2025

July 2nd was a sad day. Microsoft laid off 9000 employees from all across their company, closed some game studios, and cancelled some projects. Among the projects cancelled, are an unannounced MMO, a new game by Romero Games, and the Perfect Dark remake. The cuts come after last month’s Summer Game Fest presentation where new games were shown and before next month’s Gamescom, where it’s sure to show new games. It was announced that Halo would show off what’s next for the franchise in October too. Xbox has more people playing their games and has announced that new hardware is coming, both through partnerships with ASUS and with their next generation Xbox console. The 9000 layoffs is around 4% of all Microsoft employees.

A rumor also came out that Phil Spencer will be retiring in the next few years and is currently working with Sarah Bond and her team to provide a smooth transition. The rumored retirement was said to come shortly after Xbox launches it’s next gen console. Head of Xbox communications, Kari Perez, said that “Phil is not retiring anytime soon.” Does that mean the rumor is false? That depends on what you consider “soon” to be. We know that Xbox is not going to be launching in 2025, so at the earliest it would be late 2026. That would mean that Phil Spencer would retire around early to middle 2027 at the earliest. More likely, the console would be out in 2027 or 2028, which would mean that Phil Spencer could be retiring in 2028 or 2029.

Would they announce his departure if it wasn’t for another few years? Probably not. Phil Spencer is the same age as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, announcing Spencer’s retirement now would probably have people thinking about Satya Nadella’s retirement. That could cause people to start the question of the future of the company, which in turn, could cause stockholders to sell their shares.

Hopefully everyone who is affected by these layoffs find new opportunities quickly.

If you were a kid in the 90s, then you know super hero cartoons on Saturday morning were pretty standard. X-Men and Spider-Man really stood out at the time, so much so that X-Men got a sequel series last year titled X-Men 97. Now, Spider-Man ’94 is going to be getting a sequel, but this time it won’t be a cartoon, it will be a comic.

After we saw Peter and Mary Jane Watson in the X-Men 97 series, that takes place in the same universe, fans speculated how MJ got back. The last time we saw the real Mary Jane she fell into an interdimensional portal. The series ended with a cliffhanger ending the series of Peter getting a promise to get MJ back. The head writer said had the show continued, she would have been found in colonial England. The head writer of the series, John Semper, is not involved with the comic book revival, so it is likely that the colonial England storyline will not be used.

John Semper stated on X (formerly Twitter) that he was not even asked to work on the revival. This news is disappointing to a lot of fans of the show, considering his involvement could ensure the comic felt like the show, while not limiting him in the way that Fox did. In the show they couldn’t show anyone dying, they couldn’t say that Morbius was a real vampire, so they gave him suckers on his hands for draining plasma, etc. One rule that didn’t make any sense, is they couldn’t use the word sinister. X-Men could, they had a character named Mr. Sinister. Spider-Man on the other hand, couldn’t face the Sinister Six, he had to face the Insidious Six. Another one that was strange was that they couldn’t hurt pigeons. I’m not even sure if that was necessary, unless some writer was just adamant about Peter jumping on birds in his spare time.

Spider-Man ’94 #1 will be available from Marvel Comics on September 3rd, 2025.

Xbox has revealed what games are coming in wave 1 for June 2025. Wave 1 has a wide variety of games, including one that was rumored to come to the service a few months ago.

June 5th has Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Editions coming to Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass Standard. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – Master Crafted Edition will be coming to Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. On June 11th, with Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass and Game Pass Standard, Barbie Project Friendship will be added. That same day Kingdom: Two Crowns will be coming to PC though Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. EA Sports FC 25 is coming to Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass on June 12th through EA Play. The Alters is coming to Ultimate and PC Game Pass on day when it’s released on June 13th. June 17 see another day one game come to Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass when FBC: Firebreak releases. Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time was rumored to come to the service a few months ago, but it will be on Ultimate and PC Game Pass on June 17th. The third game releasing on the 17th for Ultimate and PC is Lost in Random: The Eternal Die.

Games leaving the services on June 15th are Dordogne, Hypnospace Outlaw, Isonzo, Keplerth, My Time At Sandrock, Rolling Hills: Make Sushi, Make Friends, and Depersonalization. If you were wanting to play them while they are available, you have a few days until they’re gone.

Sony’s State of Play had some games that I am excited for. Playstation Plus is adding the original Resident Evil 2 and 3 as well as Myst and Riven. What I am really excited about is that Twisted Metal 3 and 4 will be coming to the service in July. I played a Twisted Metal game in the 90s on my old PC. I really enjoy the show as well. I am looking forward to diving in to other games in the series.

Mortal Kombat Legacy looks really cool. I loved playing the games growing up and having a kollection (see what I did there?) that I can replay them has me excited. While not every game has been confirmed, the following have been confirmed for the collection: Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II, Mortal Kombat 3, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Mortal Kombat 4, Mortal Kombat Advance, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, and Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition.

