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Gamespot's April 1 Rumor Control

Posted by Zonk on from the hole-in-the-windbag dept.

In case any of you were wondering what was and wasn't true yesterday, Gamespot has a rundown on some of the stories that made the rounds on 2005's April 1st. From the article: "One of the day's more devious pranks--also spread by the now obviously complicit Slashdot--plays on the fears of many gamers. In particular, it outlines the nightmare scenario of those who shelled out $99.99 for the Final Fantasy XI/PS2 hard drive bundle. Namely, if its subscriber base dwindles, Sony might discontinue support for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game." Heh.

25 comments

  1. FFXI....it would have been sorely missed... by ToddBox · · Score: 2

    Oh yeah...April Fools. I played FFXI for about a month and realized I didn't even enjoy the damn game. I'm sure there are people out there who do enjoy it...but if they were to pull support of the PS2 you wouldn't hear many of our tears hit the floor.

    1. Re:FFXI....it would have been sorely missed... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Let's put it this way: Sony isn't stupid. Enough people enjoyed FFXI that they stopped making the part required to play it. Hmm...

      FFXI is popular in Japan. It was pretty much a flop in the US, despite when the US players on this site want you to believe. EQ probably has more US players than FFXI ever did.

    2. Re:FFXI....it would have been sorely missed... by nomadic · · Score: 3, Funny

      Kids today have no work ethic. I can't imagine not playing a game simply because you don't find it fun.

    3. Re:FFXI....it would have been sorely missed... by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      Didn't they do just that, though, with the new model PS2, sans HDD bay?

      Can you play FF XI without a HDD?

    4. Re:FFXI....it would have been sorely missed... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      FFXI requires the hard drive. It cannot be played without it.

      There is no way to install a hard drive into the new model PS2. It cannot be made to play FFXI.

      And, of course, it's not a great loss because very few people outside of Japan play FFXI anyway, and Sony didn't ditch the HDD in Japan.

  2. Honestly by FidelCatsro · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If anyone still fell for these after reading the articles..
    There was one really good April fools joke on slashdot yesterday , which would have been grand it been only one. The problem is that it was nuzzled in between some of the daft ones and thus made it so easy to pick out .
    "fool me once shame on me , Fool me twice shame on you , Fool me 7 or more times..."
    Seriously some the carefull planing that used to go into these jokes needs to be reintroduced, It seems hoaxing is a dead art .Seriously when that FFXI joke is considerd one of the more devious then i think they should take a look back for inspiration to thinks on the http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/
    Now some of those were masterfull

    --
    The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
    1. Re:Honestly by Geoffreyerffoeg · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "fool me once shame on me , Fool me twice shame on you

      Uh...the phrase is "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me." You're not supposed to get fooled twice, but how can you be blamed for being fooled the first time?

      Nevertheless, "fool me 7 or more times, drive away your readership" seems pretty accurate.

    2. Re:Honestly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think i can say for myself DOH although that is a half broken futurama quote
      --AKA:fidel catsro--

    3. Re:Honestly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, it's "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, nah, can't get fooled again."

      I know I say it on Tee-Vee.

      Huuuzzaaah!

    4. Re:Honestly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      kongisking.net carried a great April Fool's produced by Peter Jackson himself.

      Kongisking.net is the fansite covering the production of the upcoming King Kong, and they get sent a production diary (a short movie clip from Peter Jackson) each day on what's happening on the set.

      For April 1st, Peter Jackson announced the sequel starring King Kong's son was out of the bag. He had mock sets, mock computer shots, interviews with Jack Black and Naomi Watts and a Universal spokesperson... a lot of thought went into it :)

      If you want to hear about the son of King Kong battling Nazis in World War 2, head on over to the site - it still has the production diary clip :)

    5. Re:Honestly by geminidomino · · Score: 2, Interesting

      People these days break the rules, though.

      When you get busted that it's a joke, you can't insist its not. That's when you go from being a "Clever Prankster" to being a "Jerk"

      Yeah, Alan, I'm talking to you. ;) And don't think I didn't figure out AthlonRob was in on it too. That was actually the giveaway. He laid it on WAY to thick.

