April Fool's Day roundup, 2013 edition

Okay, for starters... people playing Zerg were confused at first why their workers were suddenly little Terran robots playing Starcraft 2.

Then this cruel Half-Life 2: Episode 3 announcement prank.

edited 1st Apr '13 9:44:01 AM by JAF1970

Blizzard has its joke on the front page. Hearthstone? A Blizzard themed collectible card game? Hahahaha...

Oh, wait, that's real.

Game FA Qs has EA performing a corporate takeover of Nintendo, while Activision and Square Enix merge.

Europa Universalis: The Musical

Paradox Interactive and Paradox Development Studio are rekindling your dreams of leading a global empire with the announcement of a brand new initiative. Europa Universalis: The Musical will bring the stories behind the games to life through the art of musical theatre and will allow players and musical aficionados alike to conquer the world with music.

The award-winning series that has sold over a million copies and redefined grand strategy gaming for a generation is back, bringing to the stage the same drama, unparalleled depth and unprecedented commitment to history that has made Europa Universalis the legendary franchise it is today.

The last option on that poll is hilarious.

Effort!

edited 1st Apr '13 9:47:57 AM by ShirowShirow

• Katawa Shoujo 2 cancelled in order to make KatawaShoujo 3
• Super Duper Street Fighter 4

Bethesda posted this:

I especially liked "we perfectly simulated the thickness of the air for no reason".

The Team Fortress Wiki brings us the Eastralian Update!

The deadpan delivery of the devs in the Dishonored dev diary makes it hilarious.

PS. I demand a feature in which characters from Dishonored or their children will follow you into other games and try to kill you.

edited 1st Apr '13 10:09:07 AM by JAF1970

What an annoying day.

You're no fun.

For those who are actually interested in such nonsense, there is also something from Mojang.

Yeah, that Dishonored video was awesome

"If you use the spring blade trap, that person (on the internet) will never have the use of his legs again."

I agree with Thorn; this day is a pain in the ass. Always hate April Fool's Day.

UESP has a phony announcement of an ES VI: Akavir

GOG announces the Retromator 4000.

Discussion of the Minecraft 2.0 April fools is ongoing in the respective thread but the videos are definitely worth checking out. Mojang got a ton of the major Youtubers into it and actually went to the trouble of coding all the weird stuff.

While I suppose it might frustrate people looking for real news, I'm not sure what the problem is with a day devoted to everyone making somewhat large scale jokes. I mean, does anyone get fooled by this stuff anymore? It's become so expected and so routine that rather than pranks they're just... jokes. Some are funnier than others, obviously, but that's true of any joke. Unless you just hate jokes or something it has no real effect whatsoever.

Well, Guild Wars 2 actually has a playable April Fool's gag.

In gaming news... news, Destructoid is now Redditoid

StarDrive replace the diplomacy video screen with screaming llama (?) that then cut to Please Stand By screen...Pic 1 Pic 2

edited 1st Apr '13 11:21:05 AM by onyhow

In Starcraft news, not only is the Warhound back, but the developers love it so much that every faction gets one!

New playable race added to Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. The Viangaa. A cross between the Viera and Bangaa races.

edited 1st Apr '13 11:27:57 AM by dmysta3000

ZONE-tan announced as a playable character in Skullgirls.

edited 1st Apr '13 11:43:40 AM by ROTHY