I’m sure anyone who would read this site has been following this story somewhat. These are the facts as I know them. On Thursday afternoon, word started to spread that Gamespot had fired their Editorial Director, Jeff Gerstmann. Gerstmann has become infamous in some circles as the editor that had the “audacity” to give Twilight Princess an 8.8 last fall, and he is often the target of overzealous fanboys who are infuriated by his lowering of a Metacritic average. However, in my opinion, Gerstmann was the bedrock for Gamespot’s credibility. The willingness of an editor to be honest amidst the possibility of enormous backlash speaks to my smart-assed, cynical self, and Nintendo franchises are often the great sacred cows of gaming. Also, I didn’t like the small bit of Twilight Princess I played, so maybe I can sympathize.

While there are several less popular theories, 1UP has confirmed through their own sources that Gerstmann was fired because of his negative review of Kane and Lynch, which coincided with an enormous ad push on the part of Eidos for the title. Other sites have more detailed rundowns, but the gist of the situation from a few different sources seems to be this: Stephen Colvin, the former president and CEO of Dennis Publishing of Maxim and Stuff, took over as C|Net’s executive vice president in late October. Combined with Sony’s anger over a lower than expected review for Ratchet and Clank, the negative editorial reaction to a cash cow that may have been somewhere in the six figure range from Eidos appears to have been the breaking point.

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Hellgate: London is the second game to make me sad this year in a very specific way; it was a game that I was very much looking forward to (and was a big motivation behind a complete renovation of my PC) due to its pedigree and its concept. What isn’t to like about a next-gen Diablo? Hell, I still like Diablo II, a 7 year old game, more than most of the crap that releases now. And somehow, all the enthusiasm has managed to bring me is even more disappointment as the game has stumbled again and again. I don’t necessarily think there’s a problem bringing together Diablo II style game mechanics with some of the content updates and subscription model of an MMO, but if that’s your plan, you shouldn’t have to wipe all player data on a server to get it working correctly after release.

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I guess there’s something to be said for knowing the precise moment where your new franchise will crash upon the rocks, shattering its newborn body upon the shore to bleed out amidst its murderers. I know that this sounds overly maudlin, but if you look up “fucked” in the dictionary you’ll probably find Kane & Lynch. which now has a release date opposite of Mass Effect this November. Oh, and, uh, a few other games you may have heard of:

If that date sounds familiar, it’s because it’s also the specific release date for a few other anticipated games. Microsoft is releasing BioWare’s Mass Effect for the Xbox 360 on November 20, while Sony has Naughty Dog’s Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune for the PS3 set to drop the same day. And while Rock Band’s release date isn’t official, GameStop is guaranteeing customers who preorder that it will have the game to them “on the street date of Tuesday, November 20.” And then there’s Assassin’s Creed, Unreal Tournament III, and a number of other titles floating around with vague “November” release windows.

I am a fan of Io Interactive. I love the Hitman series, probably more than is healthy. I’ve gotten some hands on time with the game, and my impressions were pretty positive. I think that released at the right time, it could be a sleeper hit, as it does some cool things narratively and stylistically with a gravitas that hasn’t really be seen in many other games. But it really does seem like Eidos wants Io’s new game to fail. I hope they prove me wrong; the game should be pushed back.

-Aegies

It was a bad day for Take Two and Rockstar yesterday, and it’s probably only going to get worse. This morning both Blockbuster Video and Gamefly, the online rental service, had less than positive responses to the situation when contacted by Joystiq. Gamefly’s spokesman said “Gamefly as a general policy does not carry AO rated titles,” and said that “there’s been no exceptions,” according to Joystiq. This is understandable. Although Gamefly has an 18 and up policy for their service, anecdotally, I know of quite a few customers under the age of seventeen.

They also contacted Blockbuster Corporate, but I could have just as easily clued them in on this one: “Blockbuster does not carry adult or NC-17 movies, or AO rated games.”

Nor does Gamespot, or any of the EB Games that are now Gamestops, or GameCrazy, or Wal-mart. Because of this, Wedbush-Morgan’s Michael Pachter believes that this situation will cost Take Two millions. He says that Take Two has three possible courses of action: Ship the game as is, edit the game in an attempt to appease the BBFC and the ESRB (and every other regulatory body that’s going to ban this game or rate it as illegal to sell to anyone under 18, of which there will be many) in an attempt to get a more commercially viable rating, or they can cut their losses and cancel the game. Pachter rightfully assumes canceling isn’t really an option for Rockstar and Take Two, and the content left as is will prevent the game from reaching a commercially viable audience, simply because it will be prohibitively difficult to find (Pachter believes that this will cost them half of the estimated 40 million dollars in revenue he was forecasting long term, and I think he’s being optimistic).

So what will Take Two do here? They’re caught between several difficult choices, and none of them is great. I would feel sympathy for them, but for them to claim that this is a surprise is absolutely ridiculous. Of course, that’s exactly what they’re doing.

“We are disappointed with the recent decision by the British Board of Film Classification to refuse classification of Manhunt 2. While we respect the authority of the classification board and will abide by the rules, we emphatically disagree with this particular decision.

Manhunt 2 is an entertainment experience for fans of psychological thrillers and horror. The subject matter of this game is in line with other mainstream entertainment choices for adult consumers.

We respect those who have different opinions about the horror genre and video games as a whole, but we hope they will also consider the opinions of the adult gamers for whom this product is intended. We believe all products should be rated to allow the public to make informed choices about the media and art they wish to consume. The stories in modern video games are as diverse as the stories in books, film and television. The adult consumers who would play this game fully understand that it is fictional interactive entertainment and nothing more.”

However, I have yet to see a reasonable argument as to why it shouldn’t have been rated AO, and this isn’t the first time content has been denied a rating by the BBFC. It seems like they expected special treatment for the title, and now they’re surprised it isn’t getting it. If this is what finally kills Rockstar, I wouldn’t be surprised. And now, unless something big happens, I hope I’m done writing on Manhunt 2.

(UPDATE: I lied. When contacted for comment by Kotaku, Nintendo officially stated the following:

Games made for Nintendo systems enjoy a broad variety of styles, genres and ratings. These are some of the reasons our Wii and Nintendo DS systems appeal to such a broad range of people. But as with books, television and movies, different content is meant for different audiences. That’s why the ESRB provides ratings to help consumers understand the content of a game before they purchase it. As stated on Nintendo.com, Nintendo does not allow any AO-rated content on its systems.

UPDATE 2: If there were a third shoe, it would drop now as well. In responses to questions from Gamespot, Sony has stated that “It’s currently our policy not to allow the playback of AO-rated content on our systems.”

Well, that about seals it. Fucked, and double fucked.)

-Aegies

Editorial Addition: Yesterday I wrote a piece saying how I thought it wasn’t that big of a deal that the game got the AO rating. However, I now wish to recant that statement because I was ignorant of the fact that their game would not be carried in so many places. I thought that the AO rating only banned it from big box stores and did not realize that not even GameStop carries AO games. Guess I’ll have to rethink what it means to truly warrant an AO rating.

Chufmoney