With tongue planted firmly in cheek, African American-themed website BlackVoices suggests that video game martial arts action might be just the tonic for the ugly situation between the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The uproar started with Jackson's inadvertent comments that Obama has been "talking down to black people" and that Jackson wanted to "cuts his nuts off." (video here)

From the BlackVoices commentary:

Maybe this is how Barack Obama and Jesse Jackson can duke out their problems, man-to-man. None of this whispering under the breath. I think this video game is more dignified.

The game play footage is from DC Smackdown, which GamePolitics covered in December, 2007. If you find DC Smackdown objectionable, you're not alone.

We note also that the game's website, dcsmackdown.com, appears to no longer function.

A fist bump?

A pound?

A terrorist fist jab?

With those words, Fox News talking head E.D. Hill ignited a bit of a controversy last month. Hill was referring to a small, celebratory bumping of fists between Barack and Michelle Obama. The "terrorist fist jab" comment would eventually lead to an on-air apology from Hill.

A parody video has placed Obama in a Mortal Kombat setting with the terrorist fist jab as his special attack.

GP: Pretty funny stuff and we thank reader Scott Snell for the heads-up...

 

It was widely reported this week that Minnesota would reimburse the video game industry $65,000 for legal fees incurred fighting the state's 2006 "fine the buyer" video game law in federal court.

Oddly enough, Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R), who signed the bill into law after it was approved by the Minnesota legislature, is apparently a bit of a gamer himself. That news comes from a passing mention buried within a lengthy 2007 profile of Pawlenty in the Weekly Standard. We just happened upon it this morning. Here's the gaming bit:

Growing up, Pawlenty played hockey. He is still a rabid NHL fan. The first website he visits each morning is hockeyfights.com, which shows combat highlights from the previous night's games. He plays the ESPN hockey video game in his spare time, often taking on one of his two daughters.

Okay, so Pawlenty doesn't necessarily keep up with the latest releases. The last ESPN-branded hockey game was ESPN NHL 2K5, released in August, 2004, nearly three years before the Weekly Standard article appeared. Still, it's always nice to see a politician who games, even a little. And always troubling to see one who legislates games. With Pawlenty, you apparently get both.

The Minnesota Guv, by the way, is rumored to be on John McCain's short list of VP candidates.

Host Jon Stewart has some fun with Pork Invaders, the Facebook game app released by the McCain campaign last week.

Stewart's comments on the McCain game come at about 4:25 into the video segment.

Steve Napierski of DuelingAnalogs has created a fun graphic which mashes up the presidential election and Mortal Kombat.

Catch the full strip along with the artist's comments at the DuelingAnalogs site.

GP: Big thanks to GamePolitics correspondent Andrew Eisen for the tip...

CNN's Political Ticker is reporting that the McCain campaign has launched a new game app on Facebook.

The game is called Pork Invaders. In order to succeed, players must avoid being hit by projectiles (pork-jectiles?) launched by flying pigs. From the CNN piece:

How do you kill the flying pigs? By shooting off vetoes. With each pig killed by a veto, users rack up millions of tax dollars as their score, and progress to the next level — but only after the game lays out campaign talking points like comparing the respective records of Sen. McCain and his rival, Sen. Barack Obama, on earmarks...

  

McCain currently has approximately 150,000 supporters on Facebook while Obama now has roughly 1,020,000 supporters on the site.

 

If the background music for a recent McCain campaign commercial (see video) seems familiar, there may be a good reason. 

The piece featured is, in fact, from EA's Medal of Honor: European Assault – undoubtedly the first time music from a videogame has been used in such a manner.

As it happens, though, this has caused the game's composer no little chagrin.  Christopher Lennertz, an ardent supporter of Barack Obama received many calls and letters regarding the campaign ad.

So how did Lennertz's music find its way into McCain's commercial? The composer told GamePolitics:

 

It turns out that there was a mix-up as to which company controlled the rights to the music. The McCain campaign did nothing illegal. I do think however, that they should have checked to see if the creators of content that they are using to promote their views are in fact in sync with them…

Lennertz also released a statement on the McCain ad:

I have been receiving many emails and calls for the past week regarding the use of my music in a national television ad for John McCain's presidential campaign. The ad is called "Safe" and prominently features a track entitled "Casualties of War" that I wrote for Medal of Honor: European Assault. While I do not control the ownership of this piece, I am extremely disappointed its placement in this commercial. I did not authorize the use and was not made aware of the situation. Regardless of party affiliation of support, I would like to think that someone who believes in the American ideals of business and creativity like Sen. McCain supposedly does, would not want to disgrace or inflict any hardship or ill-will on the artists who create in this country by using their works to promote products and agendas which with they disagree.

