April Fools' Day 2009 Roundup

If you've spent any time online at all today, you've no doubt realized that it's April Fools' Day. This morning, GameSpot posted its own series of satirical stories for April Fools' Day. On the video side, the site previewed Fable II: My Pocket Pets, debuted some new Dragon Age footage from...

If you've spent any time online at all today, you've no doubt realized that it's April Fools' Day. This morning, GameSpot posted its own series of satirical stories for April Fools' Day. On the video side, the site previewed Fable II: My Pocket Pets, debuted some new Dragon Age footage from BioWare, and revealed the latest playable character in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2:

News editors pondered what would happen if Animal Crossing's Tom Nook was a Deadwood-like murderous criminal amd Resident Evil's Umbrella Corporation needed a bailout and how Colonial Marines would react to the implosion of the Aliens games--if Colonial Marines actually existed. The prospect of 2K combining its critically lauded, ultraviolent BioShock series with its poorly reviewed, family-friendly Carnival Games also raised its head.

There was also plenty of tomfoolery by publishers and developers this April Fool's Day, which has become a cultural touchstone for gamers. Here are some of the more prominent ones:

Blizzard's Blowout:
--New Diablo III class, the Archivist: A dottering, semi-senile old man whose dialogue tree includes the opinions "Have you seen my pants?" "Look at this mole on my neck," and "I smell like bacon and summertime."

--New Starcraft II Unit, the Terratron: Nothing at all like a Transformer. Really. Its role? "Omega Supreme Defense," which sounds like an acne-control medication…from the future!

--Pimp My Mount: Service that lets players trick out their World of Warcraft steeds with "armor plating, a few spikes or chains, or maybe even some flaming decals."

--World debut of WOW's new player-versus-player Dance Battle System, which has the Horde and the Alliance groups facing off in Dance Dance Revolution-style showdowns.(Cue Blood Elf jazz hands.)

--Microsoft touted the latest Guitar Hero parody, the Xbox 360 "exclusive" Alpine Legend, complete with Alpine Horn peripheral and yodel karaoke track.

--THQ debuted a new Office-like featurette about the development of a new Red Faction: Guerilla weapon, the Ostrich Hammer:

--Konami issued a ludicrously fake trailer for the next Metal Gear Solid game, which will feature an unexpected protagonist. (Hint: "Ancient Snake" isn't too far off the mark.)

--Bethesda Softworks poked fun at itself by doubling the price of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion's much-maligned horse armor DLC to MSP400 ($5) on Xbox Live. All other Oblivion XBLM content is indeed half off for the next week--seriously

--id Software playfully teased its new browser-based massively multiplayer online first-person shooter, World of Quake Live.

--In a YouTube video and a half-convincing press release, Polish develop CD Projekt Red announced the new, completely nonexistent The Witcher: Mysterious Secrets for "all current-gen, next-gen and gen-after-next-gen handheld systems and is scheduled for release between Tuesday and Friday 2010."

--When performing body tests today, Wii Fit pretends to not function for a brief few seconds. Then, in a chirpy and cheery voice, it tells you "you're overweight" with complete earnestness.

--Nerd merchandise emporium ThinkGeek posted its latest high-tech wearable, the $99.99 blue and orange Portal shirts. (Must be bought in pairs to function.)

--Capcom joked that its graphically intense forthcoming shooter Dark Void has gone in a new direction--it's "going totally 8-bit!" The game's new cover art also goes for a retro feel, including being preworn around the edges.

--GameStop touted the ventriloquist title called My Wii Buddy with bonus tuxedo T-shirts.

--Developer Ready at Dawn used another YouTube video to unveil a new mode in God of War: Chains of Olympus. Called "Cube of War," it lets gamers play as the companion cube from the game Portal.

--Halo 3 developer Bungie Studios announced the fictional Bungie Ultimate Ninja Gaming League Extreme, which "is poised to become the first and only professional gaming league that forces players to wield the true skill-based weapon." That weapon? The Spiker--the only weapon that players can use, period. A multimillion-dollar championship is to be held in Dubai later this year.

214 Comments

  • endocrine

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 9:09 pm PT

    i thing an ostrich weapon would actually be cool.

  • Pete5506

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 9:02 pm PT

    I want to play cube of war

  • topazsage

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 9:00 pm PT

    I want the hammer

  • XxSubZeroAK47xX

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 8:59 pm PT

    Today Was A Good Day.

  • bgres077

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 8:53 pm PT

    The ostrich thing was awesome!!

  • Rev8691

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 8:51 pm PT

    i really really really thought the xbox 360 motion controller was gonna end up on the april fools list. wow, im shocked. microsoft is ridiculous.

  • lexluis

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 8:38 pm PT

    Snake: "Coronel, that was awesome!" LOL

  • payne6705

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 8:37 pm PT

    also there is a new video out saying there is an "extreme" mode that Nintendo is making for SSBB I saw the video its hilarious blood everywhere

  • mjk_1

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 8:32 pm PT

    Give us more ostrich!

  • JHG6784

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 8:32 pm PT

    LMFAO ostrich hammer i'll buy the game just for that.

  • HellJumper

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 8:31 pm PT

    *BAM* ...!!! BIRDF****D! LMAO

  • Streetrider9873

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 8:30 pm PT

    all this joke content like the archivist and the teratron and the cube of war and the emu hammer etc should all be unlockable in the actual games. that would be something worth playing for

  • blazin640

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 8:28 pm PT

    the otschrich one had me laughing, that was a good one

  • princeofshapeir

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 8:27 pm PT

    Blizzard does some really awesome April Fools jokes. The Dance Off video was hilarious, and the Pimp My Mount "feature" was pretty funny. Also, check out the wowforums.com change... Probably their best one yet.

