April Fools’ Day. The only day of the year where it’s okay to tell ridiculous lies to each other – what’s not to love?
In celebration of this wonderful day, here are five of the weirdest pranks that have popped up in the videogame industry over the past couple of years. Unless I’ve made ’em all up. You really can’t trust any fucker today.
PlayStation Flow
Haven’t you ever wished that you could enjoy underwater sections in videogames on a deeper level? Sony understand you, that’s why they put together a little device called PlayStation Flow.
Except of course they didn’t. It’s a fucking ridiculous idea, but a very, very funny one. Watch the video to the end for the best part.
Here’s hoping one day PlayStation Flow becomes more than an April Fools’ prank and transcends to become a real thing. Dreams should come true.
Google Maps Pokemon
Before Pokemon GO basically made this a real thing, Google decided to troll everybody with the Google Maps Pokemon Challenge.
Would be Pokemon masters were invited to take the great outdoors and use their phones to catch Pokemon in real life. Seriously… it’s Pokemon GO.
I’m starting to think that after they pranked everybody, the Pokemon Company decided this was a genuinely cool idea and went for it.
Hopefully when Pokemon GO finally comes out we won’t have to climb mountains though. Ain’t nobody got time for that.
Half Life 3 On Steam
Now, this one was just fucking mean. Most gamers would give up a year of their life to get hold of Half Life 3, and a few years back, some genius decided to break a million hearts.
Yep, Half Life 3 appeared on the Steam store, with a link to purchase and everything. Dreams were coming true, until people clicked on the link and found this.
I think I need a minute to get over this. It brings back some hard memories.
Assassin’s Creed For Kinect
It’s the game we all wanted, right? Fair play with this prank, because it was genuinely funny and just absurd enough that most people would know it was bullshit within minutes.
In Assassin’s Creed Kinect, you had to perform increasingly complex feats of acrobatics to take on the enemies onscreen. Definitely not one for gran to play (unless gran can move like a beast).
Who wouldn’t want to run around in circles and get exercise while you play, instead of just chilling out on the sofa with a controller after a day at work? God, I’m glad motion controls are pretty much over.
The Legend of Zelda Movie
This one definitely falls firmly into the “thank God they didn’t make this because it looks like shit” category.
Back in 2008, IGN posted a trailer for a Legend of Zelda movie, something Nintendo fans have been clamoring for for years.
Of course, it was not to be. Nintendo are about as likely to make a Zelda movie as I am (and I definitely have no plans to make one).
And who the fuck did they cast as Link? Looks like some weird cross between Michael Jackson and David Bowie.
If you’re gonna troll us with a fake Zelda movie, at least make it look good, IGN.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.