April Fool’s Day in Gaming!
As anyone who possesses a calender will know - Friday was 1st April, also known as April Fool's Day, when people around the world try to trick their peers and amuse themselves at the results.
Many companies quite regularly play an April Fool's Day joke or two and this year was no exception. This year we had BMW getting in on things, as well as the city of Las Vegas! Well the field of gaming is no exception to this and so therefore we bring to you the very best April Fool's Day pranks that had us cracking a wry smile in the XG247 offices on Friday...
First up, the good people over at PopCap Games decided to give gamers a taste of the future with their new microwave game console, allowing players to eat AND play all at the same time! Here's part of the press release we received from the cheeky chappies...
Called the PlayWave, the quirky little tech combo has been developed by PopCap Games and features a fully functional touchscreen within the microwave door and comes with a preloaded version of puzzle fest Bejeweled.
The 19 litre, 1,000 watt PlayWave will come with 167mb storage capacity as standard and will be able to connect wirelessly to the internet. In addition to the ‘full power’ and ‘defrost’ settings, the PlayWave will also have a ‘playtime’ setting, which will cook the food according to the player’s performance in the game.
PopCap Games co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, Jason Kapalka said: “It has always been our ambition at PopCap to create game experiences that people can enjoy anytime, everywhere. Our fans tell us they love to pass the time playing a few levels of their favourite games anywhere and everywhere and everyone loves a good meal so we thought why not combine the two?”
The leading videogames producer hopes to have the PlayWave in stores by Christmas and it is also working on a toilet game console. They originally hoped to launch both consoles as a kitchen and bathroom suite but due to complications arising from the curvature of the toilet touchscreen. PopCap do not expect to have a prototype of Play-n-Poop until early 2012.
Next up we had the good people over at Blizzard Entertainment foolishly trying to convince the world that they currently have a console version of Starcraft in the works...with Kinect functionality! Enjoy...
Namco-Bandai were the next to try pranking the unflappable XG247 team (as well as the world) with a press release we received on the promotional material they had invested in for their upcoming title Ace Combat: Assault Horizon.... a MiG fighter-jet! Here's an exerpt from the press release...
Namco Bandai Partners have today revealed their latest weapon in the war on wishy-washy marketing by blowing nearly the entire Ace Combat: Assault Horizon budget purchasing and restoring a real-life jet fighter. The MiG-21Bis model was one of nearly 100 planes due to be scrapped by the Estovakian Air Force because of government cuts to the nation’s armed forces.
Namco Bandai invested just over £285,000 in restoring the aircraft to a fully functional state before it was finally transported to the UK aboard the aircraft carrier, Admiral Kunzetov, as it rendezvoused with navy forces for a routine training mission.
The aircraft will be used for Marketing and PR promotions, primarily to deliver preview code to press, take journalists on experiential jet-fighter experiences and to scare local publishing rivals, Capcom. It will remain in the London HQs car-park as according to leading insurance website, weinsureanything.com, ‘it would be impossible to insure for the road’.
And now we come to quite possibly the strangest of the stories we received, from the team over at computer parts manufacturer StarTech.com This one was for the quite frankly hilarious idea of a drive-dock...toaster..? Here's part of the release...as well as a photo they kindly provided!
StarTech.com, the world’s leading provider of hard-to-find connectivity parts has announced the introduction of the SATDOCKTOAST4, a dual use four port 3.5inch SATA dock and breakfast pastry toaster.
Additionally, with the drive connected to a USBp port, users can warm a wide variety of breakfast pastries such as pop tarts, toast, bagels and crumpets though the device is compatible with other types of legacy pastries as well. The SATDOCKTOAST4 is able to warm your pastry of choice in under 2 minutes (subject to manufacturers cooking guidelines. Caution is advised however as the filling may be hot.)
So there you have it, our best picks from the big day itself, who knows what will be coming next year..? A new Dreamcast? Shenmue 3? The release of Duke Nukem Forever..?!
