April Fool's Alert #5: WiiHelm and the WoW tinfoil cap
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Apr 1st 2007 at 9:40AM }
The WiiHelm by ThinkGeek is a great April Fool's Day joke in so many ways. The item even fooled Dave Rudden, an editor at Games.net, who was ready to put down $25 for the accessory when he was greeted by a "Fooled you!" Although the production values on this item are great, with the video just knocking it out of the park, the best detail is the "4 frontal LEDs illuminate your surroundings while gaming in the basement at 3 am." There is a lot to love here.
Rudden writes, "Well, they knew their audience and their product and picked something that was slightly insane, but within reason. Just about every site and mag that's tried that this year hasn't. Sadly, I would've paid good money for that wonderful, wonderful helmet. Wouldn't you?"
Blizzard brought it again this year with double duty. First, for World of Warcraft players, there's the tinfoil hat with the tag line: "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you." The hat protects the wearer from various forms of inspection in the land of Azeroth. The other goof is Blizzard selling Warcraft III with a completely different title. Warcraft: Heroes of Azeroth ... or "WHoA," is the prequel to the World of Warcraft. The whole page is written in a style of lame marketing class 101. The joke being that those who jumped on the WoW bandwagon never played Warcraft III, so it's new to them, why not cash in? Even the pictures of the boxes just have a sticker over the Warcraft III logo with the new name. One of the best lines being, "WHoA comes in *four* different box covers (that's TWICE as many as WoW!)" ZOMG! Rush out and get yours today!
Update: ThinkGeek snuck in a subtle one with the 8-bit tie, we were actually hoping to wear this at our next power lunch. Blizzard also has the Black Temple Attunement, which looking at the flow chart looks perfectly reasonable for the average hardcore WoW player.
[Thanks Dave]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Steve Tran @ Apr 1st 2007 11:27PM
like the word on the tshirt says....
meh
miles foreman @ Apr 1st 2007 9:49AM
The girl in the WiiHelm looks suitably retarded, which makes it even more awesome.
Justin McElroy @ Apr 1st 2007 9:55AM
That WHOA gag is great. Not only is it kind of believable (if you're dumb) but it's also actually funny, which so many people making these gags forget about in an effort to be plausible.
Ben @ Apr 1st 2007 9:57AM
I for one welcome our new kitty overlords.. WoWWiki is now MeoWWiki!
http://www.wowwiki.com/Main_Page
Savok @ Apr 1st 2007 10:10AM
Blizzard did 3 actually, read the Black Temple attunement chart.
rickyyo @ Apr 1st 2007 10:27AM
Thinkgeek.com sent out a email full of April Fools crap and one of them is in the caffine sections. They are cigeretts full of caffine...
Ricky @ Apr 1st 2007 10:29AM
Sorry for the double post but Xfire did a huge prank by renaming games to make it look like people were playing cute and stupid games.
HotShotX @ Apr 1st 2007 10:43AM
Oh man! How in the hell did they cast Terri Schaivo for this commercial?!
~HotShotX
Rob Accomando @ Apr 1st 2007 10:42AM
lol, the look on her face makes it so much funnier
SuperDave @ Apr 1st 2007 1:00PM
Sorry Wii fanboys, I'm one too but I had to do it....
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w84/SuperDave479/Wii-tard.jpg
zenprism @ Apr 1st 2007 1:08PM
I would totally buy that 8-bit tie.
Someone make it real and take my money.
Tyrus @ Apr 1st 2007 1:11PM
Man, I wish the 8-bit tie was a real product.
PhoenixJ @ Apr 1st 2007 1:21PM
Aw, why can't the 8-bit tie be real :[ !?
Mark @ Apr 1st 2007 1:25PM
If you scroll down the page with the tinfoil hat, the character using the hat is called "Dogen". Psychonauts reference...I think it might be. :)
Jerk Face @ Apr 1st 2007 1:33PM
That video is really, really f*cking funny. That girl looks like such an a** hole when she's eating the cereal. Two points!
Jerk Face @ Apr 1st 2007 1:36PM
And since I didn't notice before posting:
HotShotX, that is the funniest f*cking thing I have read in a while! Seriously, comedy f*cking gold!
It's never too early for Terry Schaivo jokes! Ha ha!
John Doe. @ Apr 1st 2007 3:17PM
I'm still pissed at Thinkgeek for their April 1st 2005's easy bake over for your PC gag.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/ezbake.shtml
I actually went to by that for a charity auction where the majority of attendance would be geeks. Thought it would be a great thing to put on the block. Went to buy it only to find it was a gag. Ended up picking up the complete Calvin and Hobbs. 10 times more, and not nearly as much "fun". :-(
Rubang B @ Apr 1st 2007 3:42PM
NO! I wanted the 8-Bit Tie so bad. SOMEBODY MAKE ME ONE! Take my money!
J rod @ Apr 1st 2007 4:19PM
I think shes kinda cute when shes doing those nod gestures while eating the cereal.
Jacob Embody @ Apr 1st 2007 6:31PM
She looks like she's shrinking in that video. The large cereal bowl and spoon, and the fact that her head/body seems to sink into the couch further and further gives this impression to me. WiiHelm = shrinking device.
Karlee @ Apr 1st 2007 6:38PM
It looks like thinkgeek may actually be making the tie =D
Tracy @ Apr 1st 2007 9:11PM
Well it looks like the 8-Bit tie backfired on Think Geek. They got so swamped with e-mails to make it real they put up a note saying that they would make it real.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/apparel/hats-ties/9352/?cpg=50T
AssemblyLineHuman @ Apr 1st 2007 10:22PM
I disagree with #21 when it comes to game journalism, agree with #21 on other things (like ThinkGeek and WoW).
samfish @ Apr 1st 2007 11:08PM
Your website sucks, ggoldsky.
Just lettin' you know. I didn't click on it or anything, but I can just tell.
Alexander @ Apr 2nd 2007 6:21PM
lmao this is hilarious and she does look like a retard but nice boobs
Jaleeb Caru @ Apr 2nd 2007 7:46PM
I'm so happy to be the post after the boobs guy, that I've lost my train of thought.
Oh yeah, I wouldn't buy one of those ever or I'd end up with my head in a medical halo, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it were eventually made and released.