Kotaku: april fool's day

Kratos' Companion Cube Gets Unchained

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 18:20:00 MDT

Did you know that there's an extremely well-hidden cameo in God of War: Chains of Olympus? It's the much deadlier, more ancient Companion Cube, the omega of all cubeforms, capable of kicking serious ass.

Ready At Dawn writes today that the developer, known for its PSP expertise, was "surprised no one has found this one out yet." The dev also reveals how it's done, saying the player must "finish Chains of Olympus in god mode, [with] no upgrades, and collect all the urns of power twice without dying you open up the companion cube as a hidden character."

That makes this a little strange. I've collected every single Urn of Power at least three times over, even the one you can only get using the Basilisk glitch, yet I've never seen this. I'm guessing that's because it's not real.

Valve Takes The Piss With Team Fortress 2 Sniper Class Update

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:20:00 MDT

Valve's Team Fortress 2 team pranksters have joined in on the April Fool's Day fun, issuing what is (thankfully) not the Sniper class' first unlockable, the jar of urine known as the Jarate. No shit.

First seen in the "Meet the Sniper" promo video, the Jarate, if it were real, would let enemies "taste your power." The more devastating effects of the Mason jar filled with the liquid karate of human waste include the ability to "wreak havoc on your opponent's mental state, psychological well-being and trust in the inherent goodness of his fellow man."

The alt-firing method appears to paralyze enemies with "embarrassment and confused rage." Perhaps the ultimate culmination of the joke would be making this thing real. I say go for it!

A sneak preview of the next class update! [TF2 Blog - thanks, Nick & Jiwan]

Syberia 3 Links PC And PS3

Mike Fahey — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 13:20:00 MDT

Benoît Sokal's award-winning adventure game series Syberia continues next year with Syberia 3, with PlayStation 3 and PC versions encouraging players to pool resources between them.

The Syberia series kicked off in 2002 and then continued with a sequel in 2004, both following the adventures of American lawyer Kate Walker on her surreal adventures across Europe and beyond. A point and click adventure, it would seem an odd choice to release a sequel on the ultra-powerful PlayStation 3, but developer Microïds has a plan to link together PlayStation 3 and PC gamers in an entirely new way.

Syberia 3, the new episode in the adventures of Kate Walker, actually allows those playing on PC and those playing on PS3 to collaborate online, thanks to a simultaneous data exchange and sharing mode on the two platforms. Syberia 3 will therefore see teams of players being formed so as to optimize their chances of reaching the end of the adventure by pooling the abilities of each of the participants. Only PS3 players who have collaborated with PC players, and vice versa, will be able to accompany Kate to the end of the adventure.

They are calling this sort of collaborative gaming a first, especially for the point and click adventure genre. Microïds' plan is to eventually have this sort of collaborative experience built into all of their titles, allowing gamers everywhere to share in the adventure without worrying about what platform they are playing on.

As for the story in Syberia 3, Kate Walker is still hunting down mammoths.

After having traveled throughout Europe in Syberia and Syberia 2, Kate Walker starts out on the mammoths' trail in a world on the border between reality and imagination, where strange white birds indicate the presence of extinct mammals...

Don't worry, fuzzy elephants. She's bound to find the rest of you eventually. It's what she does.

MICROÏDS launches SYBERIA 3 on PS3 [Official Company Website]

Update: And yes, this is indeed an April Fool's joke. Just not a particular interesting one.

Wii Fit Says April Fools

Brian Crecente — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:00:00 MDT

This is pretty neat. Booting up your copy of Wii Fit today will earn you a couple of pretty obvious April Fool's jokes.

Reader Andrew shipped us these two pictures, one showing the Wii Fit claiming that it's broken and another hinting that the Wii Fit may lie about your Body Test results.

Can you imagine if all electronics took today seriously? We'd be in a world of hurt.

Check out our round-up for more of the Internet's shenanigans.

World of Warcraft Gets Its Atari 2600 Port

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:40:00 MST

Earlier this year, Blizzard once again impressed us with its ability to churn out a handful of April Fool's Day news pranks that were not only hilarious, but were uncharacteristically delivered on time. One of those was the announcement of World of Warcraft: The Molten Core, the first WoW release for a console, the Atari 2600. The game is a fabrication no longer — someone's made it.

While maybe not up to the spec laid out by Blizz and apparently not playable on a proper Atari 2600 emulator as some other recent demakes were, The Molten Core is playable and visually more authentic than previous attempts to make this joke serious.

The Windows-only download is a mere 2MB and, according to its author, offers about 20 minutes of gameplay. I've yet to walk to the Windows box to try it out myself, so downloaders beware.

