5 of the coolest digital Easter eggs
— -- An Easter egg hunt is always a good time for kids and adults alike. And while finding a colorful canister filled with candy or other goodies is always exciting, "digital Easter eggs" can be just as enjoyable. Many games, DVDs, and even websites contain Easter eggs — a term used for hidden extras can be discovered as long as you know where to look. In celebration of the upcoming Easter holiday, we've compiled five of our favorite virtual secrets that are just waiting to be found.
Facebook with pirate flair
Do you have a Facebook profile? Of course you do. It seems like nearly everyone you meet these days has a digital persona to compliment the real-life counterpart, but after spending countless hours curating your virtual life online, the site can seem a little bland. Thankfully, the world's most popular social network has a hidden treat to make your browsing experience unique: ridiculous language settings.
From your main Facebook account page, click on the small, downward-pointing arrow on the blue bar on the top of the window. A small menu should pop up. From there, click "Account Settings" and then the "Language" tab at the very bottom. Here you'll find pretty much every language under the sun, as well as two bonus English settings named "Upside Down" and "Pirate."
The upside down setting does exactly what you would expect: it flips all the text on your screen, making it somewhat difficult to decipher but still readable. The pirate setting is most definitely the coolest of the pair, as it switches all your Facebook menu and notification prompts to pirate speak! "In a relationship" becomes "Spoken for," "Add a Photo" becomes "Hoist a portrait," and even your timeline will be measured not in days or weeks but in "Shots 'o rum" and "turns o' yer hourglass."
A video game that reads your mind
Metal Gear Solid was one of the most beloved titles of the PlayStation era, and helped revitalize the Metal Gear franchise and launch it into the upper echelon of gaming where it remains today. The adventure focuses more on sneaking around than all-out gunplay, but defeating bosses was still a major part of the experience. Psycho Mantis is one such boss, and his creepy ability to read your mind is one of the coolest Easter eggs in gaming history.
Prior to your epic battle with the clairvoyant Mantis, he displays his mind reading ability by telling the player what other video games they like. For example, if you had played Resident Evil in the weeks prior to trying out Metal Gear Solid, Mantis is actually able to tell you. It's a surprising and even somewhat unsettling feature of the game, but it's more about technical trickery than psychic talents.
As Psycho Mantis speaks to the player, the game actually scans the PlayStation system's memory card for recent data from other games. If it locates one, Mantis uses that information in his dialogue. It's a simply trick, but it was enough to shock many who played Metal Gear Solid for the first time, and remains one of the coolest interactive Easter eggs ever.
Bloopers from a galaxy far, far away
The three Star Wars prequels — The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith — were met with a lukewarm welcome from fans, but owners of the DVD versions of the films might not realize the hilarious hidden features that await them.
Popular Reads
ABC News Live