April Fool's Day Top 5 Pranks of 2008
Posted: April 2, 2008
#5 Molten Core: Revisited
Blizzard has decided to re-release The Molten Core as an Atari 2600 console game. With a different shape for each character class, and almost a different model for each of the dungeon's bosses, This recreation could easily surpass the current MMO. I, for one, can not wait until they release the 10th shape for the Death Knight!
As much as I might have enjoyed Molten Core in World of Warcraft when it first appeared, I can not imagine reliving it in an 8-bit environment. Maybe the torture aspect of this prank is what drew me to it. But, what can I say, Blizzard's team is creative, and this joke is hilarious. The trailer for this raid dungeon remake is a must-see; complete with slick features, rudimentary sound, and amazing end-of-the-line graphics. Almost makes me actually want to jump in and skin a bear or two. Almost.
#4 YouTube
While it is not functional anymore, YouTube had set all of their feature videos to Rickroll; which means each video was redirected to Rick Astley's music video for Never Gonna Give You Up. This idea of Rickrolling originated during a Scientology protest, which only makes it that much more hilarious. Besides, the YouTube link is in support of my number 2 choice as well.
#3 Assassin's Solid
When I did not think there was much that could be done to redeem Assassin's Creed (and those of you who have not read my review yet, can do so here) along came this prank trailer. This video features Snake in the upcoming game Metal Gear Solid 4 dressed as Altaïr; a rather silly attempt at combining the two series.
#2 Virgle
In this prank site, Virgin and Google have combined forces to promote the first-ever Mars colonization. The site featured promotional videos and a range of information on The Adventure of Many Lifetimes. Also included was a map of the pioneer's future home site: Mars! Although I believe that was available before April 1st; pre-planning purposes I presume.
The Virgle experience came packaged with its own official videos and a questionnaire! Unfortunately, my results came out as displeasingly normal, and I do not think I will be selected as a colonist. All applicants are required to submit a 30 second video on why they should be chosen as a colonist, and any joke that gets people to make fools of themselves on videos uploaded to YouTube is a winner in my book. Not to mention Some dreams are never meant to come true.
#1 The Legend of Zelda: The Movie
This fake trailer presented by IGN was, at first, very convincing. The time and effort that had to be put in to this prank was well worth it, and was the only joke this year that really caught my attention. Just believable enough at first to make you wonder, maybe it is real.
However, the shabby-looking CGI quickly gave away its true intentions. During the credits section of the video, pausing presented Rainfall Films as the production company, whose site also reflected the rumored movie to be true.
It could be just the hard-core Zelda fans like me who would get excited over a fake feature possibility like this one. Of course, with all of the novel, comic book, and video game movie failures enough might just be enough. Nevertheless, this was a blatantly obvious choice for the Elitist #1 April Fool's joke this year.
There it is, another Fool's Day come and gone. I was surprised to see that there were not other sites participating, such as Valve, Sony, or MoBuzz. Hopefully next year there will be a more creative slew of sites to select from. Maybe then it will be more difficult to come up with a Top 5.
