The era of virtual reality gaming began in earnest in March 2016. Sure, you’d been able to buy dev kits and play around with various experimental games, but 28th March saw the full release of consumer versions of the Oculus Rift. How well did it sell, though? Well, you’ll have to wait until our April round up to get even a vague hint.
Sony got a few digs in at their competitors, distracting from the impending Rift and Vive launches with a PlayStation VR dedicated event right in the middle of the month, revealing the £349/$399 price point, outlining all the specifications, and touting the extensive list of developers that were working on the system. Having said just prior to the event that PlayStation VR is for “the mass market” and that it would be “affordable”, they definitely delivered on those two points more than the PC based headsets.
However, March wasn’t all smooth sailing for Sony, not by a long shot. Just days after the PSVR event, word leaked of a “PS4.5” or “PS4K” that was more than just a mid-cycle redesign that shrunk the console down. It marked the start of a long six months of mounting evidence for the console’s existence before Sony actually announced what would become the PlayStation 4 Pro in September.
Microsoft got to be the good guys in the quest for cross platform multiplayer, as they removed the hurdles for developers to do so, and the likes of Psyonix said they were more than ready to unite their Xbox One and PlayStation 4 players. Sony acted a little high and mighty about it, pointing to their own long history of PC to PlayStation play, but seeing no reason to lift a finger on this occasion.
Then there were the major studio closures. Lionhead Studios and Evolution Studios were both pillars of the British gaming community, but Microsoft and Sony both determined that they were better served in closing down these developers. Thankfully this was not quite the end for Evolution, but Lionhead’s departure will be sorely missed. Their oft delayed Fable Legend was also cancelled in the process, while Daybreak Studios canned EverQuest Next as well.
It was actually a pretty mixed month for news. Uncharted 4 was delayed because they hadn’t made enough copies, Total War: Warhammer was pushed back to May, No Man’s Sky got a release date (which was later pushed back), Disney pledged to support Disney Infinity 3.0 through 2016 (then reneged on that pledge), Activision decided the better of having a show floor presence at E3, and Tim Sweeney had a right go at Microsoft’s Universal Windows Platform.
Much of it was more positive, such as Firewatch, SOMA and The Division all doing very well for themselves, but then there was the downright bizarre. Hitman had a rather poorly thought out advertising campaign in public toilets, Senran Kagura had a series of videos about body pillow dating, and Resident Evil got a fragrance that I can only assume features the aroma of rotting flesh.
In the reviews we had, amongst others, The Division – good, but not as amazing as it could have been –  Hitman: Intro Pack – off to a promising start – The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD, the torrid Alekhine’s Gun, Sadame, the butt-sliding adventures of Action Henk, Pokken Tournament, Trackmania Turbo, Hyrule Warriors Legends, Senran Kagura Estival Versus, and the excellent Dirt Rally on console.
The Formula One season got underway in Australia, with Nico Rosberg getting the first win of the season, while the England rugby union team recovered from a torrid time at last year’s World Cup to record their first grand slam at the Six Nations in over a decade.
The real world had a fair dose of tragic events. Despite partial ceasefires, the war in Syria saw several major new offensives launched by practically all sides of the fight. The spill over into other parts of the world in the form of terrorist attacks saw bombings in both Istanbul and Brussels, with a manhunt for the perpetrators lasting for days afterwards in Belgium.
The US presidential primaries were in full swing, with Bernie Sanders getting a surprise win against Hillary Clinton in Michigan, while the Republican race narrowed down to just Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich. Meanwhile, David Cameron recalled parliament to try and deal with Tata’s decision to close or sell their Port Talbot Steelworks.
The first two months of 2016 had already claimed the lives of some beloved celebrities, but March saw the passing on of Ronnie Corbett, This Morning agony aunt Denise Robertson and Paul Daniels. 2016 was only just getting started.
The weather was not particularly kind to us either. Here’s the Met Office’s Mark McCarthy to tell us about how it started with bits of snowfall and finished with Storm Katie battering the counter over Easter weekend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygq8GIATAFk
