Its not anything new for big budget games to get a lot of buzz a year or more in advance. They talked and showed Oblivion details/screens and videos for somewhere around 3 years...
But yeah anyone who thought Reach was the end obviously doesn't have a clue how the industry works, or business for that matter. It was the end of Bungie and Halo that was it. Not going to say I won't play it, I probably will but I am definitly not "excited" for it. Might change depending on what Microsoft/343 Industries does with the franchise.