Leaks, rumors, and general spoiling of hype.

I love being surprised.  At least, in terms of hearing about things I'm interested in, whether it be a continuation or something brand new.  That moment, crafted by teams of people, when it is first revealed is meant to evoke as much excitement and hype in people as possible.  Usually it comes in the form of a trailer, but in rare occasions even something more substantial, with the absolute rarest being the 'and it's available now!'  Sure, in the case of things like video games these reveals can often be so focused on creating excitement that they end up being misleading, but with relatively low exception, they all still do come out.  It may not end up being good in the end, not exclusive to games, but it is a thing that exists.  My question may seem like it answers itself, but at the same time I feel it doesn't.  Why do we want to spoil the initial surprise, cut our own excitement short, by exposing things before they're ready to be presented?

I remember, back before I really dove deep on the internet, first discovering E3 on TV.  It must've been 2006 because it was the first time Halo 3 was revealed to the public.  Sure, we all knew there would be a Halo 3, if not from a business perspective than from the way Halo 2 ended, so the surprise, for me, was actually seeing it show up out of nowhere.  All of a sudden Halo 3 went from being a thing that would happen eventually, something I would occasionally wonder or speculate with friends about, to something actually real.  If you have a spare 3 minutes, I would recommend giving the reveal trailer a re-watch before I give a quick breakdown.  Starting with that iconic chime and a slow fade from white on an abandoned dusty plain, the camera slowly pulls back and we're hit with another chime.  It's familiar, but at this point we're not even meant to know what we're looking at yet.  Then we hear and see a distorted figure flickering in and out of view as smoke builds up and we wonder if that was...we're given just enough time to wonder before another chime, more words, and a first clear look at the person speaking.  But it's not a person really.  Just as we can confirm for certain the person we're seeing and hearing is Cortana, Master Chief steps out of the smoke, assault rife over his shoulder, which he brings down into his hands.  We get the end of Cortana's monologue and finally the chimes we've been hearing come together into the main Halo theme as the camera makes its first cut to show what the Chief is facing.  Dozens of enemy ships converge on a mysterious structure in the ground, sending off a shock wave as it opens, and finally emits a light that cuts the screen to black in time with the music.  The last words of dialogue are given in complete silence.  "This is the way the world ends."  The music kicks back in and the Halo logo with a three focuses itself on screen, finally confirming what we all knew for absolute certainty, and then giving us the tagline "Finish the fight" which would've been enough, but they even give us the year we can actually accomplish that task of 2007.

This probably isn't the best constructed reveal trailer ever made, but it was the first one that came to mind and was very effective for me at least.  Just imagine how excited so many people were to see that for the first time, the range of emotions that  trailer pulled them through.  The mystery, teases, buildup, and payoffs.  Now imagine how much less of an impact it would have if the person watching had read online that there would be a Halo 3 trailer at E3?  Every trailer that started that wasn't immediately recognizable would make them wonder 'is this Halo 3?'  Then, rather than the music cues building mystery, their mindset would connect the pieces before they were intended to and know it was.  The trailer would still be worth watching, still evoke some level of excitement, but far less than how it was intended to function. 

In theory, it makes sense.  We want to know about the things we like, so we seek out information about it.  Until it is official, there are leaks, rumors, and all kinds of speculation that can be found.  However, going that deep almost always leads to a far less satisfying experience than waiting for the official reveal.  I mean, we've gotten to the point where people are speculating what games are being made based on the descriptions for jobs studios are putting out, or what trademarks are being filed.  Is that really a satisfying way to find out what is being worked on?  I can't speak for the developers, but I really doubt that's how they want their work to be revealed.  Yes, news outlets and reporters need things to report on, but can we pull back at least a little bit?  Perhaps I'm too deep into the news cycle myself and the problem isn't actually as bad as it seems, but I know that I find it increasingly rare for a trailer to be the first thing I see or hear about a game anymore.  While that does seem to be the obvious solution to my problem, just don't go looking for leaks and stuff, that only gets harder and harder to do.  Without completely avoiding outlets,social media, forums, websites, and anywhere else related to gaming, you're going to see something at some point.  And why should I, or anyone else, have to avoid these places when we enjoy the community and other aspects of them?  Am I being too soft?  Should I just accept this is how things are now, or have we really gone a few steps too far in trying to dig out news as early as possible?  I'd really like to hear everyone's opinions on this.