Ocarina of Time Remake Update is AWESOME!

All right, folks. It might be Saturday, but we didn't forget that there's actually news that dropped today. We actually have some announcements coming out of BlizzCon related to Switch 2 and a future long-term game to expect on Switch 2 as well. But setting all that aside, we have some stuff from Level Five, which a little bit controversial. Uh, we got to talk about it and get into a topic that I don't really cover a lot on our channel, but maybe needs to be covered more often depending on what things are going on. And besides that, Ocarina of Time remake is doing something actually fairly incredible and not normal when it comes to pre-orders. Uh, I'm really excited about this just because of what it could mean for the future of well, Zelda remakes and the Zelda franchise in general. That being said, folks, we are giving away a Nintendo Switch 2 right now. You can enter through the link down in the pin comment or the description. We'll be drawing the winner on October 1st. And look, guys, the only requirement is to be subscribed to the channel. We'll probably have some sort of uh when that giveaway comes to an end, we'll probably come up with some other thing we can maybe give away for the holidays and all of that. But we'll get to that when the time is right. For right now though, we got to talk about level five. And before we talk about the games because they had a showcase and some of this stuff is obviously coming to Nintendo and Switch 2. I want to first address a controversy about AI. So they used Gen AI, generative AI in their presentation and it looked like it was being used in basically every video game. So they received a lot of criticism and now they have responded. So Take Five or Level Five I should say CEO here says we will take this as a lesson doubles down on Gen AI despite backlash. So it's no secret that Level Five has embraced generative AI when it comes to game development. and CEO Akirohino has been very open and honest about the fact the company is using the technology in its games, but few expected the recent Level Five Vision 20262 showcase to feature so much AI made content. As a result, Hino posted a statement on social media addressing the concerns fans have raised about Generative AI. This time, because we used AI for the footage within the event, it seems that concerns have arisen regarding the content of the works as well. So I would like to provide an explanation. He said on Twitter, "It was entirely due to the desire to make the presentation more spectacular that we incorporated processing that also served as an experiment using the latest AI. It appears that some people felt uncomfortable about this, so I deeply apologize." And he goes on to explain more here. So, at our company, the parts that relate to the charm and individuality of released works, such as scenarios, character designs, and basic settings are all created by human hands. What we're aiming for in terms of efficiency through AI is mainly the digitization of creative work made by people. For example, accurately converting original artwork into polygons and such. Please rest assured that no simplistic AI generated output data is included in the games that are released. He know then makes it clear that level five will continue to use Gen AI in order to streamline development of its games. Thanks to the time created by AI efficiency, creators are now able to dedicate more time to the essence of creation. And I believe the finished products are turning out to a level that will satisfy everyone even more than before. Ultimately, under the plan to shorten the current 5-year development period for Jer titles to two years, we are in the stage of trial and error and struggling forward. While Hino is clear on the fact that Level 5 will continue to use Genai, he does admit the desire to create clear and flashy presentation led by the company to over rely on the recent presentation. We will take this as a lesson and carry it forward to the next one. So, please look forward to Level 5's next presentation. It's fair to say that Hino's statement hasn't gone down well with everyone. Samuel Deetsz, director of the Castlevania Netflix series Powerhouse Animation Studios, pointed out that even when using humanmade assets, Gen AI relies on data it scraped without permission from artists. So he says right here, "Generative AI is trained on the stolen works of countless artists by tech companies to profit off their work with the intent of replacing artists. By using it, you replaced artist. You're profiting off the skill of the artists whose work has been stolen to power this software. Even in Japan, where generative AI is seen as quite ne isn't seen as quite as negative of a light as it is in other parts of the world, the reaction hasn't been positive. As a longtime fan, I was really looking forward to the revival of the series, says Japanese Twitter user Creations of Star. However, despite this statement, I can't help but have serious concerns about the use of AI. It's not only harmful to the environment, but it's also disrespectful act towards the team members who have worked so hard. It's weird that you decided to use AI just to make it flashy adds at heropad GBF. Since you used AI in the presentation, the possibility that it's being used in the work can't be ruled out. You know, we didn't use it in the work, but we will use it in the presentation. It's such a contradiction that it's hard to trust. Now this has been a topic being widely debated across the gaming space about generative AI and I've been of mind of AI in general is a tool