April Fools' Day 2012: And the rest
It was a fairly lively April Fools' Day this year -- not only did we manage to make it all day without being duped, deceived or disillusioned, but at times we were genuinely entertained by what the technology and gaming companies of the world were able to dream up.
On the other hand, the stuff invented for April Fools' Day is often times way, way cooler than the products that actually get made, which is sort of depressing when you stop and think about it. It's like the news cycle on April Fools' Day is glimpse into a world where magic is still alive in the hearts and minds of millions. Sigh.
Anyway, we've taken the liberty of compiling the gags and goofs we haven't already posted about into this specific chunk of Internet, so head on past the break for a look at realities better than our own.
This fauxmmercial (like that? Came up with it all by ourselves) for Retro City Rampage Breakfast Cereal is an effective piece of advertising, in that it manages to show off Vblank Entertainment's coming game while simultaneously making us desperately hungry for a bowl of cereal.
For its part, Square Enix revealed Quantum Conundrum's fictional "Chocolate Dimension," where players can eat through obstacles, melt and then unmelt objects, stick to walls and ceilings -- pretty much exactly the kind of stuff you'd expect to do in a chocolate dimension. Creative director Kim Swift called Chocolate Dimension "a lot more appetizing than Hummus Dimension."
World of Tanks developer BigWorld produced this incredibly convincing fake shaky-cam footage of a nonexistent cross-over with Angry Birds titled World of Birds. It is exactly what you'd expect, and therefore great.
Day of the Awesomenauts: Monkey throttle is the never-gonna-happen sequel to Awesomenauts announced today by Ronimo Games and dtp entertainment. Were it to ever be made, Monkey throttle would be a "Storydriven Sidescrolling Point And Click Online Multiplayer Adventure Brawler Arena Role Playing Shooter game." Its fake development was streamlined after "market research (on Kickstarter) has also shown a spike in interest for point and click adventures."
Probably the most self-deprecating gag of the lot is this fauxmmercial for Rock Band Board Game, in which Harmonix calls attention to the fact that Rock Band has historically been an expensive game that requires a lot of space and set-up time, and is also difficult to purchase in Australia.
A Steam listing for Ricochet 2 also appeared today with an April 14, 2012 release date and a "Circular Circlesaw" Team Fortress 2 pre-order bonus. For those of you unfamiliar with the intricacies of Valve lore, the original Ricochet was a Valve-developed multiplayer mod for Half-Life.
Saints Row: The Third - Enter The Dominatrix is a stand-alone expansion pack for Saints Row: The Third, announced by THQ earlier this afternoon. Enter The Dominatrix focuses on "alien warlord Zinyak and his malevolent race (to be named later)" and their lust for Earth's natural resources and/or women. The only thing Zinyak and his men fear are the Third Street Saints, so in order to train his troops, Zinyak captures the leader of the Saints and places him inside an "elaborate virtual reality simulation" called the Dominatrix. Oh, also, there's an enormous mutant can of Saints Flow energy drink named Paul.
Truth be told, we're still not entirely convinced this one is an April Fools' joke.
[Thanks to everyone who sent these in!]
