Good evening, Shacknews, it's night time, which means it's time for Evening Reading. Let's officially close out our day of posting. Because today was April Fool's Day, we've had a look around the internet to see what pranks and jokes were made. Please take a look.
In case you missed it at Shacknews:
- Bet on Black: How Microsoft and Xbox Changed Pop Culture, Part 1
- A Bit of Foolishness: An Oral History of Age of Empires
- Pro Strats: X-COM (1994) strategy guide author David Ellis on QA and writing guides
- Introducing Shacknews Reader for RSS feeds
- Mario Day special: The complete evolution of Mario Bros.
- This is no platformer: Super Mario RPG Turns 25 (Part 1)
And now... Other Stuff From The Internet!!!
Aunt May in Marvel Contest of Champions

Kabam had a little prank up its sleeve today with a new, totally fake, champion. Now we kind of actually want this in the game.
Diamond Hanz
The 🔔 has been rung and Diamond Hanz is ready to answer the call.
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) April 1, 2021
Buy! Hold! Win! pic.twitter.com/bmP1czr326
Stonks rising in Fortnite.
The Valorant patch to end all patches
After an internal 4-1 Spike Rush match, it was determined April 1st would become the annual VALORANT hot-fix day.
— VALORANT (@PlayVALORANT) April 1, 2021
Read Patch Notes 33 ⅓ here: https://t.co/p3IKzbEvw6 pic.twitter.com/iXd8m9pf3d
One of many April fools posts going around today.
The rightful Pokemon mascot
bidoof fancam pic.twitter.com/JBHyyyYU2r
— Pokémon (@Pokemon) April 1, 2021
Happy Bidoof day!
Epic Games reveals Metapets
Say hello to MetaPets 🐾 the next-generation of fur-ever friends from Unreal Engine.
— Unreal Engine (@UnrealEngine) April 1, 2021
Creating #MetaPets is as easy as a walk in the park using the new 🐶 MetaPet Creator. #UE4
Unleash your potential and see the pawsibilities 👇 pic.twitter.com/xmJ4PIkhQZ
Wow, imagine all of the dogs you can pet!
Finally, more Bugsnax content
Our market research shows that bugs are considered 'creepy' and 'extremely off-putting' so we're rebranding to un-bug our snacks! pic.twitter.com/7dR7aXhsR1
— Snacks (YH Games) (@YoungHorses) April 1, 2021
Talkin' bout ____ snacks!
Happy March 32!
— out of context community (@darkestimeline) April 1, 2021
April Fools Day sucks!
Pranks have to at least be believable
i wasn’t a good dog today
— Thoughts of Dog® (@dog_feelings) April 1, 2021
april fools. i was so good
No one would believe he'd be a bad dog.
There you have it, Shacknews, your Evening Reading for tonight. Please consider subscribing to Shacknews Mercury to support our site for as little as $1/month.
Here's a photo of Wednesday for your viewing pleasure. She's not impressed by pranks or jokes, as she gets scared easily. Thankfully, we let her know it's alright and it's all in good spirit.

What are you up to tonight? Let us know in the Shacknews Chatty comment thread below.
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Sam Chandler posted a new article, Evening Reading - April 1, 2021