No doubt you’ve seen the recent Nintendo and PlayStation E3 press conference games list piece of paper that’s been making the Internet rounds, right? Do you want to be in on the action too and claim your 15 minutes of internet fame? As an old sage in Tristram once said, stay awhile and listen.

These things are honestly easy to forge, truth be told. You may be too late for E3 2018, but there’s always next year. To prepare you for E3 2019, here are some steps on how to create your own fake E3 leaks and news.

All you need are the following:

• A printer. If you don’t have one, head down to your local printing press shop run by some auntie and uncle duo. They’re common in Petaling Street (in KL) and Sunshine Plaza (in Singapore).
• Microsoft Word. Or Google Doc. Both work fine, as long as it’s a digital word processor you’re comfortable with.
• A phone camera.
• Some technical writing know-how. This is important for Step 1 for this guide.
• Photoshop, Paint.net, or some other graphic manipulation tool of your choice

Step 1: Content

The most important thing about a fake news leak or announcement leak is the content. You have to make it believable yet throw in some outlandish predictions that will resonate with gaming fanboys.

Use your creativity here, but don’t go overboard. For example, mention a new F-Zero or Star Fox or even a Conker remake for the next year, but don’t bring in outlandish predictions like a new version of the Switch or an add-on for it.

Remember: moderation is key. The best example is the Nintendo Direct leak below that was circulating on the interwebs a few weeks ago. It’s a fake, but it was legit-looking enough to make people accept its authenticity if only for a brief moment.

For the record, I would totally play Yoshi’s Flipping Island.

Step 2: Layout

Now comes the finishing touch. With the help of Google’s patented search engine, you can do a quick search for company logos. Just make sure it’s in PNG or SVG format so that you don’t have to worry too much about backdrop cleaning & erasing.

Don’t make it too official-looking; that will definitely have people crying out “fake” earlier than usual. Keep it simple with regular Word Document text layout and use a traditional font like Arial or Verdana, or anything else with a Times New Roman Sarif feel to it. Then slap on the company logo at the top.

Whatever you do, do not put up your screencap of Notepad, Evernote, or some other word document on Facebook. It just doesn’t look authentic and “official”. Like these posts below.

Step 3: Photograph & Tweet

Now comes the final step: putting it out in the wild. This is where your phone camera comes in because you have to make the photo look like as if it’s leaked out in a hurry.

But where do you publish it? Simple: social media and hardcore forums like NeoGAF or ResetEra. However, do not ever publish it under your name. Instead, ask a friend or two to make a smurf email or forum account and have them share the news and publish it.

That way, it gives the impression that the source is considered anonymous yet can still make people second-guess that it may have been from a publisher. Easy, right?

That’s all we have for our pre-E3 guide on how to make fake news up for the next E3. We hope this guide has been useful. And of course, if all of this came true, you can mock us either here or on our Facebook page.