aprilfools07
Latest
April Fool's 8-bit tie now available
Back in the April of '07, we spent one long weekend dealing with the multitude of April Fool's tips we received -- one of those tips is now real. Although ThinkGeek created the WiiHelm as their big joke, it was their subtle 8-bit tie that got people upset who tried to purchase the item and ThinkGeek said they'd actually start making it. Now the 8-bit tie is available in all its glory for purchase.The ThinkGeek site says the item is made of a "very silk-like microfiber." Due to the item being handmade there will be slight variations on the edges, but for a $20 tie we're really not going to complain. So go out and rock the 8-bit tie.[Thanks Pedro]
April Fool's Alert #8: VG Cats gets a makeover ... Metal GEAR?!
Scott Ramsoomair's VG Cats has a new page: a Metal Gear Solid MySpace profile for "David" Snake (screen name solidsnake34). Some of the jokes are subtle; we recommend a viewing or two of Metal Gear Awesome for some clarity. (MGA may in fact not help at all, but we still recommend viewing it for a few chortles.) In case you're wondering and are too lazy to do some minor investigation, every link on the page directs you to VG Cats' real index. If you're viewing this after April 1, the page may be gone; feel free to use this gallery below as a time capsule for the event.%Gallery-2382%
April Fool's Alert #7: Bungie announces Pimps on Film
Chronic pranksters Bungie Studios launched into their April Fool's Day jokes in their usual manner. Not that there's anything wrong with that. ("No, not at all," he said.)From Bungie.net we have a "leaked" poster from the upcoming Pimps at Sea movie. Little is known about the film except what we are given on the poster. Michael Bay will direct the film, which based on the novel by Sylvia Plath based on a screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and Alex Garland. Allen Murray, Ron Booth, K. Jong Il and Allan Peter Parson will produce, while Shane Kim, Peter Moore, Ron Howard and Jon Travolta will executive produce. The film stars Sir Anthony Hopkins, Damon Wayans, Pam Grier and David Scully; Martin O'Donnell will provide the music and Beyonce Knowles will be lending her voice to the song "Yo-ho-ho." It will be rated R. Like we said, very little bit is known about the project.Also found were early drafts of the screenplay with notes intended for Microsoft's eyes only. "You can run, bitch, but I'll have what's owed before this day is done. Or I ain't the pimp my mama raised!"
April Fool's Alert #6: Chinese WoW players hunt real Chinese people
Simon Carless over at GameSetWatch is one cheeky Brit. Unlike the Chinese WoW Coca-Cola bottles you see pictured, which are absolutely real, there aren't a group of wealthy Chinese WoW players setting up "WOW Hunting Park" to pursue their fellow man for sport. That's a whole new level of cosplay that we don't even think the Chinese have attained. In Carless' story a wealthy man by the name of Boss Wu owns a mine and discovered, "We pay miners 30-50,000 RMB a year, and 50-100,000 RMB when they get killed. Why not offer them 250,000 RMB to let us hunt them down in our WOW Park? If they can survive the day without being killed we pay them the money, and if we catch them we pay their families."Mine Boss Wu is the leader of a guild called Kuangzhu, which consists of 15 other Shanxi mine owners and the idea for the real-life cosplay WoW hunt came up at one of their monthly meetings. If Carless had gone the extra step and created a fake source for this story, we could've seen this being picked up by the mainstream media as real. Seriously, the MSM would love a story of men hunting men for sport.
April Fool's Alert #5: WiiHelm and the WoW tinfoil cap
The WiiHelm by ThinkGeek is a great April Fool's Day joke in so many ways. The item even fooled Dave Rudden, an editor at Games.net, who was ready to put down $25 for the accessory when he was greeted by a "Fooled you!" Although the production values on this item are great, with the video just knocking it out of the park, the best detail is the "4 frontal LEDs illuminate your surroundings while gaming in the basement at 3 am." There is a lot to love here.Rudden writes, "Well, they knew their audience and their product and picked something that was slightly insane, but within reason. Just about every site and mag that's tried that this year hasn't. Sadly, I would've paid good money for that wonderful, wonderful helmet. Wouldn't you?"Blizzard brought it again this year with double duty. First, for World of Warcraft players, there's the tinfoil hat with the tag line: "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you." The hat protects the wearer from various forms of inspection in the land of Azeroth. The other goof is Blizzard selling Warcraft III with a completely different title. Warcraft: Heroes of Azeroth ... or "WHoA," is the prequel to the World of Warcraft. The whole page is written in a style of lame marketing class 101. The joke being that those who jumped on the WoW bandwagon never played Warcraft III, so it's new to them, why not cash in? Even the pictures of the boxes just have a sticker over the Warcraft III logo with the new name. One of the best lines being, "WHoA comes in *four* different box covers (that's TWICE as many as WoW!)" ZOMG! Rush out and get yours today! Update: ThinkGeek snuck in a subtle one with the 8-bit tie, we were actually hoping to wear this at our next power lunch. Blizzard also has the Black Temple Attunement, which looking at the flow chart looks perfectly reasonable for the average hardcore WoW player.[Thanks Dave]