and in the right hands the tool can be of use but generative AI is a very specific use of that tool that has created a lot of problems because on one hand that person was right generative AI has been built on the back of stolen artwork. No, I'm not going to say every generative AI model has done that. And again, we don't know the generative AI model specifically that Level 5 is using. It could be a generative AI model that's only ever been built on internal assets. And if that's the case, I think that critique kind of falls by the wayside, but is one of those that we don't know. And of the popular generative AI models we do know, we are well aware that a majority of them have stolen artwork from the internet in order to build out their models. Now, there is something to say about it replacing artists. And what I mean by that is, well, they did talk about using generative AI to bring like handwritten work to life in polygons and pixels, which to me when you hear that doesn't necessarily sound like a bad thing because the artist is still creating the vision, but it does get rid of things such as potentially 3D modelers or obviously the work that would have been put into converting that stuff over might have been done by more people. So what you are saying is you are using generative AI to speed up your development process. But what you're not saying is that to speed up that development process, we're eliminating jobs. That's what people have an issue with AI eliminating work. Especially if it's generative AI, that while it might not replace an artist needing to draw and conceptualize things, it is replacing an artist needing to convert that into a digitized format and create models off of it instead of having it automatically done. where I stand on obviously generi being used in that regard I think for me greatly depends on what model they're using and if it was only ever built on internal assets look as technology moves forward and things get more streamlined I will argue that this is just a natural part of progression as an example the assembly line also led to the loss of many many many jobs but led to greater efficiency in creating products this similarly if it still takes an original artist to conceptualize and draw things out and it's just digitizing that into a model instead of having someone do that work. I could argue that's sort of like an assembly line, just eliminating a step that doesn't actually eliminate the need to have a creative create the art. It just eliminates someone having to turn that art into a model. I do think that that is actually probably an okay use of generative AI so long as that model you're using to do it was not built upon other people's copyrighted work that it did not have permission to build that model on. And that's the issue that we have publicly is that these Genai tools aren't just available to development studios. They're available to all of us. We can all buy tokens and and use Genai to our heart's content. But we have to know in the back of our mind that yeah, the environmental impacts aside, I know they're trying to lessen some of that. We'll see what regulations do there. But what I will note here is that what we are seeing is that it is a very powerful tool that everyone has access to and is being widely abused. And that's what we fear game companies are doing. In this particular case with him going into more explanation, I'm kind of hoping that it's just an internal gen AI that's only ever been built off their own work and they're just using it here to streamline taking original work and digitizing it. If that is what is happening, which is what he said, sure. The problem is it's hard to believe him because they decided to use AI to spruce up their video presentation, aka adding things to the video presentation, making games look a certain way that they don't actually look. That's also a bad look because that can mean you're lying to consumers. So, I don't know how deep their AI use goes. We know it's used in the coding space. It's been used in the coding space for a while. I don't necessarily have an issue with it in the coding space. used in sparing amounts, such as helping look up sections of code that have previously been written that you're just having a hard time finding. I think that AI has functions that can help with coding and functions that can even help with this art stuff. But I do think that there is to me at least a line in the sand for how useful and how far those tools should go. And uh right now these companies are playing around and trying to figure it out. Uh Nintendo has infamously come out and said that they actually aim to make things that AI can't create. So uh Nintendo doesn't seem to be a big favor of using AI, which is a little ironic since Ocarina of Time had its gameplay reveal and everyone kept screaming that it looks like AI, yet there's no actual evidence it's actually AI. And this is what happens when people have public access to all these AI tools is now we have this game that looks really gorgeous and is going realistic and now they're like, "Oh, that's AI." And it's like, "That's not AI." But it doesn't matter what the truth is sometimes because this has muddied the waters in many people's minds. Let me know what you think about this down in the comments below. This is a very controversial topic. Um, some of you guys are going to be anti-AII all the way no matter what. I think it's useful as a tool. I just don't think all these tools should be available publicly and definitely the scraping of the internet is a problem. Next up, let's get into a happier piece of news. How about