Think back for a moment, if you will, to December 2006. Just over a year ago. Gamespot was still awesome. Greg Kasavin was still here, Jeff was obviously still here, and Gamespot was, without doubt, the best and most respected gaming website in the history of gaming websites. Now fast forward a year, and the place is truly and absolutely falling apart. No more Greg, no more Rich, no more Jeff. And now, no more Alex. If you'd told me a year ago that all of those Gamespot legends would be departing within such a small time-frame, I would never have believed you. It sounds overly sentimental and even a tad twee to reminisce about a gaming website, but for a good few years this place was just a bucket-load of fun. There was always something amazing going on and everything from the wry humour that seeped through the various editorials, to the quality of the writing, was simply unparalleled. I like Kevin Van Ord and Ryan Davis and Justin Calevrt and Brad Shoemaker and all the rest, but no organisation can afford to lose talents of the calibre of Kasavin, Gerstmann and Navarro within the space of a year, and not be severely damaged as a result.

My daily visits to Gamespot seem to be turning into twice-weekly visits at the most, and this is truly, truly sad. There isn't even a viable alrernative that even comes close to the Gamespot of old. I find myself reading the likes of Kotaku and 1up, and then I think, "wait, what in the name of God am I doing here?" And then I remember: "Oh yeah, it's because Gamespot's dead".

I'm sticking around in the vain hopr that things can turn around in 2008, but I won't be holding my breath.