Kotaku: today

Today Hosts Play Rock Band, Hilarity Ensues

Mike Fahey — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 08:40:00 MDT

Oh my god. This is not something anyone should have to wake up to. The hosts of NBC's Today, Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, Al Roker, and Natalie Morales take on Bon Jovi's "Living On A Prayer" in front of a live crowd on the streets of New York City and somehow survive. While Roker is just a C away from rocking out on the drums, becoming Al Rocker, Meredith is definitely the ironic weakest link in this all-star rock band. Thanks to Dan for sending us the link.

Al Roker Sucks At Wii Sports

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 18:40:52 MST

Didn't Al have gastric bypass surgery not too long ago? What happened? He's dwarfing that giant HDTV and, to add insult to chubbiness, getting his ass kicked by a girl on national television at Wii Sports. Shameful! Michael McWhertor

Today Show's Strange Video Game Selection Process

Brian Crecente — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 09:00:53 MST

The Today show s annual Toy Test Holiday Guide look at video games used a very... interesting process this time around.

According to the story, they tested 63 titles from Spiderman to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The story goes on to say that producers for the show contacted Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo to choose this year s hot titles. But there was some rules: No shooting and no stabbing of human characters on-screen and nothing could be rated higher than teen.

The show then set up a play test area and let a bunch of people (I m assuming kids) play each game for 20 minutes and then rate them from terrible to most excellent.

The test center stayed open for two weeks of eight hour days and resulted in 11,000 ratings. The results are after the jump, with a summery of the Today show s reviews:

Burnout Revenge: The winner and clear favorite.
Super Mario Strikers: A colorful and zany soccer game.
Mario Superstar Baseball: It s just really fun, as one kid told us.
Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix: The Dance, Dance Revolution game with a Mario twist.
EyeToy: Play 2: It s kind of like virtual reality in a way, as one player said.
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction: Simply put, the Hulk is having a bad day.
The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer: We found that girls liked the game just as much as boys.

Video Games [Toy Test Holiday Guide]