Payola, in the American music industry, is the illegal practice of payment or other inducement by record companies for the broadcast of recordings on music radio in which the song is presented as being part of the normal day's broadcast. Under U.S. law, 47 U.S.C. § 317, a radio station can play a specific song in exchange for money, but this must be disclosed on the air as being sponsored airtime, and that play of the song should not be counted as a "regular airplay".

The term has come to refer to any secret payment made to cast a product in a favorable light (such as obtaining positive reviews).

Some radio stations report spins of the newest and most popular songs to industry publications. The number of times the songs are played can influence the perceived popularity of a song.

The term payola is likely a portmanteau, of the words “pay” and either Pianola (a once-common name for player pianos), or “Victrola”, trade name of the widely known early phonographs made by RCA Victor.[1] Payola has come to mean the payment of a bribe in commerce and in law to say or do a certain thing against the rules of law, but more specifically a commercial bribe. The FCC defines "payola" as a violation of the sponsorship identification rule that in 2005-06 resulted in tens of millions of dollars in fines to cable

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Its what polygon is accused of when it comes to favorable Xbox and less favorable Playstation reviews.  Dont know if payment was involved (most likely not), I just believe this sudden message change (especially from CNET) was orchastred from NOA.

I know full well what payola is. I'm just wondering why positive Nintendo news from media outlets has to be payola. Seems a bit of a reach, to me.

The CNET thing was likely the opinions of different editors. The "tech gifts" one made sense if you're thinking just in terms of getting the best "tech" for the holiday season (for someone interested in the nuts and bolts of it, yeah, Wii U is a bad idea compared to the others). A media outlet shouldn't be expected to have one unified voice, especially when it may have different columns that appeal to different interests as in the case of a very large, prominent outlet like CNET, which could lead to conflicting evaluations of the same product without a guy in a Link costume having to fly in from Redmond with a sack of Ruppees (though not actual Ruppees. My god what happened to the exchange rate on those things...)

its better to miss sony's exclusive than to miss nintendo's exclusive

they should pay justin bieber or miley cyrus to tweet this.... how come company dont pay "pop stars" anymore....

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/11/cnet_outlines_console_purchase_choices_and_highlights_wii_u_as_a_pretty_compelling_buy

Funny how the world works huh.

I never can buy more than 3 games a year, which I'll trade with friends in order to play games I couldn't buy. So no game console ever has a bad enough drought for me. No matter which I buy, it's always a struggle to keep up with my wishlist.

If you can only afford one system this gen then it's pretty clear to me that you shouldn't get a Nintendo system for the lack of third-party support alone.

But the perfect scenario is to own a Wii U plus either the PS4 or the XBO. That way you get the best of everything.

Fixed it for you.  I really cant stand Nintendo elitist, epecially those who still think its circa 1993 and Nintendo is still on top of the world.  The ones who only have Nintendo consoles but feel they can easily judge all gaming.

This is not a fact. This is an oppinion. Just like the OP. I'm a gamer, and I were a purely Nintendo gamer previous gen, with exception of the PS3 I got for free when my brother said he didn't want it anymore. 

What do you mean by that? That the thing that sells the most has the best lineup of games?