The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has aimed their big government eyes at video game bloggers. You may ask; "really? What could possibly be wrong with blogging about video games?" Plenty, according to the FTC, as they are reviewing guides concerning the use of endorsements and
testimonials in advertising.

The FTC claims they have examples of bloggers who will receive a game or game system for free, and in turn write a favorable review. Said example is below:

A college student who has earned a reputation as a video game expert maintains a personal weblog or "blog" where he posts entries about his gaming experiences. Readers of his blog frequently seek his opinions about video game hardware and software. As it has done in the past, the manufacturer of a newly released video game system sends the student a free copy of the system and asks him to write about it on his blog. He tests the new gaming system and writes a favorable review. The readers of his blog are unlikely to expect that he has received the video game system free of charge in exchange for his review of the product, and given the value of the video game system, this fact would likely materially affect the credibility they attach to his endorsement. Accordingly, the blogger should clearly and conspicuously disclose that he received the gaming system free of charge.

After reading this example, I had to ask myself, how many reviewers in newspapers or TV shows have received free merchandise from companies in hopes that they critique it favorably? It seems a little bit of an insult to the general public's intelligence that they think a person would read one review and go drop $300 to $400 on a new game system. Let's be honest, before any person ever buys a system or game (excluding fanboys), they usually like to try it for themselves. I doubt any person would blindly follow one college student's opinion.

In any case, I doubt the government is going to restrict bloggers anytime soon. I would really hope they have bigger things on their plate, like the economy, or unemployment, but what do I know? I'm just a video game blogger.