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Notch eating chocolate and talking games on The Late Late Show
Markus "Notch" Persson, the creator of Minecraft and all-around high-profile indie game developer, guest starred on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson last night. The two gents talked about the games Notch plays – apparently he's into everything, but he really enjoys Grand Theft Auto – and the "games" Ferguson plays, such as Mario Kart. According to Notch, that one deserves the air quotes. Ferguson said he looked up Notch online and discovered one of the industry's darkest secrets – the gaming world is catty. "It seems like there's quite a lot of bitchiness in your world," he said. "Quite a lot of people are like, 'I hate him, he created Minecraft! How dare he not be me.'" Notch agreed, but said he too was irrationally protective of the games he plays. C'est la vie. If you missed Notch on The Late Late Show, don't worry – he was easy to miss because he pointedly wasn't wearing a fedora – there's a full clip of the interview here.
Minecraft's Notch to appear on The Late Late Show this Thursday
Hold on to your fedoras, everyone – Markus Persson, better known as "Notch" and even better known as "the creator of Minecraft," is making his talk show debut on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on Thursday, November 7. This isn't only the first appearance for Notch on a mainstream talk show, but it's the first time an independent game developer has graced such a program in recent memory. Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime doesn't capture quite the same vibe as Notch. Minecraft has sold more than 30 million copies across all current platforms, it's coming to next-gen consoles, it has its own convention and it's a Lego set, which is obviously the most relevant indicator of success. Speaking of hats (yes, we were), bets are now open: Will Notch wear a fedora during his appearance on The Late Late Show?
Craig Ferguson's The Late Late Show switches to high definition at the end of August
We ask, and we receive. A few months after Craig Ferguson topped our poll asking who is still watching standard definition television comes word that The Late Late Show is going high definition. CBS plans to flip the HDTV switch August 31, complete with an updated show opener and theme song. There's nothing better that we can think of than seeing that beautiful, beautiful face in HD...wait, we may need to reconsider this.
NBC and NPR feature iPhone humor
Thank goodness that mainstream comedians have jumped in with bits on the iPhone introduction; us funny geeks are deeply grateful that the cavalry has arrived. While CBS's Craig Ferguson weighed in with an iPhone/Zune comparison, the competition at Late Night with Conan O'Brien gave us Thursday's slightly risque iPhone advertisement above (it's a sonogram! It's a prophylactic! It's Mace!). Today, NPR's tongue-in-cheek news quiz Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me! featured an impression of Steve Jobs' now-legendary prank call to Starbucks (4,000 lattes) by newscaster Carl Kassel. The coffee quote comes in the show intro and again in the "Who's Carl This Time" segment (about 45 minutes in) -- too bad the player misidentified it as the launch of the "Microsoft Phone." Host Peter Sagal suggested that the second version of the iPhone needs to come with a vital nerd-friendly feature: a woman who would be really, really impressed with it. Sagal also asked the panelists how cell companies would compete with the iPhone: best answer was from Adam Felber, who suggested that Verizon would introduce a new music player where you could play your favorite song "by pressing only a dozen buttons, and get to listen to almost half of it before it drops out." Wait Wait is a personal favorite of some TUAW team members (we love panelists Felber and Paula Poundstone), so check the schedules page for your local broadcast time or haul down the podcast from iTunes.Thanks, Eric!
Found Video: iPhone "spanks" Microsoft
Claiming that the new iPhone is the most important innovation since curly fries, comedian Craig Ferguson gives a hilarious smack down of Microsoft. It's a short bit (only about a minute and a half long), but chock full of giggles for Apple fans. Is Microsoft really as lacking in innovation as Ferguson suggests? Of course not. But he certainly made me laugh while he laid out his case.Thanks Chris Hileman
