April
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Pre-April Fools warning: Trust no one
As you wander unsuspecting into your weekend, don't forget that the craziest game news day outside of E3 (well, maybe not anymore) is coming up. That's right, Sunday is April Fools Day, the one day a year where newsmakers and gamemakers everywhere stop making unintentional jokes and try to intentionally make up the most ludicrously believable fake stories that they can.From BurgerCraft to real 1up mushrooms to cheat site shutdowns, no topic is safe. Heck, in the case of magazines, the actual joke can come in early March. Here are few tips to keep your coming weekend fool free. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is: We'd all love for Nintendo to suddenly give everyone who clicks a link a free Wii, but face it, it doesn't seem too likely. Sourcing is important: If a blockbuster April 1 story comes from unnamed sources or a mysteriously dead web site, remain skeptical. The least they could do is forge some documentation for their joke; make them work for it. It's Sunday: Big gaming news never comes out on Sunday. Then again, don't be surprised if some sites wait till Monday to spring their foolishness this year. Sega is not re-entering the hardware business. Nintendo is not leaving it: Actually, this is good advice to remember year round. Your favorite classic Sega franchise from yesteryear is not going to suddenly reappear as a Wii-exclusive title: Oh, wait.... When in doubt, don't believe it: If the story pops up again in a week, you're probably in the clear.
Japanese hardware sales, Mar. 19 - Mar. 25: April Fools edition
Did we say April Fools edition? We meant completely real edition. This weeks numbers, for whatever reason, are slightly unusual, so we've coupled a short explanation for each system in the chart. - Atari Jaguar: 1,989,323 1,989,322 - In a startling turn of events, the Atari Jaguar received an unbelievable resurgence in popularity. Its success can only be attributed to a flash mob, who thought it would be funny for a bunch of people to raid a warehouse and purchase a bunch of systems wholesale.- Wii: 134,257 9,834 - The Wii continues to sell well. In related news, mysterious living-room related deaths are rising rapidly.- PS3: 70,942 20,771 - The PS3, despite continuous bad press, continues to grill burgers with the best of them. George Foreman's stock is rapidly falling.- PSP: 38,211 4,032 - Poospe?- PS2: 37,778 7,110 - While 37,778 units were sold, it turns out that only three were sold to people who weren't replacing a broken one.- Xbox 360: 14,170 3,173 - Has anyone else noticed this heat wave lately? We're looking at you, power bricks.- Gamecube: 666 666 - Oh my God. Run.- GBA SP: pi e - Lawl. Pi + e = Pie.- Xbox: i ... er ... ... dammit! - Remarkably, the Xbox managed to sell an imaginary number of units last week. Whether this is better or worse than zero units, we're not sure.- DS Lite: 0 121,471 - Nintendo has a problem: everyone in Japan already has a DS Lite. Didn't see that one coming ....[Source: Lamar]Check after the break for the totally fake numbers. Yep, not like the ones above at all. Really, really fake.
Fat lady sings: Opera free longer, but final version delayed
So, there's good news, and bad news in the Wii camp. Which do you want first? Okay, the bad news it is: the final version of the Wii Internet Channel is delayed. Although delayed in the nick of time, as it were. It was supposed to be available in late March ... and here we are in late March. No final Internet Channel sighting over here, up in the crow's nest? Negative sir, only the beta. Opera tells us that it will now be available some time in April ... although no actual date has been announced yet. Our money is on late April, it's possibly too much to hope for an Easter surprise.Onto the good news, then: the Wii Opera browser will be available longer for everyone's favorite price ... FREE! That's right folks, don't order yet because er, you don't need to. You can just go ahead and download the free beta, and then grab the real goods when they're offered up in April. The Opera browser will cost 500 Wii points ($5 for Americans) after the free period, which was set to end in June, but will now be sliding to July. The only great unknown is the current beta browser, which was good until the end of March -- will they be extending that until the real one comes out?[Thanks, tqt]
Chocobo Tales breaks out this April
This year's contender for Most Precious Game finally has a release date stateside: Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales is slated to hit shelves April 3. Since we are suckers for everything Final Fantasy-related, it's a sure bet that we've already got the date circles in our calendars ... and if you saw all these trailers, you probably want to borrow our marker.
Sony Europe sez PS3 still coming in March, not April
Sony execs have been known to say a few less-than-recommended phrases in the past, and while usually it's all fun and games poking fun of their blunders, things get serious when the giant starts talking delays. In a recent interview with CNET, Sony's latest CEO -- Sir Howard Stringer -- somehow got his wires crossed up and proclaimed that "the European launch [of the PS3] would be in April," and that this momentous occasion "is very important to us." As expected, more than a few minor uproars ensued, but apparently March is the new April, as a SCEE spokesperson has now stated that the official PlayStation 3 European launch is "still on track for March, despite suggestions from the CEO proclaiming otherwise." Of course, no actual day in March has been officially selected, but that number could come as early as next week, and if Mr. Stringer is to be the one delivering the news, please, somebody get the man a cue card.
April bodes well for Xbox 360
The US charts of hardware and software sales for April are rolling in, and Microsoft is loving it. Taking the top hardware spot, the Xbox 360 was the most trafficked console of the month.Even though a certain Disney game might have taken numero uno, the rest of the Top Six were dominated by 360 titles. Here they are: Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, MLB 2K6, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat and Tomb Raider: Legend.
Breaking News: Blu-Ray now available for purchase - only $299
In a move that has stunned Toshiba and excited HD lovers everywhere, Sony has just released their coveted Blu-Ray player. Best of all, they have undercut Toshiba's price by releasing their player at whopping $299! This is simply astounding! We all knew that Sony had the support of most of the movie studios, but no one excepted those studies to release so many titles. As I am writing this, studios keep sending lists and lists of their release titles over the news feeds. We will get you a complete list as soon as we can. This day simply could not get any better then I ran across what many of you called out for: Penthouse's Blu-Ray edition collection! It appears that they took all the "classic" stuff, combined with new material, and utilized all of Blu-Ray's capacity. What could make today any better? Blu-Ray is here, it's cheap, and there are tons of titles (and porn). What a way to start the day! [April Fools]
