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GameSpot

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GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks, the current owner of GameSpot. GameSpot.com is currently one of the 200 highest-trafficked websites according to Alexa.

In addition to the content produced by GameSpot staff, the site also allows users to write their own reviews, blogs, and post on the site's forums. The forums are partially shared with those on GameFAQs, another website owned by CNET.

History

At launch, the site focused exclusively on PC games. Its sister site, VideoGameSpot.com, was launched in December 1996 to cover console games. In 1997, VideoGameSpot.com became VideoGames.com for a short period, and by 1998, the PC and console sections were united at GameSpot.com.

On October 3, 2005, GameSpot adopted a new design similar to that of TV.com, now considered a sister site to GameSpot.

International history

GameSpot UK (United Kingdom) was started in October 1997 and operated until mid-2002, offering Europe-oriented content which often differed from that of the U.S. site. During this period, GameSpot UK won the 1999 PPAi (Periodical Publishers Association interactive) award for best website, and was short listed in 2001. Following the purchase of ZDNet by CNET, GameSpot UK was merged with the main US site. On April 24, 2006, GameSpot UK was relaunched. (ne.

In a similar fashion, GameSpot AU (Australia) existed on a local scale in the late 1990s with Australian-produced reviews. It ceased in 2003. When a local version of the main CNET portal, CNET.com.au was launched in 2003, Gamespot.com.au content was folded into CNET.com.au. The site was fully re-launched mid 2006, with a specialized forum, local reviews, special features, local pricings in AUD, Australian release dates, and more local news.

Main site

In 2004, GameSpot won "Best Gaming Website" as chosen by the viewers in Spike TV's second Video Game Award Show. Other gaming websites such as IGN, 1UP.com, and GameSpy have been their biggest rivals.

GameSpot's main page has links to the latest news, reviews, previews, and portals for the following platforms: PC, Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, PS2, PSP and Nintendo DS. It also includes a list of the most popular games on the site and a search engine for users to track down games of interest.

GameSpot also covers the following platforms to a lesser extent: Xbox, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Dreamcast, Neo Geo Pocket Color, N-Gage, Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance and mobile games, among others.

Personalities

With the introduction of GameSpot Live, readers were introduced to some of the staff working at GameSpot who write the features and reviews for the site. Current staff who can be seen on GameSpot's broadcasts or whose work can be read on the site include: Andrew Park, Brad Shoemaker, Brian Ekberg, Aaron Thomas, Justin Calvert, Ricardo Torres, Ryan Macdonald, Tor Thorsen, Brendan Sinclair, Vinny Caravella, and many more.

Over the years veteran editors and staff members of GameSpot have left:

  • Ron Dulin - executive editor who left the industry entirely in 2000.
  • Elliott Chin - executive editor. Left in 2001. He is currently the director of marketing at Sega of America.
  • Amer Ajami - senior editor. Left in 2002 and joined EA Los Angeles, where he is now a producer.
  • Bob Colayco – left GameSpot in 2006 and joined Blizzard Entertainment.
  • Carrie Gouskos – features editor, who left to develop games for EA Mythic.
  • Greg Kasavin – executive editor and site director of GameSpot, who left in 2007 to become a game developer. He is now a producer for EA Los Angeles.
  • Tim Surette – news editor. Moved to sister site TV.com.
  • Greg Mueller – departed to pursue other interests.
  • Rich Gallup – host of all the media content on GameSpot (The Hotspot, On The Spot, Button Mashing, Tournament TV); he left on July 27, 2007.
  • Jeff Gerstmann - dismissed from GameSpot on November 28, 2007.
  • Tim Tracy - moved to another CNET sister site.
  • Frank Provo - freelancer. Quit on account of disliking CNET management.
  • Alex Navarro - quit on January 10, 2008, in response to Jeff Gerstmann being dismissed. His last day was January 24 2008.
  • Ryan Davis - quit on February 4, 2008, listing one of his reasons for leaving being the Jeff Gerstmann firing. His last day was February 14 2008.
  • Jason Ocampo - quit on February 26, 2008, joined IGN as Editor in Chief of PC section.

Features

GameSpot has separate sections for the current most popular consoles, as well as for the PC platform. There are other separate sections for various features such as reviews, previews, news, cheats, videos, tech, and downloads. GameSpot is well known for its original features, such as GameSpotting, a conglomeration of staff editorials usually posted on Sundays, but was replaced in June 17, 2005 by a new feature called Freeplay, a daily editorial in which a GameSpot editor writes about games, beginning his or her editorial with the last paragraph of the previous editorial. In turn, Freeplay later ceased to operate in this way, and began using the same system as GameSpotting had.

