Gaming's Biggest WTF Moments

 

Full-frontal nudity! Stealthy royalty! Multiplayer solitaire?
Here are our favorite WTF moments from Xbox and Xbox 360 history.

 

Sometimes, when we’re not expecting it, an idea, a quote, a commercial, or a gameplay feature pops up in the middle of whatever we’re doing and so thoroughly confuses us that the only sane reaction is “WTF?” — often followed by “OMG” and giggling. Ladies and gents, we present you with the moments in Xbox gaming that stunned us, shortly before a long bout of headscratching and laughter. Or some combination of all of the above. Got your own examples of blissful wacktastic gaming to share? Send them to letters@officialxboxmagazine.com with the subject line “WTF.” (Or, for our more modest readers, we’ll accept “WTGoshDarn” in the subject line. We’re family-friendly that way.)

 

Solitaire Multiplayer in Soltrio Solitaire

If George Carlin had a field day with “military intelligence” on the oxymoronic meter, he would’ve killed ’em with this poster child of 360 gaming WTF-ness. This multiplayer mode piqued our interest so much that we gave it a recent whirl — only to find the servers empty. So, maybe it’s really only a contradiction in name alone.

 

Yoda in Soulcalibur IV

Scantily clad dominatrixes brandishing weapons called Magical Sausages? Just another day at the office. But watching a gray-haired, green-puppet-turned-CG-alien Jedi throw down against those dominatrixes? Now that’s something you don’t see every day!

 

Butter Cookies in Beautiful Katamari

Okay, so maybe this whole game qualifies as a disc full of WTF moments. But the pièce de résistance can be found only in multiplayer, where you and your opponents fight…er, roll it out to win, what else? Delicious-looking butter cookies? Nuts to money, women, and fame — we want butter cookies.

 

A Master Chief head in a black bag for Halo 3: Collector’s Edition

When we first netted our mighty expensive, preordered Collector’s Edition versions of Halo 3, we were ecstatic. When we opened up our giant boxes and pulled out the contents inside? Still ecstatic, but tempered with a wary grimness evoked by a replica of Master Chief’s head packaged in a soft, black, cinched bag. Morbid, morbid stuff.

 

Xbox 360 “Live Your Moment” ad campaign

Pairing slow-motion with a frozen look of death-masked “joy” on a gamer’s face, only to swing around to show that the back of their head is completely hollowed-out and populated with a diorama-version of the gameplay setup they’ve got going on? Oh, my — that’ll take years of therapy to erase.