Did you enjoy our French Reference Day? We thought it'd be a fun way to celebrate the first of April. For those that missed it, in every post yesterday we included some reference to France, French language or French culture*. Feel free to take a look for yourself and try to catch 'em all. For all the answers, peep below the break. Be sure to check out our gallery of April Fools' shenanigans, as well.

* Note: Just to be extra clear (because we sometimes need to be), Joystiq is not based in France.

The problem with all of these April Fools' shenanigans is that some of the fake games, peripherals and features people dream up are actually quite awesome. Case in point is this first-of-April report on the WiiWare version of Tetris which, according to a conveniently broken-linked Famitsu source, will feature 3D manipulation of the pieces in what looks to be a mélange of Jenga and EA's Steven Spielberg's Boom Blox.

We get the joke ("what a hilariously awkward take on such a hard-to-mess-up gameplay formula!"), but we have to admit we're intrigued by the potential of taking Tetris in a new direction. Nintendo had previous success with its alternate Tetris modes in the Nintendo DS version of the game. Maybe a physics-based iteration of the tetromino-tilting title isn't such a crazy idea after all.

ThinkGeek is certainly on a roll today with the April Fools hijinks. Not only do we have Super Pii Pii Brothers (and its bizarre peripheral), but now we have Wii Sports on the iPhone, as well as a conduit for shuffling between dead video formats.

The Wii Sports on iPhone gag is nothing more than an unclickable banner ad, making us wish the joke was taken a bit further. The Betamax to HD-DVD converter, on the other hand, is quite the stroke of genius. The idea alone is brilliant, made even more so by the "promotional" video, viewable after the break.

If you're trying to visit some of your favorite (and occasionally game-related) webcomics today, you might be a bit confused by the URL redirection. Here's a handy guide:

• XKCD's site now directs you to Questionable Content
• Questionable Content's site now directs you to Dinosaur Comics
• Dinosaur Comic's site now directs you to XKCD

Also, you might notice something is fishy about VG Cats. Make sure you check out the "stretch myself artistically" link. Weekly Webcomic Wrapup will return this Saturday.

Sacre bleu! Something odd seems to have happened to our favorite sardonic online flash quiz for its March 31 edition (embedded above). Questions like "Repeat after me!" and a comparison between lines from Great Expectations and Jackass 2: The Movie seem completely out of pace with the game's usual punishing difficulty. Don't even get us started on the "repeat after me" Jack Attack, which could probably be completed by a mentally handicapped surrender monkeys (cheese-eating or non).

We can only hope this is a one-time glitch, and not a trend that will last past through the beginning of the fourth month of the year ...

LucasArts isn't the only developer with a proclivity to "hit the bricks", it seems -- according to the latest issue of EGM, Bungie is currently working on a heretofore unannounced project in conjunction with Lego. The brainchild of this unholy union is -- as you've probably already guessed -- Lego Halo. Set to follow the entire storyline of the Halo trilogy, and featuring gameplay similar to the other games in the Lego crossover genre (with just a dash of traditional FPS fare mixed in), this chimera is sure to sell like hotcakes to fans of Master Chief and construction toys both -- if it actually existed, that is.

As many of our loyal tipsters (as well as one of our sister sites) didn't realize, this exclusive preview ran in the April edition of EGM -- the same edition which is infamous for its history of April Fools' skullduggery. Sorry to break your naïve heart, if you didn't see this coming -- but the only way you're going to get your hot little hands on Lego Halo is if you order it from a parallel universe. Would you mind picking up a copy of Mushroom Kingdom Hearts for us while you're over there?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Were you planning on picking up a Sony PSP tomorrow from your local Gamestop or EB Games? Excellent. Were you planning on paying for it? Super excellent. As a reward for your unquestionable moral values, you'll be given a $30 discount on that purchase of "the past". You see, as of April 3, the PSP Core Pack is being marked down from $199.99 to $169.99.

Gamestop and EB Games have already received the promotional materials (as depicted above) and instructions (shown after the break) for the long overdue price drop and will no doubt have it ready to greet you within the next 24 hours. For those still wary of the giggling miasma of April Fool's still lingering in the air, rest assured that we've verified this information with Gamestop. Happy PSP... ing.

