GameDaily BIZ is proud to present its third annual Persons of the Year Awards. This week and the beginning of next we'll be counting down our top five individuals who we felt have had the largest impact on the video game industry this year – this can be for either positive or negative reasons.

Additionally, new this year is a special Readers' Choice Person of the Year Award, which will give you an opportunity to vote on who you think deserves top honors. Please read our announcement about Readers' Choice to find out how to submit your nomination.

And without further ado, let's get to our fifth pick...

We're kicking off the series with Jeff Gerstmann... yes, the 11-year veteran who was unceremoniously canned by GameSpot recently.

Perhaps it's selfish of us to select the former GameSpot editorial director as a person of the year. After all, he's not really a member of the video game industry... or is he? Therein lies the problem, and the abrupt firing of one of the better known journalists (purportedly over a negative review of Kane & Lynch, according to some - GameSpot vehemently denies this) only serves to underscore the incestuous relationship between game media and the game industry itself.

The two are so intertwined that many game journalists have switched sides, joining PR or development. While gamers might occasionally be interested to hear an actual game maker (like say, David Jaffe) review a game, can you imagine if all your reviews suddenly came from a developer rather than a journalist? Developers need to stick to development and journalists need to stick to journalism (unless, of course, they decide to pursue actual game design credentials). We're happy to hear that Gerstmann still feels he has "more to say and do on the editorial side of the fence."

The problem with the fence is that it's not tall enough or it's developed some gaping holes. As one veteran journalist told Video Game Media Watch, "So...the word around town is, negotiating for exclusive reviews is a pretty common occurrence. Apparently, what press outlets do, so they feel good about it still, is tell a game company that they'll review a game, see what the score will be, then go back and negotiate an exclusive if the score is high enough. For example...I'm a reviewer, and you make games. I tell you, 'Dave, let me play your game. If I give it a 9 or higher, *then* you give me the exclusive on the review. If not, then you can shop it around elsewhere.' [....] Can you imagine if Roger Ebert tried to negotiate movie review coverage that way?"

If the line between game media and game industry is so terribly blurred, then how can church and state be adequately separated? This is a serious problem not just for GameSpot, but potentially for all consumer sites, including IGN, 1UP, and even GameDaily's consumer site (GameDaily BIZ has nothing to do with reviews). As game journalists, we are NOT in the industry. We COVER the industry. Until this distinction can be made, gamers will remain skeptical of all reviews and other coverage.

Perception so often becomes reality (among gamers, perhaps doubly so, since our favorite hobby involves entering a virtual reality), and in the end it doesn't matter if GameSpot truly didn't fire Gerstmann due to advertising pressure because the majority of the gaming community perceives that GameSpot (and most sites) are corrupt. The damage is done. As our Media Coverage columnist Kyle Orland aptly said, "The gaming community's ready acceptance of these allegations (and other, less credible ones) highlights the deep image problem that runs throughout game journalism."

So GameDaily BIZ salutes Gerstmann for his editorial integrity. We can only hope that game sites and the gaming journalism crowd have learned from "Gerstmanngate." It's a shame that Jeff had to be the sacrificial lamb, though.