Will Obama's Video Game Ads Be Mentioned in Debate?

October 15, 2008

Last week GamePolitics broke the news that campaign ads for Barack Obama were showing up in EA's Burnout: Paradise on Xbox Live.

Since that time the story has gone national, with coverage by among others, the Associated Press, New York Times, Washington Post, and USA Today. ABC News and CBS News have mentioned the Obama ads on their websites, although not on the air - so far.

With tonight's final Presidential Debate taking place at Hofstra Unoversity in New York, will the XBL ads come in for a mention? If they do, it will almost certainly come from McCain. There is speculation that McCain's debate strategy this evening will seek to raise questions about Obama's readiness for the White House.

Could McCain use the XBL ads in an effort to paint Obama as geeky or frivolous? If he does, will such charges resonate with voters? Or will McCain come off as out of touch and, well, old?

It's all speculative, of course. We'll find out tonight.


Comments

Re: Will Obama's Video Game Ads Be Mentioned in Debate?

 Hah, put down the video games. 

I invited my friends to a game of Halo when I heard that.

Re: Will Obama's Video Game Ads Be Mentioned in Debate?

I weep at my tool-ality as the clown for the carnival that was pseudo-conservative values. My other personality will probably come in and decry Obama's embrace of what he delusionally thinks is evil. but let me in on a secret.

My other personality used to have wet dreams about a frankensteinish fusion of Nancy Reagan and the princess from Dragon's Lair.

I weep at the repression this has caused. I wholehearetedly renounce the Republican party for aiding in my sickness and embrace Obama. Except when he's with Hillary. She was another enabler.

Re: Will Obama's Video Game Ads Be Mentioned in Debate?

Oddly enough, when speaking about education, he said "put down video games"...

Re: Will Obama's Video Game Ads Be Mentioned in Debate?

I think the biggest question is whether McCain even cares

Re: Will Obama's Video Game Ads Be Mentioned in Debate?

Oh please... McCain probably doesn't even know about Obama ads in games... Muchless its neither a negative or positive for him covering all bases. After all the one game ad we know about is in Burnout... So what is McCain going to say? "Obama supports reckless driving!"

 

~The main problem isn't really video games but media. Movies show you how to do it, books go into details about doing it and video games have you simulate the experience... Spread the blame around rather than focusing on us

Re: Will Obama's Video Game Ads Be Mentioned in Debate?

At least this artical has a legitimate point, unlike the other coverage GP has been passing off as "news". I am quite dissapointed with GP's election coverage, and yes you do have a choice on what you want to report, and yes you are showing an extream bias in what you decided to report.

~Weatherlight~

~Weatherlight~

Re: Will Obama's Video Game Ads Be Mentioned in Debate?

Here is the whole thing. Since only adults can vote, the ads in games are targeted towards adult gamers. Aknowledging that such a thing exists is a step in the right direction.

If they do try and bring it up in the debate, it might bite them back like that awesome projector. When the McCain group was trying to use it as an example of outrageous spending, most people saw it as providing for the community. This wasn't a home projector he was using to watch HD movies, this was an Astronomy projector for a planetarium. You know what, I support that.

Re: Will Obama's Video Game Ads Be Mentioned in Debate?

It could come up.  McCain's strategy is partially to paint Obama as being not ready for the Presidency.

"Can we really trust a man who spends is time advertising in a VIDEO GAME?  Will a President Obama be too busy playing his Playstation 360 or WiiBox [you KNOW he'd say something like that] to deal with a national crisis.  Can he be trusted to turn off the Halo Theft Auto [again you know he'd say it] when his country needs him."

That's an exaggeration of what I think McCain might say, but I can see it coming up.  Though I think it work likely Palin would go this route, she's definitely the attack dog in this campaign.

Re: Will Obama's Video Game Ads Be Mentioned in Debate?

Yeah... but that could backfire very easily. First of all, Obama's not the one playing the games - his voters are. Just as Obama gained a lot of ground-level support by targetting smaller states, so he could win a lot of voters by advertising on unusual media.

Then, there's the question of what the real difference is between advertising on video games now and, say, TV 60 years ago. Back then, TV was regarded as a niche pursuit, but those who were first to advertise there gained massive leads against those who didn't.

Finally, it's a risk to criticise people who play games. For every potential McCain voter who might be swayed by an attack on games, there's a gamer who might be persuaded to vote Democrat in retaliation...

I say it probably won't come up...