[Thanks, Adam]

Infinite Interactive released a cheat code yesterday to give players a little help in the PSP and DS versions of Puzzle Quest. The code is a long sequence of buttons pressed quickly or held for half a second. Once entered, a menu will appear that will allow you to turn off AI cheating, play the secret cow level, activate all spells, and turn on nude hero sprites (!).

Now this is what an April Fools prank should be like. No outlandish promises for games we know will never exist, no half-baked Photoshopped images, and for the love of grilled cheese sandwiches, no ridiculous claims of Sony buying Nintendo. Just a good old fashioned joke that you believe at first but quickly realize you've been hoodwinked. Furthering the prankocity of the cheat, the sequence spells "I AM A NOOB" in Morse code!

We can't help but wonder how many Puzzle Quest fans dove for their system to try it out. You know, to turn off AI cheating. Not that nude hero thing.

[Via DS Fanboy]

Chronic pranksters Bungie Studios launched into their April Fool's Day jokes in their usual manner. Not that there's anything wrong with that. ("No, not at all," he said.)

From Bungie.net we have a "leaked" poster from the upcoming Pimps at Sea movie. Little is known about the film except what we are given on the poster. Michael Bay will direct the film, which based on the novel by Sylvia Plath based on a screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and Alex Garland. Allen Murray, Ron Booth, K. Jong Il and Allan Peter Parson will produce, while Shane Kim, Peter Moore, Ron Howard and Jon Travolta will executive produce. The film stars Sir Anthony Hopkins, Damon Wayans, Pam Grier and David Scully; Martin O'Donnell will provide the music and Beyonce Knowles will be lending her voice to the song "Yo-ho-ho." It will be rated R. Like we said, very little bit is known about the project.

Also found were early drafts of the screenplay with notes intended for Microsoft's eyes only. "You can run, bitch, but I'll have what's owed before this day is done. Or I ain't the pimp my mama raised!"

You have to get up pretty early in the morning to fool the Halo faithful and in any case, prime time Saturday night isn't the crack of dawn by any interpretation. An April Fool's prank of the "We didn't even bother to research it" variety from Game Stooge is what we have for you this time and it has to do with a prequel to Bungie's Halo series.

Don a pocket protector and start up your favorite MC Frontalot album because it's about to get real nerdy up in here.

The story as it goes has a prequel to Halo starring the beloved cast of the alternate reality game sensation, I Love Bees, in a tactical shooter much like the Rainbow Six series. The problem being that none of the characters would know each other prior to the original Halo, nor would any of them have any combat training whatsoever. Hell, the protagonist, Janissary James' great accomplishment was getting shot in the chest. Okay, so she broke some limbs and generally beat the crap out of some folks along the way, but she isn't exactly the Chief.

Another, more obvious error, is the Cortana-like A.I, Melissa (see also: Durga), being referred to as Dana by Game Stooge. If they had listened to the I Love Bees audio files for, oh, let's say two minutes, they would have gotten that one right. Hello? Wikipedia? Ever heard of it?

This exercise in epic fail concludes with a fake address by Bungie co-founder Jason Jones that makes him sound more like a public relations robot than a human being. When was the last time any of you remember Jason Jones doing a public anything, much less a statement outside of the Halo 2 documentary? You have a better shot at finding Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny playing a game of Strip Uno at the end of a rainbow than you do finding Jason Jones doing anything public, ever.

If we're lucky, this "Doctor Who" marathon we're in the middle of will last until April Fool's is over.

We warned you yesterday. Welcome to many site's nebulous comprehension that April Fool's Day is actually April 1 -- not the day or week before, or the whole month for that matter. Wii.TV gets the first spot in our alerts as they announce Legend of Zelda ... that's it, they didn't even bother to come up with a subhead. Go through the effort of editing a five minute video and don't even bother to come up with a full title. No, Legend of Zelda: Future Calls or Legend of Zelda: Knights of the Ganon Wars.

