Please Don't Mention Our Mistakes in Your Professional Critique

So according to MTV's Multiplayer Blog (via CVG), Konami has been demanding that print magazine reviewers not mention the length of the cut-scenes in Metal Gear Solid 4 or the supposed multiple installations as the game progresses. There are only two reasons behind this decision and they are either that Konami thinks these are so awesome that they don't want it spoiled for people or they recognize that these are absolutely terrible design decisions and don't want these particular flaws mentioned in a critical review of their product.
This is just another in a long line of examples of how deeply broken this industry is when it comes to professional reviews. An industry where, if enough advertising dollars changed hands, you can lose your job by being honest. This kind of bullshit simply doesn't fly in other mediums, NDAs are one thing but there are certain gag orders, embargoes on reviews that keep them from going up until after a game's release and other sorts of bullying tactics that are ridiculous. When the larger publishers start throwing their weight around and threatening to pull advertising funds away when someone gives their bad game an appropriate review and sites or magazines simply bend over and take it, that serves only to reinforce the notion that you can buy positive reviews. In an ideal world the advertising and editorial agencies of a publication would have absolutely no contact with each other, which is how I imagine those covering different forms of media operate, but the reality is that there often is quite a lot of crossover. A reviewer should not have to be weighing those concerns when trying to dictate their honest opinion, because laying that out is what he or she is paid to do in the first place. I can only hope that as this still burgeoning industry grows and matures and the crossover of demographics becomes larger that these sites and publications can start getting larger ad revenues from companies that do not fall under the ones they also critique.
All this would not even be an issue if the companies involved, like Konami and Eidos and Ubisoft, concerned themselves with making quality products rather than trying to have their flaws kept under wraps until the suckers make their purchases.

-K.