Gossip Stone: How Much of Future Zelda Games Should Be Revealed Prior to Release?

Spoilers are a very common thing these days. To many die-hard video game fans of various franchises, being an internet frequenter can be very difficult prior to the release of a new series installment, if they want to avoid having things from the new game spoiled. As for us Zelda fans, things are just the same, if not worse. With the release date of Zelda Wii U possibly being revealed in soon, content from the game, even entire game synopses, will surely start appearing online, and it might be hard to avoid seeing it. Should something be done about this? Should so much of revealed by the developers before the game is even out? Join the discussion after the jump!

When Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS was finally released, and I began unlock the various characters, I recall being almost a bit disappointing that I already knew of all of the secret characters. Not only did many of us here and Zelda Dungeon need to report on much of the new Zelda-related content in the games, and therefor saw all the new stuff that was added, but simply going on YouTube everyday was enough to see a thumbnail to a newcomer video. The genius marketing tactic of hyping up the new fighters made many want the games, but we were, more or less, robbed of the in-game surprise. This is the difficult toss-up developers must deal with: more content shown for advertising, or less shown for non-spoilers’ sake? With so many people these days saying to stop pre-ordering for worry of a game not meeting standards, companies need to show off something to hold fans over, but how much is too much?

Of course, Zelda is a different case. With a story/action-based adventure there are many early-game elements that can be shown off, without spoiling the entire story. With Skyward Sword, there was a lot shown off of the first dungeon, the first boss fight, and of Skyloft, since the fans really wanted to know what they were getting into. That being said, there were many instances, before the game even came out, of people Googling the game, and seeing image of the final boos before the game was even out. Many reviewing sites and whatnot must be given full, or nearly full, versions of the games before the release dates, but it is not necessary to leak full synopses of them prior to everyone actually playing them.

What do you guys think? Has the internet made it too hard to avoid spoilers? Can, and should, developers do something to lessen the worry of revealed content prior to playthroughs? Leave a comment below!