So it’s April 1. This means one thing: idiotic fake stories about video game things. What are your thoughts on this time-honoured practice? Just a bit of fun or a major pain in your arse?
Personally, I find it a pain and I sort of wish it could go away. I can’t think of a single good April Fools’ joke that was worthwhile in video games ever. That’s probably a bit of a stretch actually — especially considering how cool the Google Maps Pac-Man thing is.
Okay, well that’s the distinction: cool things are cool. Made up stories about video games are not.
That’s just my view point. I may be a grumpy old curmudgeon.
What are your thoughts?
Comments
42 responses to “The Big Question: April Fools’ Jokes”
You. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!
Before the internet ruled there were at least some jokes that were actually ‘practical’.
Also, with the rolling time zones April Fools Day is really April Fools MONTH.
And another thing, a day like today requires one to not act foolish for the other 364 days of the year. Surprisingly hard for many in video game circles.
Yeah EA have been acting foolish for a while now. It’s like April Fools everyday for them
I cant stand april fools day, it basically renders the internet useless for 2-3 days.
I think the exact opposite – It makes people actually think about what they are reading. That or they just post utter bullshit everywhere.
I hate April Fools. So very very much.
Try being born on it.
Happy Birthday!
Look on the bright side, it’s better than being born on February 29th isn’t it?
There’s no such thing as news from April 1 to 2 (Thanks America). ie. Surface atom doesn’t really exist until it still exists April 3 :p
I much prefer Feynman Day
I’m a fan. In a world where everything is so serious everyday, it’s nice to have a laugh.
I just wish they’d put some effort in. Blizzard has been consistently entertaining with their jokes but more often than not, it’s just some glib joke that only gets attention as part of the round up of jokes being made.
Yep, came here to say the same thing. Some companies nail it every year, others just waste peoples time.
Good things, like Far Cry Blood Dragon, have become of April Fools. So yeah, I’m all for it.
Blood dragon was not an April fools day prank it was leaked a month before apris fools day happened.
It wasn’t a prank but Ubisoft wanted you to think it was.
“On April 1, 2013, Ubisoft released a teaser video and website for Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, leading many to believe that it was an April Fools’ Day joke.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_Cry_3:_Blood_Dragon
(Tries to think of another example, can’t, so gives up)
Perhaps some of Think Geek’s joke products? They’re always cool, so occasionally they may do an actual product run (eg. 8-bit tie).
I said this is another comment on Gizmodo but I’ll say it again here:
The real problem with the Internet’s April Fool’s Day (especially the case with games) is that the majority of sites are hosted in the US, which means by the time we see those pranks in Australia, it’s already April 2nd.
I don’t mind when it’s a well played April Fools joke, such as a well-written fake story or something like what Blizzard normally does on their website. What I don’t like is when it devolves into “Lets screw up our website for the day and call it hilarious!!!” because then it ceases to fool anyone.
Still disappointed blackthorne 2 was a joke… I would take it, even if it meant surfboarding and shark shooting 🙁
Hate them. On the other hand, it means 2 days of being productive at work, seeing as the internet’s useless until it’s April 2nd everywhere, so some good comes of it. I guess.
I think I’ll start celebrating Festivus.
For the rest of us
Im kinda torn on it, i Like the stuff that blizzard and google do because they are creative and fun and you know that they are jokes. But i dont like the ones that get posted as news such as the one today about PS home because of the extreme lame “hahaha we totaly fooled you” crap that happens 2 days later thanks to the fact that aprils fools day doeant end until its april second in the USA
Home really is getting shut down though, it was announced late last year that March 31st was the last day it would be around.
My favourite April Fools’ joke was the announcement of ‘Splosion Man, which was in fact, not a joke (and also a really good game).
They fooled us, by making us think they were trying to fool us.
