Laik's Summer Game Fest 2026 Wishlist and Predicitons!

 

Who's ready for Summer Game Fest 2026, the biggest video game corporation shillathon of the year? Me, that's who! (Hey, if I'm forced to live in a world run by CEOs and their corporations, I might as well side with the ones that deliver products that bring me some joy, eh?)

Joking aside, in light of E3's passing in recent years, I do appreciate the effort Geoff Keighley has made to replace it to an extent with his Summer Game Fest event every year; an event that, like his Game Awards in December, has seen pretty substantial growth year over year.

Glossing over the full schedule for the event, there are a dozen if not more streams and Nintendo Direct-inspired events happening over the weekend following the big show on Friday the 5th, including my beloved Wholesome Direct and the Xbox Presents event, the latter of which is going to be an interesting watch considering the recent shift in direction the XBOX brand has made in recent months.

Today, May 27th, leaves us with less than one week away from the unofficial start of SFG'26, beginning with the big State of Play event from Sony. And while I am strictly a Nintendo platform-only kind of wolf, I adore video gaming in general and thus take pleasure in the festivities of announcements and excitement around them, even if I don't personally plan to play any particular world-shattering announcement. 

I wish more people were like this instead of arguing over who's platform has the better games, but alas.

So now with the preface out of the way, it's time to get into the meat of this post, yeah? This will separated into two lists: My realistic predictions, just based on what I see and hear around the gameosphere, some will be grounded, fueled by leaks, while others will be my own analysis which factor in timing of past releases and other aspects from things I've personally noticed.

These are also all encompassing of the event as a whole and not related to one specific stream. The only event to get its own such thing is 

Anyway, onto the meat of it!

Currently Playing: Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga

Currently Playing: Red Dead Redemption

Not typically my sort of game. I haven't played a Rockstar game since San Andreas, after they started pivoting towards more realism in their games.

5.14.2026 = Beaten

Mega May 2026 ~ The Mega Man (and Mega Man inspired) Month of Celebration

What better month to celebrate Mega Man, his legacy, and all that he inspired than May? (probably December, but eh!) 

I played through Mega Man World for the Gameboy for the first in probably twenty nine years? I remember begging my parents for a cheap copy that Super K-Mart had on clearance circa 96-97, then proceeding to stay up incredibly late trying to finish it.

To be clear, I was a Mega Man X boy and the only classic era game I actually played at this point in time was Mega Man 2 on the NES about six years prior. 

Currently Playing: Eiyuden Chronicles

Absolutely beautiful game, visually and audibly. Enjoying this immensely.

May 3rd Edit: Beaten

After almost 30 years

I finally beat Golden Axe 2 on Normal. Even my best runs as a kid only got me as far as the fortress after the volcano, usually dying betore or during the boss there. 

Currently Watching: The Hateful Eight

The End of my Steam Deck Era

 

As of this past week, I have sold off my Steam Deck. The brief, three year stint with a handheld other than a Nintendo console coming to an end.

I bought the Steam Deck in early 2023 shortly before I left my first job, craving something with a bit more oomph than the current Switch at the time. Shortly after it arrived, and after I completed my Pokedex in Pokemon Scarlet Version, I simply stopped using my Switch 1. Not because the Deck was infinitely more capable or whatever, but because I am not really capable of focusing on two platforms.

And that was confirmed, not at the Switch 2's launch, but months before it was even revealed.

 

When rumors of the Switch 2 were coming out in full force around September of last year, it rekindled in something in me that had been lost when I got the Steam Deck. The magic I felt around Nintendo releases, the hype of their Directs and the discussions post-reveals. With all the hype going on at the time, I dug out my Switch 1 and bought a new game for the first time in years.

And while I was playing Tears of the Kingdom, that joy snowballed into my buying multiple games I missed in the years after I got the Deck. And while I was using the Switch 1, I found I couldn't even think about wanting to play anything on the Steam Deck.

Fast forward to June 2025. The Switch 2 is out and I've all but completely stopped using the Deck. It eventually found itself tucked away in its protective case. Fast forward even further and I am once again between jobs. The aftermarket price on Steam Decks has gone up dramatically as Valve is finding difficulties in securing the components to produce them.

Selling the Deck, along with a controller and many accessories, I've sent the Deck out of my life and to some place in Georgia, and in doing so I've definitely realized one thing: I am incapable of supporting more than one console at a time. It happened going from Switch 1 into Deck and Deck into Switch 2. 

One thing I am certain of this time, it's just gonna be me and my Switch 2 buddy right up until the next Nintendo console. No more stop gaps. 

Saturday Morning

Starting off this Saturday morning, not with writing and music, but a Godzilla movie, Tomodachi Life and some Chai.

The movie is All Monsters Attack, which is probably the most disliked film in the entire series, but I would be lying if I said I didn't have a soft spot for it. 

The last piece of Sonic media is now in my possession

It's not official by any means, but I'll take a fan made version until Sega can get the licensing worked out.