uh talking about what Level Five actually announced because I did say they announced some stuff and you might be excited for it regardless. So, let's look here and go down here and you see uh that they have announced Professor Leighton and the New World of Steam got a new trailer. It's coming on December 10th. Uh you're seeing Professor Leighton and the Curious Village remake was announced for Switch One and Switch 2 coming in 2027. You're seeing Holy Horror Mansion is arriving on Switch 2 in 2027. Deca Police. I know that is something that people are excited for. That is coming to all platforms including Switch 2 in 2027. See, 2027 seems to be a big year for Level Five. Fantasy Life I, the Girl Who Steals Time is getting new paid DLC. One of the underrated games from last year, you guys. Uh, if you're into cozy games, especially, you'll probably really like this one. Anyways, it's called the Celestial Express, but it has no exact release date. Snack World Reloaded is coming to Switch 2 in 2027. Uh, Yo-kai Watch gets another new look for Yo-kai Watch 2. Uh, so hopefully you guys enjoy all that. If you want to check out more of this, we'll put a link down to that article down below. You can watch all the videos. Uh, let's move away from level five now though, because I feel like some people might feel certain ways about that. Let's dive into something that we all can enjoy. How about Super Monkey Ball? Super Monkey Ball triple pack physical release is rolling onto Switch this November. So, uh, Sega recently announced a triple pack of physical collections for Sonic the Hedgehog, and now Super Monkey Ball is getting the same treatment. Super Monkey Ball Triple Pack physical only release will launch on the Switch on the 10th of November. It is priced at $40 and comes loaded with Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD, Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania, and Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble. Uh, so yeah, this came out obviously back in 2019, 2021, and 2024. Honestly, I think it's a pretty good deal if you happen to like Monkey Ball and haven't played those games or just looking for a collection. Look, guys, 40 bucks for those three games, I think is a good deal. Uh whether you agree or not is obviously up to the eye of the beholder. You know what's also potentially a good deal and makes a lot of sense, especially because it seems to be happening in Japan. How about a brand new Switch 2 bundle? That's right. We're talking about a Switch 2 bundle, but this time for Monster Hunter Wilds. Oh, baby. The console isn't themed this time. It doesn't look like, but you get the game and the cool box art. So, the mainline Monster Hunter series will debut on Switch 2 this December with the release of Monster Hunter Wilds. In case you missed it, during the Japanese Direct this week, Nintendo and Capcom announced that hunters in this location will be able to pick up not only the game on December 4th, but also a brand new Switch 2 bundle. This bundle will include the standard Switch 2 unit and Joy-Con 2 controller, as well as a digital copy of the game and a three-month online subscription to join other hunters online. Reservations for this bundle are currently being accepted on Nintendo store in Japan for 61,980 yen. If there's any news about the Switch 2 getting released outside of the region, obviously we'll continue to update you on that. Guys, this is obviously just really neat. It's something from the Japanese direct we didn't cover. So, I just really wanted to let you guys know about it in case it does happen to come across the way, whether it's to Europe, rest of Asia, US, we have no idea. Not currently announced. Uh what we do know and do have announced is uh Diablo I 4 is coming to Switch 2. There was Blizzcon today. That was kind of the big Switch 2 news out of the event. Although we have one more Diablo related story to get to, but I have Warrior 64 posted up here saying Diablo I Age of Hatred collection is coming to Switch 2 on September 15th for $70. It was rumored to come this upcoming week. It looks like it's arriving. Pretty cool stuff. Uh more than that though, guys, uh for Diablo I uh we know it's going to be a code in box. The box is already out on store shelves. Uh so this was from two hours ago that the the box came out. And look, it is a codein box. Unfortunately, I hate that they're doing it that way, but that is the direction they decided to go. So maybe you don't care about buying it physically since it's not actually physical. But one thing you might care about is how about Diablo 5? because Diablo 5 is announced today. Right here, it's coming in 2029. So, that's actually pretty cool. Announcing it this early, I feel like they could have waited till 2027's BlizzCon to maybe announce it because if it's going to be, you know, announcements for games that are within two years, I'm mostly okay with. Like, if this was a 2028 title, I would actually be all for uh this 47 second teaser doing that. But the fact that they're targeting 2029, it it's sort of like, okay, so this game is like right in the hardcore heart of its development and years away, like three years away. I wouldn't have announced it right now, but it does build hype. And to be fair, this is what the game industry used to do all the time. They used to actually like tease things several years in advance, and that's what they're doing here. So, this is a more traditional way of teasing things. Uh, I don't know how I feel about it other than, hey, it exists. It's cool. Honestly, the fact they announced a new Starcraft is coming in 2030 