As most gamers know, April 1(aka April Fools Day) is an extremely stressful time. The gaming news media is flooded with false announcements, sarcastic spoofs and lighthearted pranks. In an effort to put your hearts and minds at ease, we’re running down some of the bigger April Fools Day hoaxes here at mxdwn games. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, but most importantly: you’ll be informed.
While not exactly an April Fools Day joke (as it kicked off yesterday) the most prominent story so far has been Google and Nintendo’s marriage of Google Maps and Pokémon. For all you Pokémon trainers out there, you have until April 2 to “catch ‘em all” by roving around your Google Maps app in search of the hidden pocket monsters. All you need to do is hit your Search bar and click the “start game” button to begin encountering some of your favorites in the wild. Once caught, you can view their info in a working Pokedex. You will need to have the latest version of Google Maps on either iPhone or Android for this mini-game to work.
Equally as lighthearted, ArenaNet has bobblehead-ified all characters in its MMORPG Guild Wars 2. This isn’t just for player characters either; all NPC’s and even bosses are now sporting spring-loaded noggins. For those not on board with the giant craniums, fear not; the joke will only last until the clock strikes midnight and you will have your normal characters back tomorrow.
Optimus Prime is coming to Titanfall! Is what we would say if only it were true. The folks over at IGN have created a trailer “announcing” Optiumus Prime as playable Titan. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we’ll be standing by for an Optimus Titanfall anytime soon.
A tad more devious, GameRant has an entire article devoted to BioWare’s “development” of new Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic game for next-gen consoles. While it is true that BioWare, along with Visceral and DICE, will be working on new Star Wars titles after the license was acquired by EA last year, this one is just not happening. Every link to a source by BioWare humorously takes users to a YouTube video of Jabba the Hutt laughing.
Blizzard, as always, takes the satire to the next level with the premier of their new fighting game Blizzard: Outcasts. The prank features a host of lesser-known Blizzard universe characters that “may not be the greatest heroes that ever lived. They may not be the strongest, the smartest or the most capable combatants. But if there’s one thing they do know, it’s how to take a punch!”
That’s it for now. Stay tuned to mxdwn games for more news on any pranks, malicious or otherwise.