 Hey folks, we're sort of in the calm before the storm, right? We do have a new game coming out here really soon, a couple weeks from now, and Fire Emblem engaged. The previews were amazing, Digital Foundry did a lot of technical praise, which doesn't seem to happen that often with Nintendo Switch games, at least from their neck of the woods, and that is really exciting. I am looking forward to Fire Emblem engage, but I would remiss if I didn't say. The more exciting prospect for me right now is the next Nintendo Direct, and that's just because I'm a Zelda guy. We got Tears of the Kingdom coming, I want that blowout, but I also want to know what's happening after Tears of the Kingdom, and I feel like we need a Direct for that to happen. Now we've been talking about a possible Direct, I don't know, I guess for a couple times last week we did a podcast discussion on it, and we talked about some potential leaks based on patents and some other things that exist out there to maybe set some expectations for what to see at the Direct, and certainly once the Direct is announced we'll go out there and do a little expectation slash prediction video on it. But what I wanted to actually talk about today is the fact that we might be getting a Nintendo Direct, a mini, or an individual game Direct still right now in January, and this is because of our dear friend of the channel, Paul Gale Network. Paul Gale Network has a long history in the video game industry, he's worked at various really big media outlets, he's gone to every single E3 with a media pass, he has a lot of connections, knows people on Nintendo, knows people at all, lots of various places, he usually has access to sales data long before it goes public, and every now and then he hears some things from his contacts, and something that he heard, that he has publicized, now both on my podcast and on his own Twitter account, is that we are going to get something sooner rather than later when it comes to a Direct. Now, he's speculated that maybe it'll be like one of those minis, they've done a mini in January before a full Direct in March, or maybe it'll be like a Fire Emblem Engaged Direct or something, right, like an individual game Direct, but he did say his source never clarified if it was going to be a mini, or if it was going to be an individual game, or if the general Direct is just going to happen right now in January. Also, sooner rather than later, I mean, we're not that far away from the middle of February, right, when I think most of us realistically expect to see it. Now, I did ask you guys when you expect to see it, whether it's January, February or March and beyond, and you can obviously see the whole results right here, which way the community seems to be leaning, and I tend to agree with the way the community is leaning because you're just kind of looking at historical numbers, right? Most of the Directs have happened in February of late when it's the first Direct of the year. We've had four general Directs in February the last four years, so there's a pretty good pattern there to think we're about to go five in a row. But sometimes that's not the case, because four years in a row is not the entirety of Nintendo Switch, meaning that even in Switch's era, we haven't always gotten the big Direct in February. So this is just setting the table of the expectation that we could have a multiple Direct event happening, a mini and or individual game, or even general Direct in January, and then something later. Look, I don't know. I've talked to Paul Gale about this extensively, and it doesn't seem like he really knows either, just that it's going to be soon. We do know obviously about that rumor that hit on Reddit about, you know, are you primed and every time that comes up, or every time this person says something, it's usually within two weeks. That happened earlier this week. So again, something next week or the week after wouldn't be surprising. Something happening right after the week after Fire Emblem Engage wouldn't be shocking. I think if there's something right after Fire Emblem Engage, that's probably going to be a general Direct. Of course, they could drop a general Direct before Fire Emblem Engage. I know I had that logical thought process that they wouldn't want to talk about Zelda or Mario or anything big right now and have it overshadow Fire Emblem Engage, but I feel like every time they have a Direct, we could say that about upcoming releases. Oh, they can't do a Direct in June because it's going to overshadow what they got coming in July. Like, oh, they can't do a big thing in June next year because, hey, oh, we had Splatoon 3 and we had this and we had that we can't overshadow games. So I think that's sort of a cop out reason. We've seen them do Nintendo Direct's all throughout Nintendo's history the last 10 to 15 years, and I don't feel like a Direct's ever been held back because a game's about to come out. In fact, I distinctly remember there being general Directs and a game releasing in the same week before. So I'm just throwing it out there that, hey, maybe we should start ramping our expectations up for something in January. This is a rumor, of course, because as much as I trust Paul Gale and trust his ability and his sources, he has proven himself right to me on so many things over the last couple of years, I still can't verify it. It's not like Paul Gale is going to let me reach out to his sources and verify this stuff. So it's a rumor, but a rumor coming from a person who doesn't really have a reason to mislead anyone and really only put stuff out there when he's heard it pretty directly from the people you need to hear it from. So I am going to sit there and say maybe we get something in the next couple of weeks, and that would maybe explain why things are so calm right now. When it comes to Nintendo and advertising, they're usually advertising multiple things at once, and it is notable, they do have a sale going on right now that ends on the 15th. Is there a reason it ends on the 15th? Is there something happening around that date that maybe wants to push other games coming into the future? So I'm just throwing it out there. We have no idea when the Direct is coming. I think it's safe to presume we are getting one. Paul Gale's telling us to expect something DirectWise sooner rather than later, and I just want your thoughts on it. Do you think it'll be a mini? Do you think it'll be an individual game? Do you think it'll be a general Direct? Do you think we're going to get anything? Or are they just going to wait until Fire Emblem and Gator's over? Wait until February? We know the Zelda amiibos get restocked in February as well. So look, we're just guessing. It's all guesswork at this point, but at least there's some people out there rumbling on January, and I didn't expect to actually see that happen. And this time Paul Gale is pretty reliable when it comes to this sort of thing. Anyways guys, let me know what you think about this down in the comments below, what you expect, and I'll catch you in the next video.