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(logo dinging)
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- Hey, folks, today is
December 20th, 2024.
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As usual, my name is Jake Baldino,
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here to talk about all the video game news
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that has been going on this week.
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And despite The Game Awards last week
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and things kind of
winding down for the year,
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there is actually quite a
bit of news to talk about.
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So we should just jump in.
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The first involves a rumor
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around one of my favorite
games of all time,
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"The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion,"
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and a possible remake.
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Now, you may have heard this in the past,
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thanks to leaked FTC or FCC,
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whatever documents
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from the whole Xbox, Activision,
Blizzard acquisition days,
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some of that paperwork suggested
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that an "Elder Scrolls: Oblivion"
remake was in the works.
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But those things could've
just been, who knows?
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Still, in the months leading up,
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we've seen more rumors and speculation
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with some leaks about a studio
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possibly working on it.
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And now we have from Insider Gaming,
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I'll link the sources in
a description down below,
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the newest suggestion
that the remake is real
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and the possibility that it
could actually be revealed
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or announced next month in January, 2025.
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So Insider Gaming reports
from a leaker eXtasis,
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who says that it is a real thing,
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and that it possibly may come at
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an Xbox Direct event in January.
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This also connects
possibly with the rumors
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that I mentioned earlier
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where the studio
developing it is Virtuous,
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which is a Singapore studio
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that has done a bunch of like support
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on porting a bunch of other games
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to different platforms.
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And so it kind of makes sense here
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if they are the actual studio behind it.
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I think it makes sense,
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it makes sense for a couple of reasons,
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but mostly Xbox, Microsoft,
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trying to get as much value
out of Bethesda as possible
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and start re-releasing
and porting and updating
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some of their old games
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while they're still working
on the next "Elder Scrolls"
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for probably forever.
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That being said, this is exciting.
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I love, "Morrowind" and
"Oblivion" specifically,
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those were my RPGs in
my earlier gaming days,
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but I don't wanna discount the fact
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there is great community
work going on out there
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that has been modding and updating
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and having a lot of fun
in "Oblivion" for years,
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not to mention the massive
project "Skyblivion."
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We've talked about that on
the channel many times before
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and I don't wanna see this
project go to the wayside,
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especially because we
don't know how the quality
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of this new "Elder Scrolls"
remake, if it is true,
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how it's gonna be.
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Now, the rumors do suggest
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that it's gonna be Unreal Engine 5,
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but like I said, at the very least,
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there is a great community group of people
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putting together "Skyblivion,"
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which is essentially
a remake of "Oblivion"
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in "Skyrim's" engine.
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They've posted lots of gameplay
videos and updates about it
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for years now.
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They were hoping to release it in 2025.
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It does look awesome.
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So I just hope that's still a thing.
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I hope that people have an alternative.
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That being said, "Skyblivion"
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or an "Oblivion" re-release,
remake, whatever, remaster,
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I am excited
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because I just, again, I
like these games a lot.
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One of these days, your
boy, your uncle Jake
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is going to retire,
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and my retirement video game
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is literally just going
to be sitting around
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for the rest of my life,
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like kind of how like Bilbo
went off with the elves,
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my version of that (laughing)
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is just sitting at my desk
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and playing modded
"Morrowind" and "Oblivion"
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for the rest of my life.
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That's the dream at least.
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But let me know what you think about this.
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Like weird tangent aside,
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what do you think about a
possible "Oblivion" remake?
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Is that something that you want?
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Is that something that you would try?
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Did you try them and thought
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it was kind of like showing its age?
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I wanna know where you're at with this.
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Of course, as of right now,
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that also is still rumors and stuff.
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So take that all with a grain of salt.
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But with that, with rumors and leaks,
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the Nintendo Switch 2,
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or the Super Nintendo
Switch, or the Switch Pro,
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whatever the hell you
wanna call this thing,
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this has been in the
headlines more recently,
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in case you missed,
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because we're getting a lot more leaks.
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And with a lot more leaks
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also comes more speculation.