  3. When will it end? by CDLewis · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Next year I'll have to remember not only to avoid Slashdot on April 1 to miss the "funny" stories, but also on the 2nd to miss the Zonk-pats-self-on-back stories on getting Slashdot mentioned in Gamespot because of said "funny" stories. I'd actully enjoy a "Teen kills baby with shank fashioned from Grand Theft Auto disc, parents sue Rockstar" article right now.

    1. Re:When will it end? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My favorite was Rumor #5, which basically said "all these jokes sucked, give it up guys". They concluded that this rumor was "Not Bogus".

    2. Re:When will it end? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh common with a UID as low as yours you should know that Slashdot is always one big joke on April 1st. You're probably one of those idiots who thinks the government should protect you from yourself.

    3. Re:When will it end? by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Yes, but that doesn't mean it SHOULD be. Besides, it seems that previous years were a lot less lame than this year... at least previous years had jokes that didn't suck ass. Or mostly didn't suck ass. Not only did all the jokes this year suck ass, but there were like 60 of them posted.

      --
      Comment of the year
    4. Re:When will it end? by kubrick · · Score: 1

      No, the previous years had many, many lame jokes which all sucked too.

      --
      deus does not exist but if he does
  4. April 1st Rules!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah!!!! OMG, Yesterday was so cool!!! How come they don't run awesome posts like those everyday. I wish April 1st was all year round. Now I am sad I have to wait 364 days until we get all those extra funny blessings from our super friends at Slashdot again. Thank you Zonk for this retrospective post about the great day yesterday. Almost brought a tear to my eye.

  5. I hate April Fools Day by Phlod · · Score: 5

    0nce upon a time, you had to be creative, or at least devious to come up with, and execute an April Fools prank. Since the internet, all you have to do is post made up crap on your web site. I guess someone, somewhere still finds this funny. I'm getting sick of wasting my time one day a year reading BS stories that don't even sound believable anymore.

    Just stop already.
    --Phlod

    1. Re:I hate April Fools Day by heinousjay · · Score: 1

      Hurrah. If I had any points left, you would get my abusive "underrated" mod.

      --
      Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
  6. I saw a total of two good April Fools jokes ... by tdelaney · · Score: 2, Insightful

    1. Alston to take top Telstra job
    http://whirlpool.net.au/article.cfm/1462

    Near gave me a heart attack, but the last paragraph gave it away even before I clicked the "Media Release". Absolutely believable that Alston (ex telecomunications minister) would have so little integrity.

    2. "Son of Kong" - King Kong production diary day 123.
    http://www.kongisking.net/index.shtml

    This was one that took some real planning and work.

    Damn PJ has lost some weight ...

    1. Re:I saw a total of two good April Fools jokes ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      startrek.com had a great mock site up yesterday, but it appears to have disappeared permanently :\

      Some great parodies of upcoming spin-off shows (Klingon eyes for the Human Guy) etc.

      And yep, Peter Jackson has lost a load of weight. I suppose when you are suddenly tens of millions of dollars richer, you can afford a trainer and a lifestyle coach :)

  7. They won't cancel FF-XI... or will they? by Stephen+H-B · · Score: 1
    On a serious note people.

    Anyone remember Earth and Beyond? You know, the "most awesome game in the world that will never go away and which we'll support forever" (not an actual SOE quote).

    --
    Sick of WoW? Try the thinking man's MMORPG: EVE Online
    1. Re:They won't cancel FF-XI... or will they? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Earth and Beyone was done by Westwood Studios and EA. It was a good game. It would be nice if after studios axed a MMORPG would release them to the public like MS did with Allegiance. It would be great to have a free server with only a few hundred people allowed into the shard.

    2. Re:They won't cancel FF-XI... or will they? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It was a good game.

      Ah, so it's not a valid comparison, so FFXI might stick around anyway.

  8. Blizzard had a great one by R3N3D · · Score: 1

    I thought Blizzard's April Fool prank was really. It was about ordering chinese or pizza on WoW using a /pizza instead of having to use the phone. The website is just hilarious.
    They always come up with awesome pranks.