Why, oh why, is it so hard to leave Giant Bomb alone? Honestly, like most I hovered over the oblivious pages that are Gamespot and IGN for my gaming injection. Except therein lies the problem. IGN and Gamespot have lost touch with their readers. No longer is either more interested in reader satisfaction, then they are with lining their pockets. Only then could you type www.ign.com into your address bar, and instead find yourself enveloped in an entire page worth of advertisement. I remember the original Snowball network, the birthing of a personable website that was IGN. Those days are gone. I remember early Gamespot, with its single banner ad that hardly ever became obtrusive. Those days, my friend, are gone.

So I spent some time pondering these questions to myself, while waiting for the moderators to unleash, or destroy my creations. Why have Gamespot and IGN been corrupted? Money and power. As each grew and grew, so did the cash flow. As the cash flow grew, so did employement and the insatiable appetite for more money. And as employement grew and power was gained, something happened. There was a moment when IGN went from the fun social website it was, into the corperate business that it is now. Do you remember when you logged in to boards.ign.com and instead of being allowed to post, you were now required to pay just to say? What happened IGN? Those days are not over.

Ah Gamespot, you have gained, and lost so much. Yes you are an invaluable source of information, reviews, and social interaction, but you to have lost touch with what really matters. Now Gamespot was not so low as IGN so as to restrict access to anything for money. Rather, they expanded that meager banner that once adorned most pages to entire web layouts that consumed you and the page content along with it. To bad... And you will be missed. When Jeff left, it was fairly cemented and evident that corperate policy was now the law, and that those who chose against suffered accordingly. To bad Gamespot, for you have bred a monster. Those days are just beginning.

Jeff, you have captured what IGN and Gamespot have since lost touch of; we the gamers. You, and your crew of merry gentlemen have truly developed a monster of a proposition. Asking only that the gamers be the voice and the literature, you have allowed what any other gaming website may have failed to receive. Mistakes will be made, as humans are imperfect, it is so. But with your commitment to pursuing a path towards ultimately total user developement, you have changed the website into something fueled by the hearts and minds of people like you, and me, and so many others. I can not wait to look back, and see the path towards incredible success that awaits Giant Bomb. To see exactly how great you have allowed Giant Bomb to become, and I hope it leaves your competitors quivering. Those days have yet to come.

And with that said, onward and upward!

-Latent K