Gamescom attendees subjected to cruel joke as poster teases Half-Life 3 release
Fans of science fiction first-shooter videogame Half-Life have been trolled by an ad which at first glance indicated that a long-awaited Half-Life 3 release was in the pipeline.
Half-Life Fans were trolled by Spieletipps and GIGA at Gamescom
Gamers making their way to the Gamescom conference in Cologne were today greeted with a giant poster adorned with the text ‘Half-Life 3’.
The ad was positioned alongside real banners for titles like Sniper 3 and Titanfall 2, but unfortunately for fans it turned out to be nothing more than a ruse.
On closer inspection, German text below the fake announcement revealed that the campaign was actually the work of German gaming site Spieletipps and GIGA games, rather than Half-Life creator Valve.
Translated, it read: ‘Half-Life: 3 editors who played it back then,’ exemplifying the importance of attention to detail.
A closer look at the troll 'Half-Life 3' banner at #gamescom2016.
Sure to confuse foreign visitors. pic.twitter.com/b8Hg3Ty7Ya
— Ryan Brown (@Toadsanime) August 16, 2016
It looks as though the ad has been designed to tout the credentials of the experts from both websites who will be covering the conference, given that the three journalists are among a set of fans who played the iconic game when it was first released.