Pimps at Sea

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Pimps at Sea is an April Fool's joke that was started on Bungie Studios' website in 2001. It has been added to in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, on each April Fool's day, respectively. Pimps at Sea is supposedly a combination of action and real-time strategy and claims to have the most complex economical system ever to appear in a game. As such, it is possible that Pimps is a spoof of Sid Meier's Pirates!, a classic game that shares a similar theme. The storyline centers around the player, a pimp of the sea. The player can create custom prostitutes from characters of other games, and then put them out on the streets (or canals, as it may be).

Several multimedia additions have been made to add to the Pimps at Sea mythos, making it one of Bungie's more popular April Fool's jokes. Some of the more well-known (and beloved) additions included:

A video tour of the making of Pimps, from the perspective of a couple of programmers who had been working on the game. Highlights included a mention of "mermaid sea bitches" and several Bungie employees singing the supposed theme song for the game.

The Pimpwheel, a Photoshopped picture of the $200 Steel Battalion controller, said to have been designed "exclusively" for Pimps at Sea. Alterations included topping one joystick with a massive diamond to turn it into a throttle, and putting a miniature ship's steering wheel on the other.

Bungie used Pimps at Sea extensively during the secrecy surrounding the development of Halo 3, up to that title's official announcement. References to Pimps included a job listing suggesting applicants be able to display knowledge of pirates. A snippet from the "Weekly What's Update" at Bungie.net, written by Frankie (head news lackey), even went so far as to say the studio's next project had a very pimpy/piratey feel to it. Internet rumor, of course, turned to the possibility that Pimps at Sea could have been Bungie's next project. The update was later edited out, possibly confirming pimps of sea once again to be an April Fool's joke. In a more recent Weekly Update, a video tour of Bungie's new studios included a brief shot of a dry erase board, listing Pimps at Sea as being Bungie's next project, although the mention was only meant as comedy.

It is highly likely that Pimps at Sea will return for many more April Fools to come, as it joins Bungie's already large stable of running gags and characters, including their 7-Step Plan for World Domination, and the chronically drunken webmaster - who has a penchant for both gorilla suits and bashing the grammar of those who dare to email him.

According to Bungie, February 18th is Pimps at Sea day [1]