What better to celebreate Easter than looking back at some of our favorite hidden secrets peppered throughout our games libraries?

Easter eggs are old time immemorial, and serve an important purpose that makes gamers everywhere grin in delight. Most of the time the Easter eggs are little bits that devs leave in their game, small nods to pop-culture references that bring a truly enchanting sense of achievement when found by players.

Without further adieu, let’s just in and check out some of my personal favorite Easter eggs in gaming.

Diablo 2 –  The Secret Cow Level

Diablo 2 is one of my favorite games of all time, and features one of the most hilarious Easter eggs in video games history: the infamous Cow Level.

That’s right. There’s a secret area in Blizzard’s iconic demon-slaying ARPG where you fight cows…and take on the dreaded Cow King.

The Secret Cow Level can be accessed by combining Wirt’s Leg–which is found on Wirt’s body via a portal to Tristram in the Stony Field–with a Town of Town Portal book.

The cows are called “Hell Bovines”, and to make things even more hilarious, they actually moo. They moo a lot.

This level isn’t just for fun, though; it serves as a very valuable spot to find goods and level up for new players–I myself have helped hundreds of other players level up and snag loot from cow runs over the years.

But stay clear of the Cow King: once you slay him you can’t ever open the Cow portal ever again.

Halo – Half-Naked Guy & Dancing Marty

The Half-Naked Guy is one of Halo 3‘s most popular campaign Easter eggs, and was one of the more truly weird and…uncomfortable finds in the game.

And that guy in his boxers? That’s none other than Jason Jones, co-founder of Bungie Studios. What a way to be immortalized, right?

The cardboard cutout can also be found in a Halo 2 cutscene, although you have to zoom quite a way’s in to see him. The image shows up on the Gravemind mission and the Legendary difficulty must be active.

In the same vein, you can also find an incredibly goofy cutout ex-Bungie composer Marty O’ Donnell in the Halo 3: ODST campaign.

The egg shows Marty dancing hilariously in a .gif style repeating fashion with bubbles and little cartoon hearts emanating around him. The dancing is accompanied by some groovy tunes, too.

Diablo 3 – Whimsyshire

Blizzard made it clear from the start that the infamous Cow Level wouldn’t return for Diablo 3. But that doesn’t mean the fun is over. They’ve just become more happy, with sunshine, rainbows, cupcakes and unicorns replacing the raging Hell Bovines.

Whimsyshire is much more difficult to access, and to get in, you have to collect a ton of random objects strewn and dropped throughout the game. But it’s all worth it to show a new player the majesty of whimsy.

The place is strewn with killer unicorns who are hellbent on feasting on your bones, all the while presented in one of the happiest places on earth.

Bright colors, joyous clouds and even power-up cupcakes fill the area, making one of the most hilarious Easter eggs of all time.

The level can actually be pretty big, too, but it’s a finite zone just like the Cow Level so the fun won’t last forever.

Fallout: New Vegas – Indiana Jones’ Skeleton

Remember when Indy jumped inside of the refrigerator to survive the atomic blast in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? The intrepid adventurer went unscathed during the explosion thanks to the fridge’s lead lining.

But the devs of Fallout: New Vegas disagree, and you can find poor Indy’s bones and trademark within the famed refrigerator, an obvious nod to the outrageous impossible scene. The completely ridiculous premise was just another one of the reasons why this little find is so special, and represents a good bit of humor from the dev team.

You can find this easter egg by going just a bit north from Goods Spring Source, and northwest from Jean Sky Diving.

Star Wars Rebel Assault II – Mystery Science Theater 3K Mode

This mid-90’s rail shooter saw a release on PC and the early PlayStation console, and features one of the most amazing Easter eggs of all time.

If you put in the code “OVRES” (that’s SERVO spelled backwards, as in Tom Servo) during the Theater mode to activate a secret Mystery Science Theater 3000 overlay mode.

The egg features R2D2, Darth Vader and C3PO taking the places of the iconic mover-goers to dish out some hilarious commentary over Rebel Assault II‘s cutscenes.

Halo 4 – Andy Richter and Conan O’Brian Bicker

Andy Richter and Conan O’Brian are actually in Halo 4. Who knew?

They two comedians lend their voices to a duo of soldiers onboard the UNSC Infinity, and deliver about 10 seconds of bickering commentary. They can be found during the sixth campaign mission entitled Shutdown, and are pretty easy to find.

It’s a nice little nod that surprised me when I first played the game, and added a nice touch of hilarity to an otherwise serious and somber game.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II – Playing Atari Games in Nuketown

In Nuketown 2025, Call of Duty: Black Ops II‘s retro 50’s style “home of the future” map, you can actually play old-school Activision games from the Atari days.

