Games, films, music, events, anniversaries and the personal dates that matter more than all of them.
Updated 4 August 2026.
At the start of each year, I make a calendar of what I want to see, play, hear and remember. I began this one in February. Since then, rumours have hardened into dates, dates have moved, and several hopeful TBCs have become finished work.
This revision is less prophecy than ledger: what happened, what is booked and what remains wishful thinking. The categories are now consistent—Anniversary, Event, Film, Game, Music, Personal, Series and Technology—and anniversaries are limited to genuine five-year milestones. Otherwise every ordinary birthday starts demanding a parade.
Orbitals remains my front-runner in interactive art direction. It has not launched yet, but few games this year have displayed such immediate visual confidence.
January
Still the quiet month. The year had not begun shouting yet.
February
21 February — Anniversary: The Legend of Zelda turns 40.
23 February — Personal: The birth of our daughter. Nothing else on this list comes close.
27 February — Anniversary: Pokémon Red and Green turn 30. The original Japanese releases—not Red and Blue, which arrived internationally later.
March
8 March — Anniversary: Dragon Age II turns 15.
9–13 March — Event: The first GDC Festival of Gaming.
12–18 March — Event: SXSW.
15 March — Event: The 98th Academy Awards.
16 March — Anniversary: Final Fantasy XII turns 20.
17 March — Anniversary: V for Vendetta turns 20.
19 March — Game: Crimson Desert launches.
20 March — Anniversary: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion turns 20.
24 March — Anniversary: Dark Souls III turns 10.
26–29 March — Event: PAX East.
28 March — Anniversary: Kingdom Hearts II marks 20 years since its North American release.
31 March — Anniversary: Godzilla vs. Kong turns five.
April
1 April — Anniversary: Apple turns 50.
10 April — Music: Melvins and Napalm Death give Savage Imperial Death March its wider release.
12 April — Personal: Canberra Marathon.
13–16 April — Event: CinemaCon.
17 April — Anniversary: Game of Thrones turns 15.
17 April — Event: The BAFTA Games Awards.
18 April — Event: Record Store Day.
19 April — Anniversary: Portal 2 turns 15.
22 April — Event: Earth Day.
26 April — Event: Alien Day.
May
1–3 May — Event: EVO Japan.
2 May — Event: Free Comic Book Day.
4 May — Event: Star Wars Day.
5 May — Event: Fifth Element Day.
6 May — Event: Tickets open for Star Wars Celebration 2027.
7 May — Anniversary: Resident Evil Village turns five.
10 May — Anniversary: Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End turns 10.
10 May — Personal: Our 14th anniversary.
10 May — Personal: Mother’s Day.
10 May — Event: The BAFTA Television Awards.
12–23 May — Event: The Cannes Film Festival.
12, 14 and 16 May — Event: The Eurovision Song Contest.
13 May — Anniversary: DOOM turns 10.
17 May — Anniversary: L.A. Noire and The Witcher 2 turn 15.
18 May — Anniversary: The PC edition of Days Gone turns five.
19 May — Anniversary: Over the Hedge turns 20.
20 May — Anniversary: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides turns 15.
27 May — Anniversary: Pan’s Labyrinth turns 20.
27 May — Game: 007 First Light launches—the first original Bond game in more than a decade.
29 May — Film: A24’s Backrooms arrives, transforming Kane Parsons’s viral nightmare into a feature film.
June
5 June — Event: Summer Game Fest.
8–12 June — Technology: Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference.
10 June — Anniversary: Super 8 turns 15.
11 June — Event: The FIFA World Cup begins.
21 June — Anniversary: Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame turns 30.
21 June — Series: House of the Dragon Season 3 premieres.
23 June — Anniversary: The Nintendo 64 turns 30.
24 June — Film: Avatar: Fire and Ash reaches Disney+.
Summer Game Fest also brought something I had placed in the wish list: Alien: Isolation 2 is now official. Creative Assembly is returning, although no release date has been announced.
July
29 June–12 July — Event: Wimbledon.
4–26 July — Event: The Tour de France and the World Cup (Viva España).
7 July — Anniversary: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest turns 20.
9 July — Anniversary: Donkey Kong turns 45.
16 July — Film: The Odyssey opens in Australia. Christopher Nolan’s Homeric epic subsequently delivers the largest global opening of his career.
18 July — Anniversary: Aliens turns 40.
19 July — Anniversary: Final Fantasy X turns 25.
23–26 July — Event: San Diego Comic-Con.
