GTA 6 REVIEWS "IMPORTANT", UNREAL ENGINE 6 REVEALED & MORE

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:01]Hey folks, today is Friday, May 29th, 2026. As usual, my name is Jake Baldino here to talk about all the video game news that has been going on this week.

[00:00:09]Quite a bit to chat about. So, first, of course, we're in Grand Theft Auto season. The first news story does involve uh Take 2 suggesting that review scores do matter for Grand Theft Auto 6.

[00:00:21]might sound obvious to you, might not, but there has been a lot of conversation around the game being such a juggernaut that is it at the point where it's like, who cares what the reviews say? Well, uh, Strauss Zelnik, of course, head of Take 2, which is publishing Grand Theft Auto, uh, says that quote, "Of course, critical reception is important," suggesting that it matters as much today as quote it has in the past. This comes from the game business, a great website and newsletter uh, reporting on this.

[00:00:48]They asked Strauss Zelnik about these review scores and I do think it's interesting because I am more of the mindset that like I I don't think review scores matter too much for this game, specifically the mainstream hype, the immense amount of people that are excited for this game that don't read reviews. I think there is still a chance that like Grand Theft Auto 6 is still good either way in terms of selling some stuff. And I say that as somebody who like reviews games. A big part of my job is my critical thoughts and opinions on video games. But I I'll be the first to admit it's just about consumer products.

[00:01:21]It doesn't matter that much at the end of the day. But Strauss Zelnik said, and I quote, "Rockstar scores are typically in the mid9s, sometimes high 90s. Not many games can say that." And that's a reflection of Rockstar's commitment to quality. blah blah blah blah blah of course but uh the game business goes to point out uh specifically with uh old head in games media Dan Dawkins uh from Future Publishing that we're 13 years past the release of Grand Theft Auto 5 and the media landscape has changed suggesting that social media matters a lot more. Social media is louder, noisier, more divisive, and that's going to be a factor as well. And I totally agree. He also suggested like the way it goes now is that it's common that there's just going to generally be more dissenting voices just because of the sheer volume of the amount of voices. So look, I don't think review scores are going to matter too much personally. I think unless it's like the game is an actual disaster and people start seeing red flag review scores of like four out of 10 or something like that. But like let's just say that if that doesn't happen, I don't think the differences between a couple of eights and nines and tens is really going to matter too much to Rockstar and selling this game. I do think perception is everything and especially in the social media age where if Grand Theft Auto 6 isn't that good, I I think people are going to flock more to Instagram reels, Tik Tok, Twitter reactions uh to see what's really going on with the game. That's not to downplay the importance of review scores, but I think review scores and stuff like that really comes down to core gaming audiences. The game business on their site do list some interesting facts and figures about the importance of reviews uh factoring into people's purchases. uh it's like data sourced from the ESA and stuff like that. If you want to check that out, that is pretty interesting.

[00:02:58]But I do lean on the side that I think Grand Theft Auto 6 is so big that the granular review debate doesn't matter too much. But I could be out. I don't know. Maybe I'm too close to this. Let me know what you think in the comments.

[00:03:10]We do got to move on though cuz there are a couple of other interesting things to talk about this week. Uh Unreal Engine 6. I'm like slow down. Like it feels like the passage of time where it's almost June and I still feel like it's April and I am still behind on a lot of things. Now it's like that with Unreal Engine where like I feel like we're finally figuring out Unreal Engine 5 and we're getting less micro stuttering from some Unreal Engine 5 games and we're already talking about six now. So this comes from uh the big Rocket League esports tournament thing where they briefly revealed a cool trailer highlighting the next generation of Rocket League. And this is going to be a Rocket League running in Unreal Engine 6. And they only showed a brief snippet, but yes, it looked like an advanced, really beautiful Rocket League. Rocket League probably could have had a visual update for a while now. And this thing showed a good ass looking Rocket League and it ended with the Unreal logo with a six. That's all we really have right now. It might seem like an interesting way to like first unveil uh Unreal Engine 6 to some people, but when you think about it, Psyionics, of course, is owned by Epic.

