career out of this, which is ultimately what I want; I would rather work pumping gas for a living than have to worry about people firing me because of my opinion; which is precisely what we are all in this business for in the first place.

Jeff, i’m sure you’ll land somewhere quickly, and I wish you the best of luck.

-Smeatbass