Progress Update: April 2025

Hey everyone!

It's been a while since I've done any sort of generic update post on here but along with making the usual kinds of progress on my next video, I've had some stuff arrive in the post today which I bought specifically for using on the channel so I figured I may as well go into it all with you!

NEXT UP - PRO SKATER 4:

So, after my recent video on Bully my plan from the very start was to jump back into the Pro Skater series seeing as I already had most of my THPS4 video written, and just needed some work on the PS1 port to wrap the video up and get started on all the video production stuff!

But since then there's obviously been some news in the world of Pro Skater with the 3+4 remake being fully revealed and given a release date in July of 2025!

None of this news changes my current plans, as I was going to be making a video on THPS4 anyway... but it's just funny how that's all worked out.

By sheer chance and luck... I'm actually working on something kind of relevant!

Anyway, I've begun the long process of recording all of my voiceover (which for this one there is a lot of!) and editing it all down into the best takes etc.

It's taking a while but it's coming along nicely enough.

Behind the scenes, I've also had to downgrade my video editing software as it caused me a LOT of problems when making the Bully video, but thankfully everything seems ok so far with this Pro Skater 4 video, so fingers cross that keeps going!

With the 3+4 remake being dropped in July I reckon I'll have plenty of time to get this video finished and out the door before then, which will hopefully help the video do well as I did notice my THPS3 video get more views because of this remake news happening, I'll see how this goes!

From there, I could obviously do a quick video on the remake but I'm not too sure if I want to do that right now, as I was potentially planning little break.

A POTENTIAL BREAK:

So, I might be taking a break from editing videos (that may or may not even happen) for a few reasons.

Firstly, I'd like to try and learn another video editing software, with Da Vinci Resolve seeing as my recent troubles with Sony Vegas have started to make me think I should look into alternatives.

I know Vegas is clowned on for being glitchy but I've generally found it to be a pretty decent software.... up until the day I upgraded my version of Vegas from 18 to 21.

BIGGEST mistake I've made when it comes to editing my videos! Vegas 21 crashed almost every 10 minutes for the stupidest of reasons, and made me lose a lot of progress multiple times.

While I've rolled everything back to version 18 and everything seems to be going OK.... I'd like to at least look at something like Da Vinci Resolve, as I've had several video editor friends tell me it's pretty good.

It may take a while, as I've essentially been using some kind of Vegas for over 10 years now and will have to re-learn a lot of things but, in the long term... it might end up being for the best. I'll just have t see how it goes!

The other reason for a potential break is to just generally have a mental rest from all of this extra workload I put on myself trying to keep the channel going.

I still enjoy seeing my videos come together, but after doing this for 11 years now... it can sometimes feel like a grind to be honest.

Especially when I work hard on a video project that doesn't get seen or noticed.

I've also got a few things going on IRL that could do with my attention, especially during the summer here while the weather is warmer.

Things like house and car repairs.... boring adult stuff!

FUTURE CHANNEL PROJECTS:

That being said, I still have ideas for my channel (and probably always will) so I may as well share some of them with you.

Obviously the Tony Hawk series is something I started working on in 2023, and began uploading videos for in 2024... and it's something I'd like to continue.

Up until now I've always struggled with the idea of tackling longer series on my channel, mainly due to how long it takes me to make each video. If I average out at one video every month or two then yeah... a longer series could potentially take me YEARS to cover.

But... with the Tony Hawk games, I feel I've just found something that works for me. These are all fairly short and very gameplay-focused games. Some of them have a story mode, but it's not the focus of the game so I end up with videos where I get to really dive into movement mechanics and level design which is really fun.

It also helps that unlike a lot of other series I've attempted to cover... the Pro Skater stuff is mostly new to me so I'm just enjoying see the games evolve as I play instead of talking about them all in retrospect.

I'm also really open to the idea of just working on WHATEVER I want these days, shifting gears whenever I mentally need to. That's what happened when I made my Bully video, and it worked out well for me.

I've always had a tendency to stick to 3D platformers, and while they will ALWAYS have a home on my channel... I'm really like the idea of also doing some really "out there" games that people wouldn't expect from me based on my channel's history.

There's a video about Death Stranding rattling around in my head just waiting for it's time to happen so... who knows, maybe that's one.

I've also hinted a things like Red Dead Redemption more recently, with that being the next Rockstar Game I'd cover if I do decide to go down that road.

Destroy All Humans is another series, which I've tried to cover before now but never got around to finishing... and since then, two of those games have been fully remade! So if I ever went back and tried again, I'd likely just use the remakes as a springboard to talk about and compare against the originals.

Dead Rising is another series I'd like to cover one day as I know those games fairly well.

But all of those are vague ideas for now... the main the main series I want to focus on is one I've already started.

TONY HAWK GAMES:

But the big background project for me right now is anything Tony Hawk related. I've really enjoyed playing these games and in each video you may have noticed I've been building a stack of those games to gradually work my way down...

With eagle-eyed viewers perhaps noticing two major exceptions...

Yeah.... the motion controller games.

I went into this series with the full intention of completely dismissing them, with the reason being that I got into THPS for the "almost 3D platformer" vibes they give off, being all about precision and control above everything else...

There no way I was going to bother with the motion control games... as they seemingly go completely against the entire reason I like these games.

But... with ALL of the other games in my possession now... there was that little voice in my head telling me there were only two more games to go...

And thanks to my other videos in the last few months being seen... I reached my AdSense pay-out threshold... which meant I had some petty cash to spend that came directly from my channel...

And so... as of this morning...

I HAVE A COPY OF TONY HAWK: RIDE AND A BOARD CONTROLLER.

I wasn't necessarily going out of my way to get one of these boxed... but I knew I needed to find one in decent condition, as I do intend to actually use it to play the two games that need this board controller.

And a few days ago, just before I went to bed... I found a listing on eBay for a boxed copy of the game, along with everything it needs... for £25 including the postage.

So I just went for it, and here it is!

I'll be testing it out within the next few days to check it works but given the condition it's in I'll be very surprised if it doesn't work!

From here, I'll likely be able to find a loose copy of Tony Hawk Shred for dirt cheap... and then I'll have every single game in the series. Well, at least all of the mainline console entries anyway!

So at the very least, even with me mentioning a potential break from the channel while I do other things after this THPS4 video is done... I'll definitely be coming back. And I've gone out of my way to make sure I have more Tony Hawk stuff to talk about when I do!

So, until all of that... I'll continue with my THPS4 video!

Thanks for helping out!

- Pete