[00:04:13]Epic makes Unreal. They seem to have a pretty tight relationship. And honestly, I think sometimes it is kind of cool and kind of creative to just showcase a new game making tool set with the reveal of a new game more than just big long drawn out tech demos about lights and rocks that your average person doesn't really care too much about. And we're honestly not going to see some of those features in those games anyway. But I digress. I think here with Unreal Engine 6 where we're actually going to hear some more information is probably at a State of Unreal event which I did Google when the next one is and it looks like there is a State of Unreal very soon June 17th in Chicago. So maybe we're going to hear more then. All the big heads are there doing talks like Tim Sweeney the head is there. So maybe we'll hear more about that. Maybe Unreal Engine 6 is still really far off. I don't know for sure but hopefully we actually get uh something soon. What had me excited this week though uh is that the rumors are true. All the stuff we talked about, yes, The Witcher 3 is getting new DLC expansion content. Actually, a decade after the game has released. I remember Blood and Wine was like one of the earlier before you buys I did like when we started that. This is crazy. But yes, in 2027, we are getting the Witcher 3 expansion called Songs of the Past. All we got is this cool splashy image featuring Geralt holding not two swords, but three swords. Uh, this third mystery sword is apparently going to tie into the story and CD Project Red did kind of suggest that this is going to be more of a larger expansion in in line with something like a Blood and Wine. And I am so curious to see how this is going to go down when it takes place within the context of The Witcher 3. Are they going to use this as some brand tie-in to tie into The Witcher 4? We don't know for sure, but we know this is being co-developed by Fool's Theory, another Polish studio that is working with CD Project Red. Uh they're currently working on the remake for The Witcher 1 if you forgot that that was a thing. So they're doing that and they're also doing this. So I think it's an interesting way to see them prove themselves. But I I just hope this is cool. And if anything, I think it's just really interesting to look at the response to this, the excitement for this now, the anticipation for this because of the long tale that The Witcher 3 has had. Yes, they've re-released it quite a bit, but like they got it running on Switch. They've done modern console releases. So, like, yes, you can argue that they've milked it, but they've stretched it out this long, and it's it's just so interesting to me that they're releasing a DLC now over 10 years later, and everyone's just like collectively, okay, cool. That doesn't happen with a lot of games. So, I think this is just like a very interesting case study in the world of video games. I'm really curious to see what it actually is. You're goddamn right. I'm going to be playing that and probably reviewing that day one. Uh, a lot of people are excited like time to replay The Witcher 3. When? How? How do we have time? That being said, we're probably going to hear more later in the summer, and again, it releases at some point in 2027. Hey, now before we keep going, this video is sponsored by Falcon Northwest. Falcon Northwest is a PC building company that we've been working with for a while now, and I usually build my own PCs, uh, but they won me over with their high-end custom quality and their legacy. This is the company that created the gaming PC. They've literally been around since 1992, before any of the big guys. You go direct through them and they build custom PCs for you with exactly what you need specifically. Whether it's a laptop, a full tower, rack mount, they've got you covered. They design all of their own desktop cases. Recently, I've been using the Falcon Northwest Tiki. Uh this is like the size of a console, but it packs a punch. So, if you're looking for something high-end, custom, but built with old school sensibility, uh, plus really good support and warranty, Falcon Northwest's got you covered. I've been using their PCs for years now. Specking it out was easy. Buying it was easy, and getting support on it is easy. So, if you want to check out Falcon Northwest and learn more, all you got to do is click the link in the description down below or head to falconnorthwest.com.

[00:08:07]That's falconnorthwest.com.

[00:08:09]Check them out. And big thanks to Falcon Northwest for sponsoring this video.

