Ed, you’re missing one of the bigger points here. Obama has specifically spoken about the bad influence that video games have on our children – both from a content standpoint and the fact they are sucked into playing games for hours instead of reading, exercising, etc.
The ultimate hypocrite continues to roll right along.

Sugar Land on October 15, 2008 at 9:54 AM

That’s true but I think its still a brilliant move on his part.

The price of the games is bad enough without being subjected to Obama ads. No thanks.

I’m not down on gamers, I admit enjoying NCAA Football 2009 myself (only game I own and I don’t play online).

The only ad NCAA football is for the Pontiac Game-Changing performance. Which actually ads a little realism to the game, along with the annoyingly lengthy replays on blown referee calls.

I just don’t think anyone silly enough to be swayed by an Obama ad in a videogame, is going to get motivated enough to trek to the polls.

and the ‘Race Card’?

Bishop on October 15, 2008 at 10:00 AM

do you get special power ups like, ‘Claiming Moral Superiority’?

So suck it up and like it, or The One We’ve Been Waiting For will provide, free of charge, a new way of thinking for you. That’s just the way He rolls.

Grand Theft Election (ACORN collectors edition)

Game Review Comments:

“I highly recommend this game. In fact, I have mastered the San Francisco version that includes “saving the planet”—–Nancy Pelosi

“I’m waiting for the Fannie and Freddie version—–Barney Frank

“I just love the “Destroying the Nation” feature that allows you to buy political positions”——-George Soros

Rovin on October 15, 2008 at 10:28 AM

“My legs, I can’t feel my legs!” ——Chris Matthews

I don’t see guys who spend all day playing video games leaving the house and making the effort to stand in line on election day to vote.

Call me crazy . . .

NoDonkey on October 15, 2008 at 9:55 AM

You’re crazy.

;)

In all seriousness, the Gamer market has been maturing for years. While I don’t own a console, I have been a PC gamer for YEARS now. Gaming on a PC is my primary form of entertainment. I don’t play sports games (or watch sorts on T.V. for that matter) but I have logged many many hours in EVE Online, Planetside, Supreme Commander, Call of Duty, Halo, Half-Life, and on and on.

I’m in my mid-Thirties, and have been playing video games since I was a pre-teen. Many, many other gamers are guys and gals JUST LIKE ME. We live, breathe and sleep games. it’s just what we do and who we are. It’s our passion, just as football and sports are many other people’s passion.

The old stereotype of the dorky pasty-faced kid in his mom’s basement no longer applies. We gamers are successful, goal-oriented and driven individuals, many of whom are great successes in business and in life. We are a MAJOR market force (the market for video games surpasses that of Hollywood by about a billion dollars), and we do NOT like being pandered to.

Personally, I think that this effort will backfire on Obama. Most gamers HATE the in-game ads, and many will go out of their way to find a way to block them if possible. Obama is associating himself with something hated. Dumb move.

Sounds like a smart move by Team Obama, although it plays to a demographic Obama already has, and on voters who have low reliability at actually showing up on Election Day.

If Obama can get em young, then he has a head start on keeping them brainwashed as they get older.

How is a black man with a black bowling ball not just as Racist as comparing a black man Raines with a black candidate Obama “Blessed be his name”?

I’m going to forward your Racist article to our beloved Senator Reid for his reaction.

How long before the Barry O billboards morph into plotlines and dialogue? I can see it now, “Grand Theft Auto V: Chicago”. Kill rival gang members! Then register them to vote! Bomb police stations and get tenure! Get fat checks from Uncle Sam for doing nothing!

Otherwise there’s no way I’m buying an EA game until they stop bundling them with malware like SecuROM in the name of DRM.

Amen. Another thing is that asinine activation limit. You can only install it 5 times (used to be 3)….WTF?

As for that stereotype of the gamer who never votes, not all of us are like that. We don’t all just blindly follow The One and never leave the house to vote. In fact, I already voted.

Remember, anyone under thirty now has never known a world without video games, I’m 28 and I got an Atari 2600 before I even started school.

They have been talking about this for a lot longer than 18 months. This has been thrown around for years, and the original intention, or at least their stated intention, to include ads and share the savings with customers. Sounds great, but when they discovered that they could include the ads, and not bring down prices, and we still bought the games, well, you get passes from Tom Brady to Barry O.

The Burnout series isn’t as bad as Grand Theft Auto, but the concept is glorified drag racing. In Burnout Paradise you engage in street races by driving to a corner. You receive a boost for crashing other cars off the road (Takedowns). Nothing is off limited in doing so, players are encouraged to slam rivals into the wall until they break down. One could slam pedestrian cars into rivals and cause a crash, called Traffic Checks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTOS84D_zR8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDe9xLA6V9M

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/xbox360/review/R122192.html

Moreover, why should players have to see ads at all? They invest hundreds of dollars into the game system, and then spend plenty of money on each game they play. If I spent that kind of money playing “Madden 09″, I’d resent EA Sports’s attempt to exploit me for even more money to advertisers, especially on products I don’t want or like.

Ed Morrisey

You spend around a hundred dollars on a dvd player (more if you like blueray) and then 10-30 bucks (again more for blueray discs) on a movie and they place advertisements (other move trailers) in it?!

Same goes for cable. You pay for the box, you pay monthly for the service and (save for the movie channels – and they have self adverts between films occasionally as well) you still have to deal with commercials. That’s just big business.

How about a game with a politically neutral “pick your target” shooting gallery?
Shoot at a Bush effigy or an Obama effigy, your choice.

Count to 10 on October 15, 2008 at 10:36 AM

On second thought, that’s probably not such a good idea. I just imagined the people that would get ideas from something like that.
How about “wack-a-pol” instead.