Gerstmann’s old employers hotly denied external pressure from major advertiser and game developer Eidos played a role in his dismissal in 2007. His firing coming on the heels of a tepid review of Eidos’ big release Kane & Lynch: Dead Men evidently happened strictly by coincidence.

No one will push him around on Giant Bomb, Gerstmann’s return to the world of game reviews and related content. The new site opened with Gerstmann emphasizing its social media aspects:

One difference you may notice from the way other game sites handle their business is that we put the games first, not the platforms. We’re pretty tired of all the platform comparisons that end up saying “dude, I don’t know, they both look pretty much the same.” We have ONE home page for Grand Theft Auto IV where players can come together, regardless of platform of choice, and talk about the game.

Their blog touted Giant Bomb as “a little bit of everything from 4 dudes working out of a basement in Sausalito.” Gerstmann’s reputation and the assortment of features available at the site should make it a hot destination for gamers.

Selectivity will be a factor in what the quartet reviews. On their help page, they noted the staff will dismiss the “fire-hose approach to video game coverage” in favor of bringing what they find important to the attention of their readers.

Just don’t look for a massive breakdown of the next installment of the Madden NFL franchise, as the group isn’t all that big on sports games in general.

Gerstmann reportedly lost his job over a less than glowing review he bestowed upon the Eidos title, Kane & Lynch. Eidos allegedly withdrew its lucrative advertising from GameSpot, resulting in GameSpot’s CNet ownership deciding to jettison Gerstmann, although CNet vehemently denied those claims.

The fact that CNet acknowledged Eidos expressing its displeasure about the review notwithstanding, Kennedy feels GameSpot wrecked its credibility with gamers, as well as with its staff:

It was clear (GameSpot staffers) largely lost faith in their management and place of employ. At worst, they worked for an organization that caved to advertiser pressure, at best, they worked for an organization that simply didn’t care for honest criticism anymore.

The inherent problem in all of this is the extremely high editorial standard GameSpot was built upon. The editors at GameSpot — these are a bunch of guys who worked there because they believed so much in the site’s integrity. You take that away and, well, I don’t know how that can work.

Gerstmann has not discussed the circumstances of his dismissal; nor will we likely see CNet or GameSpot get into specifics due to employment laws. However, it looks like Gerstmann will be back with a vengeance. Said Kennedy:

As for Jeff, word on the street is that he’s teaming with GameSpot founder Vince Broady (who recently left Yahoo) to build a new game site to "take on GameSpot." Now that would be interesting, would it?

We would give that a 9/10, easy.

A Kotaku tipster said Gerstmann offended Eidos with the “tone” of a video review he did of the game. CNet allegedly fired him on the spot.

However, a Joystiq post said a CNet spokesperson provided a general comment that the company does not terminate people “based on external pressure from advertisers.” The company would not comment on Gerstmann’s specific circumstances.

Considering the opening minute of Gerstmann’s video, where he derides the characters and gameplay of Kane & Lynch, one would expect the game publisher to be less than thrilled with their huge ad campaign being undercut by the 21st Century version of the boy who points out the emperor is really in a state of undress.

But as the Rock, Paper, Shotgun blog noted, “there must be more to it” than what the flying rumors suggest. Unfortunately, Gerstmann isn’t talking yet.

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