On the Spot

On the Spot is a weekly talk show which airs live every Thursday at 4 p.m. Pacific time for all members of GameSpot to watch. This show takes questions from the live audience who are online watching on GameSpot.com. It shows the GameSpot staff as they play, preview, review, and interview the people and things of games. The show runs a basic template of events; the show starts out with its host giving an overview of what will be covered on the show. The video clip (e.g. a clip from a special event, a GameSpot feature, etc) will then usually be shown. The main section of the show features the editors demoing upcoming games, occasionally with a guest from a development company showing the game. Towards the end of the show trivia prizes are given away. Each show runs for about 60 minutes; however there are occasions where some shows go over or under that set time. The show first aired on June 24, 2004. The hosts of On the Spot are Ryan MacDonald and Brian Ekberg.

The HotSpot

The HotSpot is GameSpot's weekly podcast about games and news about the gaming industry. It airs every Tuesday at around 11:00 PM Eastern time and 8:00 PM Pacific time. The first HotSpot aired on July 20, 2005. The host of The Hotspot is Vinny Caravella and the regular guest on the show is Brian Ekberg.

Button Mashing

Button Mashing is GameSpot's "video game, game show." It is a game show that consists of playing video games under a time limit, showing your knowledge of games, and competing against a GameSpot editor in a game of their choice. There are three rounds to Button Mashing. They are: Console-ation Round, Memory Leak, and Owned. There is no regular airing schedule for Button Mashing, although when it does air it airs on Mondays. The first episode of Button Mashing aired on March 20, 2004. It is unknown at this time who the new host of Button Mashing will be.

Best and Worst

Every year, GameSpot holds the Best and Worst of the Year awards, which recognize achievements in the gaming industry, positive and negative (in the form of "Dubious Honors", containing categories such as "Most Disappointing Game", "Flat-Out Worst Game", "Best Game No One Played" and "Most Despicable Product Placement"). GameSpot also allows users on the site to vote for the winners of the "Readers' Choice" awards.

GameSpot's winners for Game of the Year have been so far:

Other features

Another feature is Burning Questions in which users write in and have their questions answered, usually in a sarcastic tone. In an interview dated December 16, 2006 (one of a series known as "Getting to know GameSpot"), its host has said that the "Burning Questions" feature has been discontinued. The HotSpot is GameSpot's own podcast in which various editors discuss different issues and news stories in the gaming world. Button Mashing consists of a three round game show involving games which the players generally have no experience with; it returned on July 25, 2006, due to high demand following a two year hiatus. GameSpot also holds tournaments for paid subscribers. The final is broadcast live on Tournament TV

In 2005, a feature called "Today on GameSpot" was introduced along with the redesign of the site. It is very similar to an older feature, now no longer running, "Let's GameSpot". Sections of "Today on GameSpot" include "The Rorie Roundup", which gives tips and hints on the latest games; "That's Fresh", which details the newest releases; "The Last Word", a Friday feature hosted by GameSpot News that recaps the week's biggest gaming-related news; "The Lowdown", which describes downloads on the site; and "Top Notch Games", which names GameSpot editor's favorite games (often being inducted into the "Greatest Games Of All Time"). All of the sections of "Today on GameSpot" were discontinued due to the cost and time required to create each episode.

Reviews and rating system

Old system New system
Range Description Range Description
1.0 – 1.9 Abysmal 1.0 – 1.5 Abysmal
2.0 – 2.9 Terrible 2.0 – 2.5 Terrible
3.0 – 3.9 Bad 3.0 – 3.5 Bad
4.0 – 4.9 Poor 4.0 – 4.5 Poor
5.0 – 5.9 Mediocre 5.0 – 5.5 Mediocre
6.0 – 6.9 Fair 6.0 – 6.5 Fair
7.0 – 7.9 Good 7.0 – 7.5 Good
8.0 – 8.9 Great 8.0 – 8.5 Great
9.0 – 9.9 Superb 9.0 – 9.5 Superb
10.0 Perfect 10.0 Prime
In January 2001, GameSpot introduced video reviews for games, which are released for all major games. Other games that the editors believe deserve special mention (for example, the very worst games) are reviewed by video as well. Video reviews mostly re-emphasize the written review text with clips of gameplay embedded.

GameSpot has a detailed guide that explains its reviewing policies, as well as answering frequently asked questions about its reviews.

When GameSpot Complete was introduced in late 2001, older reviews were restricted to Complete members; however, those reviews became available to everyone again several months later.

