Video games journalism has become the SkyNet of 2008 – we've achieved self-awareness and become a total pain in the ass. And, that whole Gamespot train wreck involving that one guy whose name is as tragically synonymous with corporate corruption in gaming journalism as Jack Thompson's is with bat-kissing crazy has become the Judgment Day of our collective readership. Instead of doing our regularly scheduled jobs of writing and reporting on the industry itself, we've found a topic on which we can wax ad nauseum: writing about writing about gaming. It's the kind of navel gazing that requires a scanning electron microscope.

To be honest, you, as a gaming reader were far better prepared for Gerstmanngate (alternatively Gerstmannia or Gerstapalooza depending on your mood) than we writers were. You've been telling us for years that we're all a bunch of barely literate lackeys for the video games industry, a point against which we've argued quite genuinely. And yet, despite the fact that the writer in this case was fired (allegedly!) precisely for his problematic integrity – in much the same way that Hoffa was allegedly killed by the mob or man allegedly landed on the moon – the truth is that we writers suffer for the sins of our publishers just as developers often suffer for the sins of their own. And, while you totally called it, we as a group were collectively blown completely out of the water, and so you've been asked to endure thousands of words of gaming writers wondering what the holy hell just happened. This is one of those articles.

First, let me get my big problem with the whole Gamespot nonsense out of the way in as few words as possible. This whole controversy has been a fantastic, sustainable and consistent boost to Gamespot's traffic (source: Alexa). At the end of the day, despite a complete lack of credibility, retaliatory resignations of long respected writers and the near universal assumption that advertising now directly influence editorial standards at the publication, Stephen Colvin and the high standards of publication he brings from paragons of journalism such as Stuff, Maxim and Whored Out Opinions magazine is validated in his comfortable certainty that he can have its cake and cash million dollar checks with icing on top too.

Two important notes at this point. 1) This is a rant. 2) I made up the name of one of the publications Colvin was formerly associated with, though it may be hard to figure out which it is.

It was, of course, naïve of us to assume that much of the gaming public would not naturally gravitate to the kind of media that so successfully built big business from the simple concept that young-men will buy magazines with mostly nude famous people. As much as we like to pretend that video gamers do not share demographics with the population that made Stuff and Maxim such hits, we are living in the same self-deluded fantasy land that comforts those certain that they can't get a date for the prom because of how jealous everyone is of their intellect. We games journalists often inflate our own worth with smug discussions of minutia like the need to remove review scores so that readers can bask in the ambrosia of our pontification on the subtle nuance of on a game like, oh, say Kane and Lynch. Much as we are loathe to admit it, many of us want to be a part of the cult of personality rather than a detached critic of it.

This may be why the flow from games journalist to games development is almost exclusively a one-way street.

I realize that borders on a kind of sacrilege, and I've long been convinced that inevitably I'm going to say something to doom this freelance career, which has been flopping around like a hobbled runt puppy for some time now. Honestly, I'm looking forward to someone finally saying to me "You'll never work in this town again!" if only for the coolness of having influence enough to warrant such ire. But, hear me out.

As it turns out, video games media actually is important and needs credibility. I realize there is an undercurrent dismissing the value of what people who write about video games do, itself trapped in an even stronger undercurrent of distrust of all media, but we are not talking about some niche hobby with a casual and benign enthusiast press like you might find for rat farming or the David Hyde Pierce fanclub. Video games represent a massive industry, that is prevalent in most American homes in one form or another, and one need only watch a few seconds of Geoff Keighley trying to decide which Fox News inaccuracy to refute first to realize how crucial it that we have smart and credible spokespeople. Video gaming plays into politics, into the economy, into national discussions of morality and freedom, into legislation all on a very public and national stage, and if we don't have well spoken and independent advocates then we all better start finding the nearest porn shop (like you don't already know!) because that's where games like Mass Effect might end up. In the same way that some of the best journalism out there can come from sports or music or even film, there is room for reliable and independent video game journalism.

It matters what is happening at Gamespot, and it matters what Dan Hsu describes at 1up about the strong-arm tactics applied by game publishers and it matters that there is a conflict between those who believe in the process and those who are in it for a quick buck. This is big-boy work for professionals with strong ethical standards and an ability to subvert the marketed will of large companies, just as they seek to subvert editorial standards. I've seen the hidden side of the process, the dealing and space negotiation that goes on just to score a preview – a piece that is essentially free advertising – and if you think for a moment that an exclusive review released days or weeks before a game hits shelves doesn't meet with overwhelming pressure from the publisher for positive press then you can join barrister Thompson in that fertile nut-job wacko territory.

This may all serve to be nothing more than a manifesto of self-validation, and I won't fault you for that opinion. Much like many of you I care not a whit for most reviews and previews, but it is the meat of work that populates a media industry with a roster of talent that can actually get down to the business of tackling real issues. There is a place for the total sell-out publications, just as People and Maxim magazines can share the shelf space with Newsweek or The Wall Street Journal, but imagine the uproar if Time Magazine suddenly hired Joan Rivers as Editor In Chief and dished nothing but celebrity gossip, or if a major television news network became the defacto puppet for a sitting administration.

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I hope Joan Rivers' new Time Magazine has pictures of half-naked celebs.