Political Game: A Kick in the Balls

April 11, 2008 -

It seems that American politics is not alone in its use of silly fighting games to attract eyeballs.

British political blog Three Line Whip has a bit of a rant today over A Kick in the Balls.

The web-based game pits Justice Secretary Jack Straw (last seen on GamePolitics bashing Sony over the Resistance & Manchester Cathedral flap) against Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families Ed Balls. Of the game, Three Line Whip blogger Iain Martin writes:

How juvenile. The Tories have made a computer game... in which Justice Secretary Jack Straw can be manipulated to assault Ed Balls. So much for David Cameron's talk of a responsible society and his plea for an end to the violence of the video-game culture. This is an outrage, why can't politicians focus on the issues?

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Comments

Submitted by Sean (not verified) on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 09:34.

Best.Name.EVER!

Submitted by Werrick (not verified) on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 09:35.

'Cause no one ever put together a satyrical skit about politicians acting like douchebags...

When I see politicians getting bent and slathered over Saturday Night Live, This Hour has 22 Minutes and the Daily Show then I might bother to listen when they whine and piss and moan about being made fun of in video games.

Submitted by Gift (not verified) on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 09:41.

Why I Jack Justice Secretary but Ed isn't Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families? (How Orwellian do those titles sound btw?) Regardless, it was inevitable this game would make an appearance given the alleged near fisticuffs between these two.

Like most novelty "political" games this one is sadly short on politics... I wish people would be a bit more innovative.

Gift.

GP: oops - fixed that. Thx for pointing it out...

Submitted by Void Munashii (not verified) on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 09:48.

Oh waaah! Why don't you just freakin' cry about it?

Since when is making fun of a politician a big deal in the UK? I've seen plenty of sketch comedy shows from there that make fun of politics in the same way American shows do.

Submitted by Ebonheart (not verified) on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 09:50.

I'd care if politicians where decent, thats why I ask my fellow America GP readers to vote for me when I run for Congress. I'll do it eventually you'll see.

Submitted by Rhade (not verified) on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 09:51.

"This is an outrage, why can’t politicians focus on the issues?"

Why can't political blogs? /shrug

Submitted by Ragnaar (not verified) on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 10:31.

This is an outrage, why can’t politicians focus on the issues?

The issues like virtual violence, virtual currency, virtual beurocracy?

How about focusing on the real world before criticizing a small, virtual one?

And he's "outraged" by THAT?

Submitted by PeterWDawson (not verified) on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 11:02.

If he's annoyed by this, wait until a sitting PM threatens to sue the leader of the opposition for doing his job.

Submitted by beemoh (not verified) on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 11:48.

...I think TLW might be being a little sarcastic- the last comment in the blog post, which is "And see what score you can get", is a giveaway, IMO.

/b

Submitted by DarknessDeku (not verified) on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 12:04.

That was the worst game I've ever played in my life.

Submitted by DarkSaber2k (not verified) on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 14:20.

What, even worse than Microcosm?

Submitted by kyleJCrb (not verified) on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 15:18.

A real game with this title would sell like hotcakes. Someone in some marketing division needs to get on that, pronto.

Submitted by DarknessDeku (not verified) on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 16:16.

@ DarkSaber2K

Yes, worse than Microcosm.

Do you by chance go to spoonyexperiment.com?

Submitted by Haggard (not verified) on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 16:56.

It's hard to tell what the TLW really thinks of this. They seem to be under the impression that the Tory front-bench got together and coded this game in their spare time as a political manuever.

Besides, you could hardly say that this is going against Cameron's stance against violent games.. they're just badly animated things flailing at each other.

Submitted by DarkSaber2k (not verified) on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 17:03.

@ Deku

Sure do! The funny thing about that review was that I'd got that game about 2 weeks ago as part of my 'Just how bad WERE FMV games' thing I've been doing lately! At it certainly is by far the worst one I've played so far! And that's against some stiff competition (Night Trap anyone?). The really hilarious thing was after seeing that review I tried the 'don't look at the screen' thing and really did get further than I managed to when I was trying!

Submitted by Roxas (not verified) on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 17:12.

Best name I've ever seen! *ROFL*

Submitted by Kral oyun (not verified) on Tue, 05/06/2008 - 10:09.

thanks

Submitted by yemek tarifi (not verified) on Tue, 05/06/2008 - 10:59.

thanks so much

Submitted by emo resimleri (not verified) on Tue, 05/06/2008 - 11:09.

good articles thankx.

Shout box

Michael Chandra: By the way, I am not saying Andrew should stop talking about Wii-U. I find it quite nice. :)10/20/2014 - 8:53am

Michael Chandra: 'How dare he ignore my wishes and my advice! I am his boss! I could have ordered him but I should be able to say it's advice rather than ordering him directly!'10/20/2014 - 8:52am

Michael Chandra: If GP goes "EZK, do not talk about X publicly for a week, we're preparing a big article on it" and he still tweets about X, they'd have a legitimate reason to be pissed.10/20/2014 - 8:52am

Michael Chandra: If GP tells Andrew "we'd kinda prefer it if you stopped talking about Wii-U for 1 week" and he'd tweet about it anyway, firing him for it would be idiotic.10/20/2014 - 8:51am

Michael Chandra: Legal right, sure. But that doesn't make it any less pathetic of an excuse.10/20/2014 - 8:50am

ZippyDSMlee: You mean right to fire states.10/20/2014 - 8:50am

james_fudge: some states have "at will" employee laws10/20/2014 - 7:50am

quiknkold: It says in the article that being in florida, you can get fired regardless if its a fireable offence10/20/2014 - 7:19am

Michael Chandra: If your employee respectfully disagrees with your advice, that's not a fireable offense. If they ignore your order, THEN you have the right to be pissed.10/20/2014 - 6:49am

Michael Chandra: I... Don't get one thing. If you do not want your employee to do X, why do you tell them it's advice or a wish? Give them a damn order.10/20/2014 - 6:48am

james_fudge: A leak that had me worried about being swatted by Lizard Squad.10/20/2014 - 6:03am

james_fudge: It should be noted that the author leaked the GJP group names online10/20/2014 - 6:03am

MechaTama31: I mean, of the groups being bullied here, which of the two would you refer to collectively as "nerds"?10/19/2014 - 11:30pm

MechaTama31: But that's the thing, it doesn't sound to me like he is advocating bullying, it sounds like he is accusing the SJWs of bullying the "nerds", who I can only assume refers to the GGers.10/19/2014 - 11:21pm

Andrew Eisen: Interesting read. Unfortunately, too vague to form an opinion on but at least now I know what faefrost was talking about in James' editorial.10/19/2014 - 10:39pm

Neo_DrKefka: Breaking GameJournoPros organized a blacklist of former Destructoid writer Allistar Pinsof for investigating fraud in IndieGoGo campaign http://blogjob.com/oneangrygamer/2014/10/gamergate-destructoid-corruption-and-ruined-careers/10/19/2014 - 8:57pm

Neo_DrKefka: Only good thing I seen come out of the Biddle incident was the fact a professional fighter offered to give 10k to an anti bullying charity for a round in the ring with Biddle.10/19/2014 - 7:49pm

Neo_DrKefka: Even after all the interviews she is still on twitter making fun of people with disabilities (Autism) yet she is a part of the crowd that is on the so called right side of history...10/19/2014 - 7:48pm

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Neo_DrKefka: I believe the problem #GamerGate has with Sam Biddle is he is apart of this blogging group that in a way hates or detests its readers. Also being apart of the crowd that claims its on the right side of history isn't helping when he is advocating bullying10/19/2014 - 7:45pm

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