was a bigger announcement for me, but we can't guarantee that's ever coming to Switch 2, so that's not really news over here. They had World of Warcraft news as well, but again, none of that's relevant for Switch 2, only the Diablo stuff. And hey, I showed you Diablo 5 for one specific reason, and that reason is simply put, Diablo I switch 2 because Diablo II came to Switch One and Diablo I is coming to Switch 2. So, there's a history here to expect Diablo 5 to also be on Switch 2, maybe even day and date. All right, guys. Our last story of the day is a fun one. Uh, Acaruna of Time is obviously driving a lot of hype. We talked the other day about in a same time period as GTA 6. It got 55 million trailer views compared to 80 million trailer views. And if you guys don't know, Nintendo spreads their views out amongst all their social channels. So, it was a combination of everything together to get the 55 million. Don't know if I made that clear in the video, but that's literally what the same is for GTA 6 as well. Well, here's the thing. People are wondering, how does that really translate to sales? And while we're not going to see actual sales data for a very long time, like not until next year, honestly, uh what we can see is pre-order data a little bit. And we're going off Amazon because this is the one we just happen to have. Obviously, being number one in the eShop isn't a surprise, but being number one on Amazon is when it's number one ahead of the gift cards. Right here is Amazon's best sellers. These are updated, I think, every 3 days or every week, I can't remember. But you see Ocarina Times at number one with Roblox at two, Luna Premium at three, PlayStation at four, Xbox at five, Xbox controller at six, Wolverine at seven, which that one just released, uh, PlayStation Dual Sense, and then you see the Nintendo eShop card. And look, there's Fire Emblem Fortunes Wii that's coming out as well, obviously hitting into almost the top 10. But what's really interesting when you look at this is one, only one consoles in the top 12. That's Switch 2. Cool. Uh, but more than that is seeing The Legend of Zelda ahead of all of the digital currency, those $10 digital currency cards. The reason that they tend to be up there so much is one, people are buying $10 eShop cards and PlayStation cards all the time, but two, they tend to go on sale, like the $10 eShop card, while it's not on sale right now. At the time, uh, like a week ago was on sale for like $8 and something, and you could stack all of those and buy a Switch 2 and save like a hundred bucks. It's actually kind of crazy. Uh so what I'm just pointing out here is that uh those things are on sale all the time and so they're almost always the best selling things in gaming until we see Ocarine of Time physical version at number one. Now I will note it's possible GTA 6 might have held that spot if they actually had a physical version of GTA 6, but they don't. It's a code in box, so we know a majority of sales are just straight up through the PlayStation and Xbox stores. That's not necessarily the case for Ocarine of Time. It is showing a very very very strong pre-order status on Amazon. Still available pre-orders right now by the way. It's not sold out. Um they might be taking an unlimited amount of pre-orders on it because maybe Nintendo's offering a near unlimited amount of physical copies for launch. I have no idea. But what I do know is supposedly pre-ordered copies are supposed to get at least while supplies last that lenticular uh sort of cover. Uh, I know in Canada that seems to be a slip cover and there's like an additional slip cover you can get that we're not getting here. But, um, maybe the lenticular thing is also a slip cover here. Or maybe it's actually the box art itself. We don't really know, right? We haven't seen anything outside of Canada that hinted at it being a slip cover, but we haven't seen that slip cover hinted anywhere. That might be a Canada only thing. And it is a Canada only thing for the classic Ocarine of Time like the the N64 box art slip cover. that's obviously um you know exclusive to Canada. But guys, I just think it's incredible to see how well Acarina Time seems to be doing. This also goes to show that when you see complaints on the net about it, whether it's about AI or anything else, that is the vast minority. It would seem a majority of gamers that paid attention actually really enjoyed what they saw with Acarina Times so much that it is the number one selling game on Amazon. So, we'll see if it stays number one selling all the way to launch. I wouldn't be shocked if it somehow held. Although again, we have a lot of big AAA games launching this month. But again, this is about physical sales and Nintendo dominates physical sales. Very curious to see how well Acrian Time holds here over the upcoming weeks and months going into launch because if it can maintain number one from now till launch, that is insane. Right now, it maintaining number one. Look, initial pre-order wave. Will it still be there a week from now or a week from now? We'll keep some tabs on this and kind of see where it hovers around. Does it stay in the top 10? Does it fall out of the top 10? Uh, do they eventually have to stop taking pre-orders altogether, which is going to make it fall out of the top 10 because they hit their maximum limit? We'll have to wait and see. All right, guys. That's what I got for you today. Thank you so much for tuning in. Uh, we'll have another video for you guys tomorrow at some point. It's been a lot of fun. And you know what? I'm going to catch all of you guys in the next video.