Happy April Fool's!

Today is the First of April, commonly known as April Fool's Day. There are no larks, frolics, or gambols to report. I'm just happy to be back home with my beloved Effie. It was a long work week, and I'm pleased as punch to be having my morning coffee with the love of my life!! Effie, honey, I love you!! It's good to be home!!

Today's featured video is not an April Fool's Day gag. I saw the CoD 2 video, and I was impressed with the quick-scoping skills displayed, as well as how clean and crisp the video looked. There's a whole generation of new gamers who have never seen the Call of Duty franchise on the PC, really, and this was a chance to showcase one of my favorite iterations of Call of Duty on that platform. Moving on...

Call of Duty Links:

• Players to enact Modern Warfare 3 'blackout' day on 20 April 2012 to protest the state of the game. I'm sure Activision will pause in clocking up its billions to take note...

More Gaming Links:

• [Freebies] Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun free to download.
• Wasteland 2 dev Brian Fargo talks his new game, 'abysmal' publisher treatment, and having fun again.
• [Feature] Assassin's Creed 3: The redesigned Anvil engine.
• [Hardware] Six really good gaming laptops.
• [Feature] How the Smithsonian screwed up its video game exhibition.
• [Op-Ed] Why DLC is all our fault (and why it's a good thing).
• [Op-Ed] Why Kickstarter won't affect mainstream gaming (and why that's okay) .

Non-Gaming Links:

• Thirteen billion year old planetary system 375 light years from Earth.
• Metallic hydrogen: A game-changing rocket propellent.
• Scientists fire the most powerful laser in history, hope to unlock secret of fusion power.
• The most extensive full face transplant to date, including both jaws, tongue, and teeth.
• Surgery can put Type II diabetes into remission almost immediately.
• Thyme may be better for acne than prescription creams.
• Back door SOPA 'Graduated Response' program being rolled out by ISPs starting 1 July 2012.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles demoted to merely 'Ninja Turtles' by Michael Bay.