Gamescom seemed to roll almost directly into the busiest part of the year, as September saw the release of Destiny: Rise of Iron, FIFA 17, PES 2017, NBA 2K17, Phoenix Wright – Spirit of Justice, Dragon Quest VII for 3DS, the deeply disappointing Metroid Prime: Federation Force and a wave of the more unusual and indie games including The Tomorrow Children, Filthy Lucre, Virginia, Verdun, The Bunker, Hue and Mother Russia Bleeds.
I also got to take a good long look at the slimmed down PlayStation 4 that was officially announced at the PlayStation Meeting held in New York. It’s a nice console, but it was a mere footnote to the other announcements Sony had, including that all PlayStation 4 consoles would be receiving HDR support and the reveal of the PlayStation 4 Pro, heralding in the era of (sort of) 4K gaming.
Microsoft got very sassy on Twitter, in part because the PS4 Pro doesn’t feature a 4K Blu-ray drive, but Sony got to deliver a strong new mid-generation update with an attractive price point. They followed this up with their Tokyo Game Show conference just a week later, showing off a bevy of Japan-centric games, and featuring this amazing rap:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiDZVasGSUc
The Last Guardian saw one last delay until December, inadvertently pushing Gravity Rush 2 back to a January release, while South Park: The Fractured but Whole also saw a delay until 2017.
Just prior to PlayStation Meeting we had Call of Duty XP and the grand finale to the inaugural World League, at which Activision also gave a proper reveal of the upcoming Infinite Warfare multiplayer gameplay.
We also got to take an early look at some of the PlayStation VR’s early games, coming away impressed by our brief glimpses of Driveclub VR, Resident Evil 7 and Farpoint. Sony announced a series of PSVR tour dates across the country, while the Oculus Touch was met with bemusement at the £189 price tag it featured.
It was another difficult month for Hello Games. They managed to clear around 80% of all support requests for No Man’s Sky with their barrage of quick fire patches, but as they went radio silent, the Advertising Standards Authority was prompted to launch an investigation into the game’s marketing and store pages.
In the real world, the Paraplympic Games started and Great Britain enjoyed further success, coming second overall on the medal tables, Nicholas Chamberlain, the Bishop of Grantham, became the first ice cream loving openly gay bishop in the Church of England, and we saw the new polymer £5 note released into circulation.
David Cameron decided to put and end to his career of political brinksmanship and quite the House of Commons, while Jeremy Corbyn fended off the Labour leadership challenge from Owen Smith. Over in the US, Hillary Clinton came out as the winner from the first presidential debate, which had record numbers of viewers.
None of this really mattered though, in a month where Love Productions announced that The Great British Bake Off would be leaving the BBC and going to Channel 4 next series. Mel and Sue promptly said that they wouldn’t be making the move themselves, and Mary Berry also committed to staying with the Beeb. In the end, Channel 4 seemed to have bought a nice tent and Paul Hollywood, who briefly became one of the most reviled men in the country.
In the weather, it got very hot in Kent with the hottest September day since 1911, and there was flash flooding. We’re back with Stormrockboy13 to tell us a bit about it.
Bornindafire
Still not one boxing game on next gen consoles !!!!!!