Clever Trolls Prank Half-Life 3 Fans
This year's April Fools Day jokes get back at a few choice targets in the gaming industry.
It's a sad year when April's Fools Day lands on a Sunday. Here in the States, April 1st is the day when people save their best pranks and practical jokes to play on friends or coworkers. Lately, geek-centric companies like Think Geek or game companies like Blizzard send out jokey press releases for products or services they have no intention of selling. (store.steamppowered.com [http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/looflirpa/] - with two P's - you'll find a facsimile of the front page of the Steam store with a fake advertisement on the top.
"Now Available!" the advertisement read with the logo for Half-Life 3 beneath it. "The long-awaited final part of the Half-Life saga is now available."
[gallery=683]
Of course, when you click on the advertisement, you are brought to a page with a simple picture of Gabe Newell looking like the troll-face made popular by 4Chan and Anonymous. The resemblance is quite striking actually.
I have to admit, I was suckered into this fake announcement the first time I saw it, not that Half-Life 3 was actually coming out any time soon but that this joke was from Valve itself. It takes a really smart prankster to have a practical joke work on two levels like that. Well played, Internet. Well played.
On the other side of the world, the Swedes from Meta-Meta-Critic with the tagline "Who reviews the reviewers?" [http://www.paradoxplaza.com/] On it, game journalists are given a review and an average score as if they were the product being criticized. It's a clever send-up of our profession, and I enjoyed the satire of having videogame critics reviewed by the people who make the games.
Our own Editor-in-Chief Steve Butts makes the list of reviewers reviewed on Meta-Meta Critic. "I won't, indeed I can't deny that Steve is an emotional experience ... What we have here is something that simply isn't finished," reads the official review of Steve Butts [http://www.meta-metacritic.net/journalist/steve-butts], but it's the User Review that is the most honest: "I bought Steve several weeks ago and I am absolutely addicted! I play Steve every day, bought the new clothes DLC and I am now admin on the Official Steve Forums."
Unfortunately, Steve Butts has the lowest average score on Meta-Meta Critic with a dismal 71. Sad.
Permalink
This year's April Fools Day jokes get back at a few choice targets in the gaming industry.
It's a sad year when April's Fools Day lands on a Sunday. Here in the States, April 1st is the day when people save their best pranks and practical jokes to play on friends or coworkers. Lately, geek-centric companies like Think Geek or game companies like Blizzard send out jokey press releases for products or services they have no intention of selling. (store.steamppowered.com [http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/looflirpa/] - with two P's - you'll find a facsimile of the front page of the Steam store with a fake advertisement on the top.
"Now Available!" the advertisement read with the logo for Half-Life 3 beneath it. "The long-awaited final part of the Half-Life saga is now available."
[gallery=683]
Of course, when you click on the advertisement, you are brought to a page with a simple picture of Gabe Newell looking like the troll-face made popular by 4Chan and Anonymous. The resemblance is quite striking actually.
I have to admit, I was suckered into this fake announcement the first time I saw it, not that Half-Life 3 was actually coming out any time soon but that this joke was from Valve itself. It takes a really smart prankster to have a practical joke work on two levels like that. Well played, Internet. Well played.
On the other side of the world, the Swedes from Meta-Meta-Critic with the tagline "Who reviews the reviewers?" [http://www.paradoxplaza.com/] On it, game journalists are given a review and an average score as if they were the product being criticized. It's a clever send-up of our profession, and I enjoyed the satire of having videogame critics reviewed by the people who make the games.
Our own Editor-in-Chief Steve Butts makes the list of reviewers reviewed on Meta-Meta Critic. "I won't, indeed I can't deny that Steve is an emotional experience ... What we have here is something that simply isn't finished," reads the official review of Steve Butts [http://www.meta-metacritic.net/journalist/steve-butts], but it's the User Review that is the most honest: "I bought Steve several weeks ago and I am absolutely addicted! I play Steve every day, bought the new clothes DLC and I am now admin on the Official Steve Forums."
Unfortunately, Steve Butts has the lowest average score on Meta-Meta Critic with a dismal 71. Sad.
Permalink