Pragmata is probably the game I am most looking forward to. I saw it years ago and forgot about it until today. The game looks gorgeous and the story looks very interesting. I cannot wait to check it out.

I am not a big James Bond fan. I don’t think I have ever seen a full 007 movie and I played a bit of Goldeneye growing up. This game looks good though and I think I might check some of the movies out if I happen to enjoy the game.

I have never played a Silent Hill game. I want to, but the first game is impossible to find. I did recently watch both movies though, I really liked them. It just sucks that I am not able to play through all the games. Maybe Sony will add the first Silent Hill game at some point, after all, they are adding Resident Evil 2 and 3 later this summer.

What games are you excited for? Are you excited about any other upcoming showcases?

At 5PM on June 4th, Sony will be having a State of Play. It was rumored for a while, but it was officially confirmed on June 3rd. Personally I wish they’d give more notice. Since it’s all digital now and not shown a theater like E3’s conferences were, they don’t really need to, since people will only watch whenever they want to from the comfort of their home.

There will be a special Death Stranding 2 event later this month, so I don’t expect anything to be shown from that game, but there are others that could be shown off. Insomniac’s hack from a few years ago had Venom pointing to a 2025 release, it’s possible that the game is officially announced during the event. It could be why the DLC for Spider-Man 2 was cancelled.

Something that I think we might see, maybe not at the Sony event, but within the next week, is Starfield and a Halo game being announced for PS5. Starfield being announced could happen at the State of Play, but a new Halo has not been announced yet. If they were going to make an announcement for a Halo game, it would probably be at the Xbox event next week. Xbox has become one of the biggest publishers on Sony’s platform, with Forza and soon Gears of War joining the games available.

There was a tech demo for the Witcher 4 shown at the Unreal event. They specifically stated that it was running on a Playstation 5, so it is possible that there will be a new trailer for the game shown.

I will be watching Sony’s State of Play and potentially even showcasing here what I am excited for. What are you hoping for in the event?

Soulslike games have never been my thing. The lack of difficulty options and pausing has turned me off to all soulslike games. Lies of P is going to change that. Once the expansion is released, there will be two new difficulty options: Butterfly’s Guidance and Awakened Puppet. The current game’s level will be called Legendary Stalker. The options will be available for the expansion and the base game.

“We wanted to make sure a wider audience of players could play the game” said game director Jiwon Choi. A wider audience for the game will be sure to draw more in more people for the sequel that FromSoftware is developing.

The expansion, Lies of P: Overture that includes these options releases this summer. Up until this point I have seen gameplay, but never had any desire to play Lies of P due to its difficulty, but these new options have me questioning if I should play my first Soulslike game.

Are Soulslike games your kind of game? If not will these options entice you into checking them out? Let us know in the comments below.

It should be a good summer for gaming. Not only do we have upcoming games showcases, Gamescom, and game releases, but we have a console release as well. June 5th will see the release of the Nintendo Switch 2. That is one day before Summer Game Fest kick off. We could be seeing the Switch 2 logo show up alongside Playstation and Xbox more than we’ve ever had before.

Dying Light: The Beast, Monster Hunter Wilds, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, and more are scheduled to be released over the summer. Some may even be shadowdropped during the showcases. Not to mention in game events and DLCs. Summer 2025 will definitely be big for gaming.

For the showcases, while we said goodbye to E3 a few years ago, Summer Game Fest stepped up and has managed to keep the showcases together. Below are a list of the summer showcases. This list is subject to change and might be updated when more information releases.

Summer Showcases

Access-Ability Summer Showcase – Friday, June 6 – 11:00 AM (EDT)

Summer Game Fest 2025 – Friday, June 6 – 4:45 PM (EDT)

Day of the Devs – Friday, June 6 – 7:00 PM (EDT)

Wholesome Direct – Saturday, June 7 – 12:00 PM (EDT)

Women-led Games Showcase – June 7, 1:00 PM (EDT)

Latin American Games Showcase – June 7, 2:00 PM (EDT)

Future Games Show – Saturday June 7 – 4:00 PM (EDT)

Xbox Games Showcase – Sunday, June 8 – 1:00 PM (EDT)

PC Games Showcase – Sunday, June 8 – 3:00 PM (EDT)

Gamescom Opening Night Live Tuesday, August 19 ? 2:00 PM (EDT)

Ubisoft Forward (rumored, TBA)

Sony State of Play (rumored, TBA)

For years now, Sony has held the console exclusivity for Final Fantasy VII. It’s been rumored to be in the works for Xbox for a while and it seemed like a pipe dream, that is it was, until last month. When Nintendo showed off the Switch 2, they announced that the Final Fantasy VII Remake and its sequel would be coming to their new console. While this doesn’t prove anything about it coming to Xbox, it would be less of a surprise if it was announced during their June press conference.

Xbox has a press conference scheduled on June 8th with an Outer Worlds 2 Direct right after it. 2 days before hand on the 6th, Summer Game Fest kicks off with a 2 hour presentation. The games could be announced at either one of these, possibly even with a release date for both the Xbox and Switch 2 versions of the game.

