It’s that time of the year a gain to check out some of the April Fools stories that have appeared and there’s quite a few of them this year so far, whether it be be peripherals, retro versions or historical footy remakes, there’s some really fun stuff this year.
These are coming out all the time today so we’ll continue to add more as they surface. If you spot one we missed, do let us know.
Guild Wars 2 introduces Retro Mode
ArenaNet are introducing the “Super Adventure Box” which turns the world of Tyria into a 1980s-style videogame. It’s world full of pixelated rabbits, giant mushrooms and retro music.
“It started out as a fun side project idea”, laughed Colin Johanson, Game Director at ArenaNet. “Originally, we were going to have a laugh with a fake 8-bit update, but the more the team worked on it the more we realised we had something really cool on our hands. We figured; the gaming community are really going to love this, let’s expand on the concept of the Living World in Guild Wars 2 and make it for real”.
“We’ve turned the clock back 30 years”, joked Daniel Dociu, ArenaNet’s multi award-winning Art Director. “With retro-style videogames such a part of the Zeitgeist, we’re excited to marry Guild Wars 2’s cutting-edge gameplay with childhood nostalgia. The results are hilarious
The Super Adventure Box features:
- Super-Hot Graphics: Featuring ‘cutting-edge’ graphics with more than 256 colours, the Super Adventure Box is a visual feast for the gaming connoisseur. Your character has never explored a world like this.
- Awesome New Levels: Three levels full of pogo mushrooms, platform puzzles, bunny tornadoes, and more. Don’t worry about taking a tumble – we’ve turned off the falling damage and turned up the fun!
- Big Fun, Big Rewards: You’ll earn “baubles” by slaying varmints and exploring the virtual world of the Super Adventure Box. Exchange baubles for weapons and skills by talking to the shopkeepers inside the Box, or redeem your baubles for special Super Adventure Box weapon skins from asuran inventor, Moto.
SEGA celebrates 125 years of the football league with Football Manager 1888
Football Manager 1888, an all-new (or should that read ‘all-old’?) version of the best-selling game that celebrates 125 years of the world’s oldest league football competition. Managers are given the option of taking over any of the original 12 clubs involved in the 1888/89 season and guiding them to league and cup glory.
Managers will have to master the different rules of the game, including; no substitutions being permitted during matches, the off-side rule not yet being introduced to the game and players flying into tackles without fear of being sent off or conceding penalties. Players must also overcome other, more unusual, tests to their management credentials when faced with their star players being forced into immediate retirement following a bad injury or their entire back four being drafted up to the army.
“This latest addition to the Football Manager family is so good, it’s unreal,” said Sports Interactive Studio Director Miles Jacobson. “We’ve worked hard to recreate the excitement of Victorian football and the results have to be seen to be believed.”
19th Century match engine
Everything on and around the pitch will look as it did when the league was first formed; from the muddy recreation grounds and the crowds of gentlemen spectators through to the players’ movements and the way the old leather ball moved (or, indeed, didn’t move) through the air.
All clubs and players from the 1888/ 89 season
Manage any of the original 12 football league clubs across one league and go deeper than ever into Victorian football with a comprehensive database of more than 150 players and staff from across the United Kingdom.
User interface
Football Manager 1888 boasts a brand new ‘late 19th century’ style interface and skin reflecting the game’s era.
Play by the original football rules
Overcome all the hurdles that managers don’t need to worry about in the present game. Have an injury? Well you can’t make a substitution. Think he was off-side? Think again, there’s no such thing. And was that really a bad tackle? It doesn’t really matter, as yellow and red cards haven’t been introduced to the game yet.
Overcome the challenges of Victorian football
You will experience real life problems of the era, such as; players being called up to the army leaving you with a hole in your squad and players having to retire from football with immediate effect following a serious injury.
Plus all player and staff movements from the 1888/89 season.
War Thunder: Little Ponies in the Sky
Fierce battles between Axis and Allied forces in the skies of War Thunder have never ceased. Never, that was, until a new opposing force sparkled into life – the force of friendship, love and kindness. Meet little magic ponies a new playable nation in War Thunder MMO.
