Beware the April Fools in mid-March

by Alexander Sliwinski { Mar 17th 2007 at 12:40PM }

The gaming press has an immature habit of playing April Fool's jokes on its readers. It's all cute and fine when the online publications do it, no matter how ridiculous or well conceived, because at least it's on April Fools' Day. One day and it's lost to the ether. The problem is some gaming magazines do this with their April issues. Meaning that from the time they go to print, until sometime into May, we have to listen to tip, after tip, after tip about Game Informer said this or EGM said that -- all the time it was their April Fools' "joke."

Why are we bringing this up? We're already getting the hints of April Fools jokes in mid-March. We aren't saying that NiGHTS for Wii in the April issue of Official Nintendo Magazine isn't true -- but we aren't trusting the April issues of the game magazines till we get confirmation from the publishers. This isn't the only magazine "news" tip we've received for April, we're just asking tipsters to be a little bit more skeptical than usual during this mid-March-through-early-May April Fools' Day.

Tags: april fool's, AprilFool's, black xbox, nights, wii

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Joshua @ Mar 17th 2007 12:45PM

I'm honestly really sick of April Fool's jokes in game publications and websites. Come on, it's not funny, and it just creates all kinds of problems. Give it up and let us sigh in relief.

hvnlysoldr @ Mar 17th 2007 12:49PM

I wasn't aware Joystiq knew about the Nights on Wii rumor. Otherwise I wouldn't have sent in that tip. Still I have hope for Mushroom Kingdom Hearts and Nights Revolution eventually...

fox @ Mar 17th 2007 12:58PM

It's harmless fun. I'm not sure why people get up in arms over something so trivial.

superbagman @ Mar 17th 2007 1:05PM

People get up in arms over it because legitimate news organizations don't do this kind of crap. The gaming press wonders why they aren't taken seriously and it's because of stuff like this. However, if a gaming mag is going to do an April fools thing, then they should follow Gamepro's example and have a segment that is all jokes and make sure that everything else is legit.

Adam @ Mar 17th 2007 1:06PM

Sure, these print April Fools jokes can be misleading, but come on. Who actually fell for "Mushroom Kingdom Hearts" in EGM? As soon as I saw it, I knew it was fake. 41 characters from the Nintendo universe? 4-1? How obvious is that?

It would be interesting to see. The only way it would happen is if Square-Enix is able to make a Kingdom Hearts for Wii. Then, MAYBE, you'd see Mario or another character make a cameo.

Savok @ Mar 17th 2007 1:16PM

You people really don't understand how stupid the masses are. People believe the crap and it causes chaos for months after.

Remember Sonic in SSBM? All Your Base for the 3772727432425th time was preferable to that April shitfest.

Todd Rabanus @ Mar 17th 2007 1:21PM

why wouldn't nights on the Wii be plausible. If Saturn games are gonna on VC then wouldn't that include nights?

zorg45 @ Mar 17th 2007 1:38PM

Don't rip on Game Informer. Their April Fools section has a fake "Game Infarcer" cover with giant "this is fake" headers on each page. EGM is the real culprit. They're the ones trying to pass believable rumors under people's radar.

dxprog @ Mar 17th 2007 2:32PM

Dugg for the Kefka pic

Mr Khan @ Mar 17th 2007 2:51PM

Yes, i remember EGM and their evil

Sonic in SSBM

topless in DOAX

are they the ones behind Mushroom Kingdom Hearts?

But NiGHTS (as an original sequel, not just a digital redistribution) seems to be a title that SEGA and Sonic Team are at least legitimately considering, even if nothing concrete is on the table yet

sheppy @ Mar 17th 2007 3:04PM

"They're the ones trying to pass believable rumors under people's radar."

About as believable as Metal Gear Solid 4 going multiplatform and each console having an exclusive hidden character. PS3 having Kratos, 360 getting Master Chief, and Wii getting Elebit.