30 July — Anniversary: Batman: The Movie turns 60.
August
5 August — Anniversary: Suicide Squad turns 10.
6 August — Anniversary: Metroid turns 40.
9 August — Anniversary: No Man’s Sky turns 10—a particularly satisfying milestone for a game whose life became far more interesting after launch.
21–24 August — Game: The Duskbloods global network test. FromSoftware’s full release remains scheduled for 2026, without an exact date.
26–30 August — Event: Gamescom.
28 August — Music: Mastodon release Marrow Deep, their ninth studio album.
September
3 September — Game: Orbitals launches on Nintendo Switch 2. Its Digital Deluxe edition includes the art book that first helped put it at the top of this list.
4–7 September — Event: PAX West.
12 September — Anniversary: Mastodon’s Blood Mountain turns 20.
12–13 September — Event: BlizzCon.
14 September — Event: The Emmy Awards.
15 September — Game: Marvel’s Wolverine launches.
17 September — Anniversary: Tool’s Ænima turns 30.
17–21 September — Event: Tokyo Game Show.
23–24 September — Event: Meta Connect.
26 September — Event: The Last of Us Day.
September, date unannounced — Technology: Apple’s expected annual hardware event. Until Apple sends the invitation, every specific product claim remains speculation.
October
6 October — Game: Star Wars: Galactic Racer launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. The TBC is gone: podracing has an actual date.
8–11 October — Event: New York Comic Con.
17 October — Anniversary: Cradle of Filth’s Thornography turns 20.
23 October — Film: Laika’s Wildwood arrives.
November
1 November — Personal: My 38th birthday.
3 November — Event: United States midterm elections.
11 November — Anniversary: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim turns 15.
11 November — Series: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 3 premieres on Prime Video.
13 November — Anniversary: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty turns 25.
15 November — Anniversary: The original Xbox turns 25.
19 November — Anniversary: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess turns 20.
27 November — Event: Black Friday.
December
3–6 December — Event: CCXP.
6 December — Anniversary: The Last Guardian turns 10.
8 December — Anniversary: Apocalypto turns 20.
10 December — Event: The Game Awards.
13 December — Anniversary: Mars Attacks! turns 30.
18 December — Film: Dune: Part Three opens.
19 December — Anniversary: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring turns 25.
25 December — Film: Robert Eggers’s Werwulf opens in the United States; its Australian date remains subject to local scheduling.
25 December — Anniversary: Children of Men marks 20 years since its limited American release.
25 December — Personal: Christmas, Potter.
31 December — Personal: New Year’s Eve.
Confirmed, but Still Undated
Game: The Duskbloods remains scheduled for 2026.
Series: Dune: Prophecy Season 2 is still expected in 2026, although HBO has not announced a premiere date.
Music: Gojira have not confirmed a release date for an eighth album. The concrete 2026 item is the expanded 10th-anniversary edition of Magma.
Technology: An autumn Apple launch is predictable; its products are not official until Apple announces them.
No Longer 2026
A useful calendar must admit when reality changes.
Film: A24’s Elden Ring, directed by Alex Garland, is dated for 3 March 2028.
Game: The Witcher IV has no release date and is not a 2026 game.
Technology: PlayStation 6 remains speculation, not an announced product.
Music: A sixth Tool album is better treated as a future hope than a 2026 release.
Projects Worth Watching
These are real projects without dependable dates, not scheduled 2026 releases.
Film: BioShock, Death Stranding, Horizon Zero Dawn, a new Labyrinth, Pirates of the Caribbean 6, The Mummy 4, Penelope of Sparta and whatever Guillermo del Toro directs next.
Games: Alien: Isolation 2, Beyond Good & Evil 2, the next BioShock, Cory Barlog’s next game, Coven of the Chicken Foot, Intergalactic, Judas, Jurassic Park: Survival, Project Robot, Project Windless, The Elder Scrolls VI and The Witcher IV.
Series: God of War, Mass Effect and Pacific Rim.
Music: New records from Big Business, Electric Wizard, Primus, Sleep and Taraka.
The Actual Wish List
No release windows, dubious rumours or corporate smoke signals—just things I want.
A new Conker. A proper Legacy of Kain. A rebuilt Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi. More Vagrant Story. A third The Last of Us. New albums from Rage Against the Machine and System of a Down.
Then come the impossible RPGs: The Dark Crystal, Animorphs, Nightcrawler, Eternal Kingdom, an Aboriginal Australian mythic epic, and open worlds built from Narnia, Neverland, Oz and Wonderland.
The point of the list is not prediction. It is attention. Most of the year arrives as undifferentiated noise; a calendar like this marks the things capable of cutting through it. Some will disappoint. Some will slip. A few will become obsessions. The personal dates will outlast them all.
