@amdreallyfast Actually Bethesda isn't involved in the MMO in any shape or form (apart for some of the writers). It's a completely different studio called Zenimax Online.
It wouldn't really require any form of airtight secrecy, it's far more simple and elegant than that: game company A buys a lot of advertising space on gaming site B. Next time site B reviews a game made or published by company A the review team gets a call from management saying "we have a contract with these guys, make sure you give it a positive spin" thereby ensuring that the game in question gets preferential treatment. Company A is happy because its game got high (or at least decent score) while site B is happy because it gets to keep company A as a "customer". This can be done without the knowledge of most of the review team. PC Gamer have been caught employing this tactic on several occasions, as have Gamespot (the whole jeff debacle).
This is why games like Dragon Age II or Rome II got 7s and 8s or even 9s from most commercial sites despite the absolutely atrocious user scores and reviews and why games like CoD or Fifa will never score below 8 (or maybe 7) regardless of how generic or derivative they are. It's also why most sites have Retrospective Reviews where the tone and argumentation differ radically from what was seen in the original review (I remember reading a Fallout 3 retrospective where the same guy that gave the game and 8,5 6 months earlier was now bashing it to the hell and back)
Youse guys should definitely fly Kevin over for the Christmas special, or better yet go to san fran yourselves. You could called it a "professional improvement experience"
adrianjarca's comments