Summer Looks Spicy for Sports Gamers

In partnership with

It’s not always easy being a sports gamer in today’s world. You have to take hits on multiple fronts.

You got to deal with a lot of different groups, including the…

• “It’s just another roster update” crowd (it’s even what I named the newsletter!)

• You got the people who don’t even like sports calling your games “sports ball” games (look I play every genre but pipe down nerd if you’re saying “sports ball” still in 2026).

• You got the companies themselves inundating you with microtransaction requests even after paying full price in most of the largest sports games.

• You’ve got fanboys and haters digging in to you if you like any major sports game too much or too little.

Which is to say, we’ve all got a little Stanley Goodspeed on our shoulder wanting to scream cut us some friggin’ slack in response to these people.

And this summer feels like a welcome respite from a lot of the nonsense because we’re getting some actual new games, on top of the usual suspects.

We have an official OS Account that you all can sign-up for now. I implore all of you, whether you want to subscribe to a paid tier or not, to go that site and sign-up. Go there, click the “Sign In” button and then use either Discord or your OS name to log-in and connect everything together.

Also, please join the OS Discord.

I’ve talked about most of them in this newsletter in the last month, but it’s all becoming more real now that summer is approaching and everything is coming into view.

It starts with Forza Horizon 6, which is officially in early access and will be released for all next week.

It’s getting incredible reviews, and if you know anything about the last game in the series, that should not come as a surprise. The Horizon games are nearly 15 years in the making at this point, and for it to finally be going to Japan is one of many reasons it has been so hotly anticipated.

But even if racing games are not your thing (they’re usually not mine unless Burnout or Horizon are in the name), other games are getting more concrete details as well.

Take control of your chaotic inbox

Spam. Promotions. Phishing links. A messy inbox is more than annoying. It’s risky.

Proton Mail shields your inbox from invasive tracking and junk clutter by default. No creepy ad sorting. No surveillance. Just clean, simple organization designed to protect your focus.

You shouldn’t have to fight your email to find what matters. Proton Mail keeps your inbox safe, private, and easy to manage — so you can stay productive, not distracted.

Take control of your inbox

NBA The Run got its official release date, and it will be coming out on June 9 for $30. While I don’t love that the “deluxe” edition gives off the impression that the game will be full of microtransactions, it should be noted the game doesn’t actually have them.

That “Cred” you will get in the deluxe edition is currency you otherwise earn by just playing the game. They’re just giving you some for free if you get the $40 edition of the game.

But beyond the version of the game you buy, you can’t buy more “Cred” to cut the line. Those credits you earn then get you alternate jerseys, some new animations, and various cosmetics.

While we’ll have to wait and see if the game is more NBA Jam/NBA Street or NBA 2K Playgrounds in terms of quality, the point is we get a chance to judge a new arcade game. It seemed like maybe they had been outlawed or forgotten, even though a lot of the best sports games that come to mind for many people are arcade games.

However, perhaps this is a sign that there’s still hope for some rejuvenation in this area (as long as the game is good). It seems like the NBA remains the easiest organization to deal with when it comes to licensing, so basketball games are probably the best bet for a licensed arcade game today and in the future.

Of course, I say these things and then also see there’s this potential abomination called Beat The Champions coming out on May 28 as I suppose a potential World Cup cash grab:

While I appreciate the skirting of licensing issues by calling guys like David Beckham by the moniker “David Beckford” — how very early ‘90s of them — this looks like an absolute disaster in the making. I mean I don’t even know if they meant to have the “k” in “Harry kanern” in lowercase:

But I sure hope it’s intentional because having the really tall guy have a lowercase last name is some solid meta comedy to me. Also I think one of the Argentinian players is cross-eyed (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

You all can tell me if that game is any good though — I’m going to let you do the legwork on that one.

If none of these upcoming games do it for you, there’s still the big dogs waiting for you. The OS faithful on the forums are beginning to talk more and more about what they want or expect out of CFB 27, and I’m there wondering the same.

The PC question stands above most (will it or won’t it be on PC this year?), but whether that happens or not, this is EA’s flagship game now when it comes to quality. It’s come into the surprising position of needing to lead the sports division even if other games technically outsell it, and so there is a real weight on the shoulders of the devs to come up with some big improvements this cycle.

Lastly, returning to games already out, as someone who consumed a lot of WNBA action last weekend, I wouldn’t be doing my duty as a mega supporter of the WNBA if I did not point out NBA 2K did add the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo into the game in its latest patch, plus updated the jerseys and uniforms throughout the WNBA for the start of the ‘26 season.

And for The Show fans out there who don’t just want to read about me going through dynasties going back to 2000, that game did receive a minor patch yesterday that fixes a couple franchise mode bugs and adds some improvements to the trade counter system.

Have a great weekend everyone, and I’ll see you back here next week on Wednesday and Friday as usual.