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Some of the biggest thing are
some renders floating around.
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I don't know how much I
can show on screen here
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without Nintendo suing us,
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but there are things,
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I'll link 'em in the
description down below,
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there are images floating around
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that are essentially renders
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of what this new Switch
could possibly look like,
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along with the fact that
you have case manufacturers,
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like Dbrand,
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technically kind of just like putting out
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the specs out there.
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So with this, a redesigned stand,
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that seems much more useful,
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much more stable.
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Of course, the previously
leaked new updated Joycons
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are also here.
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And they look similar,
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but they seem like they might have,
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hopefully, less stick drift issues,
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as well as like a magnetic connection.
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This has been talked about a lot already,
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but the newest report with this
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comes from reporting from The Verge,
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who speaks to a leaker
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that had apparently some
information on the dock.
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From what The Verge is reporting,
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and it sounds like
they're fairly confident
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in it being legit,
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it seems like this dock
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actually might have some fan vents for it,
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which is reading into it,
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but like it could suggest that
the dock brings more power.
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Apparently it seems like
the ports are the same,
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power, ethernet, nothing
too surprising there,
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but the possibility of
fans could be interesting.
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Also with the leaker
that The Verge spoke to
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suggesting that, and I quote,
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"The dock is rated for 60 watts,
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while the Switch to itself
is rated for 45 watts,
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both of which would be
substantially higher
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than the original if true.
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The original Switch had
an unusual 39-watt charger
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for both docks and handheld modes,
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which only provided up to
18 watts for the handheld."
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So this suggests more power.
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We don't know if essentially
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this is going to mean when
you dock the Nintendo Switch,
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it gets more powerful on your TV screen.
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We don't know anything like that.
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We also don't know,
out of all these leaks,
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we have the physicality of a lot of it,
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but we don't really know
much about the hardware.
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if it is supporting DLSS
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and it's gonna be upscaling
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or any of that stuff,
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those rumors that have
been floating around
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for quite some time now,
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none of that here.
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Just little things floating around
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for the last week or so
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about the dock stuff I just mentioned,
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as well as the shape, look of the device,
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the controllers and stuff like that.
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So if you do wanna look it up,
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it's linked in the description down below.
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But this rumor does also suggest
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a possibility maybe of a January reveal,
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which is, on the one hand,
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I don't know, Nintendo's been very weird
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about talking about this thing,
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and they keep saying that
it's not gonna be for a while,
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but that could just be like
a shareholder-pleasing thing.
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But also, on the other hand,
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January is kind of a quiet month,
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and if they wanted the complete spotlight,
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they would have it.
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So maybe January, maybe not.
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Who knows?
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Like I said, with all this stuff,
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it's fun to speculate.
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It's all rumors though,
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so take it with a grain of salt.
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That's two big grains of salts
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that I said in one video, that's too much.
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Anyway, let's move on.
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Next up, it's worth pointing out
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that there is an update
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for "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2:
Heart of Chernobyl."
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I point this out specifically
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because I like the game,
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I recommended it,
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but I also said that it is a mess,
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and it had a lot of issues.
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It's been reported in the past,
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but still it didn't get in
the way of me enjoying it.
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And now we have a really big update,
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like I'm talking huge, 117.8
gigabytes for this 1.1 patch.
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This is going to bring
a bunch of improvements.
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People are still going through it.
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Andrew, who's editing this video,
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says so far, firing it up,
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it is noticeable in the zone,
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but fixes to like save bugs
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and like progression bugs
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and lots of really bad stuff,
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but also some tweaks to the life Ai,
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like essentially the randomness,
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the emergence stuff in the world,
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and how enemies behave,
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how enemies spawn in randomly.
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It's a little bit more organic
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and less cheap and craptastic now,
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and that's good.
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I'm looking forward to diving
into this more quite a bit.
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There is like a huge patch list,
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if you do wanna read it,
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it's linked into description down below.
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Next up, with the holidays here,
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sometimes it can be a little hard
00:07:49
to keep track of your finances.
