Content Update August 2025: New Game History Secrets Video Documentaries & More

Hi, everyone!

I have been extra busy this month working on a number of new videos and other projects, so I wanted to detail some of those plans and upcoming works in a Patreon exclusive blog for you. I am becoming more consistent and active in video producing now, so this may become a routine thing if people approve of it. First of all, let me tell you some more details on some of the next videos I'm working on right now...

New Game History Secrets Videos

I have been working on the next Game History Secrets videos for a long time now and I want to apologise for the lack of new instalments, but the hiatus has been for a good reason. At a certain point, I decided that I wasn't going to do any more of these unless I was passionate about the subject matter and I was satisfied that what I was making was substantive. This doesn't mean that I have scrapped any videos or anything like that. I've simply held off on finishing a number of them until I was satisfied that the video reached a certain standard. Ideally, I'd like all the Game History Secrets videos to bring a decent amount of new information to the table. I'd like the viewer to go into them safe in the knowledge that they are going to learn something new and that I've done the hard work of uncovering fresh information. This way, as I see it, there is value to watching each one of them.

Going forward, I'm hoping to deliver the videos more consistently and have made a number of steps towards assuring this such as making investments into new production hardware.

The next Game History Secrets video is something I have aspired to cover for a very long time. In fact, I started researching it all the way back when I was doing the Unseen64 videos!

Cancelled Xbox One New IP / 'Uncharted Rival'

The next Game History Secrets video I'm working on is about halfway edited at the time of writing. The script is done and I have been very busy recording and editing it. It looks like it might clock in at around 40 minutes long, but that is a very rough estimation. It could end up being slightly shorter or longer depending on if I decide to cut it down or add more to it.

This video will delve into the rocky development of an original IP that was in development at a first party Microsoft studio between 2012 and 2014. This fairly ambitious new property attempted to give Microsoft and the Xbox portfolio its own 'Uncharted', but was never finished for a variety of reasons. Very few details about this project are available to the public, so this will bring to light a lot of new information. I spoke with many, many developers who worked on it and gathered some compelling testimonies that illuminate key issues at this studio and with the larger development culture at Microsoft. The video scrutinises some questionable statements made by some of Microsoft's executives and outlines a pattern of mismanagement that evidently persists to this day.

Not only will it go into what happened to this project, it will reveal details on a number of other cancelled first party Microsoft projects from around this period.

You can expect this video to drop (early access as usual) for you on Patreon some time in September. A detailed Patreon exclusive post-mortem video will follow this where I will talk about my long and arduous process researching this game, and information I wasn't able to include in it.

Nintendo Voice Chat History Video

After I'm done with my video on the cancelled Xbox, my plan is to soon after produce a Game History Secrets video relating the the history of Nintendo's voice chat efforts. I have previously done a more informal video for my personal channel discussing this with Nantenjex, but I decided to do a much more in-depth scripted investigation video that will go on Did You Know Gaming's channel like the other GHS videos.

As well as recalling their previous voice chat efforts all the way back to the Nintendo DS, this video will determine why Nintendo never did native voice chat on the original Nintendo Switch. I have been doing some interesting research into this topic and having fleshed out some of my findings, the answer makes a lot of sense. I have spoken to experts in the field of accessibility and voice communication recently, including an interview with a software programmer who actually worked on voice chat software for the Switch. This has given me a lot of valuable insight into both the system and why Nintendo chose the avenue they did of off-loading voice chat to a mobile app.

I'm not yet sure how long this video will be. If I had to guess, at least 20 minutes long based upon the material I have so far, but the script is still being written. It's shaping up to be very interesting and a fun look back at some Nintendo history.

Patreon Exclusive Pokémon Game History Secrets video

I am strongly considering producing a Game History Secrets video exclusively for Patreon in the future. Earlier this year, I mentioned on episode of Liam Unfiltered that I had researched an unusual story related to Pokémon. I had considered making this as an episode of GHS, but quickly realised that the subject matter is too explicit for YouTube in general. Still, I find this story weirdly interesting and think I'd like to do it as a video, anyway. The issue is that if I did this video, it would certainly not be monetisable and in fact, there is a chance that it could harm the 'ad friendly' status of whichever channel it's uploaded to.

Previously, I have covered some fairly controversial subjects including my Hong Kong 97 video that discussed a terrorist attack and an image of a dead body, but this video would go into more sexually explicit subject matter, which I understand is a big no-no on YouTube. I talked to DYKG about this and they said that I could attempt to self-censor and talk around these sensitive elements using the usual YouTuber techniques, but as I've said before, I'm really not fond of doing that. I want to do an informative documentary style video from an objective point of view and I don't want to use silly YouTube euphemisms to side-step these ridiculous ad policies. I personally think that someone trying to respectfully inform on a subject should not be beholden to this restrictions.

Instead of playing cat and mouse with YouTube's censors, I've decided that I'm likely just going to produce this as a Patreon exclusive GHS video. This will remove the burden of making it advertiser friendly and allow me to speak freely. I don't want to dumb it down. I just want to tell this weird little story at some point.

I have other GHS plans beyond this, but these are my more immediate plans right now. Please look out for more updates on other videos in the future in these blogs and on Liam Unfiltered.

Other Upcoming Stuff - Podcasts + New Channel

One of the next things you will see me in is an episode of a podcast called Nintendormant. This is a fun series all about dormant Nintendo IP's. In each episode, they discuss the history of the game or series and talk about how it should be brought back. Jon Cartwright and Nantenjex regularly feature on it and it's a good time. Check it out if you haven't already.

I learned about Nintendormant a while ago when a couple of you named me as someone you'd like to see as a guest on there. Well, your wish has been granted as I recorded an episode with them on Elite Beat Agents recently. I'm not sure when this is getting released, but possibly next Wednesday (3rd of September 2025). I'll post an update whenever that is available. I talked a bit about the history of EBA and the Ouendan games and laid out what I'd do if I was to revive EBA for Switch 2. I had a great time and I highly recommend watching/listening when it comes out.

Of course, I am planning on doing more Patreon podcasts very soon as well. There is a lot for us to talk about such as Kirby on Switch 2 and a rumoured September Nintendo Direct coming up (which I have myself heard things about) so, stay tuned for that! I'm also planning on uploading a bunch of highlights from past podcasts on a new YouTube channel dedicated to my Patreon podcasts. These will typically be between 5-20 minutes long and allow people to revisit past discussions or discover them if they've never listened before. Patrons will gain access to this first as usual.

Thank you

Lastly, I just want to close by saying a huge thank you to all of you for supporting my work. I had a bit of a rough 2025 with regards to video production due to a wealth of technical issues that I have now overcome. Thank you for your endless patience with me and I hope you look forward to some of the breakthroughs I have made. I've uncovered a lot recently and it's going to make for some very interesting videos. You are all awesome and I appreciate your kind support. See you again soon.

- Liam