Good point. I would love to go into a great game completely fresh, but that'd be extremely hard for consumers to know what is worth their money and what isn't. In a perfect world, perhaps.

I totally thought of George Costanza when reading this article. "I'm going in fresh! Fresh!"

That's Frank Costanza, foo.

Ooooooh, schooled on your Seinfeld knowledge. Ouch!

Ah, you're right!

Alas, the internet. She is a fickle mistress. Nothing is new for more than three seconds.

Release Dates & Metacritic scores is the way I usually go with upcoming games. If I can't make sense out of the hype, I'll probably try the demo if it's available.  I remember being blown away by the demo of Heavy Rain. I played it like 5 times.

I couldn't disagree with this piece more. Across all spectrums of storytelling, there are spoilers and hype. I've never seen Inception (I know, I'm renting it tonight!) but I already know the premise, the characters, and a basic plot outline from the Internet and friends. Read any dust jacket for a novel and you immediately know: the character's name, setting, time period and motivation. There's so much revealed, why read, right?

I think we're obsessed with endings and cinematic moments in a game. These big, beat-you-over-the-head-with-melodrama set pieces can easily swallow up the finer points to a game, the subtle inclusions. I'm playing Red Dead Redemption right now, with full knowledge of how it ends, but it doesn't matter to me. It's not the ending that's interesting. It's the development of Marston and exploring a beautiful landscape. Same can be argued about Niko and Liberty City or even Rapture in BioShock. Some of the best storytelling in Western culture is predictable--the Aeneid, for example, is spoiled before it starts (uh, they build Rome, so we know everything's going to be okay), and Shakespeare rarely had an original storyline. That doesn't mean these aren't fine pieces or that I'm not excited every time I experience them.

There's no such thing as an original story, even if you never heard a drop of news/hype/previews before experiencing it. Every story has been told before. It's how the stories are told that's important.

Have said it before to many a protest but I honestly never have this problem and honestly think anything that's actually good holds it's own spoiled or not. Something intriguiing and interesting doesn't become less.

Now I think there's a difference between something being hyped to death and just discussed. I had the orginal Star Wars trilogy hyped as one of the greatest series of films ever and was incredibly underwhelmed  They aren't bad or poorly crafted, but the feeling I'd experience something like this before came not because people told me what happened but because the story was to me a collection of archetypes and experiences I'd enjoyed more other places. I also think there's a slight cultural element I won't get into in details, but suffice to say Star Wars wasn't something passed onto me as a child or kids in my neighborhood as this rite-of-passage as I feel many people I've met later i life feel.

While I'll be the first person to advocate breaking out of slavery to the preview and review cycle in which most of the video game press feels stuck, I feel it serves it's purpose. Frankly as many gamers lose their minds as if some kidnapped their kid sister over spoilers, I often seek spoiler conversation to get perspective on the elements of many games I frankly find lacking in the typical review. Spoiler conversation has sold me on games before I frankly wasn't sold on through reviews. I'm hold no concern whatsoever of this fear of upsetting people that if frankly should develop the self-control to not click on a story or open a mag that's probably going to give them information they claim not to really want. I'm of the thought if you're going to talk about a work, for goodness sake actually talk about it.

But again, I know I'm in the minority in taking that view.

Josh, that novel has an introduction for the characters, the setting, and time period, and events early in the novel develop into the final motivation—integrated in the story itself. (What!) If only reading the dust jacket was optional.