Google HQ, as rendered in the style of the Nintendo
Entertainment System. (Credit: Screenshot by Edward
Moyer/CNET)
Google kicks things off a day early this year with a supposed port of Google Maps to the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System. Here’s an overview of April Fools’ weekend shenanigans.
Fakery on the Internet? You’ve got to be kidding.
No, no; it’s true. Especially on April Fools’ Day, when the World Wide Web and mischievous geeks all over the planet celebrate leg-pulls and pushovers.
This year, Google kicked things off a day early with a supposed port of Google Maps to Nintendo’s 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System. What follows is a rundown of other 2012 Fools’ Day shenanigans, in case you foolishly missed them. (We’ve tossed in a few related stories for good measure too.)
- CNET took a look at how to punk noobs on the special day — including driving people nuts with an unlocatable beeping noise, and stealthily “borrowing” a friend’s iPhone and setting it up so Siri calls the unsuspecting user an unsuspected name.
- Not all pranks turn out to be pranks. What happens when you get fooled by reality? Take a walk down memory lane with this piece from the vaults, in which CNET’s Josh Lowensohn takes a look at six April Fools’ stories that turned out to be legit.
- Google got things rolling for April Fools’ 2012 with a fake 8-bit port of Google Maps to the Nintendo Entertainment System. A bogus promo video set the tone, and a link on the Google Maps page let people try out a simulation.
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