Crispy Gamer - Activision's Unorthodox Early Review Access. Thanks Ant.
I'm afraid by trying to tighten their grip on the circumstances surrounding early access to games, these publishers are going to find more and more reviewers trying to wriggle out from the restrictions, either by holding off on their reviews, noting the circumstances in the text, or simply being more negatively inclined toward the game itself.

GreyWardens.Com - Of Elves, Archetypes And ‘Derivative Fantasy’.
One of the major criticisms of Dragon Age: Origins has been that the game draws on ‘derivative fantasy’ in its plot and storyline. Now, staying away from the debate over whether or not DA:O is ‘dark fantasy’ as marketed, or ‘Tolkien-esque epic fantasy’ , the whole discussion leads me to ask why is it that anything in the fantasy genre is immediately under fire for being self-referential.

Press Start to Drink - Cease and Desist: Games Culture and Copyright Laws. Thanks Mike Martinez.
To take a look at this tension created by strict copyright legislation, I want to examine three case studies in gaming culture. First, following the release of Gears of War, a fan of the game, Emilio Lopez, created a “Gears Munny,” a small action-figure based on one of the characters from the game, to give to his cousin, also a fan of the game, for Christmas. Second, fans of the Super Nintendo Classic, Chrono Trigger worked together for over a year to complete an original addendum to the game in the form of Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes. Finally, a dedicated and diverse fan community of the Half-Life series has been working tirelessly on a remake of the original Half-Life using a newer, aesthetically pleasing engine. All three of these cases have raised copyright issues. However, only one of them has been embraced by the IP holder.