April Fools from the Video Game Industry

April 1 is a great time of the year, filled with pranks, fun and laughter. The video game industry especially is a big fan of this holiday. Game developers are nothing more then big kids, and the industry is notorious for its April Fools' announcements. 2008 was no different, and there were quite a few humorous April Fools' jokes, courtesy of our favorite developers and publications.

Microsoft unleashed a new promotional website, offering several new XBox peripherals. Among these are the XBox 360 Wireless Helmet(with airflow temperature temperature control, rumble settings, and 5.1 surround sound), XBox Live the Board Game(complete with 78 unique achievements), XBox 360 Vintage Edition(a 360 designed like the original XBox, complete with wood trim and a classic Atari-styled controller). Some of their prank gear actually looks pretty nice...

Several sites reported that Killzone: Wrath of Hakka would be headed to the PSN as a downloadable game. The new Killzone game would run on the PSP engine and would serve to further hype up Sony's anticipated first peron shooter, Killzone 2. This game was later debunked, however, by a Sony official spokesperson as yet another April Fools' joke.

A very interesting, yet shockingly disturbing game was announced for the Wii. The game was called "Super Pii Pii Brothers", and the goal of the game was to... well, perfect your aim and hit the toilet. The game also used an interesting peripheral - a strap on that would allow the Wiimote to be strapped to the player's groin area. Luckily, this one was also just a joke.

IGN also released a 'world exclusive' trailer for The Legend of Zelda motion picture. Due out April 1, 2009, the trailer actually looked really professionally done. Not quite done to a Peter Jackson level, but good nonetheless. Obviously, a lot of time went and effort into the trailer... too bad it was April Fools prank, I'm sure a lot of people would have checked it out.

The biggest prank this year was a new gameplay trailer released for Konami's highly anticipated Metal Gear Solid 4. The trailer starts off with Jade Raymond, lead developer of the 2007 blockbuster hit, Assassin's Creed, announcing an expansion of the Assassins Creed series. The trailer then begins and shows the protagonist of Assassins Creed in the middle of 21st century warzone. A battle rages between two sides, but is soon broken up by the mammoth Gekkous. After battling the mechanical monsters, Altair is knocked to the side. His cloak flies off and its revealed that its not really Altair at all, but Solid Snake, from the Metal Gear Solid series. The trailer ends with Hideo Kojima, director of the Metal Gear Solid series, asking the viewer whether they liked the joke. Hats off to UbiSoft and Konami for a great April Fools' release!