April Fools, Part Two

Last week's April Fool story in the Newser was one of our more successful ones in terms of response. The first picture was the Newser building in Nydia Tungsten's Minecraft server, built by Jasmine Dawn. "Sneaky and clever" one reader called it."You got me," commented another. Still another deadpaningly suggested I delete the article in the grounds Linden Lab with their mentality might actually do what was in the joke article. Most just laughed, or groaned.

With this April being a particularly bad time, with the world in the worst epidemic since the Influenza Pandemic of 1918, pretty much everyone agreed that joking about spreading the virus wasn't funny at all. Some countries warned that spreading "Coronavirus misinformation on April Fools Day" was punishable by jail time. There were also a few suggestions from some that April Fools jokes shouldn't be done, period. But with so many essentially trapped in their homes on the verge of going stir crazy, more felt the country needed a chuckle more than ever.

As it turned out, the Newser's prank article wasn't the only April Fool played in Second Life. Gemma Cleanslate was witness to the Moles pulling some foolery of their own. Firestorm got into the act, with it's "Message of the Day" appearing scrambled, but I was told was actual languages (and unfortunately I never got a screenshot).

In the world of gaming, World of Tanks had a game called "Turret Town." War Thunder had a special game for the next few days : "Space Thunder." In Guild Wars, giant cats appeared in various places in the game. In Overwatch, googly-eyes appeared on characters.



(click here if the video fails to play)

Minecraft added a new feature that at first looked like a clever joke, tossing signed books into nether portals creating new dimensions. But it looks like an actual new feature.

There are a few more listed in PC Gamer and  Destructoid, such as a supposed "Ducktales" game in the making that turned out to be just "April Fool."


Sources: CCN, CNN, The Hill, PhlyDaily, PC Gamer,

Bixyl Shuftan

Reader Submitted: Game Review - World of Tanks

Rita Mariner, who sent us a series of articles on how to get through Subnautica, recently sent us a review of a noted game that's been out for a few years: World of Tanks. Developed by Wargaming in 2010, "WoT" as it's called for short was the company's first Massive Multiplayer Online game, and remains it's most popular one. Rita has been a longtime player of the game. But in her opinion, the game has not gotten better with age.

Read Rita's reader submission in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

This And That: WoT's "Tankmas" and Swedish Tanks, War Thunder's Official Release, Rust Junks XP System, WarFrame, and Astroneer

So what has yours truly and his Second Life neighbors been playing when not in Second Life? A few things. There's been a few developments in a few of the MMO games we've been playing, World of Tanks, War Thunder, and Rust. There's also a couple we've recently started playing: Warframe and Astroneer.

Read more in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

More Second Life April Fools

Our "April Fool's" joke on Friday got a number of comments. While one thought it was in bad taste due to the subject matter being of someone she didn't like, most had a chuckle out of it. Daniel Voyager for instance told the Newser it was one of the funniest April Fools he had seen pulled. He later posted a link to it on the SL Universe forums. Many gave it the "peanut gallery" treatment, though one man commented, "That was a far better April Fool than LL's official one."

The "official joke" by Linden Lab was posted on their blog at 10AM on April 1, saying they had an "Exclusive Message" for Second Life residents inworld, hinting it involved their next virtual world, Project Sansar. People were asked to head to the meeting point of the four Town Hall Islands sims, where there was an auditorium. Daniel Voyager was there, writing that about 150 avatars were there at one point.

And the exclusive message: Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up." Or as Daniel put it, "You All Got Rick-Rolled By Linden Lab." On the official forums, someone suspected it was a joke. In SL Universe, there was a variety of comments from "Linden Lab's Poor Effort at Comedy" to "Rickrolling is indeed lame, low effort and old. But it can still make me smile at the right time, and when I heard about LL's april fools this year I smiled because it's a very LL sort of thing to have done. ... But you know, I appreciate that they did something for the holiday, didn't have to." Nalates Urriah noted that all those avatars caused so much lag, she and presumably many other residents couldn't see the video, and had to wait until hours later when there were only a few around, "I appreciate the Lindens taking the time to put it together. I just hope they realize how bad things have gotten when lots of avatars are present. ... It leaves my wondering if if we are going into one of those periods where the Lindens get ridiculously out of touch with the users’ experience."