[00:08:13]Now, back to it. Also, catch this. This is insane. Star Citizen now has officially hit $1 billion in lifetime funding. That is a mind-boggling amount of money. Video game development gets more expensive. Timelines get longer, but the longest timeline and the most expensive thing ever really has got to be Star Citizen. This is nuts. Variety said, and I quote, uh, it has reached 1 billion in lifetime funding before formalizing a release date for its full commercial launch. Yes. Uh that is because the game was originally targeting a 2014 release. And I know this is like a running meme now at this point that Star Citizen has been running for so long and you know it's still not really a full completed game. It hasn't delivered everything yet and people are spending a lot of money on this thing on on virtual ships that they can't always completely access in every situation yet. Look, things have gotten better for this, but I I still think this is really interesting. They must have tapped into something that I don't understand. We've been talking about Star Citizen for over a decade and like people have dunked on it. I am not going to tell people how to spend their money. They're adults. I just this is this is wild. I don't I don't really have anything else to add.

[00:09:19]I hope it actually comes out eventually just as like a a Mark Hamill enjoyer.

[00:09:22]The fact that they hired Mark Hamill and like Gillian Anderson, like a bunch of people to be in the single player thing for this game, Squadron 42. Uh just get that out the door. Please don't waste those talents. I want to see what those people could do in a cool sci-fi adventure like this. But am I giving them a a bunch of money? Am I giving them thousands of dollars now? No, absolutely not. I am not the target audience for that or the the the intended customer, but maybe you are.

[00:09:46]Let me know in the comments. Oh, also, Activision announced the next Call of Duty. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 is releasing October 23rd of this year.

[00:09:56]It's an Infinity Ward one, so it might be good. I don't know. The trailer here to me looks pretty cool and it has the same energy uh that the new original Modern Warfare 1 game had. Just a little bit more realism, tightness, focus, quality, cool campaign. That's what's suggested here, but I'm going to actually have to play it and see it to believe it because Black Ops 7 was kind of rough, man. I think that's definitely not a hot take. But then also like we had the the Modern Warfare 3 thing which felt like just a just a big waste of time. So hopefully we're back on the right foot here. I don't know. I'm still skeptical of Call of Duty at this point, but the campaign looks cool and we know that this is going to be like again like modern combat, modern warfare. Uh some reworked movement once again. Uh it's going to set in like this like uh South Korean invasion war taking us to all different locations across the world.

[00:10:46]New York, Mumbai, Korea, of course. And it's releasing on all the platforms.

[00:10:50]It's not going to be like an exclusive thing. And uh it's going to be campaign, multiplayer, and DMZ. Multiplayer is apparently going to have, according to IGN quote, 12 all new core 6v6 maps, dedicated gunfight maps, multiple big war maps, and Killblock, this dynamic warfare battleground thing. But DMZ seems significantly like really like they're putting a lot into it. It had its own breakout here. Uh it seems like first impressions, at least from like the Call of Duty crowd, they're they're pretty interested in this. This is like their extraction mode. So, I don't know.

[00:11:22]I'm actually surprised how positive the energy is around this one. Uh it seems like they're saying the right things, but they actually have to nail it. But we'll know for sure, like I said, when this releases October 23rd. Also, in case you missed it, uh the price increases continue. This time it's Valve and Steam. Uh the Steam Deck has gone up in price for everyone. So, the 1 TBTE OLED version went from $649 to a whopping $949.

