flagstaad on 02 November 2010
It's an embargo issue.
The publishers make agreements with the websites and the magazines, so they can't publish their reviews of their evaluation copies before the day of the game release. In exchange the sites received their evaluation copies 1 or 2 weeks before everyone else, so they can play the game, beat it, try the multiplayer components, etc. And have the review ready on time for the release of the game.
Some publishers also ask for early opinions of the game to the sites and magazines, to know before hand the average grade the game will get, if they consider that it can benefit the sales of the game they give green light to publish the score a few days earlier.
