After reading the IGN review for Sony’s Gran Turismo 5 I then popped over to Gamespot to check out their review for GT5 and guess what?

As this post goes live, they haven’t even posted one yet.

This is fast becoming the norm where Gamespot are concerned, they are posting their reviews increasingly later than every other site. They did it with Call of Duty: Black Ops, by the time they posted their review their opinion had become irrelevant as we’d all gone and bought it by then.

Very rarely do I seek Gamespot’s opinion on the latest releases anymore as there’s no point. Perhaps that’s what happens when you become as big as Gamespot is? You get to set your own schedule and review the biggest games whenever you feel like getting around to it?

I don’t want to bash Gamespot as I still visit the site but it just seems to me that they don’t really care about their readers. I mean, they haven’t even got an iPhone app? Seriously, in this day and age, one of the biggest video game websites in the world doesn’t even have an iPhone app? How much do these things cost to develop? A couple of K’s? That’s chump change to a site with as much traffic as Gamespot gets.

The annoying thing about all this is that Gamespot do so many things right. Take their US podcast; The Gamespot Hotspot for instance, it’s pure gold. The host Brendan Sinclair is one of the smoothest hosts on the web and his regular crew; the two Tom’s and the British one are always entertaining when they appear. When you listen to these guys talk video games you know you are getting solid, well thought out opinions. You get the impression that these guys have really got their shit together but when you visit the site you don’t get the same impression.

When you visit Gamespot these days you get the impression that you’re simply visiting an advertising billboard. The same featured stories seem to last ages on the front page and you get the feeling that the featured stories, instead of housing the latest news, have simply been sold to the highest bidder.

I’m sorry for this rant but it just gets to me. Perhaps it’s because Gamespot was the very first video game website I ever started following when I first started stumbling around on the web and perhaps it’s because of my history with them that I hold them to a higher standard? I don’t know. Whatever it is, it’s getting to me and I got a feeling that the day is coming when I’ll be so annoyed with Gamespot that I won’t even bother listening to the Hotspot.

Oh, while I’m on this rant, the UK podcast needs looking at, Guy Cocker was up there with the Brendan’s of this world and every episode was a joy to listen to but now he’s no longer hosting it, not so much. The podcast has developed a certain attitude and if I’m referred to as a kid by someone I’m older than just one more time I think I’ll head butt my iPod.

So, I am aware that no one from Gamespot will ever read this post and I’m okay with that, I just need to get this stuff off my chest. I know that ultimately I have no right to complain, I mean, Gamespot is free so why do I feel that I’ve got the right to slam them? Truth is, I feel uncomfortable writing these words, I feel like I’m talking behind my best mate’s’ back and I don’t feel good about it but, I don’t know, I just needed to talk to someone about it.

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