[1.] Okay, what happened to PlayStation in general, game output wise?! I know that as I am writing this, there is still nine days left. However, PlayStation 4's numbers in particular are just...what?! This has been going on for the last couple of months while Nintendo's numbers are increasing a lot more than usual, even by this company recent standards of curation. Nintendo Switch 2 I expected since last year was their launch year, but what is Nintendo Switch 1's excuse?! XBOX has remained flat for the most part, and XBOX One is beating PlayStation 4 in output now on a monthly basis, not that it matters since the system is still way too far away from reaching PlayStation 4's numbers anyway.
Also, if anyone is saying that Nintendo Switch 1 and 2's dramatically increasing numbers are happening because of Grand Theft Auto 6's release and/or because the developers are abandoning Sony PlayStation because their choice to release a disc unit of the game has been taken away due to Sony's all digital future (Which I hate, but that is honestly a different kind of fish that I do not want to talk about right now), I'm going to have to disappoint all of you:
[a.] Third party developers and publishers are the ones who want the all-digital future and the vast majority have been rehearsing this since PC's became a gaming system. Sony merely licks their boots on the matter, Microsoft does it to a lesser extent. Nintendo never will, hence their use of carts. Nintendo will continue doing this until resources for the carts expires completely and that is not endless. Third parties for the most part are not going to abandon a store on their own free will, especially one that gives them what they want. That makes no sense.
[b.] Most of the people who are saying that everyone is working around GTA 6 have a brain that is still in the belief that the video game industry can never be changed and it has been the same since the 1990's when November was the busiest time to release games. It's 2026, there are too many games to be released even with closed garden platforms. A lot of games have still not been announced for release dates yet. Furthermore, the art of shadow dropping has increased due to digital and also give the element of surprise. This has been going on for years now. I don't like betting on predicting November 2026 at this time since Nintendo hasn't had their September Direct and they will likely have it; but I'm suspecting that the final tally will likely see being flat, or a slight increase, which is 274 games.
To be fair through, Nintendo Switch's year thus far (up to July 31st, 2026) has been crazy. None of the months have less than 250 games, and April and July had at least 300 games. See the notice for August 2026 since I posted this earlier than usual. It's a weak, but interesting argument that GTA 6 might have moved all games into the January 2026-October 2026 slot and then move on with January 2027 onward, with minimal amount of games in between November and December of 2026 (which almost assures December 2026 will likely end the 250 games or more streak). I don't buy it fully, but it is an interesting argument anyway.
[c.] I believe the game output decrease is due to two factors: The weak factor is that PlayStation 4 and XBOX One to a lesser extent are finally on the road to their shops no longer releasing any more games approved by each publisher. Both are into Aligned Year 13 (which ends in November), and it's a natural transition into the future consoles of PlayStation 5 and XBOX Series. This is not a surprise to me. However, this doesn't account for the massive drop in PlayStation 4 and to a lesser extent PlayStation 5. XBOX One and XBOX Series have stayed flat for the most part, especially in the last couple of months.
I believe the second factor is the big one: Sony have been purging games from the game market and banning certain developers and publishers from releasing games on them anymore. When I was compiling the list for July 2026, I noticed that companies such as AFIL Games, Xitilon, the sock puppets of Midnight Works, Appwill Company and quite a few others not usually appear on the list. XBOX One and XBOX Series didn't have the sock puppets of Midnight Works obviously. However, AFIL Games and a few Xitilon games still made it. That indicates to me that Sony had a major purge of their game library. I don't know where this is going for the developers and publishers who have been purged, but after seeing Nintendo's curation for the longest time, the publishers and developers will likely play with sock puppets and do whack-a-mole on them until Sony and Microsoft just stop with automatic submissions of games for PS4 and XBOX One and that will be the sign that the digital stores will soon close.
The irony of it all is: The physical media freaks get angry over an all digital future, but when slop is purged from the digital store, they cheer like crazy and when I mention that they are hypocrites, they look at me like I spat on them. If you really believe in choice, you shouldn't be cheering for the elimination of slop, you should be allowing the slop to be on a disc or cart, even if it is slop. Otherwise, your issue is slop being created in general and you are admitting that Yamaguchi's policies for the 1980's and 1990's were all good. Trusting someone with unchecked power is dangerous and maybe even lethal and trusting Nintendo's judgment without checking their power is why Nintendo went into hell and Sony became the force that it is and became the unchecked power that everyone defends because of their Hollywood connections where checking power is akin to burning artists in terms of mentality.
