Follow your nose, if it smells new I'd say fake. That thing would have been sat on someone's desk or in a draw for a good while I imagine, and I know what you mean by the new smell which certainly would have faded by now. Just my opinion, some if not all of your other points also scream fake to me.
It looks fake to me, like it's been made in a simple CD art editor. Does it seem like that to anyone else? Pretty sure it wouldn't be just a sticker, with all that printed on there... Usually they are pressed like the Xbox 360 review discs, or written in marker like you said.
Problem is, Wombat has like the same disc and he says the label looks the same so I'm unsure if it could be just a cheap rip of the final disc with a label slapped on top or if it's legit. however i found: SLES-53908 EIDOS EIDOS 20060224 PlayStation Master Disc 2.0 So I guess it's either a copy of the final PAL version or just the final build burnt onto a preview disc.
Not all "Preview" disks have differences. And stickers aren't that unusual, fairly common even. You have to trust your source for the game.
I can't say really, just to me it does. Like Borman said, it's the source that matters... I'm not one to get previews or betas so I hope for the best for you right now.
I assume you pulled this game from the recent EBay auctions? If that is the case I would say the source is pretty solid. I have also had discs like this in the past.
This alone indicates it's fake to me. The ink would have been long smudged and fully dried by now if it was legit. Also it's non scuffed/scratched in any way? I'm going with fake on this.
Isn't there a serial number physically on the CD-R? Perhaps that can be used to identify when the CD-R was actually made.
I have a doubt on this kiff. I used the 'contact seller' button to ask a question about a disc he listed but I never got any answer from him/her. This is the first time that happens to me (!), usually UK people always answer, even for telling me that they don't want to ship to France if I asked them to ! So I didn't place a bid ! @ Decapicitated : I've got a PS2 Review Code disc (picture in my profile), it may also contain the final game or something very close to the final release. Still nice to own... How is the back of your disc ? Here is mine :