The Molten Core [Gamer's University via Something Awful Forums]

New Duke Nukem Screen (Har Har)

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 21:00:16 MDT

Today, April 1st, 3D Realms released a new corporate logo plus new Duke Nukem Forever concept art. That, after the jump.

According to 3D Realms:

This is a new piece of conceptual art. One thing we weren't happy with in the teaser from December was the pig cop design. Shortly after the video was released, we happened upon a really hot new artist by the name of Alex Huenick. Here's Alex's take on the classic pig cop.

April Fool's Day or not, when pigs fly, yeah, I believe it.
DN4EVAR Screen Shot [3D Realms Thanks, Michael!]

NetDevil Half-heartedly Pokes At April Fool's

Mike Fahey — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 20:00:00 MDT

I'd like to say I saved the best April Fool's Day post for last, but then I'd just be fooling myself. The bad news is, all Jumpgate Evolution and LEGO Universe developers NetDevil managed to pull together for this festive day was a logo swap accompanied by a brief announcement.

Today, NetDevil announces a new name change to NetAngel. This new company name establishes a clearer link to our commitment to make immersive and socially responsible massively multiplayer online games. This change takes effect on April 1st, 2008.

Bleh. The good news? All the time they didn't spend going the extra April Fool's Day mile is time spent honing LEGO Universe into the best LEGO MMO it can possibly be. Always look on the bright side, that's what I say.

Net~~Devil~~Angel Home Page [Official Site]

Mister Chief Visible From Space!

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:40:36 MDT

Either there has been some impressive organization between the hardcore Halo 3 community in the Congo, Uganda and Tanzania or the boys at Bungie are pulling a fast one on us. Considering that it's *sigh* still April 1 Pacific Time, we're guessing it's the latter. Kudos to the Halo teamsters for their subtle and cheery geek map.

Bungie Online [Bungie - thanks, Bradley!]

LEGO Halo Online And On Time

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:20:05 MDT

If you missed it the first time, 1UP's coverage of LEGO Halo—which actually debuted about a month ago in the April issue of EGM—is now online, on April Fool's Day, for your mock-up viewing pleasure. No, it's not real, in spite of the genuine looking pair of screen shots, and that fall release date isn't happening. It's a respectably sound idea regardless, as I would expect half of everything will be LEGO-fied within the next decade. Someone at Microsoft and LEGO has to be seeing the profit potential on this crossover.

Previews: Lego Halo [1UP]

Amazing Zelda The Movie Prank

Brian Crecente — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:00:00 MDT

There are a lot of splendid jokes hitting the net today, a lot of bad ones too, but this wonderful Zelda the Movie trailer created by IGN has to take the cake. I for one am happy it's a prank, Link, a real Link, wearing that silly little green hat is the last thing I want to see in a movie theater.

Legend of Zelda Movie Trailer Premiere Your dreams realized. [IGN]

Sheng Long: We Won't Get Fooled Again

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:40:03 MDT

Clearly, this April Fool's Day thing has gone too far. Joke's over, people. We simply can't revisit our painful teenage years, when so many of us were legitimately fooled by EGM's legendary Sheng Long gag while loitering near the Waldenbooks magazine rack.

Street Fighter IV producer Natsumi Shiozawa adds insult to mental injury with today's update to the official blog on the game, "revealing" that Sheng Long will finally be playable, but only after a game-long streak of perfect wins. Surely Capcom wouldn't cruelly toy with our emotions again... would they? I'm off to contemplate this and violently sob.

New Street Fighter IV Unlockables! [Capcom Blog]

The Kaketakumentary

abarenblat — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:00:00 MDT

Happy April Fool's Day everyone! I finally get to introduce myself. I'm Adam Barenblat, successor to Tori Floyd and the second intern for Kotaku. I do understand Tori will be one hard act to follow and I will be a little different. Instead of writing, my internship focuses on bringing you the Kotaku reader engaging and awesome video content. So I am proud to present to you my first small assignment on this April Fool's Day, The Kaketakumentary.

Watch the Kaketakumentary on your iPod or Zune!
Right click save link as to download here
Subscribe to our Kotaku Video podcast on iTunes and the Zune Marketplace.

Kaketaku

That was fun... Now back to your regularly...

Brian Crecente — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:55:00 MDT

That was fun... Now back to your regularly scheduled program. Keep your eyes out for Intern Adam's first every Kotaku video later today for Kaketaku's last hurrah.