North American Game Lists For August 2026
+ Nintendo Switch had 252 games. -48 games from last month and +3 games from last year.
+ Nintendo Switch 2 had 54 games. -1 game from last month and +43 games from last year.
+ PlayStation 4 had 45 games. -13 games from last month and -112 games from last year.
+ PlayStation 5 is projected for 158 games. -3 games from last month and -36 games from last year.
+ XBOX One is projected for 74 games. -11 games from last month and -42 games from last year.
+ XBOX Series had 142 games. +15 games from last month and -19 games from last year.
- This is the 31st straight month of Nintendo Switch having 200 or more games.
- This is the eighth straight month of Nintendo Switch having 250 or more games.
- August 2026 is the slowest month of the year via 31 Days/28 Days tiebreaker.
- This is the second straight month of Nintendo Switch 2 having 50 or more games.
- Nintendo Switch 2 reaches 500 games and surpasses Nintendo Switch 1's Aligned Year One numbers and Gameboy Color's final numbers.
- As of September 3rd, Nintendo Switch 2 surpasses Game Boy's final numbers.
- Nintendo Switch 1 has 2167 games in 2026, breaking Nintendo DS's final numbers in less than seven and a half months.
- As of September 2nd, Nintendo Switch 1's first half of Aligned Year Ten has reached 1663 games.
- Nintendo Switch 1 broke the single one day release amount for a console/portable on August 27th, 2026, at 54 games!
- MASK for Nintendo Switch 1 is the largest third party developers on all consoles at 221 games and counting!
- PlayStation 4 had the lowest month since January of 2019, when that month had 41 games.
- XBOX Series surpassed 3000 developers with one game or more.
- Nintendo Switch is projected to have 250 games in September 2026.
* Notice: I'll start with the game lists in September as usual, with Nintendo Switch 1 and 2 being updated on August 31st/September 1st.
[2.] As far as TaleSpin Dynamite comics go, I'll be looking for them this upcoming week. If I can find the comic book, I might even do a review on it. Don't expect it on the Rant Shack since I would probably do two comic books at a time. All I can say is: While the artwork is not 1:1 with the series, I do love the expressive faces. Way better than most of the old TaleSpin comics where the artists look like they were sabotaging moment where 50% of the characters look angry for no reason.
Update: I finally got the comic book from Woodlawn after picking out my new reading glasses. Sadly, none of the old Disney Afternoon omnibus books were available at the store and I don't feel like looking for images to pirate. I want TaleSpin to sell enough to justify a reboot on television. So, "Not Our Kind Of Folks" and the other one that I cannot name right now are out at the moment.
[3.] I have been mulling over what to review next besides Hey Duggee, and I might work on reviewing animated specials from CBS and ABC during the weekends. I'm not expecting anything good, just curious on how well the specials really are. I might start these next month after the game lists.
Update: My first special will be "The Incredible Detectives", my second Ruby-Spears production to review next to Mega Man. How fitting since it's time to give the really bad R-S stuff a go. I'm planning to review them on weekend just like they aired on ABC and CBS. Sadly, I have already done one ABC Weekend Special already years ago; but it will not count towards the index since it's part of the Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin index. The live-action costume special, everyone.
[4.] Even though I can no longer comment on Friendly Atheist due to Substack; that doesn't mean there is nothing there that I cannot form an opinion on. This one however, I do have something to say:
Netflix gets sued because suing K-POP would counter...
Most of the time for me, wannabe gods anger me. This lawsuit makes me laugh. Look, this band sucks; but at least I can see why they are suing. They are trying to protect their brand. On it's own, it's like whatever, I am going to let this play out in court. One more thing: If you are going to protect your trademark honestly, sue K-POP Demon Hunter at least! This case looks like someone was jealous that Netflix was honest about the band's place more than protecting their brand to me. Seriously, know how the system works and go after the right groups if you want to sue. Otherwise, it makes you into a dumb attention whore with zero clue.
[5.] https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Gone_Barry_Gone
There have been a few cameos of TaleSpin characters in the Chibiverse. Baloo appears here doing the sky writing and actually spelled Barry correctly. On the one hand, great continuity from Vowel Play. On the other hand, spelling it Barrie would have been a funnier joke in hindsight. Don Karnage DT 2017 appears a few times as well. By the way, the SeaDuck Baloo flies is the same from the artwork for the NES game from Capcom.
[6.] The voice of Thaddeus E. Klang in TaleSpin, Tim Curry, has passed away at the age of 80. He died on August 25th, 2026.
More to come...