Seriously, EGMs shenanigans are sad and tragic. Which makes them not shenanigans at all, really. Only in the eyes of a ten year old is EGMs shit believable.

samfish @ Mar 17th 2007 3:34PM

I might be a sucker, but it seems pretty certain that NiGHTS is FINALLY coming back and to the Wii in one way or another.

steve @ Mar 17th 2007 3:38PM

i love april fools jokes
but only when on april first
im an april fool :P

Jim @ Mar 17th 2007 3:49PM

AFD jokes are great and every year I choose the best one in each media category, of course the most important is print/web media.

To fully enjoy AFD jokes it is important that (at lesat in the case of internet) media follow one simply rule.

AFD = 1st of April, no that's not some date in March and that not some date in April. AFD jokes are only valid on 1st of April. PERIOD.

A good AFD joke is so "believeable" that you just might consider it a true story and then look at the date of the article and smile that you were fooled.

fox @ Mar 17th 2007 3:50PM

superbagman, I'm not sure if I want my gaming mags to start reading like the New York Times. And I don't fully believe the mags themselves want to either. Also, the Lamepro and Game Infarcer approach kind of defeats the purpose of doing an April Fools joke.

Figment @ Mar 17th 2007 4:09PM

"People get up in arms over it because legitimate news organizations don't do this kind of crap."

Really? The BBC would beg to differ.

redspear @ Mar 17th 2007 4:32PM

@sheppy

Or as believable as say Dragon Quest going to the DS perhaps. Or as believable as a Super Mario RPG being made for the SNES by Square. or as believable as Final Fantasy going to the PS1 after tehy showed the N64 version in E3(or was it the CES than). Kingdom Hearts is not an unbelievable game to appear on the Wii it also isn't a small stretch to believe that Nintendo characters would appear it in. However the fact that only EGM was reporting it in April was not believable.

haywood jablomey @ Mar 17th 2007 5:01PM

"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — uh - you can't get fooled again." —President George W. Bush,

Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002

sheppy @ Mar 17th 2007 5:40PM

"Or as believable as say Dragon Quest going to the DS perhaps. Or as believable as a Super Mario RPG being made for the SNES by Square. or as believable as Final Fantasy going to the PS1 after tehy showed the N64 version in E3(or was it the CES than). Kingdom Hearts is not an unbelievable game to appear on the Wii it also isn't a small stretch to believe that Nintendo characters would appear it in. However the fact that only EGM was reporting it in April was not believable."

Dude, you were one of those children who believed Master Hand was playable on SSB using the character selection screen exploit, right?

Mushroom Kingdom Hearts is, simply put, fanboy fantasy. It's the kind of shit kids talk about how awesome it would be while waiting for their parents to buy their popcorn in a movie theatre line. But here's the difference between several of your examples of "unbelievable happenings."

-Dragon Quest going to the DS: Hori has always stated Dragon Quest goes to the console with the highest installed userbase. The only real shocker about this announcement is that, for the first time ever, handhelds was considered. Tragically, it's too bad it shares only the name with this legendary series since now we have touch screen commmands, action based combat, and of course, a multiplayer based party system.

Super Mario RPG- How, exactly, was this unbelievable? Squaresoft was in tight with Nintendo at the time. Holy crapsule! You mean Square was one of the many, many, many, many companies that have been able to license and use Nintendo characters? The only thing suprising about this story was the fact that Nintendo will fight for their character licenses integrity, and yet the CD-i Zeldas still exist...

-believable as Final Fantasy going to the PS1 after tehy showed the N64 version in E3. It was CES. And you also forgot about the other things happening at the time. Like how Yamauchi Hiroshi publically bashed the game during it's unveiling, or how FFVI and Chrono Trigger were pushing the cartridge formats beyond their limits (and supposedly chopping content because of it), Sonys Playstation was promising to remove a ton of limited for SNES, and that particular truth was ripped from beneath them. Once Squaresoft lost their limits with cartridges, I never expected them to go back.

Kingdom Hearts is not an unbelievable game to appear on the Wii it also isn't a small stretch to believe that Nintendo characters would appear it in:

Actually, this is the stretch. Several reasons, in fact.

1. Nomura is currently waist deep in Final Fantasy Versus and he's stated constantly that, until that game is shipped, he's not even looking at KH3 and beyond although they are inevitable and he does want to do them.