One other April Fool's joke was posted by a user of the High Fidelity forums, an official-looking statement announcing that Second Life would be closing at the end of the year. It got sent to some SL Universe users on it's email list, causing a bit of confusion. There is no evidence that anyone with High Fidelity was involved. Still, it did make a few people briefly wonder.

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On a final note, when we reported on other examples of April Foolery across the Internet, we hadn't seen what "World of Tanks" was offering yet. What they did was to make a "Lunar Lunacy" map in which players controlled "Russian IS-8 Ball" tanks. While the ball tanks were armed, the best way to knock them out was to knock them into one of the six lava pits arranged on the edge like pockets in a pool table. For those who won ten battles on the map, one got a token for use anytime that would increase experienced earned by three times for an hour. To see a youtube of their April Fool stunt: Click Here.

Top image credit: Daniel Voyager

Bixyl Shuftan

April Fools Jokes by Linden Lab, And Others

The April Fool's article Second Life Newser did on Wednesday, about Luskwood's founder supposedly getting a job as a TV news anchorwoman, got some chatter on Facebook and in Second Life group chat (though none in the comment section of the article). Michi herself (who was in on the joke) reportedly was asked about it all day, so as usual we fooled a number of people who didn't bother clicking the link at the bottom.

But the Newser wasn't alone in pulling April Fools jokes. Linden Lab itself got into the act by saying there was a new retro 2-D viewer: "Introducing 2DSS."

There’s been a lot of excitement recently around our integration of the Oculus Rift with Second Life. The addition of HMD (head-mounted display) mode offers a new level of immersion for 3D experiences, but what about people who want less immersion? Today, we’re happy to announce a new way to explore the wide variety of community-created experiences in Second Life, without the complexity of the third dimension: 2D side-scrolling (2DSS) mode. Without the third dimension, you can enjoy Second Life just like your favorite 8-bit games from the past!

Note: while this new mode is compatible with HMD mode, we do not recommend trying both simultaneously. If you were to  turn your head 90 degrees while doing so, the world may simply disappear from view - causing a rather jarring experience that might make you feel a bit foolish. The new 2DSS mode is available as of April 1, 2015, and you can now download the Project Viewer to start enjoying some retro-future fun in Second Life!

And of course the link led to an "April Fool."

Among Second Life blogs, Jo Yardley told her readers, "A Linden Lab employee who wants to remain anonymous today send me this video that is top secret and shows what Second Life Next Generation will look like, it also seems to suggest it will be called ‘Digital World’. The video is apparently some sort of introduction video. I for one am very excited and think it looks stunning although I am a bit worried about the Sesamestreet-ish style." The link at the bottom led to the Wikipedia entry of April Fools Day.

Of other Second Life newsletters, the Enquirer didn't do an April Fool of their own, but did an article about pranks people had played on one another. New World Notes commented that with incidents such as people getting the help of a drag queen in trying to keep Facebook accounts in their avatar names, there was no need for "smartass April Fools posts."

Outside Second Life, various games had their own April Fools pranks and stunts. Blizzard announced a "Patch 6.1.4" that supposedly offered options such as a "T.I.N.D.R. Box" for matchmaking Garrison followers for romance, and changes in the rules such as "All Worgen characters must wear a collar and carry around little blue baggies." "Star Wars: The Old Republic" announced they were offering "stationary mounts" for characters, such as tree logs, "why go anywhere when you can go nowhere?" Star Trek Online announced they were starting the game over, "After over 5 years and countless updates, Holodeck is going to be retired. The old girl has had a good run, but she’s tired, and it’s time to begin again."

"World of Tanks" announced that those destroying ten enemy tanks on April 1st would get a special suitcase that allowed them reguardless of tank to go into artillery mode and send a rainbow beam that would beam down to smite their enemies.They also announced that inspired by the jokes about TOG II tanks being run aground boats, they were doing a new "Waterworld of Tanks" game. They also had an actual minigame: "Operation Undead."

