Impartiality? Fair coverage?

You know how certain games get 'exciting previews', front page features and top billing? Well, it's paid for. Who is surprised by the revelations, really?

Exerpt from an article titled 'Preview Ho: Gamespot/Gamespy'.

"As it happened, he said, such a gumball is currently in play, for Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter for the Xbox 360. "I wouldn't want you to jump to the incorrect conclusion that the extra push being given to the review must mean that the game's publisher somehow influenced the review in the first place," Kasavin added hastily. "My guess is this promotional deal was negotiated after we decided to give the game a positive review, but since I'm not privy to the details of these types of deals, I don't know for sure." He insisted that Gamespot maintains a strict separation between editorial and ad sales."

Oh yeah. Right.