We've very nearly survived another summer gaming showcase season — there's one more showcase today, and then we're in the clear for another year.

Game showcase summer has come to a close: the early weeks of June fill the void of E3 with video game announcements, capping off with Summer Game Fest 2026 itself.

I wanna try it. I love ramen (ordered some last night, which is what prompted this thought). Pandaren are canonically extremely good at cooking; they even get a racial about it. Their ramen must be divine.

This is The Queue, our daily column full of Qs and As where we wish we could live in Pandaria. Seriously. Grummles and Yaks and Luckydos; great food and elemental spirits. Just ignore the Sha and the Mantid and the Virmen, and it’s a great place.

Because of the Blizzard Watch Site Curse, the day after we recorded the podcast, the release date for patch 12.0.7 was announced, because that's just how that works.

Summer is approaching, and that means it's game showcase season as we wind up to Summer Game Fest on June 6.

What a time to be a gamer. We live in a golden age of video gaming, in which there is a constant deluge of new, great, innovative titles everywhere — and this week in particular is jam-packed with indie game showcases highlighting the weird and the wonderful (and the weird). Of course we also live in an age of big-budget live service games packed with must-have microtransactions, so maybe on the whole it balances out.

But I’m trying to focus on the positive here, which is the many new games hitting my Steam wishlist.

(Is that a positive? Hm.)

This is the Queue, our daily Q&A column where I make my best attempt to answer your gaming questions. Let’s get to it.

Every week the Epic Games Store gives away a game or two for free.

People have been logging on to their computers in order to cast spells at other people logged on to their own computers for over four decades.

It's time once again for the Hearthstone UnidentifiBrawl Tavern Brawl, which packs your deck with mystery cards.

I’m fishing.

In a video game.

I have never been willing to do this. Diablo 4, I think you’ve broken me.