War Thunder, a MMO combat game dedicated to World War II military aviation, armored vehicles and warships, announces the release of a new playable nation. Besides the USSR, USA, Britain, Germany and Japan, you will now be able to play Ponies. This new nation gets its own development line, the final version of which will be presented later by the War Thunder developer – Russian-based Gaijin Entertainment. Six types of pony are already introduced in the game, along with special pony armament options. All ponies are available in the War Thunder hangar and ready to fly in Arcade Battle mode.
The War Thunder global update on April 1st 2013 introduces the following types of pony: Yellow, White, Purple, Pink, Orange and Blue ponies. Happy little horses are ready to spray friendship with an impressive arsenal of precisely modelled armaments – from magic pony-bombs to large calibre rainbow machine guns.
The War Thunder development team considers the pony faction to be an important step towards new horizons. “We always consider War Thunder to be the game for the widest audience, combining real combat effects with smart and easy controls” – said Kirill Yudintsev, Creative Director of Gaijin Entertainment, – “We know how popular ponies are amongst our players, so the new playable nation of ponies is a natural and logical movement for the War Thunder”.
Zombies Swarm World of Warplanes
Wargaming, the leading free-to-play MMO developer and publisher, is pleased to announce that its smashing hit World of Tanks and the highly anticipated World of Warplanes will soon be crowded with brand new PvE characters-zombies. The AI-controlled undead will become essential elements of both games and bring more diversity to the gameplay.
“The first time one of our game designers brought up using zombies, we immediately brushed it aside”, said Andrew Yarantsau, VP of Global Operations at Wargaming. “But after thorough analysis, we determined it would be a great feature to implement in all our games. It’s a completely new gameplay element, attractive to both current players and new gamer audiences.”
World of Tanks will feature the Zombie Escort survival mode, where players will have to navigate from point A to point B, while fighting their way through swarms of zombies. The new mode is aimed at a more hardcore audience, as it requires extra skills from tankmen. Among other tricks, the undead enemy will be able to infect the tank crew, damage external modules, and block the main gun.
In World of Warplanes, zombies will appear as natural gameplay elements, including undead tail gunners. If a tail gunner gets hit, they instantly turn into a zombie, causing twice as much damage as the default gunner mode. Moreover, the AI remembers the player that killed the tail gunner, forcing the latter to deliberately target that warplane until it’s destroyed.
Another major update for World of Warplanes is the dendro-zombies, a new threat for pilots who prefer shaking off enemies in the woodlands. The closer a warplane flies to a wooded area; the more likely it is to have a zombie stuck to one of the wings, immediately affecting its top speed and maneuverability.
“If a zombie is hanging on one of the wings, the best thing to do is to reverse course and fly over the trees again. Hopefully a zombie will get stuck to the other wing and you’ll regain balance,” said Anton Sitnikau, World of Warplanes producer.
“We are looking forward to the introduction of zombies in World of Tanks and World of Warplanes”, said Wargaming CEO Victor Kislyi. “After so much background work, I can proudly say that the undead will be one of the coolest features in our games.”
Zombies will attack World of Tanks and World of Warplanes in one of the games’ upcoming updates.
Natural Selection ‘Electric Update’
The Unknown Worlds team are to release more DLC in the form of Electric which comes with a stun Gun to use on fellow marines if they piss you off. Not a bad idea actually 😉
Electric follows in the footsteps of Gorgeous, adding new content and improving on what is in the game already. For example, the new Stun Gun allows you to disable your fellow marines when they piss you off. The new Gardening system will allow those seeking a more relaxed gaming experience to enjoy Natural Selection 2.
Balance is a particular focus for Electric: We have carefully listened to your feedback and determined that balance would be significantly improved if you could all kill each other faster. Hence, the 33% increase in damage by all weapons and abilities.
Minecraft 2.0
Yes it’s here, the Minecraft everyone has been waiting for. It’s v2.0 from Mojang.