  • JustaShadowe

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 8:27 pm PT

    LMAO OSTRICH HAMMER BIRD F****D! WOw, that was easily the best on this website. Lmao, that was very funny. xD
    Seriously though, i actually thought the BioShock wii thing was real xD

  • LinKuei_warrior

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 8:22 pm PT

    the chick on the red faction team is hot!

    but enough of my 18 year old hormones....i love what most the companies did for april foolsa day..they really did bring the spirit of it to life because my whole day hasn't been full of april fools...but luckily my favorite game makers were able to bring the magic back to this day(luckily not a hacker) and im very pleased by that!

  • UnknownElement4

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 8:17 pm PT

    Ostrich ftw!!

  • suicidal_T_H

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 8:12 pm PT

    The Ostrich Hammer had me laughing out loud.

  • baystatethrashr

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 8:11 pm PT

    its not april fools without EGM

    RIP =(

  • Spybreak

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 8:10 pm PT

    Gotta suck for anyone who actually has an announcement today.

  • dkdk999

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 8:10 pm PT

    you mean the grandma thing was a joke? i thought they were serious.

  • klusps

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 8:09 pm PT

    The only one I honestly fell for today is the Starcraft 2 one...shame on me.

  • juraii

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 8:04 pm PT

    Legitimate! HAHA

    I want the Ostrich Hammer seriously

  • jeffmclark1973

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 7:57 pm PT

    Thinkgeeks 99.00 portal shirts....ROFLMAO.....they had me for about 3 seconds... I definatly need to get those shirts!!.. bt I'm not paying 99 bucks..unless they really do work...oh.....my sides hurt..

  • Mr_Alexander

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 7:57 pm PT

    @ theone86
    Haha, good one.
    Anyway, I literally ROFL'd at the Tom Nook one

  • s_h_a_d_o

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 7:52 pm PT

    Call me a fool, but some of 'em had me giggling ...
    Diablo III - the Archivist!
    *chortles*

  • Lionheart08

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 7:46 pm PT

    Jak and Daxter: Frontier nor being listed means it's real.

  • icytower Site moderator

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 7:45 pm PT

    The Tom Nook one was GameSpot's best, obviously fake but VERY funny.

  • KingKevo71789

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 7:44 pm PT

    You've been BIRD F***ED!!!! I actually laughed out loud at that part of the Red Faction vid...

    @theone86: *air five*

  • Mattyrock

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 7:35 pm PT

    Some from the other sites were good but the ones by GS didn't fool me.

  • TurambarGS

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 7:35 pm PT

    Lol. Gotta love Blizzard for their authentic work. HOWEVER, I remember a few years back when they joked about the Tinker as a new hero for Warcraft 3 with his "army of mechanical sheep and the ability to turn into a giant Robot". And then a few weeks later, the Tinker actually became part of the WC3 neutral heroes available. No sheep, sure... but the giant robot part was true!

  • theone86

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 7:34 pm PT

    Holy crap, they spent almost as much time fabricating news today as Fox does on a daily basis!

  • HOMIE_G64

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 7:33 pm PT

    Wow Turbo-evil. If they come up with a good one next year, then they came up with two more than you ever did your entire life.

  • AzureLivesOn

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 7:32 pm PT

    Best Joke: Konami

    Best Joke I Wish Was Real: Terratrons in StarCraft II. F**k. Yes.

  • grafkhun

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 7:29 pm PT

    Capcom's 8-bit Dark Void prank was hysterical, also Alpine Legend, was good joke, can be a great game, seriously. Bagpipe hero next please.

  • mdfitzsimmons

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 7:27 pm PT

    Last year's cheat codes for wii fit was awesome, this year was just annoying. It really took over the site for the worse. I've had to second guess any information any site (not just GS) all day.

  • daabulls23

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 7:23 pm PT

    Ostrich hammer was awesome!

  • TriniPlayer

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 7:23 pm PT

    Umbrella Cooperation bailout was my favourite,good work gamespot.

  • Turbo-Evil posted Apr 1, 2009 7:14 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Turbo-Evil

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 7:14 pm PT (hide)

    Too Bad your own jokes sucksed so bad. Maybe next year GS. Hey, if you start thinking them up now, maybe you'll come up with some half-decent ones in time for next year!

  • Kowpow

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 7:11 pm PT

    Best article to day...and it's not even a joke I actually only have seen like five of these, thanks GameSpot!

  • im_really_rich

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 7:10 pm PT

    the animal crossing tom nook thing was the best.

  • SDMF_TrueBlue

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 7:08 pm PT

    Umbrella bailout FTW!

  • jasonharris48

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 7:08 pm PT

    Well the Tales article was real. That is very great news.

  • davidwwone

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 7:06 pm PT

    The THQ video is nothing short of genius

  • Lythiris

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 7:06 pm PT

    Red Faction's video was simply brilliant.

  • jsmoke03

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 7:01 pm PT

    so does this mean tales of vesperia is coming to the ps3 right? hahaha wow nice

  • nintendo-naut

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 6:56 pm PT

    My fav was Aunt May in Ultimate Alliance 2. lol!

  • tintnate

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 6:51 pm PT

    very well done, i love that this happens every year. It always makes for a good laugh

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