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On November 28, 2007, Jeff was let go from GameSpot. While the true reason for his termination will probably never be known, the popular opinion is that Eidos Interactive pressured GameSpot (Or more likely CNET owing to Jeff's senior position within GameSpot itself) to do so because of Jeff's review of Kane and Lynch: Dead Men, which he gave a 6.0 out of 10. CNET and GameSpot have both denied these speculations and Jeff has expressed that he cannot legally discuss the reason for his dismissal.
More likely, Jeff was let go not as a direct result of Eidos applying pressure to GameSpot, but as a result of business culture dispute within CNET - between editorial and sales. That is, that Jeff was let go by CNET as a preventative measure as a result of a perceived fear that he would lose advertising deals for the company - it was widely reported that Eidos had already canceled alleged future deals over the Kane and Lynch review. CNET, for its part, maintains that Jeff was not let go for commercial reasons, though he is legally forbidden from revealing the actual reason.
His departure came as a shock to most people, even within the offices of GameSpot. GameSpot's message boards and blogs were soon aflame with angry questions and comments from both users and staff because of CNET and GameSpot's poor handling of the situation. Following Jeff's termination, several other members of the staff left as well, including Ryan Davis, Brad Shoemaker, Alex Navarro, Vinny Caravella, Jason Ocampo, and longtime freelancer Frank Provo.
In February of 2008, Jeff and Ryan Davis started recording a podcast called Arrow Pointing Down, where they discussed video games, beverages, and other news. In March, Jeff and Ryan started the blog form of Giant Bomb, where they posted gaming news and game reviews. The Arrow Pointing Down podcast became known as the Giant Bombcast. Brad Shoemaker and Vinny Caravella joined Giant Bomb in June. The full Giant Bomb site launched in beta on July 21, 2008.
Appearances in Mainstream Media
Considered an expert in the field of video games, Jeff has made appearances in national news. In September 1999, he appeared on Good Morning America on ABC to discuss the launch of the Dreamcast. In 2007, he was quoted in the New York Times regarding the Wii's success. He has also made appearances on TV and internet technology shows. He appeared on the October 1, edition of CNET Live to discuss the buzz around Halo 3. He also made an appearance on G4's X-Play show to discuss Japanese gaming and his departure from GameSpot. On August 3, 2009, Jeff again made an appearance on G4's X-Play to discuss recent games moving from released in 2009 to being released in 2010.
On October 6th, 2008, Jeff made his debut appearance on Episode 27 of GameTrailers.com's "Bonus Round" where he joined Michael Pachter, Shane Satterfield and Geoff Keighley to discuss the Q4 2008 release schedule.
decided their name only days before the show and were writing lyrics up until they went on stage. Most of the lyrics weren't memorized and were read off paper during the performance. At the event, Headboard began selling their first EP on cassette tapes entitled "Zip! Plop!", which were made the night before the concert. Headboard soon began adding more and more members to the band eventually amassing 11 members, including Gerstmann's future co-worker Alex Navarro. Headboard's sound continued to evolve becoming more a ska band than a rap group. Soon, Headboard would release their first album, "Brendan Goes to College". However, in the summer of 1997, Gerstmann and Ducousso left Headboard, shortly after A&M Records started to express interest in signing them to the label.
Gerstmann and Ducousso would go on to form the rap group, Suburban All-Stars. The group was a throwback to Headboard's original sound. The group's lyrics were extremely obscene and mostly dealt with sex. One song, In the Can, was about having sex while on a toilet. Yeah. The group was soon joined by Ryan Davis and Alex Navarro, as the group slowly turned into more a joke band than anything. Nonetheless, Suburban All-Stars was fairly short-lived.
After the break-up of Suburban All-Stars, Gerstmann was not ready to give up his music career just yet and in 2003, he formed Midnight Brown, alongside his roommate Chris Henderson. In March 2004, Midnight Brown released their first album "17 Brown Lies", which was recorded mostly on Sundays. The band combined many different genres with electronic music, which the band described as "Post-Indiepop Eclectro". The album was self-released for free on the band's website.
In December 2004, the duo released their second album, "2084". The band described their new sound as "fifth-wave" music, which triggered much criticism from longtime fans. Ha ha, nah, just kidding. Like their first album, "2084" was self-released for free on the band's website. In February 2006, Midnight Brown released their third album, "Dope/Revenge". The album marked a new chapter for Midnight Brown as it was recorded and written entirely at One. "Dope/Revenge" was a double-sided album with the first side dealing with drug addiction and how it effects family and friends and the second dealing with mankind's lust for revenge. "Dope/Revenge" was an important album in rap history, spawning the genre "emobilly" and eventually influencing other dual-sided rap albums such as "T.I. vs. T.I.P." That last part is a lie. Currently, Midnight Brown is working hard/hardly working on their new album, "Deadly Electric". The duo has gone on record to say that "Deadly Electric" will be the band's final album, though they will continue to make music. The album is presumably nearing completion and is speculated to be released sometime in 2009.