 

As an American, I have the utmost respect and admiration for our troops and all of their sacrifices. In fact, much of the inspiration for my music in this piece came from having a grandfather who served this country honorably as an officer in World War II. I respect John McCain for his service to this country, both in the military and in Washington, but I do not and have never supported his candidacy nor his agenda for this country. I am dismayed that my music has been used to promote his platform and even more disappointed that a candidate who claims to be the best voice for American entrepreneurs and business owners in this troubled economy so flagrantly ignored the most basic values and tenents of copyright and intellectual property. What, I ask, does such an action or oversight say about Mr. McCain's regard for the intrinsic value of American products, services, or creations? Where does the line get drawn? Is it reasonable to use my music to sell tobacco, alcohol, or pornographic materials? Is it reasonable to use it to promote a religion in which I do not believe? Is it legal?...yes, perhaps, is it ethical?...I don’t believe so. Is it American?...definitely not by my standards.

 

 

As an artist, business owner, and patriot, I proudly support Senator Barack Obama for the Presidency of the United States of America...

GP: This special report provided to GamePolitics by: Alex Van Zelfden

Repeating a recurring campaign theme, Barack Obama urged dads to exercise parental responsibility, in part by monitoring their children's video game and television time.

As reported by Politico, Obama made the remarks during a Father's Day speech at the Apostolic Church of God, a black congregation in Chicago:

The first [thing] is setting an example of excellence for our children – because if we want to set high expectations for them, we’ve got to set high expectations for ourselves. It’s great if you have a job; it’s even better if you have a college degree. It’s a wonderful thing if you are married and living in a home with your children, but don’t just sit in the house and watch “SportsCenter” all weekend long.

 

That’s why so many children are growing up in front of the television. As fathers and parents, we’ve got to spend more time with them, and help them with their homework, and replace the video game or the remote control with a book once in awhile. That’s how we build that foundation.

 

Congrats to Lori Ingham and her ConChrist blog for scoring Republican presidential candidate John McCain's reaction to the video game violence issue.

Ingham caught up to McCain during a campaign appearance in New Hampshire yesterday. From her blog:

I did get to ask him two questions from the audience. Once I FINALLY got the microphone, I introduced myself, where I lived, and as a segue way into the questions mentioned that I used to be a reporter but now ran this blog. These are somewhat paraphrased from the actual questions I asked him.

Question #1: With the current controversy over video game and media violence, what is your stance on allowing parents to make the decisions for their children on what they can see and watch? (This question was rolling around in my head primarily because of the recent posts that I had on Jack Thompson)

McCain's Answer: He felt that parents should be the ones to decide for their kids on a case by case basis (which I was satisfied with). He then did a weird segueway into the evils of child pornography from there, which kind of had me shaking my head.
 

GP: We're proud to say that Lori Ingham is also a GamePolitics reader. It's great to see a blogger going the extra mile for original content.

This must be the day for apparel items which mash up Nintendo themes with November's presidential election.

Earlier today we mentioned the Mario-Luigi '08 T-shirt.

A few moments ago we stumbled upon this Obama 1up for America hat. It's offered at Leftique, which describes itself as "The boutique for Democrats."

GP: FYI, we have no affiliate relationship with either of these products.

We noticed this T-shirt at Think Geek and, well, since it's Election Year and this is GamePolitics, we just had to mention it.

All I can say is that my choice in November just got a lot more complicated...

Decent games about the political process are few and far between, but Stardock (Sins of a Solar Empire, Galactic Civilizations II) will release The Political Machine 2008, a turn-based election strategy sim for PC, on June 18th.

And, while real politics is an expensive business, the virtual kind is relatively cheap. The Political Machine 2008 retails for a mere $19.95.

Over at GameSpot, Jon Miller, who played as manager of Barack Obama's simulated campaign, has a detailed preview:

In The Political Machine, one turn breaks down to one week. The amount of stamina your candidate has limits the number of actions you can perform for each turn. Early on, the country is one giant mass of undecided voters, and it's your goal as campaign manager to sway them with lofty campaign promises...as well as blatant negative campaigning...

 

Of course, no election is complete without fundraising. Each action in the game, even flying from one state to another, will drain your campaign budget. If you have enough stamina, it helps to hit the fundraiser button, especially in wealthy states loyal to your party. Obama cleaned up in California and New York, routinely bringing in more than $200,000 per fundraiser, but he floundered in South Dakota where he raised only $6,000.

