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April Fools' Day 09: Guild Wars gets cute with us
ArenaNet has worked their magic once again with this year's humorous April Fools' Day prank in Guild Wars. Last year's prank may still be "sticking" with you, and the year before was arguably one of the best through the magic of gender switching, but this year got a pretty good chuckle out of us as well.When you log in today, you may notice your character looking a bit shorter and much cuter. As part of the April Fools' celebrations, all characters appear as an anime-styled Gwen while in towns and outposts. Gwen, of course, has become the unlikely icon of the game, gaining almost a cult status. As the day's pranks continue, you can bet we'll keep you informed on the best and most clever. Like for instance, this Guild Wars 2 trailer from ArenaNet's own Jeff Grubb. Ugh, seriously?! That's still going on?
The Daily Grind: Pranks, busted
Afraid of April Fool's day? Concerned that every single site out there on the web will be spewing forth stuff you can't trust? Have no fear, folks - the Massively team is here! Our leaders have decided that much like last year, today we will use our powers for good. Rather than pranking our readership, we'll work along with you all to hunt down and chronicle any MMO pranks going on out there. Of course, if there's any real news that does somehow land out there today, we'll be sure to report that as well. If you'd like to join the team for today's Prankbusting efforts, all you have to do is leave a comment here with any MMO game or site pranks you run across. That way we all have the chance to either check them out - or know to avoid them. We'll also be running down things going on in different MMOs so those who don't have subscriptions can still check out the silliness each MMO has to offer.
Sunday Morning Funnies: Your nerf stick
This week, the Funnies are back on a Sunday that is actually a Sunday, and not a fake Sunday. While I do enjoy pretending, I figured I should probably keep it simple. The weeks where "morning" seems to mean "afternoon" are tricky enough! It seems that Cru the Dwarf needs to hurry. I hate being asked for heals. What do people think I'm doing other than staring at their bars, anyway? Still, healers shouldn't really walk away in the middle of a raid without saying they'll brb. Experience Points. Blood Elves sometimes get a little carried away when it comes to power (or hair). This week on Flintlocke vs. the Horde, the main "belf" gets a taste of it. I don't think she listens well either, what with all of that rage. Luckily, in the end, she gets a new hair accessory! Flintlocke vs. the Horde. Caught any coins lately? GU Comics: The Ruse. Check out the latest from LFG. Manic Graffiti will be undergoing some changes. NoObz illustrates how Youth has changed over the years. Unlike last week, when Ding! simply had not updated (perfectly preferable to the previous week), this week, there is indeed a comic. This was (is?) one of my favorites, so I'm hoping that it picks up again. If you really want to look, don't say I didn't warn you, while trying not to be blunt and trollish. Put Down Your Nerf Stick! says Teh Gladiators. Oh noes, Disgraph has not been updated! Nor was Dark Legacy Comics, come to think of it. The Scout Report also seems to be sans update, and its navigation bar is still a bit wonky. World of Warcraft, eh, also did not deliver on the promised sexy filler art. I'm not criticizing, I'm just QQ'ing. There's a difference. Clearly, our fave comic artists should always be around to entertain us for free. It's a thin list. What's a gal to do? Improvise! Check out a discussion about fun WoW pranks. BRK always has something hilarious in a pinch! Adam has a new 'Silent Bob' approach to raiding. Ghostcrawler made an unintentional funny! Well I laughed, anyway. In case it gets hit with an editing bat, the beginning of this particular blue response was, "From our POV, we assume you have Rel@%#%@hment just like we assume you have a tank."
Breakfast Topic: Pranks
I love in-game pranks. One of the first things our Guild Master did when we downed Patchwerk was to tell the entire raid to run through the frogger slimes, telling them to hit the slime to "get their buff". Sure enough, all the players who had never been to Naxxramas or read much about it proceeded straight through the gauntlet. The next thing we knew, there were corpses strewn all over the place and our GM proclaimed himself The Noob Killer.Back in the days of vanilla WoW, one of our favorite things to do to new raiders was initiate them by telling them to go up to the 'window' behind Golemagg the Incinerator to take a peek at Ragnaros. Hilarity ensued and repair bills skyrocketed. I certainly enjoyed the brewfest brew trick on Sapphiron, although that might warrant some serious -DKP. One of our officers' favorite tricks is to tell guildies to meet him in some major city, telling them he was going to give them something. When they finally get there, he pops a macro that strips him naked and casts Mirror Image, yelling, 'SEXYTIME!' No repair bills here, but seeing four naked trolls is certainly not worth the trip. How about you? What silly pranks have you played on guildies or friends (or even enemies)? What pranks have been played on you?
This 'Wii hard drive' is hot, but so, so cold
OK, so you probably would have been a little upset to find that the "Wii hard drive" you bought after reading about it on gaming and anime site NeoCrisis was, in fact, a picture of an air conditioner (sadly, the story has now been removed). But think about the plus side! Think of how your rage would just melt away when you were hit with the tear-freezing power of 3000 BTUs streaming out of the Yamazen portable air conditioner!Honestly, the most concerning thing about this story is that Nintendo Wii Fanboy's own J.C. Fletcher spotted the fake and knew it was a model of Japanese air conditioner. What are you doing with your time, man?
