TF2's April Fools Day Joke

I wasn't planning on posting about April Fool's Day again, mostly because as video game related things go, I think that the joke is done and that we should be moving on from it now.  I would like to think that it wouldn't be so celebrated but the gaming community has always had a ferver and developers, publishers, and journos alike like to play on that ferver.

There were some really dubious  pranks yesterday, including IGN's mature-rated Smash Bros. Scoop.  That's an example where I think the April Fool's Day tradition can get quite annoying and childish.

Which brings me to the Team Fortress 2 Team's blog update.  Apparently the Sniper will have a new weapon coming soon.  Check out the graphic below (Click to enlarge).

I know I just lamented IGN's prank for its childishness, and I know that this one involves the sniper throwing a jar of pee (even going so far as to include a bubble of the spy covered in said pee), but hear me out.  The fact that the TF2 Team was literally taking the piss out of all who were pranked is pretty funny (although I don't think this got past many people).

I think that the real humor of April Fool's Day pranks is that they are completely nonsensical, so the difference here is how IGN presented their prank.  The video [view here] is made too look like some sort of bootleg of a private Nintendo showing.  The camera is shaky and the feed cuts out abruptly after the culminating decapitation.  Who are they trying to fool really?

I think April Fools only works in the video game industry when its done in the tongue in cheek manner TF2 pulled it off in.

That said, I don't know if I'll be able to post over the weekend, but I do know that Monday represents the first day of my "Post-every-day-of-the-week" benchmark.  Monday also happens to be my Birthday, so I'll most likely be posting something related to what I do that day.  After that, I'll have additional output of GDC 09 write-ups, as well as the short-sort-of-cop-out posts as school continues to ramp up.

If I don't see you over the weekend, have a good one.