00:07:51
You're buying gifts for people,
00:07:52
you have money coming in and out.
00:07:54
Then you also still have subscriptions
00:07:56
you're signed up for sometimes
that you can lose track of.
00:07:59
The end of the year, the
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And big thanks to Rocket Money
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00:09:16
Now, let's get back to it.
00:09:17
Next up, it seems like
things are getting worse
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for the US-based game retailer, GameStop.
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Now, we've talked about in the past,
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over the past year,
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they had something like
200 store closures,
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which is massive.
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And you do notice it.
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I don't know, like I've
spent a lot of time
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on the road this year,
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and yeah, (laughing) usually,
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it used to feel like there was a GameSpot,
00:09:38
a GameStop, sorry,
00:09:39
in every single shopping center,
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now not really the case.
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Even in my local mall,
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the GameStop is no longer there,
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now it's just like some weird store.
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I mean, that happens in malls a lot.
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But anyway, I digress.
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So with those store closures,
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it is now revealed that GameStop.
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I stumbled through it.
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GameStop, GameStop, not GameSpot.
00:10:00
I've been doing this for years. (laughing)
00:10:02
It has been revealed in some
new financial and court filings
00:10:05
that GameStop is closing more stores.
00:10:08
We don't know how many yet,
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but apparently they are
reviewing their portfolio,
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and it is going to be a thing.
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According to the source I'll link below,
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the popular gaming retailer says
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net sales have fallen 20%,
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now sitting at 860 million,
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which is a drastic change
from its 1.08 billion in 2023.
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That's quite a drop off.
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Wedbush, the analyst firm,
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they're pretty on the video game beat,
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said that also it doesn't
paint a pretty picture
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for their future either.
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Now, we've heard this before, of course,
00:10:38
and they've hung on,
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but the quote from Wedbush here
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really stuck with me.
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"GameStop has virtually no chance
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of returning to profitability (laughing)
00:10:45
in its core business."
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Now, you might ask, "Why?
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Are they just bad at it?"
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I think no, it's the changing market
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and the things going digital
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and lots of reasons
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that we've talked about in the past.
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But that quote I was like,
"Damn, they're burying them."
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And then GameStop's quote itself
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in the paperwork that
I mentioned earlier is,
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"While a specific set of stores
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has not been identified for closure,
00:11:06
we anticipate that the
review that we're conducting
00:11:09
may result in the closure
of a larger number of stores
00:11:12
than we have closed in
the past few years."
00:11:14
And that is significant.
00:11:16
That could be a pretty devastating number.
00:11:19
GameStop has been trying,
00:11:20
obviously this year
they shed Game Informer,
00:11:22
they finally closed the
doors on Game Informer.
00:11:24
So we're just gonna have to wait and see.
00:11:26
If you're holding on to
that meme stock still,
00:11:28
good luck, Godspeed, God bless. (laughing)
00:11:30
But I'd love to hear from
some people out there
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that work at GameStop.
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I know those numbers
are dwindling as well,
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but if you're a manager or a DM, anything,
00:11:38
I would love to hear your insight.
00:11:40
Let us know in the comments.
00:11:41
Also, small confirmation,
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we've talked about the rumors,
00:11:44
the fact that it had been heating up
00:11:45
and like one company this
and one company that,
00:11:47
will they date?
00:11:48
Yes, Sony now officially
owns a significant stake
00:11:52
in FromSoftware,
00:11:53
"Elden Ring's" developers'
parent company, Kadokawa.
00:11:56
We reported about
PlayStation, or rather Sony,
00:11:59
in talks to acquire Kadokawa.
00:12:01
And now here is the deal,
00:12:02
it's official.
00:12:03
Sony has signed a strategic capital
00:12:05
and business alliance (laughing)
agreement with Kadokawa
00:12:08
that will see it acquire
00:12:10
over 12 million new shares in the company
00:12:12
for approximately 318 million.
00:12:15
So now, Sony is holding
10% of Kadokawa's shares
00:12:20
following this deal,
00:12:21
according to gamedeveloper.com.