Hey, check out this awesome idea we had for our game. For the first time ever we’re actually releasing detailed information and concept art when we announce a character rather than being all secretive and annoying. Sounds really cool and interesting right? You can’t wait to play it? April Fools! We’re never going to add that. You already knew that because it’s sometime between March 25th and April 10th? Whatever. Anyway, look forward to maybe getting a three second teaser trailer at PAX about the new cookie cutter character class we’ll be releasing with the next expansion.
I’m all for fun, I like that side of the day, but April Fools Day on the internet is just a three day long landslide of lame, uninspired, jokes that aren’t quite jokes. A good prank needs to be more personal than a website can be.
Like I said in another comment the internet needs to quit April Fools Day and create it’s own joke day. Just a day for doing cool Google style tricks and novelty layouts without the ‘it’s April 1st somewhere, so I’m not being a douche bag troll I’m just pranking’ junk that comes with April Fools Day.
lighten up people. cant even laugh one day of the year?
No!
I think the problem is most of April fools is not funny in any way.
If it was all clever like the Blizzard stuff then it would be fine but most people just use it as an excuse to lie about things while somehow thinking they are smart, like the airline offering cheap fares to London and when you click it goes LOL APRIL FOOLS.
I thought a good one for EA would have been to remove all the bugs from Battlefield for a day and then put them back in April second.
April Fools is a bit of a double edged sword. On the one hand, it’s a great way to test the waters for a crazy game idea given how many April Fools pranks became real things. On the other hand though, it means no one trusts anything you say meaning that you can’t really announce anything on, or around the day. I pity Nintendo for having their Direct session today…
haha i know thats a major problem for companies like Rooster Teeth whos actual anniversary is April 1st so it makes it hard for them to announce things 😛
Damn April Fools, damn it to hell.
nothing beats googles 8-bit maps from a few years ago.
It pretty much wrecks the internet for 2 days.
On April fools years ago, I called both my parents and had a really serious conversation.
I started off sounding a little bit panicked and kept the mood sombre from there.
But from what I can remember the conversation went something like,
Me: “Dad, hey I really need to talk.”
Dad: “Ok mate, what’s up”
Me: “Well **** and I kind of had an accident”
Dad: “Are you ok? Do you need me to come get you?”
Me: “No mate I’m at work, not that kind of accident”
Dad: “What do you mean?”
Me: “Well she’s pregnant.”
Dad: “Oh, oh wow”
Me: “Yeah”
Dad: “Well, do you know what you plan on doing?”
Me: “We’ve talked a bit and she wants to keep it, I’m supportive of whatever choice she wants to make.”
Dad: “Ok that’s fine, maybe we should get together and talk about this a bit more, all of us. Ultimately I support you in whatever choices you both make but after all you are only XX years old (quite young) and have only been together a month”
Me: “Yeah lets meet up tonight.”
So from there he went around contacting the rest of my family and made reservations and took us to a nice restaurant for dinner with all of them.
We went there and they were super supportive and all saying whatever we need they’re there and I had to tell my super supportive suddenly amazing family that it was a practical joke.
This was the worst backfire of a prank that I’ve ever witnessed and I felt like ass. I remember my hands shaking thinking of how badly they’d react when I told them the truth and this was all a joke.
So I stood up and apologised for dragging them all here and that it was all just a silly April fools joke. There were a few gasps and general shaking of heads. But also a few people were smiling.
My dad stood up next to me, put one arm over my shoulder, gave me a big hug and said out nice and loudly with a huge grin on his face “We know… you idiot.”
Moral of the story. Don’t expect them not to play your bluff.
But for the record, I still love practical jokes and have just taken them to a slightly more elaborate. Less serious level.
Like calling my Auntie and pretending to be the HR rep from her companies head office in Germany.
Really don’t understand why people are so insecure. Never really been duped but I’ll never judge anyone else over innocent fun, even if it’s kinda stupid.
After IGN released that fake video of optimus prime in titanfall I was on the verge of buying an Xbone. I didn’t but I sure would’ve been pissed if I’d shelled out $500 for a joke product.
The WoW patch notes were a riot. If all April Fools jokes could be like that, I’d be much more in favour of them.