Oopdort (Patreon)

Hullo, my good friends! Wouldn't ya know it, it's time for a channel update!

First off, I'm gonna need to take a moment to send out an extra-special-times-a-thousand thank you to all my new patrons since the last update. I don't want to make too huge a deal out of it because these things can sometimes go up and down and change without warning, but you guys just pushed me past the $2k mark. And seriously, I'm floored. I never imagined I would have so many people willing to support me like this, and between that support and the time it's given me, I feel like we're in a new age of ArloStuff. I'm turning out content more frequently than ever, I'm playing more games, I'm talking about big news items when they're fresh, and while I'm still working a lot of nights I feel so much less stress overall. I've finally got an amount of time to work that's at least close to what I would consider perfect, and it's just amazing. YOU'RE amazing. It is quite literally impossible for me to thank you guys enough--and that means all of you, new guys and old ones!

Moving on though, I am SO SO EXCITED, YOU GUYS. I've only been to one convention: Sac Gamer's Expo in Sacramento, CA. I've gone twice, but that's the only one I've attended. But now I can officially say I'm going to Retropalooza in Dallas/Fort Worth Texas! There are bigger events out there, but as far as gaming conventions with a big focus on Youtubers go, this feels huge to me. More amazing Youtubers than I can count are going to be there. I mean, I'm going to meet Boogie2988 and Jirard the Completionist! It's unreal! Best of all though, with a big event in a big city, that means meeting more fans than I've ever gotten to meet in one place! It seriously pleases me to no end to meet up with you guys, so if you're going to Retropalooza give me a "BOOGLE BAGGLE HEE HAW!" down in the comments.

Then on top of that I'm probably going to go to an event in Southern California in May. It's basically a show and a party honoring Caroll Spinney, the original performer of Big Bird, thrown by The Center for Puppetry Arts and The Jim Henson Company at the Henson lot in Hollywood. They threw one of these in 2016 for Dave Goelz, one of the principal Muppet performers, and if you were around for the blog post you'll recall it was the single most incredible night of my life. I got to meet so many Muppet legends, and in case you didn't pick it up from everything else I've said up to this point, I'm a very big Muppet fan. So I want to go again if I can. I encourage any of you guys to go if you're in the area and also love Muppets, but keep in mind the event comes with a pretty hefty price tag in the form of a donation to The Center for Puppetry Arts. It's one of those things where it's probably not wise for me to spend so much money on a one-night event, but it's just that important to me that I'll never forgive myself if I miss it.

Man, I gotta tell ya, guys. I've got me the wanderlust. I've been cooped up in this house editing videos for so long, and Sac Gamer's Expo was so amazing that I've been jonesing to get out there and see some new places. Retropalooza will definitely help scratch that itch, but I'm even toying with the idea of trying to hit another con this year as well. Because you want to hear something amazing, that I can't even really believe, and I should probably just be professional and play it cool and take it as a matter of course, but I can't because all this stuff still makes me giddy like a little kid? I've reached a point where at least some events are willing to help me with travel expenses. I doubt all of them will, but the idea has come up, and this is amazing because it's basically the only thing that enables me to go to these kinds of events. It's really hard to go out of town and miss that much work time (I'm already trying to plan how I can get far enough ahead for both Texas and Hollywood) so having to pay for travel on top of that just makes it not work financially. But now that this door has been opened I'm trying to stop myself from emailing every event coordinator for every gaming event in the US and asking to be a guest. So yeah, I'm looking into some others and might ask around. Lockstin went to Too Many Games in Philadelphia last year and said it was great, so maybe I'll look at that. And I've got an open invitation to one in Florida, but it's mostly an anime convention and I don't know anyone else going, so I'm not sure yet. Just got to think about it some more. So many good options.

But anyway, I'm probably boring you! Let's get to the meaty stuff! Here's what I'm working on. Dates subject to change.

Tomorrow (3/27/18) I'll be posting my Kirby Star Allies review and then ducking under my desk to hide from the mob of angry Kirby fans that are sure to follow. So if you don't hear from me after that you know what happened.

After that (4/3/18) I'll be posting "The amiibo Problem," which you $10+ folks already have access to, in case you missed it. This is a really big one for me. I've probably gone on about it enough already, but I just think it's a really great video, especially because it's edited by The Lonely Goomba, which always means amazing quality visuals. I don't honestly know how many people will want to hear me talk about amiibo for close to a half hour, but I'm crossing my fingers that it's a decent amount. I thought I killed the Super Mario Odyssey review by making it too long, but that's been something of a sleeper hit, so we'll see. Definitely excited though.

Then (4/10/18) I'll post a character prediction video for Smash. I wanted to do it sooner to capitalize on the Smash buzz, but Kirby took priority and I just can't postpone the amiibo video any longer, so I've got to settle with it being a month late. It's not a huge problem though, and in fact it's kind of nice that this way it doesn't feel as cheap to release another Smash video after I already did one right after the Direct, heh. No need to explain what the video will be, I guess. Pretty self-explanatory.

The next week (4/17/18) is more open to change than any of the other ones, but it'll most likely be a video talking about the eShop. Nintendo started out curating the eShop very carefully, and now they're starting to slip a bit and the titles are flooding in, so I just want to talk about how they need to strike a good balance. Like it's okay for them to not be the super strict Quality Police and let in a good amount of games, and a lot of games is definitely good, but the number is getting a little out of control and titles are starting to be lost in the ocean of indies. So just a discussion about that. I came up with the idea to turn it into a video yesterday, I think, and I stuck it in the next open slot.

I don't know exactly what will take up the last few weeks of April, but I've got a few ideas that I want to do in the not-too-distant-future, so they're good contenders. The first is a video on what third party ports I'd like to see on Switch. I know, it's pretty run-of-the-mill stuff, and just about every other Youtuber in the world has done one like this, but it's still something I'll enjoy talking about. Its simple nature makes it a nice emergency idea if another idea falls through, so I'm not in any huge rush to do it right now. Then another idea is a discussion on whether Nintendo has "abandoned" Wii U owners by halting support for the system after so little time, then porting all its best games over to the Switch. I'll explore both sides of the argument, and I don't think I'll necessarily pick a side myself. It will just look at the idea and why people might feel that way, versus the fact that everything Nintendo has done makes sense from a business standpoint. It's a pretty interesting topic. It can be hard for companies to balance doing what will earn them money and what will keep their fans loyal and happy.

Then, providing I'm able to get review codes, May will be a lot like November was--lots of reviews! We've got Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition, and Dark Souls: Remastered all in one month. So I'm really hoping for some early copies, because otherwise it might not be worth doing reviews for them. We'll see though. I often don't make decisions like that until I get there.

So that's the update! Thank you for being patient, $3+ folks; I hope to have a nice long Arlocast up for you soon. And ONE LAST THING for you California fans...

Nothing's set in stone yet, but we just might be in for an extra special Arlopalooza this year. But that's all I'll say!

Talk to you soon!