"War Thunder's April Fool joke was actually a one day stunt with two temporary scenarios. One was "Unrealistic Battles," in which players fought in rubber tanks and pelted one another with potatoes and carrots. If a tank was clobbered, the X-Ray revealed men on bicycles. Then there was the "March to Victory" which allowed the players to enter a battlefield as a walking tank, the "ST-1." They went as far as to claim it was an actual experimental tank, "The first world war, which was also called “the trench war”, showed an inefficiency in the usual infantry breakthrough and required the creation of an absolutely new type of ground vehicle - something that could cross destroyed roads and ground torn apart from explosions. This is what the ST-1 was about - the first and the only model of a walking tank."

Playing "War Thunder" that day, the balloon tanks were a chuckle to fight in, with their rubbery cannons flopping around as they scooted. As for "March to Victory" the ST-1s were one of several vehicles one could take to the battle, though you had to choose one of two smaller tanks first and had to earn enough points to bring the walker onto the field once you were clobbered. But taking the 1940s equivalent of an Imperial Scoutwalker, I soon found why gamers prefer low profile tanks like the Hetzer. Those tall things were a bigger target and quicker to take down. Too bad, those things looked cool, but coolness doesn't always win on the battlefield, especially once the surprise wears off.

For more April Foolery, check the article on PC Gamer.

It was a fun April Fools.

Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day

A TOG II tank, probably the most popular of the Premium tanks in the "World of Tanks" online game, that I found in SL. As it had a VICE combat system, looks like one would be able to have a tank match with it as well. But would it's slow speed mean it depends almost completely on it's WoT popularity to even see a battlefield here?

"Furry Gamers" Contest in "World of Tanks"

MAY 31st we are having a contest for the Furry Gamers. The prize will be your choice of game/s from steam up to $50.00 US Dollars.

The contest will be double elimination in one on one "World of Tanks" combat. The winner takes it at the end of the day. The tanks can be any nation you choose but no higher than tier 3 to give everyone a fighting chance, and maps will be picked at random by myself.

We will be starting at Noon SLT. so get as much practice in as you can and GOOD HUNTING!

PS: I will be streaming this as well, so make sure you smile as you pull that trigger

Nydia Tungsten

Reader Submitted: Game Review "World of Tanks"

Nydia Tungsten's a longtime friend and reader of the Newser. With all the article's she's read, she recently sent us a reader submission of her own. A lover of games, she sent us a game review: World of Tanks. This unique MMO stands out in a collection of "World of Warcraft" clones as they player controlling not a man, but a tank. So what is there to the game and what is there to expect?

Read Nydia's article in Extra.

Vickster Khun Speaks on the Second Annual New Bastogne Tank Rally

On Saturday September 8th, the New Bastogne combat RP sim hosts it's Second Annual Tank Rally. Vickster Khun explained in a press release:

It's my pleasure to announce, the 2nd Annual Bastogne Tank Rally, sponsored Bastogne's own First Armee! Events will include combat tank races, individual and team events, and a new game based on the internet's World of Tanks! Prizes will be given for both individual events and overall points for World of Tanks tourney. Prize tanks (will be awarded) to top winners!

The Rally begins next Saturday, Sept. 8 at 12PM SLT (Noon), with daily events to be announced, the final day being Sunday Sept 16.

Talking with Vickster about the event, she explained a little more, " Well, its basically a sort of capture the base, or last tank standing team game where the tank driver can also be be gunner. There will be a base for each side, and they try to capture the base of the other team and defend their own from capture. The thing is, teams will be random, made of tanks from both factions, and sorted by classes. So there will be the same number of light and heavy tanks for each team, and (self-propelled) artillery too."

Vickster compared the event to the Massive Multiplayer Online game "World of Tanks," though, "It won't be quite like the game because we can't match it with our scripts …. We'll use flags on the tanks to denote teams, like red and blue or red and green. In the actually game, you are always green and the enemy is red."

"Some facets of the game we can't match, but the key things will be single operator tanks will be allowed, it will be a capture the enemy base or eliminate all enemy tanks, and points will be awarded for kills, being on the winning side, and surviving the battle. There will be a time limit also, and draws will be possible."

She also mentioned plans for a side betting pool, "everyone who wants to can buy in for 20L, and whoever gets the most kills of the round, win or lose, gets the pot." The rally would be an opportunity for Joe Sparrow to show off his tanks, she felt, and thought that there might be additional events, odd ones, "like who can knock down the most lightpoles in Bastogne in two minutes."

New Bastogne's first series of tank rallies was in March 2011.

Bixyl Shuftan