April Fool’s Day has become the one glorious day where everything on the internet becomes suddenly false (as opposed to 100% true every other day), and hordes of people don’t realise the joke. However, that doesn’t stop the rest of us from laughing at the fools and the fooled, so let’s check out some of the biggest pranks the gaming media put out this year!
Google Maps – Pokemon Challenge
If Twitch Plays Pokemon proved one thing, it’s that millions of people still love Pokemon, and that’s exactly what Google capitalised on with their April Fools’ prank, announcing a new mode for their Google Maps app on iOS and Android. The Google Maps challenge saw April Fools players scouring the streets of certain cities to catch 150 Pokemon, and definitely gets points for being one of the most creative efforts this year.
Naughty Dog – Such Meme
such meme
many references
different logo
wow
BioWare – Garrus Body Pillow & Chest Toupee
For the Mass Effect fan who really wants to stick their krogan into a real turian, BioWare updated their online store with a couple of… unique additions.
Path of Exile – Pay to Win
Definitely one of the funnier pranks involves Path of Exile’s new ‘Pay to Win’ feature, and an interesting definition of ‘winning’ in that game.
Sony – Super Cereal
Meanwhile, Sony announced a new breakthrough in food-electricity technology.
Blizzard – Outcasts
Blizzard also get major props for their elaborate fake-game announcement of a cross-franchise fighting game.
Blizzard – Happy Reaper
Jumping on the Flappy Bird bandwagon, Blizzard relased their own Happy Reaper game.
Sega – Rappy Bird
Aaand, Sega released their own Flappy Bird clone, using hijacked Sonic assets instead of Mario pipes, called Rappy Bird.
Titanfall – Optimus Prime
IGN and Titanfall simultaneously assaulted our hopes and dreams by announcing a fake Optimus Prime DLC for Titanfall, with an amazing trailer.
Bungie – Mars Mission
Bungie offered to send players to Mars, literally. In a new Collector’s Edition announced for Destiny, gamers would have been able to be physically transformed into a character from the game, before being sent to Mars for an absolute steal of a price – a cool $7,000,000.
ARMA III – Kart Racing DLC
This one, I’m kind of sad isn’t going to be real.
Origin – Origin Boxed
Origin had this original idea for distributing games.
Dungeon Crawl – Probably Not Far From Reality
Dungeon Crawl’s Facebook page posted a ‘news story’ that all R18+ games would have to come in plain packaging when sold in Australia. We’re not sure if the fact it took so many people in is a credit to the prank, or a sad commentary on what we expect for adult gaming in Australia.
Homestar Runner – Actually Updates
If you’re 80 years old like us, you may remember homestarrunner.com, a website home to hilarious Flash-animated cartoons back in the early days of the internet, which has laid dormant for several years, despite a relatively recent video-game revival by Telltale Games. The butt of several April Fools’ jokes that the site had finally updated, many were surprised to find that the site has actually updated for the first time in four years, with a cartoon and song no less!
Rocket Chainsaw – Cold, Harsh Truth
Meanwhile, on our Facebook page, Rocket Chainsaw took a different tactic to take all the fun out of April Fools Day, and bring our friends crashing back down to reality.
You’re welcome.