2. Nomura has stated he wishes to continue a story where he could do it anywhere. Which is why he avoided console specific mascots in the past.

3. Where were the Nintendo characters in Chain of Memories?

4. Nomura is one of the handful of developers that have stated they would prefer the more power in a console to a new controller and has even stated Wii controls as a gimmick.

Although it does have this snippit going in favor of it and ONLY this snippet. He has stated that he wants to expand the story to multiple systems. How far that goes is still up in air considering Chain Of Memories. Rest assured, if it does come to Wii, it will be without Mushroom Kingdom characters simple because, SE would be unable to use those characters again when going something like Playstation 3 and retelling the events of the Wii chapter.

So I said it before, I'll say it again. Mushroom Kingdom Hearts is idiotic fanboy fucking fantasy. There is simply too much evidence to the contrary (including the fact that Nomura has said he refuses to unveil the next KH game until FFXIII vs. ships and refuses to even talk about it when people interview him) to make this believable.

LaughingTarget @ Mar 17th 2007 5:55PM

EGM didn't used to be this subtle. I remember back in the Genesis/SNES days they'd post mock-up shots of games like Jurrasic Pork and Mortal Wombat.

nukethewhalesagain @ Mar 17th 2007 11:10PM

I don't mind the April Fool's jokes. I mean, I understand why Newsweek and Time aren't doing it but that doesn't mean magazines on the lighter side of the news have to miss out on the fun. Still if the Official Nintendo Magazine is playing this joke beginning in March then that is taking it too far. I hope the Nights or "exclusive" game news isn't a joke.

ThreeSixWii @ Mar 17th 2007 11:12PM

HAHAHA- did ANYONE read that long post by sheppy ?

I fell asleep after 3 lines.

Keep it short, maybe people will read.

And this is just another April Fools joke BTW.

how many fools do we have here anyways?

CD @ Mar 17th 2007 11:15PM

sheppy said: "Mushroom Kingdom Hearts is, simply put, fanboy fantasy. It's the kind of shit kids talk about how awesome it would be while waiting for their parents to buy their popcorn in a movie theatre line."

But sometimes games like that get made. Just look at Super Smash Bros. or Marvel vs. Capcom. Sometimes the developers have the same fanboy fantasies we do and make them a reality.

I'd be more wary of the Nights tease being a joke if not there's been hints about it popping up continuously since back when Wii was still Revolution. If this was comign out of left field, yeah April Fool's for sure, but in context it's just another link in the already long Wii Nights chain.

darthhk @ Mar 17th 2007 11:51PM

@4, I agree completely. Can you imagine what would happen if the mainstream press started to take part in this nonsense? And anyway, I neither understand nor tolerate April Fools Day. I suppose its all fine and good when done in good fun and MODERATION... the problem is, as recent polls have shown, 98% of all people on earth are douchebags and dont have the part of their brains intact that tells them when to stop, when they have gone too far, etc. The Gaming Press would do well to steer clear of this skullduggery, or at the very least, very clearly post how dugious the info is, as GI does.

sheppy @ Mar 18th 2007 11:52AM

CD, you still don't really understand, do you?

Marvel vs. Capcom isn't that far of a stretch. After all, Capcom had made two Marvel Comics fighters (X-Men: Children of the Atom and Marvel Super Heroes) before even going to the Street Fighter vs. X-Men game. That series began escalating as well and if people couldn't see the natural progression from Street Fighter vs. Marvel Super Heroes to Marvel vs. Capcom, then people in this world are a hell of a lot slower than I originally imagined. Namco X Capcom came from left field.

Super Smash Brothers was a pleasant suprise for Nintendo fans but it was all intercompany. Snake is officially the first non-Nintendo character to show up in the series.

Mushroom Kingdom Hearts? It would ruin the series freedom. Not because it would be on a Nintendo console but instead it would incorporate Nintendo characters. And I truly have to ask you this, which speaks volumes of your gullibility in this area. Do you honestly think Nintendo would allow SquareEnix to take those characters and continue the story on PS3 and PSP? The Disney characters can travel wherever the franchise goes, Nintendo characters cannot. That is why Mushroom Kingdom Hearts is fanboy fantasy.