00:12:23
So there you go, it's official,
00:12:24
at least at some point
00:12:25
they have a significant
investment in Kadokawa,
00:12:28
which of course goes much bigger
00:12:30
than just the fact that
they own FromSoftware,
00:12:32
which Sony also has shares in,
00:12:35
specifically just that studio.
00:12:36
But Kadokawa is a bigger
thing beyond video games,
00:12:39
anime, manga, stuff like that.
00:12:41
But still, we don't know
00:12:43
how this is going to affect
games moving forward.
00:12:45
They just said, "Oh, we
wanna maximize IP globally,"
00:12:48
and a bunch of corporate speak.
00:12:49
So for now, we're just
gonna have to wait and see.
00:12:51
Next up, some cool things I wanted to link
00:12:53
in the description down below,
00:12:54
a new gameplay video
for "Lost Soul Aside."
00:12:58
This is a really cool
00:12:59
kind of action combat
"Final Fantasy" style,
00:13:01
like inspired game,
00:13:03
that we've talked about
for many, many years now.
00:13:05
It started off with like one developer,
00:13:06
it had incredible graphics.
00:13:08
The project has continued to grow.
00:13:10
But we haven't heard anything
about it for a while,
00:13:12
and now, here you go,
00:13:13
here it is in all its glory.
00:13:14
Also, "Killzone" has kind of made a return
00:13:17
in the gaming culture
00:13:18
in a very small way.
00:13:20
There is Helghast stuff in "Helldivers 2,"
00:13:23
I think this is very cool.
00:13:24
You can get a cool
"Killzone" assault rifle,
00:13:27
a Helghast banner,
00:13:29
a player card, cape,
00:13:30
as well as armor with the helmet,
00:13:33
the iconic look.
00:13:34
Very cool.
00:13:35
It launched as a paid thing
00:13:36
with in-game credits,
00:13:38
but after community backlash,
00:13:41
the developers at Arrowhead
have made this stuff free
00:13:43
for the holiday season.
00:13:44
It seems like it's going to be limited,
00:13:46
but yeah, I'm just happy to see Sony
00:13:48
dragging out "Killzone" a little bit.
00:13:50
I really hope that people
really make some noise on this
00:13:53
and that they revive
"Killzone" or something.
00:13:55
I don't know, I feel like PlayStation
00:13:56
could use a good first-person
shooter like "Killzone" again,
00:14:00
whether multiplayer
00:14:01
or the incredible single player campaigns.
00:14:03
But yeah, I digress, this is a thing.
00:14:05
Also, speaking of Sony,
00:14:08
they put out like a
really lengthy PS5 Pro,
00:14:11
deep-dive developer talk
00:14:13
with Mark Cerny,
00:14:14
the head systems architect,
00:14:16
the mind behind the console.
00:14:18
And this is all technical,
00:14:20
it's not a lot of gameplay,
00:14:21
it is very much digital foundry coded,
00:14:23
(laughing) if you will.
00:14:25
If you're interested
in this type of thing,
00:14:27
you can check this out.
00:14:28
Like I said, it's pretty lengthy
00:14:29
and pretty detailed and interesting.
00:14:31
But also I wonder why they
did this specifically,
00:14:33
is this just for the nerds?
00:14:35
Is this because they want more information
00:14:37
out there about it?
00:14:38
They want more coverage.
00:14:39
Is the PS5 Pro not selling enough?
00:14:41
I don't know for sure,
00:14:42
but either way, I like
listening to Mark Cerny talk.
00:14:45
He looks like Dana Carvey,
00:14:46
but he's got this gentle voice of an angel
00:14:48
I could like fall asleep
00:14:49
to listening to him talk about teraflop.
00:14:50
Is that weird? Anyway,
(laughing) let's move on.
00:14:53
One thing I did wanna highlight
00:14:54
is that Capcom has, once again,
00:14:56
gone on record that they wanna continue,
00:14:58
quote-unquote, "Reactivating
other dormant IPs."