On the May 9th, Behaviour had it’s anniversary stream where they finally showed off the next year of Dead by Daylight. They showed off their Five Nights at Freddy’s chapter, along with new announcements, including Witcher cosmetics coming. At the end, they said there were clues in the broadcast. If you look at the roadmap they showed, certain letters are dimmed out (pictured above). If you look at the letters, they spell out The Ones Who Live.

The Ones Who Live was a miniseries set in the world of the Walking Dead. It was the continuation of Rick and Michonne’s story. Since we are getting a 2 survivor chapter in July, with no killer, it looks like Rick and Michonne could be coming to Dead by Daylight. If this is the case, then it could be possible that these 2 are just the start. With Legendary cosmetics, it could mean that Darryl, Glenn, Maggie, Carol and anyone else from the universe could show up. Maybe they only have the rights to the one show, but the number of survivors that could show up from the universe is ever expanding as they have numerous shows in production.

Of course, this is only speculation and it could be a reference to something else or just a weird coincidence. We won’t know for sure until it’s officially announced, but it would be pretty cool to play as Rick Grimes and do stuff… and things. Are you excited about the future of Dead by Daylight?

More than a year after its announcement trailer, we finally have a release date for GTA 6. Unfortunately that release date is May 26, 2026. It was originally scheduled to be released in 2025, so this release date is a bit disappointing for those of us who have been itching to get our hands on it. A few days after Rockstar announced the release date, they released the second trailer for the game.

On top of the release date and trailer, Rockstar released an official synopsis for the game as well:

Jason and Lucia have always known the deck is stacked against them but when an easy score goes wrong, they find themselves on the darkest side of the sunniest place in America, in the middle of a conspiracy stretching across the state of Leonida — forced to rely on each other more than ever if they want to make it out alive.

May 2026 will be a busy month

GTA 6 may be the only game that has been announced for May 2026 so far, there will be other forms of entertainment holding your interest until then. Avengers Doomsday will be released on May 1. If Star Wars is more your thing, The Mandalorian and Grogu released on the 22nd. There’s an untitled DC Studios film scheduled for the 29th as well.

GTA 6 will be released for Playstation 5 and Xbox Series S/X with a PC release likely sometime in 2027. Where will you be playing GTA 6? I know I will be on Xbox enjoying this game on day 1 most likely.

Last month when Nintendo announced it’s Switch 2 games would be increasing to $80, it seemed like they were going to be an outlier. At least for a few years until the next iterations of Xbox and Playstation came out. Today, however, Microsoft announced that Xbox hardware and games would be increasing. Their games will match Nintendo’s pricing at $80. They cited rising game costs and market conditions as the reason for the increase. They also announced a price increase for their consoles effective immediately.

Speculation seems to be that tariffs are at least part of the market conditions that they are referring to. Considering the uncertainty of the tariffs and how every few days things change, that doesn’t seem to be out of the realm of possibility. It’s pretty uncommon that game prices and especially console prices increase in the middle of their lifecycle.

Game Pass Gains More Value

With the price increase, it makes Xbox Game Pass even more valuable. $80 for one first party game or $20 a month for over 300 games, for a lot of people they’d choose the $20 a month. Xbox has put out 3 first party games in the last few weeks and they have more releasing later this year, with Doom the Dark Ages coming out in a few weeks. All these releases would cost a few hundred dollars more than a year of Game Pass would cost.

Will GTA Cost $100?

There’s been rumors that Grand Theft Auto 6 would cost $100 at launch. Last year this rumor seemed ridiculous, but with games now costing $80, that doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility. With a title as big as GTA, they could easily charge $100 and still break records.

Will $80 make you subscribe to more subscription services or cut back on gaming? Let us know.

When I got my Xbox 360 in 2006, I picked up Oblivion with it. I had never played an Elder Scrolls game before, so I wasn’t even sure what I was getting myself into. What I got was an RPG with an in depth story and memorable characters. It also got me a magical stick that shot lightening. I needed the stick to open a door I believe, but I used up all the lightening fighting guards and I couldn’t progress. I did try and find a way to open the door or charge the stick back up, but I was not able to and eventually gave up.

Today, after months of rumors, an Oblivion remaster was not only announced, but released as well. Now I will be able to play it with updated visuals on Xbox Series X or PC, included with Game Pass. I have been thinking about going back and starting over, but this just gives me more motivation to do just that.

2006 me couldn’t beat it, but could 2025 me do it? Quite possibly. Part of me wants to try and break it again though. I would love to see if they fixed it and made it so the door could open without it, but it’s been so long, I have no idea how I would even get to that same part of the game. I am not sure if it was a main storyline point or a side quest. Either way, this time when I play it, it will be on stream and the videos will be put on LepsLair as is standard now.

Oblivion Remaster is out now for PC, Xbox Series S/X and Playstation 5. There are rumors of the game coming to the Nintendo Switch 2 at some point in the future as well.