Why is it legal to set rules for people to review your product?

[FreeTalkLive]

Hapimeses said:
In short: the intellectual property (IP) used in the review is privately owned. If you want review code early -- i.e.: you want access to their privately owned IP before the rest of the market -- you may be requested to sign the equivalent of an non-disclosure agreement, limiting your ability to freely talk about their IP. However, once that IP is released freely on the market, such limitations come to an end for obvious reasons.

So, if you want a review potentially filled with spoliers, or discussing aspects of the game that the publisher does not wished to be discussed, wait until after the game has had its official release.

That's about it. Nothing especially sinister, although it does pass control to the IP owners rather than the reviewers. And given most reviewers want their reviews out early, they sometimes have to sacrfice their free speech in the short term to achieve this.

 Someone with a brain, thank you.  I am shocked that some many gamers are calling for more laws from the government to restrict freedoms when it comes to games.  All these gamers will end up doing is damaging and restricting games while also making it more expensive.  In fact, they are calling for the exact opposite of what will improve their hobby.  Considering all of the horrible things excessive government laws have already done to gaming, I'd think most serious gamers would get it by now.