[00:11:49]That's a big jump. That's hundreds of dollars. The 512 GB OLED is from $5.49 now up to $7.89. The refurbished models also uh which were a great deal have also gone up in price. It seems like there was a restock and it's impressive that the demand is still there and these it seems like most of the stuff did sell out, but this is like a sudden boom announcement where you've had PlayStation and Xbox kind of inching up their prices. uh you've had switched to increasing their price but kind of giving us a little bit of a timeline saying hey it's going up in dece uh September uh Steam Deck here now is just like boom sorry if you didn't buy one already like you were waiting now we have a little more in stock and the price has gone up so that sucks I don't know I like at this point it's like the price of everything has gone up especially like consumer electronics because of the whole RAM thing and they you know it's we've talked about it to death gaming has always been an expensive thing and now it feels more expensive but specifically because historically Of course, prices for consoles and things tend to go down as they age. The complete opposite has happened here, and Steam Deck is not a new device. It's also not the top-of-the-line most powerful thing, but it seems like people are still interested in that ecosystem and still want to get in that world. But yikes, man. What I'm curious to see is it just seems like really unfortunate timing for the rest of Valve's hardware plans with the Steam frame and the Steam machine, which are apparently coming very soon, but we still don't know the exact pricing yet. So, I expect the Steam Machine to probably cost at least significantly over a thousand bucks at this point, right? If the Steam Deck OLED is almost $1,000, but with the way these new uh tech price increases have been happening, it feels like every day is a new surprise and not a good surprise. So, we'll have to see how that stuff goes. In terms of new game trailers this week, uh it seems like everybody is holding off for next week, which is the big gaming news week.

[00:13:43]We have Xbox doing announcing stuff. We have PlayStation having their state of play showcase. Then we also have Summer Gamefest, the big Jeff Keley live stream presentation. So, a lot of game announcements and news are expected to come next week or so. But for now, two little trailers. We have Planet Zoo 2.

[00:13:59]Uh, this is a follow-up to the pretty underrated Planet Zoo. Also, BeamNG Drive or however you say it beng.drive.

[00:14:05]I never know how to say these games, but I do watch the clips on Instagram reels of cars crashing. This is finally on console. This has been a very PC thing for a while and it's cool that they are giving the community seemingly what they want here, man. And in terms of new games releasing, big one, big one this week. It's been quite some time, but Mina the Hollower is releasing the 8-bit style game from Yacht Club Games. These are the people behind Shovel Knight, which of course is a legendary game. So, uh, this is a bit of a different style, different type of game, but people have been waiting for this one for a while.

[00:14:37]And so far, right now, looking at the Steam reviews, it is positive. So hopefully it's Yach Club Games once again doing their thing. Uh we're going to try and check this out at some point.

[00:14:46]Also uh released this week uh 007 First Light. I reviewed this. I did the Before You Buy and I really enjoyed it. My bias is that I love James Bond games and I've been dying for a new one and I love the Hitman games and First Light is a really good just big bombastic AAA action adventure game. It's got some silliness.

[00:15:05]It's got some flaws for sure. It's not perfect, but for me personally, it was just what the doctor ordered. I loved playing it. So, check out our full video linked in the description down below.

[00:15:15]All the stuff I talked about is linked in the description down below. But that's what I got for you this week. So, let me know in the comments what you think about everything we talked about from Grand Theft Auto 6 review scores.

[00:15:25]Do they really matter? Do you care?

[00:15:28]Let's talk about that. Let's talk about anything Grand Theft Auto 6. I'm sure I really hope we get more news about the game actually soon. But let me know what you think about Unreal Engine 6. We're still on five. Let's let's just focus on that. But let me know what you think about that. The Witcher 3 expansion, what you expect from something like that. Did you get a Steam Deck in time?

[00:15:46]Have you had one for years? Were you waiting to get one and now you got screwed? Let's Let's talk about that.

[00:15:51]Anything down in the comments. You can always also yell at me directly on social media, Instagram, YouTube.

[00:15:56]Jakebaldino. Just search my name. B A L D I N O. Big thanks to the sponsor Falcon Northwest of this video. uh pinned link in the comments down below.

[00:16:05]Reply to that thread and let us know what you're currently playing just for game ranks research. Like I say, we always do top 10s and stuff like that.

[00:16:11]And we want to know what you're playing, new or old. It helps us. So, thanks for that. I've asked enough from you. Thanks for watching. Getting caught up on the news real quick. Clicking the like button helps. I'm Jake Baldino. Just have a great weekend. Be safe. Pizza's on me.