 

And so the campaign season goes... The Political Machine 2008 is not the most complicated strategy game out there, but it's a fun, lighthearted look at American politics.

GP: I enjoyed the last version of the game (2004), and can't wait to get my hands on this one.

Feel like starting an office pool?

MSNBC has unveiled an interactive online game which lets players make their best guesses about who Republican presidential candidate John McCain will select as his running mate.

Republican Veepstakes uses an NCAA Tournament-style bracket system that calculates player votes and advances winning candidates to the next round during weekly Tuesday updates.

32 candidates are listed for the starting round. These include well-known Republicans from politics (Mitt Romney, Charlie Crist), big business (Meg Whitman, Michael Dell) and the military (Gen. David Petraeus). We also note that Texas Gov. Rick Perry, scheduled to deliver the keynote speech at E3, is paired against former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge in Round One.

The game is hosted by MSNBC's Chuck Todd and David Gregory and will run through June 24th.

Big Head DC reports that a Barack Obama Mii is a hugely popular download for owners of the Nintendo Wii:

Barack Obama gets around. His Mii, a digital avatar created for the Wii video game console, is currently one of the most popular user-submitted Mii caricatures in all of America. Obama is next to Batman in popularity and stands tall right behind Indiana Jones.

 

Speeches is listed as Obama’s skill.

 

An 11-year-old Kentucky boy sold his bicycle and his video game collection in order to raise money for Senator Hillary Clinton's flagging presidential campaign, according to the Associated Press.

Dalton Hatfield presented a check for $440 to former president Bill Clinton on Friday following a campaign rally in West Virginia:

“You sold your bike to get this?” [President] Clinton asked the McAndrews, Ky. native...

Hatfield feels so strongly that Hillary Clinton should be the next president he not only sold his bicycle, but video games and anything else he could find that “I could make money with” to donate to the former first lady’s bid for the Democratic nomination.

Barack Obama may have dissed Grand Theft Auto IV a bit last week, but, on the streets of L.A. at least, the candidate and the controversial game have become one.

G4TV's Attack of the Show producer Luke Wahl spotted some Barack Obama / GTA IV mashups around town:

Here in the GamePolitics command bunker we've grown weary of this campaign season's unending parade of online fighting games featuring presidential candidates.

And so too, apparently, has the Wonkette. While the Washington, D.C. gossip blog's criticism applies in particular to the NY Posts's 2008 Democratic Fight Night, the same commentary could be applied across board to the cheezy, online marriage of politics and martial arts.

Hey look, the New York Post has created an online video game where you can beat the shit out of Hillary Clinton! All you have to do is select a character and then click your mouse forever.

At a campaign stop in Indiana, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama referred to the frenzy of publicity surrounding Grand Theft Auto IV as he repeated one of his regular themes: kids studying more and playing video games less. 

GamePolitics has covered similar comments from the Illinois Senator during the campaign (see: Obama Campaign Theme: Video Games as Metaphor for Underachievement).

Here is the transcript of Obama's remarks:

I was just catching the news this morning about Grand Theft Auto, this video game, which is gonna break all records and make goo-gobs of money for whoever designed it. Now, this isn't intended for kids, although I promise you there are kids who are playing it, but these video games are raising our kids...

Across the board, middle-class, upper-class, working-class kids, they're spending a huge amount of their time not on their studies, but on entertainment.

And so part of our job is going to have to be to inspire the entire country to say, 'How are we giving our kids a thirst for knowledge?' And turning off the TV set, and getting them to be engaged and interested, like their future really does matter on how well they do in school."

Raw Story has the video.

GP: Big thanks to GamePolitics reader Ryan Graff for the transcription of Sen. Obama's comments!!

Game With a Brain asks:

What if politics were more like Pokemon?  Well, one of the political parties would be guided by Meowth and Mew would be the equivalent of a Mount Rushmore type president, right? 

The short article is accompanied by a must-see Pokemon parody animation which employs the three major US presidential candidates instead of standard Pokemon characters.

If you've played the popular handheld game, you'll recognize the parody's visual style as spot-on. 

Irrepressible Gamecock Media Group CEO Mike Wilson was in Philadelphia on Tuesday as the hoopla surrounding this week's Democratic Pennsylvania primary reached its peak.

Wilson and his crew were on hand to promote the soon-to-be-released Hail to the Chimp. Described as a "Presidential Party Game," Hail to the Chimp was developed by Wideload Games and will be published by Gamecock for Xbox 360 and PS3 on May 27th.

In the pic at left, one of the game's characters is shown with the famed Rocky statue at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.