Miscellaneous Facts?
Jeff Gerstmann is a co-founder of Giant Bomb and the former Editorial Director of GameSpot.com. Gerstmann is also one half of the semi-comedic musical duo Midnight Brown.
Overview
Jeff Gerstmann is a video game journalist from Petaluma, California. He is a co-founder of the video gaming wiki and news site Giant Bomb along with Ryan Davis. Prior to co-founding Giant Bomb, Jeff worked at GameSpot for over eleven years before being terminated in a highly publicized and hotly debated event on November 28, 2007.Gerstmann Biography
After dropping out of Casa Grande High School in Petaluma in 1993, Jeff got his start in the world of video games media by working for Gamespot as an intern. During his eleven years at Gamespot, Jeff worked with many people who have gone on to work for high profile developers including Joe Fielder (EA LA), Erik Wolpaw (Valve), Amer Ajami (EA LA), Bob Colayco (Blizzard), Carrie Gouskos (EA Mythic), Greg Kasavin (2k Games), Rich Gallup (38 Studios), Matt Rorie (Obsidian Entertainment), and Alex Navarro (Harmonix). When user-generated video content was introduced to GameSpot, Jeff created a semi-weekly video podcast titled, "Points Report," wherein he would give his Xbox 360 Gamerscore, talk about the games he had been playing, and whatever else was on his mind. Jeff was eventually appointed editorial director and was in charge of scheduling reviews.
Jeff enjoying cake
More likely, Jeff was let go not as a direct result of Eidos applying pressure to GameSpot, but as a result of business culture dispute within CNET - between editorial and sales. That is, that Jeff was let go by CNET as a preventative measure as a result of a perceived fear that he would lose advertising deals for the company - it was widely reported that Eidos had already canceled alleged future deals over the Kane and Lynch review. CNET, for its part, maintains that Jeff was not let go for commercial reasons, though he is legally forbidden from revealing the actual reason.
Jeff is ''The Styling-est'
In February of 2008, Jeff and Ryan Davis started recording a podcast called Arrow Pointing Down, where they discussed video games, beverages, and other news. In March, Jeff and Ryan started the blog form of Giant Bomb, where they posted gaming news and game reviews. The Arrow Pointing Down podcast became known as the Giant Bombcast. Brad Shoemaker and Vinny Caravella joined Giant Bomb in June. The full Giant Bomb site launched in beta on July 21, 2008.
Appearances in Mainstream Media
Considered an expert in the field of video games, Jeff has made appearances in national news. In September 1999, he appeared on Good Morning America on ABC to discuss the launch of the Dreamcast. In 2007, he was quoted in the New York Times regarding the Wii's success. He has also made appearances on TV and internet technology shows. He appeared on the October 1, edition of CNET Live to discuss the buzz around Halo 3. He also made an appearance on G4's X-Play show to discuss Japanese gaming and his departure from GameSpot. On August 3, 2009, Jeff again made an appearance on G4's X-Play to discuss recent games moving from released in 2009 to being released in 2010.On October 6th, 2008, Jeff made his debut appearance on Episode 27 of GameTrailers.com's "Bonus Round" where he joined Michael Pachter, Shane Satterfield and Geoff Keighley to discuss the Q4 2008 release schedule.
Side Projects
- Jeff is currently part of band called Midnight Brown, which has released three albums and half a dozen singles from their upcoming album.
- Jeff is also currently working on a side project: being the Apocalypse for sandwiches.
Music Career
In December 1995, Jeff Gerstmann and Glenn Rubenstein formed the rap duo, Headboard in Petaluma, California. From that point forward, Rubenstein went under the moniker "G-Man" while Gerstmann adopted the moniker "US Pipe". The duo was joined with their "anti-hype man" Brendan Ducousso or "Gotti", who stood on stage commenting about the subject matter that G-Man and US Pipe rapped about. Two weeks after the band was formed, Headboard had their first gig, opening for band Skillit. The band had
Midnight Brown
Gerstmann and Ducousso would go on to form the rap group, Suburban All-Stars. The group was a throwback to Headboard's original sound. The group's lyrics were extremely obscene and mostly dealt with sex. One song, In the Can, was about having sex while on a toilet. Yeah. The group was soon joined by Ryan Davis and Alex Navarro, as the group slowly turned into more a joke band than anything. Nonetheless, Suburban All-Stars was fairly short-lived.
