Videogame fans trolling the Web this weekend may have come upon this odd bit of news: The ultraviolent new Xbox 360 game "Gears of War 2," to be released nationally Nov. 7, would not be sold in Utah or Idaho.

According to the site SarcasticGamer.com, an anonymous source within Microsoft started the rumor. This was bolstered, according to the SarcasticGamer post, by a Twitter post by one Cliffy_B, who works for the game's designer:

"First off, Cliffy_B has written in his twitter recently that Utah was 'Lame' and Idaho was, in fact, 'dumb.' He has railed against BYU for being a 'Sucky college' and that he hates 'potatoes' obviously taking a shot at the number one cash crop from the great state of Idaho. On the other hand, Cliffy_B has supported polygamy as being 'sweet' although whether that statement was made in direct support of Utah is unconfirmed."

Soon enough, the rumor spread to other sites frequented by gamers, such as GamerBlips and Beyond Unreal. But it didn't take long for Beyond Unreal to report that the ban on the game in Utah and Idaho was a hoax.

Why did the rumor start? As satire, a mocking protest of the news - this time true - that the game would not be shipped to Germany and Japan.

Labels: videogames