So, reviews are as orchestrated and controlled by PR as much as they humanly can? I'm shocked and appaled.

I need a time machine so I can go back and give brain damage to Edward Bernays. Sure, Barnum started it, but Bernays took PR bullshit to Level 99 with max stats and best EQ in the game.

The LAIR review guide came after the game was out.

Stuff like this happens with all games. Gifts and score embargo's and all that stuff. Is it wrong, maybe. But do i care, NO.

It took me all of 1 minute 10 seconds to find details of the Metroid Prime 3 review embargo which is likely more research than you did for your post.  The fact that you mentioned embargoes when Nintendo is notorious for being one of the most secretive and controlling with it's information in the world is laughable. 

As for your other points, why single out EA and Microsoft when so many others do it as well?  Hell some reviewers get to go through special training camps taught by former special forces personnel, others have gotten free trips to Hawaii, Russia, Las Vegas, Montreal, etc, and others get signed copies or extremely rare merchandise that would easily go for hundreds if not thousands of dollars on Ebay, and this has been going on since the 80s, and you decide to now proclaim that the system is broken?  That's laughable at well.  Don't get me wrong I don't condone any of that but to single out EA and Microsoft when it's an industry wide problem really does make you look like just a fanboy.

Anyways here are some links to actually back up what I've just said:

http://wii.gamespy.com/wii/metroid-prime-3/814750p2.html

"We're going to wrap things up here as we've got another 80 percent of the game to hack through before the review embargo lifts at 12:01 a.m. PST on Monday morning. Wish us luck! All signs are pointing to Corruption being the best of the three Prime games so check back for the final results early next week. "

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/02/AR2007070201743.html

"In his career as a game reviewer, Ghislain Masson has been to Russia twice, and once to Chernobyl for a promotion of a computer game set in that area's nuclear meltdown zone.

His other junkets include trips to India paid for by Microsoft and a five-day extravaganza in Las Vegas funded by Midway. There was also the shindig near his home base in Paris to promote a game in the Rayman series that included juggling lessons from circus performers."

Here's a real question: Is there anything that we, as a gaming community (or as part of the greater gaming community) can DO about it? It's all well and good to recognize this is corrupt bullshit, but how do we fight it?

Nintendo seems to be the most professional of the three in handling such matters. I wish Sony and MS could act more like big boys, but I guess they're out for cut throat business tactics. Oh well, hopefully everyone remembers that they're in the gaming business, not politics.

This is soooo funny. Where are you all basing this off of? Source, please.

Some reviewers get swag - the TV reviewer at the paper gets swag and donates it so everyone can buy it. And guides? Unless any of you can provide a source or two, the Lair guide is pretty much unheard of.

If a developer/publisher/PR firm sends me a guide, I toss it. No, thanks. Let me play the game and see if it's a pile of steaming crap ... I don't need spin or hype. 

The problem in journalism period is ethics. You can not be swayed by bribes and the like. That's why most publications have a rule about keeping stuff. You don't. You donate it back to the company. Now, if you buy it, sweet.

Embargoes are set by the publisher/developer/PR firm and as a journalist, you can't break them. So what ...

And trips and stuff ... unless my paper pays for it, getting a free trip completely goes over the line. You don't think a week in Fiji will sway your thinking?

As far as sending the stuff to the corporate address... That is the way it has to be or it IS a bribe. MOST companies have a policy where employees can't accept gifts over a certain amount -- $25 bucks or so. I've personally seen countless "promotion" campaigns where "stuff" was sent out that was of greater value than what is generally accepted in corporate america. By sending it to the corporate address, the "stuff", regardless of who it is addressed to, technically belongs to the company as the stuff is sent as a part of the normal course of the employees business role at the company. Ironically, as long as the "stuff" is sent to the corporate address and a specific set of instructions isn't there with the "take this stuff and you owe me a 10", there is nothing illegal about it. Usually, the onus is on the employee to tell their boss about the gift and let the company decide what to do with it. Sometimes they will give it to charity. Sometimes they will do something creative like give it out as an award for some kind of contest. Sometimes they will just let the employee keep it... It just comes down to corporate culture and their norms... I've worked in a handful of very large companies and stuff like this happens ALL THE TIME. Gift cards, nice pens, liquor, trips, you name it... It happens.