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Conan O'Brien on Xbox Live was too big a 'leap of faith,' says show's producer
During the "Hollywood Creative Masters" session at CES last month, the executive producer of Conan O'Brien's show, Jeff Ross, spoke on last April's short-lived rumor of talks to relaunch the show on a proposed Xbox Live channel (before the deal was made to bring Conan to TBS), reports Gamasutra contributor Chris Morris (who moderated the CES session). While Ross said it was "interesting to sit and look at it," Microsoft's proposal lacked a clear vision, and he recalled that "a lot of the conversations were, 'Well, it's a show, but it's not a show and there are no breaks, but maybe there are breaks and it's not 60 minutes -- it's this,' and nobody really knew what it was." "So it was really going to be a leap of faith to jump in with these guys and figure something out which we didn't know," Ross said, later reiterating that "we had some eventual television offers and we basically shied away from the [Xbox thing]." Last November, Reuters reported that Microsoft's plans for an Xbox Live "television channel" had taken a more conventional shape, with the company looking to license existing TV programming to stream though an Xbox Dashboard application, with a potential for interactive elements. "I think it's coming and it's big," Ross said of a TV-type feature on Xbox Live, before concluding, "It's just that we weren't in a position at that point to figure out what it was." [Photo credit: Team Coco]
Andy Richter upset at his Assassin's Creed 2 voiceover VGA snub
Much like the comical co-host of The Tonight Show with Conan O' Brien, we were infuriated by Hugh Jackman's victory in the "Best Male Voice Actor" category during last week's Video Game Awards ceremony. That Vector Monkey was destined to land in the hands of Andy Richter, who, you may or may not know, provided the voice of Assassin's Creed 2's titular killer, Ezio Auditore de Firenze a Lamborghini et Manicotti Formaggio. You can view Richter's outburst, as well as a bit of his work in the game, in the Tonight Show clip posted on the show's official site.
Conan O' Brien thinks Avatar: The Game was rushed
There's a good reason why we never went into late-night comedy: We really didn't want to compete against lanky comic genius Conan O' Brien. We thought writing about (and, more often than not, making fun of) video games would be a career path where we'd never have to compete with the gargantuan Irish host -- unfortunately, in a recent episode of Late Night, Conan managed to encroach on our territory, making a joke at the expense of the recently released (and tepidly received) Avatar: The Game. Check out the video of Conan's gag after the jump while we consider another career choice -- one that will definitely be devoid of Conan competition. (We're thinking about horse whispering. Seems pretty safe, right?) [Via Kotaku]
Conan isn't the world's best Beatles: Rock Band bassist
On the eve of the launch of Harmonix's digital British invasion, Conan O'Brien had a very special guest on his show -- Dhani Harrison, a collaborator on The Beatles: Rock Band and son of the late, great George Harrison. He spoke with everyone's favorite ginger giant, then demoed the title with Conan, who struggled on the bass line for "Birthday." Sadly, it looked as though he was playing on Easy. Actually, it looked even easier than that. Does Beatles: Rock Band have a "Toddler" setting?You can check out NBC's site for a video of the interview and "Birthday" sampling. As for the Cone, we suggest he stay off the gee-tars and stick with his Edith Bunker-inspired vocal work.
Felicia Day teaches Jimmy Fallon about World of Warcraft
I'm back and forth on Jimmy Fallon -- when NBC first announced that he was taking over the great Conan O'Brien's late night spot, I wasn't real impressed. But since then, you can't say he hasn't worked for it -- the show, which isn't even on the air yet, has been blogging and running all over the country to drum up some interest (including a little gig with the guys at sister site Engadget), and their latest stop takes then to the abode of our good friend Felicia Day to play World of Warcraft.As you can see above, Fallon isn't much for Azeroth -- while Felicia is rocking a pretty hardcore Warlock, Jimmy still has a tough time getting past the character creation screen. But he did drum at least one laugh out of me (which is one more than he ever got from me on SNL), so well done. I very much agree with the commenters on the blog -- if he can keep the show technology and geek-focused like this (and maybe get at least one character up to level 30 -- all Felicia had to do was say "roll on a PvE server," right?), he might have a chance at filling Conan's shoes.Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Video: Conan plays a less controversial GTAIV
Oh how we love Conan O' Brien and iconic string dance ... it's epic stuff. But that's not why we bring up Mr. O' Brien's name, the real reason is because the other night he debuted the newest edition of Grand Theft Auto IV. A friendlier, happier and much less controversial edition of GTAIV so that parents and critics can play free of the mature content. Ah heck, just watch the clip, laugh if you want or be a Conan hater. All we have to say is WE LOVE SPRINGTIME![Thanks, Johnson Chen]
Conan takes on Serena in Wii Tennis
What should you do when you have a former World Number 1 ranked tennis player on your late night talk show? Challenge her to Wii Tennis, of course!That's what Conan O'Brien decided to do last night when he had Serena Williams on as a guest. We caution the little ones to avoid direct eye contact with O'Brien's scantily-clad body, as the sheer paleness reflects light and can blind you. Look closely and you'll see that the production team made Miis of the host and guest.We won't give away the final score, but it was a close game. Video embedded after the break.[Thanks, Sam]