Hopefully releasing within the next two months, this 2-years-in-development game will be bringing blocky simulation games to the next level. Whilst based off the original Minecraft engine, this new version completely overhauls major parts of the game and contains many weeks worth of new content and blocks. Currently in closed beta stage, we have secretly been working with a select few members of the community to participate and trial run some specific features from the new version. Neither Mojang nor Minecraft would be where it is today without its community, so we felt it fitting that we let them make the trailer videos and announcements for us, which are visible below.
Super Duper Street Fighter 4
Capcom are back with more Street Fighter in Super Duper Street Fighter 4
Super Duper Street Fighter IV will usher in a new era of “duper combos” as well as balance changes and content updates that are sure to max out duper meters across the globe.
Introducing the Duper Meter. This will sit below the Super Meter and be easily identifiable with it’s Yellow color. With the Duper meter, Super moves can now take on the properties of EX Moves after their activation or be used to strengthen EX moves in general. The Duper Meter also builds 1.5 times faster than the normal Super Meter. Now players will get even more options to select from as we know Street Fighter 4 players love option selecting.
Runescape Musical – Cooks Assistant: The Musical
Excellent video this, a lot of work has gone into it at Jagex but let’s hope this is never, ever made.
The Razer Naga Phone update
Technology moves fast these days and Razer’s update to their popular mouse would probably be a hit if it was real.
Awesomenauts: The Movie
Awesomenauts The Movie will be released in full 3D and will reach theaters around the globe this Fall. Joost van Dongen, co-founder of Ronimo Games, says “This movie is a dream come true. Plans for an Awesomenauts movie have been in development since we started working on the game, and now that the game has reached such huge success, we have finally been able to break into Hollywood and get the production of the movie started!”
StarCraft 2 Warhound
Blizzard reintroduces the Warhound unit to StarCraft 2 in a developer Q&A and “situation report“.
The GOG Retromator 4000
Nothing beats some real nostalgia and GOG has the answer with this new tool which turns your favourite games all retro-styled and can even turn them into an old-school adventure. Just look at these Witcher 2 screens.
Europa Universalis: The Musical
Paradox join the musical bandwagon this year with Europa Universalis.
This is something the entire development studio has wanted to do for years, and now we are proud to say that our empire-building series Europa Universalis is coming alive in the way it was truly meant to be, said Johan Andersson, Studio Manager at Paradox Development Studio. When history is your backdrop, it evokes strong feelings and a lot of drama. When internationally renowned music producer Matthias Olsson reached out and described his vision for a musical, I truly felt that this was what the series had been missing. Europa Universalis has tension, alliances, betrayals, and a dream of conquering the world that is the perfect setting for a musical.
Deus Ex: Human Defiance
So many of you would probably have loved to see a real announcement for Deus Ex but sadly it’s not to be as Eidos Montral reveal the new 8-Bit Deus Ex. There’s also a blog update from Eidos.
Introducing Deus Ex: Human Defiance, the first adventures of Adam Jensen in full, glorious 8-bit. Human Revolution brought about the cyber-Renaissance, Human Defiance marks the beginning of a Digital Golden Age. Human Revolution was all about triangles. Now we’re doubling down, flipping one over and revelling at its brand new form: the square… the pixel. It’s a natural evolution!
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
The most awesome website of the day goes to Ubisoft for Far Cry: Blood Dragon. Those were the days.
Star Wars: The Old Republic Dance-offs
Nothing like some dancing in an MMO so perhaps this content update will please SWTOR fans.
Game Update 2.1: Dance of the Hutts is coming in late April, allowing players to experience brand new in-game content, including a new PvP area and a new mount!
- The Hutt Cartel has realized that absolute power stems from knowledge in the dancing arts. They have put out a galactic imperative to find the best dancer and promote them to majesty. In the PvP area, Toborro’s Shakedown, players must use new dance combat skills to face off against other players for unique rewards!
- Players who master the PvP area, Toborro’s Shakedown, will earn specialized Reputation points to purchase a new mount, the Huttese Transporter. The Huttese Transporter takes a 5% tax of all Cartel Coin purchases to ensure it’s always satisfied. But don’t worry – if players talk or flirt with the Huttese Transporter, it will give them a Cartel Coin tax break!
