Spoiler alert

Age of the Geek Column: The long wait is finally over. Almost.
The days left before the release of the "Resident Evil 2" remake are down to single digits. The challenge now will be to avoid spoilers until the game is safely on my PC and ready to play.
It will be a difficult task. Full copies of the game are already out in the wild, both here and overseas. Those that have them are eager to share and discuss every exciting new surprise with those that are still waiting. Some are willing to oblige. Others, like myself, are treading carefully across the World Wide Web for fear of stumbling across an unwanted revelation.
It's strange how contradictory we can be sometimes. Seven months ago, when the first trailer for "Resident Evil 2" was shown to the world, I poured over every frame looking for clues about what to expect. Every time a new clip or gameplay demo was shown, I was there, ready to take it all in. I played the 15-minute demo three times last July while at ComicCon, committing every sight and sound to memory.
For a while, Capcom seemed happy to oblige. It seemed that every other week there was a new demo, trailer, or screenshot. To be honest, I think they may have gone a little bit overboard. At some point in October I arbitrarily decided that I had seen enough and put myself into a self-imposed blackout.
One day I was there, ready to feast upon whatever new scrap of information Capcom was willing to provide me. The next day I was begging them to stop, for fear that by the time of the game's release there would be nothing left to take me by surprise.
This contradictory behavior is hardly unique. Anytime a much anticipated piece of entertainment is announced, be it video game, movie, or book, there's a natural impulse to find out as much as you can about it as soon as possible. Particularly when you know that the full release is still well past the foreseeable future.
It's not limited to entertainment. I think most people would be upset if somebody ruined the surprise of their Christmas present, but they still want to peek. Even if it's not yet time to open them, who doesn't give the gift a little squeeze and a shake in order to suss out what it might be?
We know that delayed gratification is usually worth the wait, but the first instinct is always to peek.
It's something of an ongoing issue within the entertainment industry. How do you promote something without ruining it?
We've all seen a trailer that effectively acts as a three minute summery for at least the first two acts of the movie. Comedies will give away their best jokes. Action movies will tease their biggest stunts. It's an effective way of generating interest in your movie, but it can come at the expense of diluting the theatrical experience.
But what else are you going to do? Throw up the title card and just have some of the cast and crew say "Hey, this is our movie. It's really good. Trust us."
Unless the title of your movie has the words "Star Wars" in it, you can't really get away with that.
Of course it would be Marvel Studios who would figure out a way to have their cake and eat it too.
It's become custom to pour over the details of every clip of promotional footage, looking for context clues about how any particular movie might tie-in to the greater story. This has become such a common practice that Marvel Studios themselves have started throwing in red herrings.
Those that watched "Avengers: Infinity War" doubtlessly noticed that the iconic scene of our heroes charging the enemy hordes in Wakanda were lacking a certain green skinned muscle-man. While the Hulk, in all of his gamma-powered glory, was shown in the battle lines during the movie's trailer, the movie itself didn't play out that way. The trailer had been altered to mask that particular character's story arc, showing us what we expected to see in order to preserve the surprise.
I'm sure some penny pincher was not thrilled about spending money on custom CGI effects for a trailer, but it's a great technique with lasting effects. Not only was the surprise maintained for "Avengers: Infinity War", but the eagle-eyed movie watchers out there get to spend their time wondering what is and isn't real in all future trailers.
It's safe to say that "Avengers: End Game" will be hard to predict this year, no matter how much they show off ahead of time, which really gives the best of both worlds.
Meanwhile, I just have to make it to Friday without learning any more about "Resident Evil 2" than I already know. Wish me luck.
Travis Fischer is a news writer for Mid-America Publishing and can't promise this will be the last column about this game.