We are only two weeks away from the highly-anticipated Pokémon Black and White games getting their major Japanese release. With the release of these new games, we know many websites such as Serebii and Bulbapedia will be updating with every little tid-bit of information from the new game. I am betting within a day or two of release they will have every single new Pokémon online within their Pokédexes.

Up to this point, many of us have been impatiently waiting for the new titles to be released (even where some of you are importing them from Japan because you can't stand the wait). In the mean time, we have been scrounging many Pokémon and video game news sites (such as GoNintendo) for any newly revealed information just to make us even more eager to play these new games. At this point we know the starters, some of the legendaries, about 20 other monsters that can be found, all of the major towns, and many of the new features (such as triple battles). With the games being very close to release you can guarantee the flood gates of information will open to all on the internet.

Now this begs the question: At what point does the released information make the game spoiled before you even pop the cartridge into your DS?

Pokémon Black and White have been "re-built" to make it like an all new game-play experience to both new and old gamers alike. With that being said, those of us veteran Pokémon gamers are given the chance to play through a new game that is no longer just the basic "go to all these towns, get gym badges and battle Elite Four+Champion". It gives us a new gaming experience, just like when we first started with Red/Blue/Yellow/Gold/Silver/Crystal. We aren't even going to see any of the original 493 Pokémon until we complete the game, just further making it like a new game.

However, with all the new information being released, you probably already spoiled yourself out of some of those new experiences.I'm sure by know you probably know which version of the game your getting (unless your like Cat and you get both) and who you'll be taking along for your starter. Heck, some of you probably already have your full team figured out. However, with all the information revealed would that make your game-play experience any different?

Take for example triple battles. We all know they will be there in the game. When you first read them online you were probably shocked to see such a thing and probably started to imagine how your team would work (I'm looking at you competitive battlers). Now when you come across it in the game you will probably be like "Oh hey, those new triple battles. Awesome.". Now then, if you didn't even know about it you probably would have ran into it in the game and have been like "OH MY FLIPPIN ARCEUS, TRIPLE BATTLES?! *mind explodes*". As you can see, they are two totally different reactions.

With the games only two weeks away, everything there is to know about Black and White will be out for the masses to see. However, where do you draw the line between what you want to know and what you want to discover on your own?

*Note: This article is still a work in progress so feel free to make suggestions.

I would rather have a huge surprise waiting than knowing everything beforehand, but unfortunately it's too late for that now. Though it's really hard to stay spoiler free on the internet, and I almost certainly wouldn't be able to keep it up until the European release - We're talking half a year, maybe more. Believe me, it's impossible to stay mostly spoiler-free for that long, especially when the games are already out in another country.

I think you can't spoil me too much until I've played the game for myself all the way through.

I think that from now onwards, any member who posts news about the games should put them in spoilers, so that we respect people who do not wish to be spoiled. Also, there's still probably a lot of new places, Pokémon, moves, and features that haven't been revealed yet. Therefore, people will still be surprised when they have the games in their hands.

I just hope that any member who gets the Japanese games will not spoil the others with new information. In this way, we're at least guaranteed to have some surprises which we didn't know beforehand.

Considering that the supposed evolutions for the starters were leaked, they apear to be leaking faster and faster within the day, I bet that next week, a whole week before the games are released, the entire Pokedex will be leaked.....

I think what should happen is news about new Pokemon games (such as B/W) should be on a need-to-know basis. Stuff like, where you start in the game, when the games come out, what the protagonists look like, etc.

With all the news I see on sites like Serebii and Bulbapedia, it kinda spoils the surprise. I would rather find out what the starters look like rather than know what they look like before I even play the game.

About the triple battles, my fun got ruined. My mind did get blown when I found out about them, but my body would've imploded if I found out when playing the game, rather than finding out on a site.

I would like to say this: I'm disappointed with all the news being leaked into the world. Keep that stuff a secret sometimes, ya?

I don't mind all the leaked info. There is a difference between seeing the secrets and actually playing the game. It's like a movie trailer. No one watches one and curses the fact that they think they know all about the movie, right? The real problem, IMO, is when the game is actually out and walkthroughs pop on from EVERYWHERE. Plus, there's the random jerkface that drops real spoilers into conversation.

I also have the same opinion as you jason. although after the game comes out in japan I can't halp looking up everything about it.

I just take in the pre-release spoilers and maybe looking at the new pokemon and that's it.

People who read the news usually prefer to be spoiled. When I read news I want to know every detail. In contrast, I haven't been paying attention to Pokénews for the past few months to not be spoiled.

However, seriously, the "Spoiler Alert" should be used to obfuscate overly-spoiled news (at the discretion of the poster, but common sense will say what is spoiling and what's not). Seriously, its impolite not to when both the Floatzel and CI homepages have all the news on them.

p.s. I'm not actually sure if I'm posting anything relevant; I assume this is a question of if we should cover the spoilers in Pokénews. I am on a time budget, so I'm just skimming.

It kinda spoils the game. You have to keep in mind, back when Red/Blue first released overseas it was a more-or-less unknown franchise that went nuclear. Back then, there was no Internet as we know it, with multiple video game networks keeping us up to date on everything that was revealed as it was revealed. Also, we had no prior expectations of the games, which made it a completely fresh experience (one we now take for granted in some RPGs).

Fast forward to now, and compare the level of technology back then and now. We now have computers in just about every aspect of our lives that keep us linked to a rapidly evolving social network. When something major happens, be it in a video game or in real life, we can know about it less than a minute after it occurs. We as a people are hungry for new information constantly, which explains the propogation of all of the news sites that we keep our eyes peeled towards. Obviously, people are going to want to spread new information for the sake of spreading new information.

You also need to take into consideration the expectations we come to expect from Pokémon as a franchise. When a new game in the series is coming out, we want to know exactly what's going to be in the game. For a radical departure from the previous games, which is what Black and White looks like so far, there is definitely going to be a horde of people who will want to know what they're redoing and what they're keeping the same. It's basic human nature.

HOWEVER there are some people who might be interested in only the most basic details and then leave the rest as a surprise. I'm one of those people; I used to be glued to my RSS reader updating feeds from Black and White; now, I barely follow anything anymore. As TV Tropes puts it:

True. It does kind of spoil the game, but even if stuff is leaked, not everything will be put out. Like when I played Ruby for the first time: I remember going up a route when all of a sudden a Tropius attacked. I literally freaked out at the "new" Pokemon. I had no knowledge of that particular Pokemon until that very moment... and that's when I fell in love with it. <3

Yeah, we'll learn about some Pokemon, game features, new characters... but we can always stop reading if we sense a spoiler coming on.