What you need to do is headshot all of the mannequins in the map in less than 1 minute 30 seconds, and walk over to the terminal and voila–you can fire up some old games like Pitfall, Hero, River Raid and Kaboom!

Oh and don’t worry about getting shot up while you enjoy some classic gaming–you’re actually invincible while you play.

Dead Island – Jason Vorhees

Everyone knows Jason Vorhees: he’s the brutal hockey-mask wearing maniac who practically built the campy 80’s style slasher genre.

We’ve seen the Friday the 13th murderer re-created in iconic game form on the NES, but Techland resurrected the machete-slicing baddy for their zombie game Dead Island.

Vorhees is a higher-level boss within a secret area, and he’s complete with his trademark hockey mask and machete. It’s great to see a horror movie nod from Techland, and given Dead Island perfectly fits the woodsy theme of Camp Crystal Lake, this cross-over is a no-brainer!

Dying Light – Easter Eggs Galore

Techland’s zombie survival sim Dying Light has a ton of Easter eggs.

Rather than showcasing and chronicling every single hidden secret, I’ve picked a few of my personal favorites that can be found below:

Super Mario Parkour

There’s a hidden pipe within the game that actually transports you to World 1-1 straight out of a Mario Bros. platformer, but rather than going 2-D, you’re left to traverse the colorful environment in first-person.

The level is complete with Goombas, coinboxes and a flagpole at the end, and you can even find a blueprint schematic for an item that lets you glide around the map like Mario in his Tanooki suit!

Excalibur, The Sword in the…Zombie?

King Arthur’s mystical blade is one of the many secret items peppered throughout the game, and was one of the first Easter eggs to be unearthed.

The EXPcalibur is stuck in a zombie’s corpse rather than a stone, and you’ll have to press the activate button repeatedly for a good minute or so to pull it free. Once you snag it be sure to wait around for the Blueprint, as the sword actually breaks pretty fast since it’s so powerful.

Silence of the Lambs

Remember Buffalo Bill? Of course you do. No one will ever forget that creepy bastard, or the iconic well prison he kept his victims in.

Dying Light pays homage to the iconic Silence of the Lambs film by recreating that very dry stone well. The Easter egg is actually revealed during the “Where’s My Mother?” side mission, and once you find the key to the basement, you discover a woman trapped in the macabre prison and free her.

Battlefield Hardline – Couch Kills and Secret Reloads

Haven’t you always wanted to drive a couch in a game and run people over?

Thanks to Battlefield: Hardline‘s excessively awesome Easter eggs, you can do just that. The couch is called the “American Dream” and can be found in the Dust Bowl multiplayer map.

You’ll have to be playing the Hotwire Mode in order to jump on the couch and start running down enemies. Plus every time you score a kill onboard the couch, it registers as a ‘Murica kill.

If a drive-able couch wasn’t enough, Hardline also has a host of rare reload animations that are pretty damn hilarious.

These range from reloading your gun with a third arm, a stylish rocket launcher flip reload, a comically huge clip reload, and more. Check below to see them all!

Half-Life – Room of Gaben

Just about every PC player has a special spot in their hearts for Valve creator Gabe Newell.

Affectionately known as “Gaben” by Steam aficionados (that is to say most of everyone who owns a PC) and the games industry, Newell was immortalized in a vary peculiar Easter egg featured in the first Half-Life game.

The “Gaben Room” is a square room that’s painted rather creepily in small pictures of Newell’s face, making a rather bizarre nod to the “cult of Gaben”…or maybe it was a joke about the Valve’s bosses’ supposed narcissism?

We don’t know why it was made, but we do know that it’s awesome…in a very uncomfortable way.

Chrono Trigger – Secret Developer Room

Chrono Trigger is known as one of the best games of all time, and harks back to the golden-age of JRPG mastery. It also houses one of the most creative Easter eggs in gaming.

The secret is actually one of the many endings of the game, and can be accessed by unlocking the “Dream Project” ending.

After you beat the game and unlock the ending, you actually get to interact with in-game NPC’s of all of Chrono Trigger‘s developers. This remains one of the most memorable Easter eggs I’ve ever experienced, and I had no idea how I unlocked it back in the day.

According to the Chronopendium website, there are two ways of obtaining this ending:

“Firstly, on a New Game +, go straight to the Telepod before even going to 600 A.D. Use the sparkle on the right Telepod to fight Lavos. Otherwise, this ending can be found by defeating Lavos during the Ocean Palace Incident.”

Chatting to each of the developers in their SNES pixellated forms was enchanting. It was a kind of metaphysical experience, something I hadn’t experienced before, and it was a kind of magical bridge between creator and player.

And I’ll never forget Eiji Nakamura’s character telling me to “get a life!”…ahh nostalgia.