All games were judged on five different categories: Gameplay, Graphics, Sound, Value, and Reviewer's Tilt. Each category is assigned an integer score from one to ten, and these five integers are combined using a weighted average to arrive at an overall score. Should a game score at least 9.0, it is designated as "superb," and given "Editor's Choice" recognition. Although many games achieve this status each year, only four in GameSpot's history have ever received a perfect ten: Chrono Cross, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Soul Calibur, and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (PlayStation 2). Seven games have achieved a near-perfect score of 9.9: NFL 2K, NFL 2K1, Perfect Dark, Super Mario Bros. Deluxe, Tekken 3 (PlayStation), Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (Dreamcast), and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (PlayStation).

On the other end of the spectrum, Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing is the only game to have received a 1.0 ("abysmal"), the lowest score possible. Anubis II is the most recent game to have a sub-2.0 score.

While games are rated mostly with regard to how they compare to the other games available on their specific platforms, games released simultaneously for multiple platforms are also compared between systems, which often results in differing scores being given to the same game depending on the system, usually due to the inherent strengths and weaknesses of each platform.

New system

On June 25, 2007, GameSpot began assigning scores by increments of 0.5 instead of 0.1. It also ended its practice of giving sub-scores for gameplay, graphics, sound, value, and tilt. Instead, user reviews now possess a medal system that permits the reviewer to highlight given characteristics of the game such as its artistic design, original soundtrack, or difficulty. GameSpot believes that this will create a more detailed rating system than the previous one. The first review under the new system was for Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition. The only change in terms is the new term "Prime" for games that receive a 10.0 score, replacing "Perfect."

Then Editor-in-chief Jeff Gerstmann blogged explaining the decision but still received criticism towards this change. Despite viewers claiming to have canceled memberships and suggestions for a different increment scale (reverting back to a .1 scale, or changing to a .2 or .25 scale), the review system remains unchanged.

Mistakes and updates

GameSpot has occasionally had to rectify some of its reviews. The original review for Metroid Prime Hunters criticized the game for having only one mode playable online, as well as certain glitches. However, all of the multiplayer modes are playable online (but only with friend codes or through the rival system). GameSpot reevaluated the review and removed the errors, appending an editor's note on the bottom of the review.

The original review for Shenmue was taken down from the site after GameSpot received many user complaints about the low score, and was re-scored, though the text review remained the same.

The review for Company of Heroes was updated after the editor of the review found that a performance bug was a "rare issue".

The review for Overlord (PC) was re-scored after receiving an unfinished version from Codemasters that had camera issues.

The review for Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (Xbox 360) has been updated to include differences between the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions and a clarification on the game's multiplayer mode as well as tone differences following negative reaction from Eidos.

The review for Geometry Wars: Galaxies (Nintendo DS) was updated after the original review stated the game did not support single-card multiplayer, which was incorrect.

The review for Lost Odyssey (Xbox 360) was updated after copies of the game sent to the press for review played differently than retail copies of the game. The review was changed to note that some of the game's load times were actually shorter than represented in the version of the game sent to the press.

The review for Titan Quest (PC) originally made disparaging comments about having to travel back to town on foot in order to sell items and empty the inventory, and commented on earlier games (such as Diablo II) which featured a quick travel option that allowed players to instantly travel between the battlefield and towns. However, such a feature actually was present in Titan Quest, by the reviewer have simply missed it. The text pertaining to the town portal system was removed, although the score remained the same.

Community

Forums

GameSpot's forums were originally run by ZDNet, and later by Lithium. GameSpot uses a semi-automated moderation system with numerous volunteer moderators. GameSpot moderators are volunteer moderators who are picked from trusted members of the community. However, due to the size and massive quantity of boards and posts on GameSpot, there is a "report" feature where a normal user can report a post to a moderator. The reporting feature saves a lot of time and makes sure a lot more content is handled correctly.

One distinct feature of the GameSpot community is the ability of GameSpot Total Access users to create their own user-created board, which can either be set to public or private. The board's creator can appoint their own moderators, and also can display HTML markup at the top of their board. Also, all users have the ability to create or join what is known as a "Union". A Union consists of a user-created board which is attached to an editorial front, as well as a homepage with news bulletins and members lists.

In addition to the message board system, GameSpot has expanded its community through the addition of features such as user blogs (formerly known as "journals") and user video blogs. Users can track other users, thus allowing them to see updates for their favorite blogs. If both users track each other, they are listed on each other's friends list.

