Remember! It is April Fool’s Day, but that doesn’t mean you have to be a fool. Today, just say no to obvious and not especially funny “pranks.” To survive on the Internet, you must first accept that you are not as clever as you think you are.
Meanwhile, over at work, I continue shouting into an empty room by trying to diversify the Retronauts blog beyond just game content. The culture surrounding old games — music, books, movies, television, toys, whatever — is inextricably tied to the games themselves, forming the petri dish in which the medium fermented and mutated. With that in mind, I’ve decided to go full speed ahead with my Something Old, Something Blu column — a (perhaps somewhat overthought) effort to apply a patina of modern relevance to retro games and retro culture as old movies and film franchises trickle over to Blu-ray. This week: Quantum of Solace. Not exactly an old movie, I realize, but I was struck by the parallelism between Quantum‘s relationship to Casino Royale and every Bond game since 1998′s relationship to GoldenEye 007.
Basically: I am a master of flimsy rationalizations. But it’s nice to write about something other than just games at work, so I hope you’ll forgive the indulgence.
Indulgence forgiven. Also, thank you for the blogs at 1up. They are the best facet of the “new” 1up in my opinion. Keep up the good work, and don’t forget the podcast!
At least from my experience, the key to a good April Fool’s Joke seems to be something overall harmless & immediately discernable as a joke. Something that both the fooler & the fooled can chuckle about the instant it’s revealed that it is a joke — and something that wouldn’t perpetuate itself to fool others for years to come, thanks to the Internet.
I might not do much for it — and yeah, I might not be the most clever fool out there. But, so long as the other person enjoys it too, I figure that’s what important.
By the way, lemme issue another thanks for your 1UP blogs. I remember you wanting more comments on the blog post, and I haven’t really been great on that front — but I still do make it a point to visit ‘em when I can. I mean, they do make for good reads.
I really like the new blogs, I dare say their content is far more entertaining than the the majority of 1UP’s content. But I think the problem with them is how they’re integrated into 1UP. You guys need a way to headline certain posts, or get them a bit more visibility for the blogs themselves. The Tabs on top are a good start but as a casual viewer, I’m probably not going to click on a tab that says “blogs”.
Another big issue I have with the blogs is the size of the posts. They’re good reads when the topic is something that peaks my interest, but when the entirety of the blog posts are put up one after another, it’s a lot of scrolling to find older posts in the day or week that I’ve missed. Perhaps doing like what happens here with longer posts where you click on a link to read the rest of the post.
No worries, changes are coming that will address at least some of your concerns. Also, expanding your horizons and writing about something else for a change? I’ll never forgive you Jeremy. NEVER.
By the way, my name is not Ken, but Kat. I was addressing Ken. Note: The name entry is not the same as a subject entry…
Speaking of the culture surrounding old games, I spent a good part of the day yesterday looking at old manuals for NES games. It truly is a lost art form.
You keep writing stuff like that and I’ll keep checking your blogs multiple times daily.
I’m pretty sure that conflicker virus is going to install a rom of Cobra Triangle on everyone’s computer today.
Yeah, I saw that last night, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I’d definitely love to see more non-game retro stuff comin’ out of there.
I enjoyed your article on Quantum of Solace, though it was a surprise. I llok forward to new articles exploring how our entertainment medias interact with each other.
When I get into work every morning, before I check my email, I open two things… the Grind and Retronauts blogs. Keep up your experiment, Parish. You aren’t screaming into an empty room… in fact you are getting bigger than you know. The other day I was hanging out with some random friends from around LA when I quoted an article Kat Bailey wrote… much to my surprise the other 3 people in the room had read the same post.
In other words: Great Success!
Is it just me, or are most sites toning down, though not eliminating, the April Fool’s crap this year? A part of me actually likes seeing what ‘creative’ stuff comes out of the minds of the various internet editors I read. Another, larger part of me is annoyed by it and wishes it would never happen.
Man, every April Fool’s Day joke seems tame compared to the one the GIA ran…
@pashaveliki I’m dying to know which article you’re talking about.