April Fool's Alert #4: Bungie announces Halo Zero
You have to get up pretty early in the morning to fool the Halo faithful and in any case, prime time Saturday night isn't the crack of dawn by any interpretation. An April Fool's prank of the "We didn't even bother to research it" variety from Game Stooge is what we have for you this time and it has to do with a prequel to Bungie's Halo series.Don a pocket protector and start up your favorite MC Frontalot album because it's about to get real nerdy up in here.The story as it goes has a prequel to Halo starring the beloved cast of the alternate reality game sensation, I Love Bees, in a tactical shooter much like the Rainbow Six series. The problem being that none of the characters would know each other prior to the original Halo, nor would any of them have any combat training whatsoever. Hell, the protagonist, Janissary James' great accomplishment was getting shot in the chest. Okay, so she broke some limbs and generally beat the crap out of some folks along the way, but she isn't exactly the Chief.Another, more obvious error, is the Cortana-like A.I, Melissa (see also: Durga), being referred to as Dana by Game Stooge. If they had listened to the I Love Bees audio files for, oh, let's say two minutes, they would have gotten that one right. Hello? Wikipedia? Ever heard of it?This exercise in epic fail concludes with a fake address by Bungie co-founder Jason Jones that makes him sound more like a public relations robot than a human being. When was the last time any of you remember Jason Jones doing a public anything, much less a statement outside of the Halo 2 documentary? You have a better shot at finding Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny playing a game of Strip Uno at the end of a rainbow than you do finding Jason Jones doing anything public, ever.If we're lucky, this "Doctor Who" marathon we're in the middle of will last until April Fool's is over.
April Fool's Alert #3: MGS4 on Xbox 360 and Blue Hobbits in LOTRO
This one is a cute April Fool's Day joke, despite Turbine announcing it on Friday, they did give it a dateline of April 1. What Turbine says is that in their upcoming Lord of the Rings Online, you'll meet the Sméorufolc, a version of hobbit who wear caps of white wool. They also have a passion for mushrooms and eating them altered their skin color to blue. Yes, they are Middle-earth Smurfs. The "press release" looks to be full of subtle anagrams and generally playful nonsense. Only a few more hours till Blizzard, a company known for their April Fool's Day jokes, steps up to the plate. What will it be?On the other end of the cute spectrum, a confirmation of Metal Gear Solid 4 on the Xbox 360. We still can't tell if this was intended as a joke, but VG Resource Center says they have confirmation of MGS4 on the Xbox 360. VGRC claims they have an email from Konami stating, "Yes, in fact, we are working on putting Metal Gear Solid 4 on the Xbox 360 and PC, which should both come out roughly 6 months after the PS3 release. However, we've been working with Microsoft so the 360 and PC versions will both take advantage of Xbox Live and Games for Windows Live, with such features as achievements and the ability for 360 and PC owners to play against each other in multiplayer. I'd love to give you some more details, but this is already pushing it. We are making the big announcement July 11th at this year's E3, so you'll just have to wait until then. Sorry!"So, the source at Konami acknowledged the game, announced another platform, said it would have Live capabilities, says the big announcement won't be till July 11, puts it all in a perfect quote and then apologizes that they can't give away any more information? Damn, you already gave away the whole cow, what are you apologizing for? We don't need anything else!
April Fool's Alert #2: David Jaffe explodes on Geoff Keighley
David Jaffe will finally lose it tomorrow on GameTrailers.com during an interview with Geoff Keighley. The cubby Jaffe will finally have a lover's quarrel on camera with the twinkie Keighley and say, "$%@& you man, why do I have to be humble to you? I'll $%&@ you up your @$$!" Yeah David, don't let Keighley push you around, enough is enough!This April Fool's Day joke is based on Jaffe's previous outbursts. There was the drunken tirade at the Playboy Mansion and once on Keighley's show, GameHead, Jaffe had some choice words about a Gamespot story on him. We certainly look forward to seeing what scripted crazy-talk Jaffe will unleash on Keighley. Then again, taking Jaffe into account, it could all be real!
April Fool's Alert #1: Wii.TV's future Zelda
We warned you yesterday. Welcome to many site's nebulous comprehension that April Fool's Day is actually April 1 -- not the day or week before, or the whole month for that matter. Wii.TV gets the first spot in our alerts as they announce Legend of Zelda ... that's it, they didn't even bother to come up with a subhead. Go through the effort of editing a five minute video and don't even bother to come up with a full title. No, Legend of Zelda: Future Calls or Legend of Zelda: Knights of the Ganon Wars. The video is a compilation of Star Wars concept drawings, Final Fantasy stills and other random elements. Actually, that would make for a good deconstruction exercise. Know where the components come from? Give a shout out.[Thanks Whosyourdaddy?]
