This whole Gamespot debacle has really gotten pretty ridiculous. Okay, to summarize: in late November, reviewer Jeff Gerstmann was fired from the site, and though this has never been confirmed or proven, most people have come to assume it was because of his low review score for Kane and Lynch, and not because of the fact that he may have been a mediocre reviewer. Of course, getting fired was probably the best thing that ever happened to him, as he has remained constant in video game news ever since.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, several other Gamespot employees have left the site since then. Did they all quit immediately in support of Gerstmann? No! Instead, they’ve been slowly moving away, usually at the rate of one editor a month. Now editor Brad Shoemaker has joined them all, as he has announced he will be leaving the company on Friday after eight years. No word yet on where he’s heading, nor does anyone seem to know his actual reasons for leaving. Of course, this hasn’t stopped most people from jumping to the conclusion that it’s Gerstmanngate-related.

Of course, if this is the case, then all I can do is wonder why it took five months for him to resign. Not that quitting Gamespot is a bad career move. After all, right now, there’s no quicker way to get your name plastered on every video game news site on the internet.

So, to summarize: maybe this is somehow related to Gerstmann, although that makes very little sense, given how long it’s been. Maybe it’s completely unrelated. No one actually knows except the people involved at Gamespot, and they don’t really seem to be giving any actual reasons for anything. And while I’m usually a fan of speculation, at this point it’s just getting stupid. How about we end Gerstmanngate once and for all?

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