Shenmue's Ryo makes some prank calls
As much as we'd love to simply enjoy these Tapezilla crank calls, we're a little too busy being irritated we didn't think of it ourselves. Here's all the explanation you need: Soundboard Ryo Hazuki of Shenmue fame calls a gold store in a desperate attempt to find Terry. And just below the jump, he calls a restaurant in an attempt to find Hong Kong, but the non-English speaking owner isn't much help.If we have one problem with these clips, it's that at no point in them does Ryo attempt to locate any sailors. Seriously, Tapezilla, for shame.
Nihilum apologizes...
After reading an announcement on the evening of March 31st, 2008 declaring that Nihilum, whom we recently interviewed, would be quitting the World of Warcraft forever, WoW Insider received quite a lot of mail surrounding the issue. Was it true, or simply another April Fools joke?They even began disbanding their guild and joining others, and spoke of a plan to reappear together, perhaps in other games. There was an outpouring of love and concern from the community at large, and unlike the reaction to other jokes on April 1st, everyone was at least weary (ahem) wary that this one was not a joke.Nihilum cited several reasons for their departure, including dissatisfaction with Blizzard's designs and methods, and an overall trend towards casual play while depleting much of the rewards, incentive and challenge for hardcore guilds, including changes made in patch 2.4.At 12:01 a.m. on April 2nd, 2008, Nihilum confirmed that they were indeed yanking our chains, and even made a cheerful April Fools video. To quote, "Sorry for the scare everyone!" with a keen happy face at the end. We love you Nihilum!
MIT catches Brawl fever with newest 'hack'
The students of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are once again showing off their gamer cred with an on-campus prank (or "hack," as those princely nerds like to call it). This time, it's in honor of the release of Smash Bros. Brawl, a modest little Wii title that you may or may not have heard of. The "hackers" hung items and symbols from the game in Lobby 7 of their campus on launch day, including a Pokéball, crate, and Mario's cap.We have to admit that we're a bit disappointed with the simplicity of this gaming prank. Hanging little trinkets is nothing compared to arming and helmeting a statue to resemble Master Chief. While we appreciate the thought, this prank would seem tame at a community college, much less one of the most competitive schools in America. Of course, we're willing to forgive and forget, if MIT's student body can manage to come up with something a little better. You raised the bar yourselves, ladies and gentlemen. Now here's your chance to meet it.
The best thing you'll see today: John P. Harvard goes Halo
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/xbox_360/MIT_Halo_Prank_John_P_Harvard_goes_Halo_PIC'; As you may already know, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has a long history of pranking (or hacks, as they call them) both on their own campus and at other schools. Though there have been some real winners over the years, this new one, captured today by MIT newspaper The Tech, really takes the cake.To mark the Halo 3 release, MIT students gifted the John P. Harvard statue in Harvard Yard with a Spartan helmet (with "Master Chief in Training" written on the back) and an assault rifle. All we can say is "Wow." We may not be able to talk to MIT students very long at parties without getting sleepy, but when it comes to pranks, it's clear that we all speak the same language: Nerd.[Thanks, Brad]
WoW Moviewatch: Warcraft Prank Calls
There isn't a lot of movie to today's Moviewatch -- but there's plenty of sound, which tells the whole story. Here we have Zimpaz making World of Warcraft-related prank calls. (You know, now that I think of it, I'm quite surprised that this is the first incident of World of Warcraft prank calling to make it on the interwebs.) And our hero starts his prank-calling career with the largest and most obvious institutional target: a bank. Listen and enjoy!Previously on Moviewatch...
Mario + Disney = Mushroom Kingdom Hearts
The April issue of EGM lands on newstands March 13, but the folks at Obvious Diversion have already sampled the goods. The big "news" is Mushroom Kingdom Hearts for Wii. According to the magazine that never lies, it's Kingdom Hearts sans Final Fantasy characters with Nintendo's Mushroom Kingdom folk in their stead. Over 41 characters will be featured in the game that's set to make more money than the Sultan of Brunei could ever dream of. EGM's April issue is a famous launching ground for concepts that seem too good to be true. Remember how excited we were when the realistic Wind Waker remake was announced? Wait. That was an April Fools joke? Think what you may, but EGM hasn't officially confirmed Mushroom Kingdom Hearts as a prank. You might want to place a pre-order this weekend. Go ahead, we dare you.
World of prankcraft
My guild (the uberl33t Gothic Bunnies on Thunderhorn-H) has been really rolling through MC lately-- we've got everything but Rag on farm status (and we'll have him soon, don't worry). But since the zone is so easy for us now, we need to do something to keep each other interested, and tonight that something came in the form of pranks.One of our warlocks stepped away on /afk and put himself on /follow to another player... who then jumped in the lava, with the warlock following right behind him. We summoned the other player out, and left the lock to flounder in the flow. And while the summon out of the lava was going on, one of our mages put a portal to Orgrimmar right over the summon portal, and three of our guildies ended up in Orgrimmar before they realized they were clicking on the wrong thing. Two fights later, our MT dragged Garr's last minion away from us back towards the lava (we had all crowded around him before he exploded just to send us all flying), and instead sent a few guildies flying into the drink. Basically, there was shenanigans aplenty in Molten Core tonight.And this is definitely not the first time I've seen this kind of thing go down, either. Our mages love to give out level 1 conjured water, just to make us mana users angry. And way back when I was going through UBRS on my first time (on my gnome warrior), I got freaked out when Vael (who I later learned is a friendly NPC in UBRS) appeared and I was frantically told by my guildies to "tank the red dragon!" It took me a few seconds to figure out why my taunt button wasn't working.Are you the same way-- does your guild prank each other mercilessly, or are we all just crazy?
