FTC requires all game reviews to include perks received from game companies......
 

Very interesting stuff here. For those that aren't aware, game reviewers from many sites receive some very nice perks or even free trips to review video games. It's little more than bribery. This rule is long overdue.

The Associated Press: FTC: Bloggers must disclose payments for reviews

It'll be interesting to see if:

1. Game companies tone down the gifts to avoid any hint of bribery.
2. Reviewers start turning down some of these perks now that they have to disclose them.
3. Actual enforcement of these rules does happen.

1) Most definitely
2) Probably not
3) Most definitely not

While meaning well, I see this as mostly empty legislation. If anything, the game companies will just hide the perks better, such as official business trips to E3, a free copy of a game but the recipient must pay sales tax on it, etc...

I am glad that the FTC is handling such important matters like this. You would think that out of all the fraud and deception that put us into this economic situation, they would target them. But no, the real culprits are those pesky bloggers not disclosing their perks.

I'm with RainMaker on this one, for the FTC to have even considered for a moment getting involved with this (non)issue borders on outright insulting it's so completely absurd.

Who in their right fucking mind takes bloggers as gospel? Or as anything other than having some personal motivation for anything & everything they write? If there's a negative review, is the blogger required to reveal that they've been turned down for a job at Publisher X 14 times? Are they required to reveal that they've got a cousin who works at rival Publisher Y and that he thinks dinging other products might help Y (and therefore his cousin)?

Honest to goodness, even if the goal is to protect the terminally stupid and chronically gullible, this is just silly as it's virtually entirely unenforceable unless they're expecting stimulus money in order to hire 25,000 people to read the blogs of every Tom, Dick, and Harriet on the nterwebz.

And more importantly, what does this mean for the future of Ezekiel Brewman?

You are underestimating the stupidity of the populace reading the interwebs.

This is very unlike you.

Of course this doesn't just impact game reviewers...

Well, harumph ... you do raise a point there.

I'm worried about Jon. He completely missed a chance to rip on the intelligence of the average Interweb user. I think we need an intervention.

Someone...four pots of coffee and 6 packs of smokes, STAT!

That's a little light on the coffee but a little heavy on the smokes, but I'll let it slide ;)

I guess dealing with newspaper sales reps has taken its toll on me the past couple of weeks. After that it's kind of hard to see the rest of the planet as quite as stupid simply by comparison.