00:15:02
Now, they've talked
about this in the past,
00:15:04
when they were bringing
back "Resident Evil"
00:15:06
with the remakes and stuff.
00:15:07
And now they've proven it with, of course,
00:15:10
a new Hideki Kamiya studio, Clovers,
00:15:14
making a new "Okami" game,
00:15:16
as well as, of course,
(laughing) to my excitement,
00:15:19
"Onimusha" coming back
00:15:20
with that new game announced
at The Game Awards,
00:15:22
"Onimusha: Way of the Sword."
00:15:23
That's great, so like
they are really doing it.
00:15:25
But after this, they have
once again reiterated
00:15:28
and double down
00:15:29
that they wanna bring
back classic franchises.
00:15:31
On their investor relations
site they put out,
00:15:33
"In addition to regularly
releasing major titles each year,
00:15:37
Capcom is focusing on
reactivating dormant IPs
00:15:41
that haven't had a new
title launch recently.
00:15:43
The company's working to further enhance
00:15:45
corporate value (laughing)
00:15:45
by leveraging its rich
library of content."
00:15:49
Yeah man, they are sitting on so much.
00:15:51
Obviously the Clover
Studio suggests a lot,
00:15:53
whether it's something like "God Hand"
00:15:55
or something crazier, like
"Viewtiful Joe" coming back.
00:15:58
But of course, for a lot of people,
00:16:00
yes, it's "Dino Crisis,"
00:16:02
maybe a new "Dino Crisis" revival.
00:16:04
Anything can happen at this point.
00:16:06
And I say that specifically
00:16:07
because I didn't really expect them
00:16:10
to bring back "Onimusha."
00:16:11
I thought it would've
been something else first.
00:16:13
I actually thought it
would've been "Dino Crisis"
00:16:15
before "Onimusha,"
00:16:16
but here we are.
00:16:17
So at this point, I think
anything could happen.
00:16:19
And I kind of wanted
to end the Friday show
00:16:21
on that little ray of hope,
00:16:22
maybe one of your favorite
beloved franchises
00:16:24
coming back for a return, who knows?
00:16:27
But I think that's a
good place to end this.
00:16:29
So let me know what you
think in the comments
00:16:31
about everything we
talked about this week.
00:16:33
The "Oblivion" remake rumor,
00:16:34
the Switch 2 leaks.
00:16:36
What do you think that
Switch is gonna be called?
00:16:38
Mark Cerny's PS5 Pro deep dive.
00:16:40
Like I said, a small amount
of stories this week,
00:16:42
but pretty interesting in-depth ones.
00:16:44
So let me know what you think
about any of this stuff.
00:16:46
I'd love to hear from you.
00:16:47
Also be sure to check out "The
Friends Per Second Podcast"
00:16:50
I do with Lucy and Shill Up,
00:16:52
or sorry, excuse me, Skill Up.
00:16:54
Geez, it almost comes
out (laughing) naturally.
00:16:56
But yeah, we did our final
end-of-the-year podcast,
00:16:59
breaking down The Game Awards.
00:17:00
We also spoke to some of
"The Witcher 4" developers.
00:17:02
So if you wanna check that out,
00:17:04
that'll be linked in the
description down below,
00:17:05
or you can find it on Skill Up's channel.
00:17:07
But yeah, check that out.
00:17:09
Of course, you can always
find me on Twitter,
00:17:11
Instagram, Blue Sky, Threads,
00:17:14
all those places, @JakeBaldino.
00:17:16
This is technically the
last "Friday News Show"
00:17:19
of the year,
00:17:20
but I got you covered,
00:17:21
we're still making videos every day,
00:17:22
and I will see you next Friday.
00:17:24
But for now, all I ask
00:17:26
is that you let us know in the comments
00:17:28
what you're playing in that pinned comment
00:17:30
down in the comment section,
00:17:31
of course, for our research.
00:17:32
But just have a great weekend, be safe,
00:17:36
pizza's on me.
00:17:37
See ya.
