The game industry has long invested in hit-driven, hardcore games like Kane & Lynch — titles that mainly appeal to the 18-34 male “power gamer” demographic that enjoys violent action and epic gameplay — regardless of how unappealing they are to pretty much anyone else. (Kayne & Lynch’s’ eponymous “heroes” are actually death row escapee cop killers — hence Gerstmann’s derisive comment that it is an “an ugly, ugly game”.)

The biggest losers in all this are the 360 and PS3, indelibly branded as the main platforms for hardcore gamers. Console publishers were already shifting away from them in favor of the Wii and PS2, the former because it’s expected to gain a huge install base, the latter because it already has one.