Integrity will get you nowhere...

(No posts about movies seeing as the only major release this weekend wasn't even screened for critics)

Ah integrity. Supposedly the rarest form of currency in just about all facets of life. While we all strive to have it, we generally have to give up some in order to get by in life, and it's always under attack by those against us. I've kept the integrity on this blog pretty high to date. Ads are minimal, and I don't get paid for anything I plug, and I have gotten offers to plug things for at least some compensation that I've turned down. But god forbid this blog ever takes off, I may be forced to make a choice between those sweet, sweet advertising dollars and whether or not to rip on somebody. And it's a lose/lose situation for anybody, amateur or pro in the industry. I have been accused of blatant bias in previous writing positions as well as this blog even with any compensation being minimal at best and none garnered from some big game/movie company paying me to support their product.

So I can only start to imagine the pressure big sites that have a full-time staff to pay face when they get a shitty game from a company that is footing the bill and have to review it. Do they tell the truth and risk losing not only their current advertisers, but potential future ones as well? That helps nobody, The irate idiotic fanboys will still bitch and moan no matter what and all the site gets is the fun decision of possibly having to cut some staff or in serious cases shut down entirely. The guys at Penny Arcade are in a very unique position where they are a small company supported by a huge army of loyal followers that support them pretty much no matter what and they don't really need advertising dollars to survive. But when the story of a Gamespot editor's firing over a bad review of Kane & Lynch broke late yesterday, the internet community was understandably up in arms because apparently he either didn't notice or didn't care that the site was plastered with ads for the game. I personally think the oddest part about this is Kane & Lynch has gotten mediocre scores across the board, but because a site they chose to advertise on also blasted the game, they chose to punish that one site over it. Seems kinda silly.

It's again very easy to call for Gamespot's head in this case, but if it is true, I'm not sure any real blame should fall with Gamespot itself. I will say if it was me and such an action would only affect myself, I probably would tell Eidos to go fuck themselves. But if I've got an entire staff to consider, higher ups to answer to, and a major advertising possibly threatening my bottom line in not only the present, but the near future, I'd honestly most likely throw the reviewer to the wolves because again it's a damned if you do/damned if you don't situation no matter what.

Eidos on the other hand, should be held fully accountable and possibly legally liable if this is indeed the case. They have every right to choose who they advertise with, but for somebody to actually get fired over a bad review they must've have made some major threats such as badmouthing to other companies or not letting Gamespot in for any more interviews or previews, which is far from acceptable in any instance. Whatever the conditions, PA is claiming that the reason for the editor's firing was the poor review and I tend to believe PA, which means I'll definitely be exercising my right as a consumer to not buy anything from Eidos and while not condemning Gamespot because they were probably in a tough position, not giving any future reviews of theirs as much credence as I once did.