The Daily Grind: Is no news really good news?

Now that the holiday season is winding down and it's almost back to business in the new year, we're starting to seriously consider our MMO options. I understand that games, especially MMOs, take several years to develop from concept to launch. I understand that the game's entire premise can change dramatically throughout the development process, so revealing early details could prove damaging. I also understand how over-hype can kill a game when it doesn't live up to expectations. Yet, does a complete lack of information and veil of secrecy hurt more than it helps?

The most glaring example of this is Guild Wars 2. The sequel was first mentioned in March of 2007, and little else was said about it since then. Human nature takes over and fans who genuinely care about the direction of the game can do nothing but speculate from there.

A recent article at Kill Ten Rats speculated on the tiniest of GW2 crumbs, which incurred ArenaNet's Community Manager to respond. It seems to me that spending time plugging leaky holes in the Dam of Speculation is a waste of energy when some real information could resurface the whole structure (for a while).

So what do you think about the secrecy approach? Is it better to wait until the game is almost complete, and then release the floodgates of info, or is a constant barrage of hype throughout the entire development cycle the way to go?