Wrap-Up

With so many games released over the last few decades, there are probably millions and millions of Easter eggs out there, with many more that have yet to be discovered.

Secrets and glitches are and will continue to be an integral part of the gaming world, with a distinct cult following that’s determined to shed light on every little mystery that video games have to offer.

We know we’ve missed a ton of secrets, and we’d love to hear some of your favorite video game Easter eggs that you’ve found over the years!

The post My Favorite Video Game Easter Eggs appeared first on VR World.

Today was a day of good news for all Nvidia Shield Tablet owners and potential owners.  Nvidia announced today that the Lollipop 5.0 update and the new GRID gaming service are coming to the Shield Tablet in an update on November 18th.  Nvidia Also confirmed that the Green Box they teased yesterday is in fact Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 Episode One, and Portal.

Today via the Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) blog the company let people know about the upcoming capabilities and content they have made for its Shield Tablet.  The news of the Lollipop 5.0 update that we have known for a while was confirmed to be scheduled for release on November 18th.  The update brings Android’s new material design and performance benefits.  The update will also have an update for the popular Nvidia Dabbler application that has updates in the user interface, full support for layers, and interestingly the ability to stream the app via Twitch (which the tablet already supports for games).  The blog also confirmed that Half-Life Episode One is coming to Android, and it has been optimized for the Nvidia Shield Tablet.  This game will be part of the new Green Box bundle that will be included free with the 32GB/LTE version of the Shield Tablet.  Also confirmed were new games that are optimized for the Shield Tablet.  These games are OddWorld: Stranger’s Wrath, Pure Pool, Strike Suit Zero, and Turbo Dismount.

The biggest surprise was the announcement of the long in-beta GRID gaming service.  This will harnesses state-of-the-art Nvidia GPU servers to deliver a GeForce GTX gaming experience on SHIELD devices.  The lineup already includes 20 AAA game titles including Batman: Arkham City, Borderlands 2, and Psychonauts.  The service will be adding new titles every week.  Essentially this will be like Netflix for games that users can stream right to the Shield devices to play.  But the best part is that the GRID service will be free on Shield devices (both the tablet and the portable) through June 30, 2015.  This is great that Nvidia is giving users more than 7 months of the gaming service free for owners who have already bought devices. This will help make up for the fact that the Green Box is only available with new purchases of the 32GB/LTE tablet and will possibly encourage people to buy SHIELD devices if they weren’t already planning to.

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So, we already reported to you about the cake we got from Nvidia along with an Aperture Laboratories-themed letter, as well as the ultimate result of Portal arriving on the SHIELD with a short review of our experience and some screen shots. Well, Nvidia’s viral marketing doesn’t stop there with SHIELD as today we received a bright green crowbar from Nvidia that simply said, “What Would Gordon Do?” This is a clear allusion to Half Life 2, and as if that isn’t enough, they also have the Half-Life 2 and SHIELD logos emblazoned on the crowbar itself.

Nvidia SHIELD Themed Crowbar

As we had alluded to in the previous article, there was a good chance that Nvidia and Valve’s next logical step would be to port over other games from the Orange Box since Portal was part of that group. So, it comes as little surprise that today’s crowbar that we got from Nvidia had a Half Life 2 logo on it accompanied by the SHIELD logo with the “What Would Gordon Do?” phrasing on it. Maybe WWGD will make a comeback as a joke phrase that alludes to games, but the truth is that Nvidia and Valve are likely going to be releasing more Orange Box games on the SHIELD which is awesome. Even though, to be honest, Portal is probably my favorite game out of the entire Orange Box even  though all of the Half Life games are quite good as well, and Team Fortress 2 is still wildly popular today as a Free to Play game with a plethora of hats…

And no, this doesn’t somehow confirm that Half Life 3 is coming, you can CLEARLY see that it says HL2 on the crowbar, so don’t get too excited about that yet, Valve appears busy trying to make better use of their game portfolio on mobile. Which, is admittedly a good idea, they need to maximize their utilization of their own IP even on platforms they don’t entirely control (like Google Play or Tegrazone). This is a good move for both Nvidia and Valve and should simultaneously yield some awesome SHIELD-based exclusive titles.

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Who knew that this title will change our expectations for future games?

I’ve met Gabe and Doug on several dozen occassions, and these guys are just “body of evidence” where bold thinking can lead you. Gabe Newell wasn’t afraid to show how crappy his code runs on GeForce FX 5800/5900 cards, the company launched distribution model that changed the way how games are bought and there is still plenty more to come.
To celebrate this anniversary, Valve is making Half-Life available for purchase on STEAM for the price of 98 cents (until 12:01PM on Nov 21).
All in all, big congratulations to Valve.

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