2008 Woodie Awards
April Fool's Gag Round-Up Edition
Good Game
Fernando Dutra
Issue date: 4/4/08 Section: Focus
Like any well-respected establishment, the video game industry revels in the opportunity to tease its audience on April Fool's Day. Even before Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine convinced people that Sonic and Tails were unlockable characters in "Super Smash Bros. Melee," legerdemains have become common practice, though the public has become better at picking out fact from fiction.
Although the free download of Portal's "Still Alive" for "Rock Band" turned out to be true for Xbox 360 owners (Playstation 3 owners must wait until April 17 for the download since the Playstation Store is being revamped), PC massively multiplayer online role-playing game "Lord Of The Rings Online: Shadows Of Angmar" (LOTRO) kicked off April Fool's Day earlier by announcing a new class, the "Fowl-Peoples of Middle-Earth" on March 31. LOTRO touted a new epic quest arc called "crossing the road" and pun-filled skills ranging from "eggcellent assault" to "new instrument: drumstick."
Blizzard, renowned for their gags, revealed the "Bard" class in the "World of Warcraft," a spoof on the "Guitar Hero" series. As Blizzard's website explains, "selecting an ability launches the Fret Bar, which will display a number of riffs the player needs to activate using a new guitar-based keyboard peripheral that will ship with Wrath of the Lich King (a special Frostmourne-themed axe will be sold separately). The better the player's accuracy and timing, the more powerful the resulting ability becomes." The "Diablo II Loot Piñata" toy and Tauren Marine unit for "Starcraft II" were also highly detailed, complete with in-game footage.
Gaming website IGN premiered footage from a live-action "Legend of Zelda" film, claiming "…no one has tackled a live-action adaptation of the storied franchise… until today. Production company Rainfall Films has asked IGN to premiere the very first footage from their live-action Zelda film - a very literal adaptation of the magical epic - and, of course, we said, 'Yes!'" The dead give-away, aside from the shoddy acting, was the ending, which announced that the film would be hitting theatres on April 1, 2009.
Although the free download of Portal's "Still Alive" for "Rock Band" turned out to be true for Xbox 360 owners (Playstation 3 owners must wait until April 17 for the download since the Playstation Store is being revamped), PC massively multiplayer online role-playing game "Lord Of The Rings Online: Shadows Of Angmar" (LOTRO) kicked off April Fool's Day earlier by announcing a new class, the "Fowl-Peoples of Middle-Earth" on March 31. LOTRO touted a new epic quest arc called "crossing the road" and pun-filled skills ranging from "eggcellent assault" to "new instrument: drumstick."
Blizzard, renowned for their gags, revealed the "Bard" class in the "World of Warcraft," a spoof on the "Guitar Hero" series. As Blizzard's website explains, "selecting an ability launches the Fret Bar, which will display a number of riffs the player needs to activate using a new guitar-based keyboard peripheral that will ship with Wrath of the Lich King (a special Frostmourne-themed axe will be sold separately). The better the player's accuracy and timing, the more powerful the resulting ability becomes." The "Diablo II Loot Piñata" toy and Tauren Marine unit for "Starcraft II" were also highly detailed, complete with in-game footage.
Gaming website IGN premiered footage from a live-action "Legend of Zelda" film, claiming "…no one has tackled a live-action adaptation of the storied franchise… until today. Production company Rainfall Films has asked IGN to premiere the very first footage from their live-action Zelda film - a very literal adaptation of the magical epic - and, of course, we said, 'Yes!'" The dead give-away, aside from the shoddy acting, was the ending, which announced that the film would be hitting theatres on April 1, 2009.
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