November rolled around, and it was time for Sony’s third hardware release in as many months, as the PlayStation 4 Pro launched on November 10th. While it’s excellent value for what it can do, it’s hardware for the future, as many of the games that have been updated with Pro support fail to take full advantage of what it can do. You can read our review of the machine here, as well as our look at how to pick a good TV for your 4K HDR gaming needs.
The PlayStation 4 Pro wasn’t the only hardware release of the month, as Nintendo released the Nintendo Classic Mini: NES. It promptly sold out and reappeared on auction sites for more than three times the price.
November also so yet more major game releases, with Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Modern Warfare Remastered, Watch Dogs 2 and Dishonored 2 all coming in quick succession, not to mention Pokémon Sun & Moon. We also reviewed Skyrim’s remaster, Hitman’s complete season (which had concluded right at the end of October), Football Manager 2017, Robinson: The Journey, Killing Floor 2, Eagle Flight, Weeping Doll, Steins; Gate 0, Planet Coaster, How We Soar and a number of others.
However, one of the biggest stories of the month was that, quite simply, a lot of the major game releases of the past couple of months weren’t selling anywhere near as many copies as was expected of them. Infinite Warfare sales were significantly down on last year’s Black Ops 3, and Watch Dogs 2, Dishonored 2 and Titanfall 2 all underperformed as well. Titanfall 2 in particular had EA defending their release plans, having had it so close to Battlefield 1. However, EA promised to support the game, “or whatever the f*** that means.”
Watch Dogs 2 had a difficult launch, thanks to a lag inducing online bug that was discovered just days before release. It took them the better part of a fortnight to fully fix the seamless multiplayer, but it may have coloured some people’s impressions of the game to see that, yet again, a game had released in less than perfect working order. The accidental smut was more amusing.
It was better news for Microsoft, who proudly stated that the Xbox One had outsold the PlayStation 4 for four months running in the US and two months running in the UK and Australia. Of course, Sony were somewhat hamstrung by an impending hardware launch, and Black Friday became a major battleground for them both as prices were slashed.
EA had a better time of it with the Mass Effect Andromeda cinematic trailer. It wasn’t exactly what people wanted to see, but this was soon to be followed by more information in December. It was also good news for Hello Games, who finally opened up to the community once more with word of the Foundation Update, adding things like base building and the ability to have freighters. They were also cleared by the ASA over the game’s marketing.
Also, this was announced. (Uh, it’s a bit NSFW)
That trailer is the perfect antidote to the result of the American Presidential Election, which saw Donald Trump become the President Elect to pretty much everyone’s surprise. People searched for logical explanations for how this most unlikely and staggeringly disliked candidate managed to curry so much favour with the American populace, but considering that Hillary Clinton wasn’t exactly the most beloved public figure, had been embroiled in numerous scandals over the last year, hampered by FBI investigations, fake news and state sponsored hacking from Russia.
All that happened in the UK was that Andy Murray became the world number 1 tennis player, the High Court ruled that British MPs had a right to vote on whether or not to invoke Article 50 and formally start the UK’s exit from the EU – only for the judges that ruled this to be sickeningly vilified in some parts of the press, and the Snooper’s Charter was given Royal Assent, meaning that any number of UK bodies can rifle through anything and everything you do on the internet. Wonderful.
To the sound of jubilant partying in certain parts of the US and mass mourning in Cuba, Fidel Castro died – and we looked at the times he had appeared in video games – but his was not the only famous death of the month. Ron Glass, well known from American TV, passed away, as did The Brady Bunch’s Florence Henderson, Robert Vaughn from The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and the beloved singer Leonard Cohen.
In the weather, it was November. We turn to Stormrockboy13 again for our weather update, and he’s got a pretty big surprise to open the video with!