The video is a compilation of Star Wars concept drawings, Final Fantasy stills and other random elements. Actually, that would make for a good deconstruction exercise. Know where the components come from? Give a shout out.

[Thanks Whosyourdaddy?]

As you wander unsuspecting into your weekend, don't forget that the craziest game news day outside of E3 (well, maybe not anymore) is coming up. That's right, Sunday is April Fools Day, the one day a year where newsmakers and gamemakers everywhere stop making unintentional jokes and try to intentionally make up the most ludicrously believable fake stories that they can.

From BurgerCraft to real 1up mushrooms to cheat site shutdowns, no topic is safe. Heck, in the case of magazines, the actual joke can come in early March. Here are few tips to keep your coming weekend fool free.

• If it seems too good to be true, it probably is: We'd all love for Nintendo to suddenly give everyone who clicks a link a free Wii, but face it, it doesn't seem too likely.
• Sourcing is important: If a blockbuster April 1 story comes from unnamed sources or a mysteriously dead web site, remain skeptical. The least they could do is forge some documentation for their joke; make them work for it.
  
• It's Sunday: Big gaming news never comes out on Sunday. Then again, don't be surprised if some sites wait till Monday to spring their foolishness this year.
  
• Sega is not re-entering the hardware business. Nintendo is not leaving it: Actually, this is good advice to remember year round.
• Your favorite classic Sega franchise from yesteryear is not going to suddenly reappear as a Wii-exclusive title: Oh, wait....
• When in doubt, don't believe it: If the story pops up again in a week, you're probably in the clear.

The April issue of EGM lands on newstands March 13, but the folks at Obvious Diversion have already sampled the goods. The big "news" is Mushroom Kingdom Hearts for Wii. According to the magazine that never lies, it's Kingdom Hearts sans Final Fantasy characters with Nintendo's Mushroom Kingdom folk in their stead. Over 41 characters will be featured in the game that's set to make more money than the Sultan of Brunei could ever dream of.

EGM's April issue is a famous launching ground for concepts that seem too good to be true. Remember how excited we were when the realistic Wind Waker remake was announced? Wait. That was an April Fools joke? Think what you may, but EGM hasn't officially confirmed Mushroom Kingdom Hearts as a prank. You might want to place a pre-order this weekend. Go ahead, we dare you.

Thanks to a side effect in the PlayStation 5's Infinite Improbability Processor in 2014, we were able to for a brief moment look ahead and see the site as it would be in 4 years. Fortunately we were quick to grab all the information and we now present it to you for a glimpse into the future of gaming (and, therefore, of life itself):

Sure, it's not April 1st yet, but that hasn't stopped some guileful folks from getting a jump start on their annual trickery. Take, for example, the suspiciously timed appearance of a website ostensibly promoting Rockstar's latest and greatest: no, not Table Tennis, but Grand Theft Auto: Chicago of course!

Why does this GTA: Chicago thing smell fishier than a two week old tuna sandwich left in your high school locker? Let us count the ways:

1. The previous GTA games have eschewed real cities, opting instead for fictional cities closely inspired by actual ones. Liberty City ~ New York City; Vice City ~ Miami; San Andreas ~ Los Angeles. Chicago doesn't sound right. Suspicion triggered.
   
2. It doesn't look right either. That font is seriously dubious. Rising.
   
3. Why announce a game on (or a day before) April 1st? Why announce a huge title like GTA just several weeks before E3 and a week after GDC? Why take the focus off the other title you're busy promoting, Table Tennis? Suspicion reaching the boiling point.
4. The site was registered through GoDaddy.com, who in turn report the registrar as an anonymous service called Domains by Proxy, Inc.. Suspicion nearing dangerous levels.
   
5. All of Rockstar's other GTA domains have been registered through Network Solutions to Rockstar directly. Check LibertyCityStories.com, ViceCity.com, and GTASanAndreas.com. Suspicion core overload. Evacuate Zebes.
   

Oh April Fool's Day pranksters, you'll have to do better than that.

[Thanks, Buttonbasher]