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Gamers' brains have atrophied.
So much effort and research goes into learning as much about a not-yet-released game; first looks, trailers, previews, exclusive interviews…et cetera. We gobble it up — this second-hand information.
When we finally have the meal itself, nothing is striking. We have very little left to discover, as the premise is already known, and a good chunk of the story is nothing new. Taste and digestion in this case are separate occurrences: “Oh, I know that that's a splicer. Gulp. Oh, look, a little sister. Swallow. It's okay, Irish guy, I know that heavy fella is a Big Daddy. Consume. 'There's nothing like a fist-full of lightning!' Ha! I said it at the same time as him.”
Not only does this cause less brain activity during gameplay, but also less retrospection: Most gamers finish, move on to other previews, and whet their appetites with those succulent teaser trailers and first screenshots.
In a 2007 podcast of EGM Live*, Dan Hsu said he felt that Grand Theft Auto 4 was already old news when they could finally openly discuss the demo they saw a month prior. The game was not even out yet, and it was already unexciting to think about. Why deny ourselves the great pleasure of a fantastic experience combined with wonder, doubt, and surprise? Unwrapping Christmas gifts is far less satisfying when you know what's enveloped in the paper — even less so when you already know half of the contents on the DVD or Blu-ray encased.
Do we enjoy the chore of pushing buttons and watching flashing lights? Collection and achievements become the obsessive, animalistic goal as mood and subtleties go unappreciated if noticed at all. And while some nervous, shy nerds could argue that they still had a good time playing said game, I think there's no denying that you have greater chances of being blown away when you go in fresh.
It's virtually certain that without gaming news and hype, titles would not experience the boom of sales on release that they do now. Yeah, whatever. Overall, this shows game making to be a lot more of a business than an art, as art is far better without preconceptions and expectations.
OK, maybe I'm being a little harsh. But I would have much rather found out that Bioshock: Infinite features a floating city by being introduced to it in-game rather than have someone tell me about it as a selling point. “Oh, don't worry, I'm not gonna tell you anything about the story, just that it's a prequel to the original and that it has no connection to Jack and instead of an underwater city it's on a floating city.”
Might as well scrap the entire opening. Already seen it.