March saw a catastrophic event devastate the landscape of gaming. On the first day of the month everyone’s PlayStation 3s stopped working. Well, not everyone, those posh gits that had updated to the slim model carried on as normal. For one whole day, thanks to the internal clock and some very red-faced technicians, the majority of Sony’s flagship consoles didn’t work.
What would we do? Some of us sighed and switched our Xbox 360s on, some of us went immediately to the PlayStation Blog and spent a few hours explaining to the staff there just how useless they were and how every injustice in the world was clearly their fault. Most of us had a brief spell of panic followed by a day where we talked to our families a bit. It was a nightmare. Thankfully, at 11pm, it fixed itself thanks to the unstoppable passage of time.
A short while later there would be another sign of the impending Rapture as Iceland essentially exploded and all flights in Europe were cancelled for fear of getting dusty engines. Or something. We’re not quite sure on the science but we did learn to spell Eyjafjallaökull specifically so that we could seem smart. Unfortunately, we never quite learned how to pronounce it. Sorry, Icelanders.
Other notable news from the month included Michael Jackson signing the largest record deal in history with Sony Music. Oh no, sorry, the “King of Pop” had died so the huge record deal was actually a posthumous cash in by his estate. Tasteful.
Princess Aiko of Japan was excused from attending school this month because she was being bullied. Who bullies a Princess? Well, except for Bowser or that monster from Braid.
March was another month that saw some top quality games released. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 arrived at the start of the month with Final Fantasy XIII, God of War III and Just Cause 2 arriving later. Metro 2033 was the dark horse of the month, proving that a good atmosphere in a game can carry it a long way.
Some very strong games released in March then and perhaps it was another Sony franchise, God of War III, which deserved the most praise. Final Fantasy XIII might have absorbed the most play time but Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is almost certainly March’s game which is still played the most today, thanks to its absorbing multiplayer. The Wii’s most notable release was probably Red Steel 2, a widely overlooked title which is deserving of some attention if you happened to miss it first time around.
With a busier schedule than ever before perhaps March is always going to be a busy month for game releases that missed the pre-holidays sales window. March 2010 certainly supports this theory and March 2011 is looking quite busy too. It can only mean more choice for gamers so we’re all in favour of it, if only our wallets could keep up.
Oh, and the month started off dry and mild with the odd night frost but went out with plenty of rain and wind. Blustery, really.
Dan Lee
I remember the ApocalyPS3 so vividly! Mainly because I had bought Heavy Rain, went to play it and found I couldn’t.
citizeninsane45
I remember it because I managed to play Uncharted 2 in the morning without a problem, collecting a few trophies along the way. Upon turning off and on again, caues it to no longer work. The trophies I collected disappeared as I couldn’t sync. The trophies were for collecting 80 treasures and 150 headshots. As this was exceeded during my morning play and autosaved, I can’t go back and get these. If I want them, I need to delete my save and play through again and collect 80 treasures again as well as all the headshots.
Not bitter or anything………..;¬)
Dan Lee
Scarred for life much? :oD
jayjay119
I think I was one of the few original PS3 model users who wasn’t affected by the apocalyPS3. I don’t remember whether I didn’t turn my console on that day or whether it just wasn’t an issue… still was a good time to be me I suppose.
Nice read, thanks.
project84music
Same for me, but I didn’t find this out until just a couple of hours before it all got sorted out. I had been slightly concerned through the day cause I’d been up playing something a few hours into the new day, and whilst I hadn’t obviously experienced any problems, I had heard of people that had supposedly lost things when turning on again after doing the same. Good thing it magically repaired itself when the day went by =]
First month so far where I don’t own any of the listed games – I really want BFBC2, but still waiting on it to come down in price a little (well, I was about to buy it, and then the ultimate edition came out, so now I want that to lower a tad).
BIGAL-1992
Yeah, ApocalyPS3 was the day I unintentionally racked 100 points, because I wanted to know what the hell was happening. Also, Eyjafjallaökull; strangely enough, I seem to be one of only a few people outside of Iceland that knows how to pronounce it correctly.
BIGAL-1992
And guess what, EyjafjallaJökull was spelt wrong.
solidsteven
my ps3 worked on that day.I guess i have a very reliable one. I brought 1 week after release.
TSBonyman
My 160Gb Phat was immune thankfully. How i laughed.. until April 1st.. i’ll wait for the review before i say more ;)
solidsteven
Let me guess. It died then.:P
TSBonyman
No, it was something Other.. ;)
mynameisblair
I have an idea ;)
Jas-n
High 5 to you and all the other posh gits, we rule ;)
Aquastyle
Oh, I remember that incident, it was the internal clock that caused the catastrophy, right?
A great gaming-month for me personally though, despite this^. God of War 3 and Final Fantasy XIII being the highlights for me, two of the absolutely best games of 2010 in my opinion.
BIGAL-1992
Yup. Someone who was coding on it though 2010 was a leap year, so that’s why the internal clock malfunctioned.
SpikeyMikey23
I didnt trun my ps3 on so am unable to tell if mine would have been affected. BFBC2 still annoys me, would have been my first platinum, but i couldnt get those damn 20 demo kills!
aerobes
No internal clock shenanigans at the house of aerobes.
Good mention for Metro 2033 though, thoroughly enjoyable title and thanks for reminding me about it.
GTRsannin
I didn’t turn my PS3 on that day so don’t know if mine would have been affected or not