Real or a put-on, Jimmy Fallon's apparent love of video games gives our favorite hobby quite a late night stage on NBC, so why not make the best of it?
Fallon sent someone to cover E3, played Tiger Woods a round of golf on the Wii and checked out Project Natal, but I think there are some major opportunities he's still missing.
Here's our short list of some video gaming guests and ideas that should take center stage on the show this year:
5. Video Game Club: Oprah has her book club, why can't Fallon have his video game club? We've played around with the idea of playing through older, classic and less known games over the period of a month and meeting to talk about them. And I certainly haven't given up on the idea, but wouldn't it be great to see Fallon push the idea a bit on his show?
Maybe he could pick a game and bring one of the developers on the show to talk about it for five minutes. Granted, with a mainstream audience and the show's fast pacing, I don't think this will ever happen. That's why it's number five.
4. Get Serious: You know, video games aren't just about playing. There's plenty of serious, interesting topics that gaming touches on. Just ask Ian Bogost and Steven Johnson, both of whom have appeared on The Colbert Report to talk about their thinky-take on gaming.
3. Do the Con Con: Watching Jason Sudekis tear up E3 for Fallon's show just left us wanting more. If Sudeikis can have that much fun at E3, imagine what he'd do at Cologne's Gamescom, which features the public and plenty of alcohol, or the Tokyo Games Show, which features... well, Japan. If Sudekis can't make Cologne maybe he could get David Hasselhoff because you know the German's love Hasselhoff.
2. Peter Molyneux: He's witty, smart and has a keen British accent: Why wouldn't you want Molyneux on a late night show? Plus now he can talk about the creepy child he keeps locked up in his Xbox 360.
1. Tim Schafer: When I talked to Fallon about his love of gaming last month, he mentioned trying to book Double Fine's Tim Schafer and Jack Black for the show. Great idea, but why do you need Black? Schafer is as funny, or funnier than the bombastic comedian, and his crazy hair is made for TV. Do it! Do it now!
Update: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon co-producer (and former Attack of the Show executive producer) Gavin Purcell tells Kotaku that the show is already working on a few of the ideas I listed here. "Ultimately," he says, "it's finding what works in the format."