Amanda Kay Oaks

Congrats to your son for his Pokemon Unite prowess! That's pretty cool! Can't go wrong with a good sports game either.

This is one of my abandoned games I need to get back to. I was enjoying it, just wound up drifting off to other things.

X-Men Evolution for me. It was my original introduction to the X-Men as a kid, and those versions of the characters will always be my go-to. It did get an actual finale, which a lot of shows didn't in that era, but there's so much more they could've done with it.

Yesss, definitely need more ThunderCats!

I feel this so much! I always need more time for the backlog.

I'm not a huge fan of shooters, but they're the only games my husband plays. So I'm excited for him and his friends to have something new after so much Warzone, lol.

September has been a pretty big month for new games (Silksong, Hades 2). But looking ahead to October, it's kind of wild how many massive games are headed our way. Here's just a few on my radar: Digimon Story: Time Stranger Battlefield 6 Pokemon Legends: Z-A Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 And that's just the tip of the iceberg! With so many great games on the way, what're you most excited to play? I'm going to be all in on Digimon and Pokemon, but with spooky season happening I'm hoping to dig into some cozy witch games, too. Little Witch in the Woods is top priority since it just came out in September.

The first movie didn't quite hit for me, so I'm not too stoked about the sequel. That said, the portrayal of The Riddler was a standout in that movie, so I am curious to see who the villain will be in The Batman 2. Depending on the choice, it might pull me to theaters after all.

I know I'd definitely love to see this, too! They've really leaned into remakes instead of retro re-releases and remasters. It's an interesting choice given how much fans would be eager to revisit the classics!

I'm slightly crushed we still don't have a Witchbrook release date but it wasn't a terrible Direct for me. I'm excited to see more from this Pokemon cozy game, and I'm thrilled we're getting the full release of Hades 2 so soon! Also never not going to go in for new Mario Tennis.

With the long-rumored September Nintendo Direct finally confirmed for this Friday, what are we hoping for? It's going to be 60 minutes, quite a bit longer than other recent Directs. I'm hoping that means they're packing in a lot of good stuff, not just giving deep dives on games we already know about. My wishlist includes a Witchbrook release date, the rumored new Pokemon console spinoff, and my pie in the sky dream of a new Nintendogs. Also guessing we'll get Metroid Prime 4 and Hyrule Warriors release dates. What's on your bingo card for the event?

I've been really enjoying playing mobile versions of TCGs. As much as I'd love a massive collection of physical TCG cards, our house is too small for that. Plus, we live in a rural area and there's not a big in person community to play with IRL. So I love that games like Pokemon TCG Pocket let me explore new TCGs without the physical investment in cards. I'm very much looking forward to sinking into the upcoming Digimon TCG mobile app, and am forever tempted to restart my Magic: The Gathering card collection. Wishing I had more time for Yu-Gi-Oh as well.

Dragon Ball Z was definitely one of my first introductions to anime, and I definitely remember it being a popular topic of conversation. For me, I think Sailor Moon was more influential. Even though I loved Dragon Ball Z, I wasn't getting up early before school to watch it like I did Sailor Moon. Both feel like they were really important for introducing different types of anime to a Western audience, and both seem to have had pretty significant staying power. I couldn't believe the size of the crowd when I went to see the Sailor Moon: Super Live show!

I've kind of fallen off from paying Marvel Rivals on account of never getting very good at it haha. But I'm definitely curious about the new season content. Angela and Daredevil are both interesting picks for the new characters, and it has me thinking about jumping back in. I think the balance changes they've been making are always well thought out, and I always look forward to seeing the new skins.

A lot of what's been put out in the MCU in recent years has started to feel like homework to me sadly. I used to get really excited for new movies and rush to theaters to see them, but these days everything is so interconnected, you have to watch the things you don't care about as much in order to follow everything else. I'm still holding out hope that Secret Wars and Doomsday can be good, but I think Marvel has struggled to find the right formula and right characters to keep fans excited since Infinity War. My approach these days is to lean into the things I'm personally interested in (Agatha All Along, Spider-Man, etc) and not feel caught up on having to necessarily see everything right away. I'm hoping that'll help me bring the passion back, but I also need the MCU to figure out what it's trying to do.

Seeing the thread about whether George R.R. Martin would ever finish the Song of Fire and Ice books got me thinking about which game I've been waiting on the longest. And as someone who is forever thinking about starting a new Skyrim playthrough, that's got to the The Elder Scrolls 6. We've been waiting on that one for AGES and still know next to nothing about it. It has me worried that Bethesda might be a bit overwhelmed by trying to follow up on the success of Elder Scrolls 5 and may struggle to ever finish the project. Please tell me I'm wrong!

When I want a mindless grind, I always come back to Skyrim or something cozy like Story of Seasons. I was thrilled when Oblivion Remastered came along this year because it's a similar feeling to Skyrim, but with a new (to me) story. These days though, I'm playing mobile games when I want to unwind at the end of a long day. Checking in on my team in Pokemon Sleep and running another career mode in Umamsume: Pretty Derby are good, mindless fun.

Just a few months left of 2025, but there are some pretty big games still on the way. I know for me, Digimon Story: Time Stranger is high on the list, along with Witchbrook, provided it actually hits that winter 2025 release mark. What games are you still looking forward to for the rest of the year?

Some of my most anticipated games (Digimon Story: Time Stranger; Pokemon Legends Z-A) haven't come out yet, so it's hard to say. But so far, probably The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered because it brought back that Elder Scrolls nostalgia.