Kotaku: Colbert Report

Harmonix Crew Appearing On Colbert Report Tonight

Stuart Houghton — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:40:00 MDT

Stephen Colbert will be playing host to some chaps from Harmonix as they give him a Rock Band 2 rendition of his song Charlene (I'm Right Behind You). Eighties stalker anthem Charlene recently appeared as free Rock Band DLC.

The show will broadcast tonight (Wednesday 17th September) at 11:30 PM EST on Comedy Central.

You can check out a video of Stephen performing Charlene, in the actual nineteen eighties. It in no way resembles David Brent's Free Love On The Free Love Freeway, at least not in any way that is actionable in court.

RB2 on Colbert Report Tonight [Rockband.com] [Image]

Colbert Invokes Katamari, Tetris, Mario While Mocking Japan's Election Coverage

Brian Crecente — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:00:00 MDT

Video games got a little face time on the Colbert report last night when the show’s namesake let loose on Japan and their grab-and-peel election coverage technology.

That’s the best you can do?
I happen to know that you have robots, slapping machines, human Tetris, Katamari and sex bots, you could have just written the candidates names on meat hats and let a lizard pick the winner.

Colbert got into such a froth he actually used Mario’s name in vain. I've moved the vid to the jump because it was hanging up our page for some reason.

Colbert V Rain: DDR

Brian Crecente — Tue, 06 May 2008 09:00:00 MDT

Colbert is many things, but a graciously loser isn't one of them. After going off on Miyamoto for swiping the top spot in Time's 100 most influential people list (and calling Donkey Kong a game about hate crime), he settles on the person he's rally mad at. No, not himself: RAIN!!!

Hit up the jump to catch Colbert breaking it down, as the kids say, in a head-to-head dance-off with adorable Korean pop singer on Dance Dance Revolution.

Bogost Hits Colbert

Brian Crecente — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 18:00:55 MDT

Water Cooler Games' Ian Bogost let me know last week he was going to be on The Colbert Report. He sounded half totally freaked out and half jazzed. I don't blame him. I don't know how I would stand up to that eyebrow, and god forbid Colbert releases both on you.

Watch the show tonight at 11:30 p.m. on Comedy Central if you want to see how he does... I'm sure well since he will be talking about his new book, Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Video Games, and, I'm sure, his gig with the New York Times which I find endlessly fascinating (Hey, it finally gives me a topic I can discuss with those non-gamers out there that I frequently bump into.)

Clips: Will Wright Visits WSJ

Brian Crecente — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 08:22:22 MST

Will Wright, who is apparently taking on New York City Rampage-style this week, hit up the Wall Street Journal to show off Spore.

Judging from the video, there were quite a number of higher-ups present for the demonstration. I'm not sure who all is in the audience, but I noticed Paul Steiger, the paper's managing editor and a gamer, as well as Tom Weber, the paper's Pursuits Editor. Who I think was creating the abomination... I mean creature.

OK, here's the deal. Will's gotta ski, right? So the next time you're visiting lovely Colorado, swing by the Rocky Mountain News so we can make some Spore snow bunnies. Brian Crecente

Update: The geniuses at the Wall Street Journal managed to include the wrong embed code for their video of Will Wright's visit. To watch it go to the site.

Behind the Scenes with Will Wright and Colbert

Brian Crecente — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 14:00:52 MST

N'Gai Croal, that lucky bastard from Newsweek, got a chance to hang-out with Will Wright backstage prior to the developer's appearance on the Colbert Report.

In fact, he even got to hitch a ride in the back of a black town car to the show.

Wright told Croal that Spore, expected to hit in the second half of 2007, is currently in pre-alpha five, a stage of development for the game that means that EA employees outside the development team can play it from beginning to end, though the game is still quite rough in spots.

The game is expected to hit Alpha next spring.

Croal, while seated in the certain luxury of the Colbert Report's green room, asked Wright if he felt pressured by EA head Larry Probst's recent statement that Spore could be EA's World of Warcraft. To which Wright replied, that everyone at EA's making that claim right now in hopes of getting their project green lighted.

Croal watched the show from the stairs next to the audience seats and thinks that Wright held his own. I still think that Colbert wasn't at his best game, and that Wright seemed scared stiff. Brian Crecente

Exclusive: Behind the Scenes of Will Wright's Visit to the Colbert Report [Newsweek]

Clips: Wright on Colbert Report

Brian Crecente — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 10:00:21 MST

Will Wright was on the Colbert Report last night and, for at least half of the interview, behaved much like I would have in the same situation: Scared stiff.

He eventually relaxed, but never quite got into his game. The best lines of the interview, rather, belonged to Colbert, who also seemed a bit off. At one point he called his viewers his sims and ordered one to not use the bathroom for 48 hours.

The funniest moment, I think, was when he told Will Wright that when his writers found out the developer was going to be on the show they got "what we call nerdrections." Brian Crecente

Clips: Colbert Mocks Wii

Brian Crecente — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 08:08:07 MST

Best quote: "I gots me one!"

Wow, that's two different shows and one long-ass contest all promoting the Nintendo Wii on Comedy Central. Brian Crecente

Steven Johnson, Smartguy Author Type, Talks Games On Colbert Report

Michael McWhertor — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 22:19:40 MDT

Remember those book things? With the paper and the words on 'em? Well, Steven Johnson, who works for something called "The New York Times Magazine", wrote an excellent book called Everything Bad Is Good For You: How Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter. I actually read this book! Mr. Johnson appeared on the (also excellent) television program The Colbert Report to discuss his book, primarily the mental benefits of video game playing on the developing brain and society as a whole.

Johnson did almost the same thing on an episode of the Daily Show last year, which can be seen on YouTube.

Comedy Central has posted the interview video segment for your streaming pleasure, featuring the typical Colbert comedic stylings, with a few name drops including Civ IV and Spore. Michael McWhertor

Colbert Report: Steven Johnson