April Fools 2011: The Best Jokes in Gaming

Every April Fools, the gaming industry seems to be the quickest in rolling out fake trailers, ridiculous news and endless jokes about their own products.  2011 hasn’t been any different with both publishers, developers and gaming publications getting in on the fun.  We have complied it all for you below in one giant list, check it out!

Best Gaming Publisher / Developer Pranks

Blizzard Entertainment was in top form today with jokes around Starcraft, Diablo III and World of Warcraft.  You should check out the Diablo III Horadric Cube iPhone app, the World of Warcraft Tomb of Immortal Darkness as well as Crabby, The Dungeon Helper. They also released a trailer for Starcraft: Motion Overdrive, a silly adaptation of Starsraft using motion controllers (likely the Kinect).  Check out the video below:

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The guys that make Guild Wars 2 also got into the mix with a hilarious trailer that introduces the gun-wielding commando class into the fantasy landscape.

A master of the battlefield, this elite soldier is equally at home on the mean streets of Lion’s Arch, in the steamy Maguuma Jungle, or on the Orrian front. The multi-role commando is a combat medic, an infiltrator, and a tank. By land, sea, or air, the commando is a technological force to be reckoned with. Come get some.

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Lucasarts announced their passion for creating localized versions of Star Wars: The Old Republic for all kinds of places and the Wookie is certainly not going to be left out.  They are translating the game into the Wookie language of  Shyriiwook.

From their subtle roar of sadness to the pleasant yelp of excitement, Wookiees are a role model for companionship, loyalty and respect, and we at BioWare and LucasArts want to show our appreciation. Therefore, all text in the game will be translated into Shyriiwook, and all voice-overs will be re-recorded by authentic, native Wookiee speakers.

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Honorable Mentions:

• Cute, mostly because I used to play it: City of Heroes is running out XP
• Minecraft opened up a Loot store: Welcome to the Minecraft Store
• Silly Monkey, cubes can’t roll:  Sega announces Super Monkey Cube
• Ratchet and Clank Remade for Qwark:  A Message from President Qwark

Best Gaming Hardware Pranks

Nyko sent out a press release for a $99.99 solution for those seeking the wonderful feeling of wearing 3D glasses, but are missing out on that with the 3DS.   From their own press release:

“Each set of 3D Glasses comes with five unbalancing weights that you can place strategically on the glasses to have them shift on your head while in use. Place them upfront to replicate the heavy active shutter glasses found in most high end movie theaters or stick them on the sides to simulate a pair of broken or uneven 3D glasses.”

Razor, maker of gaming mice / keyboards, rolled out an announcement on the worlds first gaming Bio-Exoskeleton, an incredibly creepy device that ties into your nervous system.

As you play, the Razer Talon will learn your primary mouse and keyboard actions. The Razer Talon will take over and begin to execute your actions at a lighting fast pace. Relax your fingers and put your game on cruise control as your APM screams past the 3,000 mark. No wallhacks needed. Anti-cheat software doesn’t apply. Your body is bio-hacked for gaming greatness. Never had a game face before? Get ready for one now. Just like that guy to the left.

Astro Video Gaming Equipment decided to dip all of their controllers in gold for the true player. And only a meager $999.99 to buy everything. What a deal!

As the world’s leading premium gaming brand, ASTRO Gaming is always looking for ways to help elite players perform at their best. One thing we’ve found is that conventional materials yield conventional results. Therefore, after years of extensive research, ASTRO Gaming is announcing exclusive limited edition pre-orders for “The Gold Edition”, a line of products that have been created using solid 22K gold.

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Best Gaming Publication Pranks

Destructoid transformed their gaming website into something created in the early 90s.  The posts have shifted to hand-drawn cartoons and articles written on notebook paper.  The sidebar has faxes sent in from loyal site readers and the staff credits are little black & white drawings.   Check out a screen shot:

1up produced a great spoof that mixes Dance Central and the Halo series.  Everyone is doing the reach around!  Not sure how much help they had from Microsoft / Harmonix…  Check out Halo Dance Central for the Xbox 360 Kinect:

Similar to Destructoid, Rock Paper Shotgun revamps all of their content by rewinding by 100 years. You will find great articles such as “Hoop & Stick II Demo Released Today” and “Introducing ‘UbiMan’ Copy Protection” popping up in their feed today.

Misc.

Last year, ThinkGeek spoofed on the iPad and it looks like they are taking on Nintendo’s love for 3D as well as the iPhone in an odd Virtual-Boy esqe gaming device that straps to your head.  The Super 3DBoy iPhone gaming system works like this:

Simply insert your iPhone 4 into the slot on the back of the Super 3DBoy and start playing. The specially designed Super 3DBoy game apps split the iPhone screen down the middle displaying one half of the screen to your right eye and the other half of the screen to your left. Slight variations in these two images work inside your brain to create a full-depth 3D effect.

Dishonorable Mentions

Or course there’s always jokes that should be featured on Failblog as well. Check out the worst of the worst:

• Bungie must be running out of ideas beyond pimps:  Bungie announces Pimpsville for Facebook
• FilePlanet released a fake Portal 2 demo: Download here!
• IGN rolled out a promo video for The Aurors, a dark Harry Potter tv cop show: Link
• Sony released Killzone 3: Cloaked Edition: Link
• Mass Effect 3 is only going to be on a single planet:  Yeah Right!
• The worst GTA V Trailer Ever: Can be found here.
• Possibly not a prank if you believe the pleas of the PR peeps, but I present the Duke Nukem Feces Trailer: That s@#t is gross (no pun intended).