14 DAY TRIAL // Less believable April Fools' Halo Zero is brought to Halo fans' attention by Game Stooge. Not that they weren't funny or anything but the article spells hoax right from the very beginning. According to them, Bungie had announced a fourth installment in the Halo series, a departure from the actual story. The game would be a tactical shooter following the adventures of teenagers Janissary James, Jersey Morelli, Kamal Zaman and Rani during the Covenant Invasion of Earth. Each of them have special abilities (computer-freak, espionage know-it-all, the medical student ... (how convenient) where do they come up with them?) looking much like Rainbow Six. Rainbow Six?
But just when you thought "yeah it's a hoax for sure," a so called Bungie official statement hits you in the face: "A precious reality is love for our output; let's say, "Drives a young idea forth." We have the ability to explore and experiment unlike most other companies. We will marry the genres of first-person tactical shooters with full-blooded role-playing games, and we know our fans will be assured that they'll play something new and exciting. Plus, the past success of Beverly Hills 90210 indicates that younger gamers would find this concept 'rad'."
But then, readers have the final clue (probably intentionally set) to the fact that it's a total April Fools' and a pretty na?ve article, but a credible one for the untrained eye nonetheless: "The game will be released sometime in 2009 for the Xbox 360."
Bungie still has two Halos on the launching pad, one for the PC and one for the Xbox 360, Halo 2 Vista and respectively Halo 3. Plus, something like this wouldn't have surfaced without any mentioning of the new Xbox 360 Elite. Anyway, these days, anything can pass for an April Fools'.