April lols?

As you may have already discovered when you woke up to find your room swarming with Madagascar hissing cockroaches (apologies to my roommates) it is indeed April 1st, better known to all as April Fool's Day. A day when we play pranks on our loved ones to show them that, well, I guess to show them how gullible they are. Anyway, nobody knows how to prank better than the Geek community. Take a look at this trailer that was posted on IGN and is already making the rounds:

Link.

High quality eh? The production team behind it is Rainfall Films, and I must say they did quite a good job with the fx.

More Gnerd worthy April Fools jokes after the jump.

Next up, our friends over at Blizzard. With the new expansion "Wrath of the Lich King" so highly anticipated, Blizzard decided to create a new class to capitalize on the Guitar Hero/Rock Band craze. Introducing, the bard:
Link.

Nice one Blizz, though I have to say, that would be a pretty hilariously amazing class to roll.

Next up, YTMND! ZMG YTMND IS DED!

Youtube is apparently Rickrolling it's own users. If you're not familier with it, Rickrolling is when you purportedly link to something, but the link actually takes the clicker to Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up." Check out any of the Featured Videos on Youtube and prepare to be serenaded by a skinny redhead with the stolen voice of Barry White.

Google mail (or Gmail as it's affectionately known) has created "custom time" as can be seen here. This allows users to backdate their emails to have them appear in whatever chronological order is necessary. Seems silly, but 1 million procrastinating college students just passed out from sheer joy at the cruel joke.

A couple webcomics have also joined the fun, including Dinosaur Comics, Questionable Content, and Xkcd, which have all swapped web addresses to confuse and confound. Of course, since these are all links, you'll have to check the http at the top of your browser to confirm that yes, they all have the wrong addresses. CONFUSION!

That's all for now, be sure to let us here at Gnerd know about any other Gnerd-worthy April Fool's jokes that are going on!

Stephen Colbert Kicks A Nerd's Ass With Stone Cold Logic

Last night, video game theorist Ian Bogost came on the Colbert Report with the idea that video games can be used to further social and political understanding in the American public. CU-KOO! CU-KOO! Yeah right- more like Ian Bogus. Luckily our man Stephen don't pull no punches with leftwing nerd crazies. Colbert does seem concerned by one aspect of Bogust's argument; on the subject of whether games can prepare us for real world scenarios, Colbert poses the question "If I play a lot of World of Warcraft, will I be prepared if - if our world ever becomes Warcraft?"

World Series of Video Games to Air on CBS

Guitar Hero II!
Fight Night Round 3!
World of Warcraft!

Wanna watch someone else play these games? You're in luck! The first ever video game competition to invade broadcast television will be beaming into your house Sunday at Noon (EST). Guitar Hero should be fun to watch (showmanship is factored into the score), but Fight Night? World of Warcraft? I choose you, Snorlax!

Check out The Official Site,
Read the New York Times article,
And thank you to Greg for the tip!