In May 2004, the GameFAQs message boards and the GameSpot boards merged most of their game-specific boards together. although there is extensive use of the message boards in gamespot, many have criticized it for using extremely strict posting rules.

Profiles

Registered users have the privilege of having their own profile which they can make visible to only themselves, friends, or everyone through their preferences. Profiles can be useful and convenient to the user themself and to others. In a profile a blog can be started and updated. The blog is shared with the user's TV.com, MP3.com, and MovieTome profiles. Other users can report blog posts to the moderators. Users can subscribe to a number of RSS feeds which provide updates for user-generated content. There are feeds for "Tracked Games", "Tracked Unions", "Friends' Reviews", "Friends' Blogs", and "My Blog". Other elements on profiles include their latest videos, games, tracked blogs, and ratings.

Users can keep a games list within their GameSpot profile which allows them (and others) to track games in four different categories. Users can keep track of news and updates by adding games to the "Tracked Games" list. "Collection" is used for games which the user owns. The "Wish List" is for games users want to try out or intend to buy in the future. Any game can be added to a wish list whether it has already been released or it is pending for release in the future. Users can indicate which games they are currently playing by adding them to the "Now Playing" list.

Emblems are awarded to users by completing various tasks. Some emblems show a user's status (free subscription versus paid subscription). Other emblems denote contest winners, voting participants, staff/moderators, and console aficionados.

Unions

Unions act as online communities within GameSpot. Each union has a blog-style front page and a message board pertaining to a specific topic. Union members post messages and topics in the board and other members of the union can respond. Each union has a level and can receive emblems for growing, being active, or posting good news topics.

Union members can also be awarded ranks within a union, currently there are three: Leader, Officer, and Recruit. Leaders are similar to Administrators of the union, and have the power to modify anything about the union; including the name, avatar and banners, and moderate topics/messages. Officers have the ability to moderate topics and messages and any other abilities the leader wishes to grant to the Officers. Recruits are no more than regular members with the ability to take part in the topic and message posting.

Controversy

Jeff Gerstmann, Editorial Director of the site, was dismissed from his position at GameSpot on November 28, 2007. Immediately after his termination, rumors circulated proclaiming his dismissal was a result of external pressure from Eidos Interactive, the studio behind Kane & Lynch: Dead Men which Gerstmann had previously given a Fair or undesirable rating along with critique. Both Gamespot and parent company CNET stated that his dismissal was unrelated to the review. A month after Gerstmann's termination, reviewer Frank Provo left GameSpot after eight years stating that "I believe CNET management let Jeff go for all the wrong reasons. I believe CNET intends to soften the site's tone and push for higher scores to make advertisers happy." Tim Tracy, Alex Navarro, Ryan Davis, and Jason Ocampo also left Gamespot in the aftermath of the Gerstmann controversy.

Paid subscriptions

GameSpot formerly had a paid subscription service known as "GameSpot Complete". On February 21, 2006, the paid subscription model was changed. It now maintains two paid membership services: Total Access and Plus.

Total Access is essentially a replacement of GameSpot Complete, as it is the same price of US$5.95 per month or $39.95 per year and offers the same basic benefits. The second premium service, GameSpot Plus, is a cheaper, intermediate-level service.

The major difference between the old and new membership services is the lack of GameSpot Complete's 10 percent discount at EBGames.com. There was much discontent over this decision, and for a while, GameSpot claimed to have an unspecificed replacement in the work. No further details were ever provided.

GameCenter

GameCenter was a gaming service which allowed players to host their own customized servers, chat with their friends, and play an assortment of PC games online with players all around the world, all while tracking users' stats. As of March 6, 2006, the GameCenter subscription service has been discontinued and merged into the GameSpot Total Access service. As a result, GameSpot is discontinuing support of the GameCenter client, but will continue tournament events for Total Access members.

The most recent GameCenter has no relation to the original GameCenter, which CNET Networks ran from 1995 to 2001 as a competitor to GameSpot. Shortly after CNET Networks acquired ZDNet and GameSpot in 2000, the original GameCenter was disbanded.

Trivia Robot

Trivia Robot was a fictional character who appeared frequently in a variety of video productions on GameSpot. Speaking in a digital electric monotone, Trivia Robot rose to prominence as the character who would answer viewer mail sent in to the weekly webcast show Let's GameSpot, often in a sarcastic, irreverent, or desultory fashion designed for amusement. Trivia Robot appeared in a one-episode series entitled Time Trotters.

References

External links



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Last updated on Thursday March 13, 2008 at 11:47:49 PDT (GMT -0700)
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