Cake Decorator's League Announces 2008 Pro-Icing Tournament Schedule

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:04:00 MDT

The Cake Decorator's League announced the locations and dates for 2008-2009 North American professional frosting league matches today, with the pro-cake icing qualifying competitions kicking off this June in Wisconsin. That will give the Milwaukee Frost the home field advantage against the Boston Creamers, the first official match to kick off the '08 pro cake decorating season. You may remember that the Creamers drafted Loren "P-Bag" Friberg—last year's Lambeth Cup winner—after he became a free agent at the close of last season. Should be a good match up.

The CDL's sixth season will commence with a record eight teams, including the LA Candlewaxers, New York Royal Icers, Miami Moist, Chicago Chocolatiers, Seattle Bundters and Dallas Meringue who will be joining Boston and Milwaukee. Teams will be competing in speed icing, wedding cake time trials and Super Mario World cake competitions that will require decorators to adhere to the CDL standards.

A community day is planned prior to the event, with a massive FLAN party for aspiring dessert makers. Details and rule changes for the '08 season at the official CDL site.

Gingerbread: Tapping the Casual Cake Market

Brian Crecente — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:01:00 MDT

Some hardcore cakers (coughFaheycough) will tell you that Gingerbread cakes aren't in fact cakes. Well that's insane. Take for instance this amazing Companion Cube cake created by surprise birthday cake given to Game Cake's reader Fred Zeleny by his mom. Sure there's no frosting, really. Sure it lacks toppings. (Not even a whisp of fan-fave Ganache). But it's sweet, you eat it, and it's about a game. I think what Zeleny's mom has taught us all is that the audience for game cakes is much broader than what the big cake companies will have us believe. Sure the triple-A Mario cakes will always be top sellers, but that doesn't mean you can't have a success with something as simple and down-to-earth as gingerbread.

Gingerbread Companion Cube [GameCakes]

Cake? Check. Cross-Stitch? Check.

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:00:59 MDT

Cakes, cakes are great, but if you ask me, cake-related craft is even better. Kotakuite LonelyKitten just sent us in this wonderful game/cake/cross-stitch her mother put together for her, which not only features a few of my favourite things (ie cake, spoons and love hearts), but some special slime as well. The piece is vertical, so hit the jump for the full version.

Hooray! Kotaku Purchases GameCakes.Com

Mike Fahey — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:00:58 MDT

It's a wonderful day in the history of video game cakes! Back at GDC 07 when I first approached Crecente about my idea for an all video game cake website, he told me that it was a great concept, and that it was destined for great things. Now, a year and a month later, GameCakes.com proudly becomes a wholly-owned member of the loving Kotaku family. I'm so excited! I never thought when I first started the website that things would skyrocket like they did.

From here on out, GameCakes' unique coverage of all things interactively epicurious well be bolstered by Kotaku's in-depth, up to date coverage of the video game cake scene, backed by their industry clout and trademark wit and charm.

Rejoice, for a new age of gaming cakes is upon us!

Crap, Kotaku Purchases GameCakes.com [GameCakes.Com]

Kaketaku Teeth-On Impressions

Brian Crecente — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:00:57 MDT

The pink and green frosting of this single-layer, fancy-top sheet cake hides a delicate yellow sponge filler that blends well with it's decoration.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of frosting, it actually makes my teeth hurt, but I couldn't get enough of the Kaketauke spread. While the base sheet cake was mediocre at best, the raised K was formed with delightful, Twinkie-like cakettes that melted in the mouth.

I suspect Kaketaku may be a work in progress, but if the bakers keep true to their vision, I suspect it could become a shining example of next-gen cake creation technology.

Atari 2600 Icing Tech Demo Proves "Normal Frosting" Textures Possible

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:00:00 MDT

We were pretty excited to see this Atari 2600 cake show up in our Cake Tips line, showing off a proof of concept of the icing advancements shown at the recent Cake Developers Conference. Sure, you're probably aware of our distaste for black icing, but the iced texture tech from the developers at Cakes By The Pound have made us forget about the black toothed cake party hangover that we hate so much. The team is more of a casual cake dev, but it's clear they've got hardcore appeal. Thanks to Jeff and Gabriel for the heads up!

Sometimes Simple Is Best: 1UP Mushroom Cake

Maggie Greene — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:00:00 MDT

What an elegant little game cake! We see a lot of cakes here at Kaketaku (naturally), ranging from the sublime to the bizarre, and this entry is one of the more elegant and understated I've seen. The little beauty not only looks pretty, but sounds delicious (chocolate buttercream under the sugarpaste icing and raspberry creme filing? Sign me up). The creator has even posted the recipe and a nice visual how-to for those of you who prefer not to set off into uncharted culinary territory without a little help.

1up Mushroom Cake [A cat in the kitchen]