After the break-up of Suburban All-Stars, Gerstmann was not ready to give up his music career just yet and in 2003, he formed Midnight Brown, alongside his roommate Chris Henderson. In March 2004, Midnight Brown released their first album "17 Brown Lies", which was recorded mostly on Sundays. The band combined many different genres with electronic music, which the band described as "Post-Indiepop Eclectro". The album was self-released for free on the band's website.
Please see above
Things Jeff Hates!
Jeff Gerstmann hates the following:- Boxing
- Brawler-type games
- Bruce Campbell
- Coconut flavor
- Comic book superheroes
- Coyote Ugly
- Crysis
- Dragon Ball Z
- Far Cry 1
- FEAR
- Final Fantasy
- Friends (the show)
- Futurama
- Gin
- Grease (the movie)
- Halo 2
- Harry Potter
- Kingdom Hearts
- Master of Illusion Express: Funny Face
- Ninja Gaiden
- Resident Evil
- Rock Revolution
- Scorpions
- Seinfeld
- Skull Candy headphones
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Spiders
- Splinter Cell
- Star Trek (original series)
- Star Wars
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time
- Terminator 2 and forward
- Samurai Showdown games after II
- Split screen co-op
- Street Fighter III
- Super Metroid
- Watching movies with friends
Miscellaneous Facts?
- Jeff Gerstmann purchased a Sony Airboard Television from Japan to keep in his kitchen. Rich Gallup proceeded to call him "an idiot" for making the purchase. Because of the lag it is not possible to play video games on the TV. Jeff now considers it a waste of money.
- Appeared in a FUBU jersey and shorts on Good Morning America during the Dreamcast launch, marking the day people stopped wearing FUBU. Diane Sawyer touched his leg.
- Jeff is colorblind.
- Went to Japan. Beat a guy in Street Fighter IV.
- Jeff wears a size 13 shoe.
- Wrote for a games magazine called Blaster. However, it only lasted 3 issues.
- First game console was a Fairchild Channel F.
- After it was ruined in a flood (The Fairchild), he bought an Atari home computer.
- Jeff has only finished Guitar Hero 3 on Easy.
- While unemployed, Jeff says he played many hours of Call of Duty 4 with Rich Gallup and animator Ben Coello.
- Apparently Jeff has also played Call of Duty 4 with rapper and actor Ice T.
- On the same podcast Jeff also stated that he agrees with Ice T and thinks Lil' Wayne is a bit weird.
- Used money his parents left him for food to buy a Turbografx and a shirt that said "Shut Up, Bitch!" on it.
- Purposely walked into English late wearing the above shirt (that said "Shut up, Bitch!") and was forced to turn it inside out.
- Used to go to chess club meetings in school because their line for chocolate milk was shorter than the line at the cafeteria. As a result, he accidentally got into the chess club photo in his high school yearbook.
- Jeff has said as part of an April Fool's joke that RapeLay (a Japanese rape simulator) is his favourite game, but that it would be greatly improved if it had the word "Party" at the end.
- He likes boobs.
- Galaga apparently helped Jeff overcome an unknown addiction. To hemp milk, presumably.
- In school, Jeff paid his drama teacher $18 for an A in the class.
- He's memorized the button combination to reset the title update combination. It's either 'LB, RB, X, X, RB' or 'X, X, LB, RB, X, X.'
- Jeff loves orange soda.
- Jeff almost died at a Walgreen's in Houston, TX.
- Jeff doesn't think Katt Williams is funny.
- Jeff is pro-explosion.
- Jeff is supposedly writing a book of poetry entitled "The Space Above the Snow."
- Jeff has voices inside of his head.
- Jeff Once got busy in a Burger King bathroom.
- While in junior high, Jeff once played the national anthem on a saxophone in the middle of a speedway.
- Jeff hates gin.
- Jeff was once struck in the forehead with a batted baseball and fell face-first into a pile of cow feces.
- Jeff delivers stuff at night.
- Jeff's favorite game of all time is Smash TV.
- Jeff can chug a can of Coca-Cola in less than 9 seconds.
- Jeff believes Domo to be a murder junkie. Like Merle Allen.
- Jeff has stepped on a Wombat's neck before.
- Jeff's signature move is the Axe Kick! Its super effective against crates.
Jeff Gerstmann games
Edit
| Name | Platforms | Developer | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Guitar Hero II released on Nov. 7, 2006 |
X360, PS2 | Harmonix Music Systems, Inc. |
| Full Name: | Jeff Gerstmann |
| Gender: | Male |
| Birthday: | Aug. 1, 1975 |
| Death: | n/a |
| Credited In: | 1 games |
| 1st Game Credit: | Guitar Hero II |
| Currently Working For: | |
| Hometown: | Petaluma, CA |
| Country: | USA |
| Website: | http://jeffgerstmann.net/ |
| Email Address: | |
| Aliases: |
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