Re: Will Obama's Video Game Ads Be Mentioned in Debate?

He has to call them "videos".

E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
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Re: Will Obama's Video Game Ads Be Mentioned in Debate?

Hahahaha!!!

That reminds me of the 90's, when many people called cartridges "tapes".

--- Official Protector of Videoland!

--- Official Protector of Videoland!

Re: Will Obama's Video Game Ads Be Mentioned in Debate?

I think Fox had it on it's website.

Re: Will Obama's Video Game Ads Be Mentioned in Debate?

It actually did make it on the air this morning on CNN Headline news.  Robin Mead covererd it about 7:50 eastern.

Re: Will Obama's Video Game Ads Be Mentioned in Debate?

The only approach I could see along these lines would be to address the potential contradiction in Obama's statements pertaining to telling parents to get their kids off the couch then advertising in the games their kids play.

Whether or not the connection is accurate is open to debate, I suppose, because you can bet that if we're aware of the way this story has spread, Obama is equally aware and has a response already prepped that would trounce McCain.

My guess is that McCain will avoid it and Obama won't see the need to bring it up, but who knows?  Both parties have been bringing up irrelevent points in debates for decades.  Don't see any reason they would stop now...

Re: Will Obama's Video Game Ads Be Mentioned in Debate?

why would it come up?  what's the relevance?  mccain doesn't even know what a video game is.  why would mccain bring up anything technology related when he's admitted he doesn't know how to send email?  chances of a mention approach zero.

Re: Will Obama's Video Game Ads Be Mentioned in Debate?

Doubt it will even come up...  We'll see...  Everyone I know that has researched into politics alot this year has decided that the entire government needs to be gutted and restaffed because they are all greedy old men that are out of touch with society...  I can not agree more with that statement...

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Poll

Are you excited for the Xbox One?:

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You're not permitted to post shouts.
Andrew EisenXbox One may not be always on but that doesn't mean you can use it without an internet connection. http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-does-require-internet-connection-cant-play-o-50916410905/21/2013 - 7:39pm
Andrew EisenPolygon says EA's CFO says it is developing games for Wii U but doesn't provide that quote. http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/21/4351844/ea-developing-wii-u-games05/21/2013 - 7:11pm
Andrew EisenWell, I was right. Both Sony and Microsoft's consoles will be out by the year's end and both will be significantly more powerful than the current gen.05/21/2013 - 5:06pm
james_fudgethnx05/21/2013 - 4:47pm
ZenJust to let ya know...you called it the "Xbox 260" in the backwards compatibility article lol.05/21/2013 - 4:26pm
Zen@PHX Awesome, I will hit those up after class tonight. Going back to college finally! :) My kids have had a blast telling ME to do my homework now lol.05/21/2013 - 4:19pm
PHX Corp@Zen I sent you a friend request on both PSN and XBL, just a heads up05/21/2013 - 4:16pm
ZenI noticed it with the football players when EA showed off Madden as well.05/21/2013 - 4:11pm
ZenIs it just me or is call of duty hitting the "uncanny valley" with their nicely modeled faces and dead looking eyes? I found it distracting and seemed actually "less" real to me lol.05/21/2013 - 4:10pm
james_fudgeit sounds like if you have an HD reciever you'll be able to use it with a pass-through cable... not 100 percent sure yet05/21/2013 - 2:41pm
james_fudgehappening now http://majornelson.com/2013/05/21/xbox-one-architecture-panel/05/21/2013 - 2:20pm
E. Zachary KnightSome reading material for Microsoft on its used games blocks. That will hurt the console more than helping. http://ezknight.net/?page_id=20505/21/2013 - 2:18pm
james_fudgeyeah good luck with over the air TV05/21/2013 - 2:12pm
E. Zachary KnightBut what if I want to only watch over the air tv? I don't subscribe to pay tv. I never will. If that is a requirement, then MS wasted 45 minutes telling me how great TV will be.05/21/2013 - 2:08pm
james_fudgeEZK it will depend on your provider, just like HBO Go i'd imagine.05/21/2013 - 2:05pm
PHX Corp@IanC there's also a chance that those titles might be Xbox one exclusive, but it's too early to tell afaik05/21/2013 - 2:03pm
IanC@E. Zachary Knight - MS certainly got the checkbook out for EA, so no surprise on how negative they are over the Wii U.05/21/2013 - 1:54pm
MaskedPixelanteSo now I have to wonder, how many of EA's games are skipping the PS4 because of their pro-used stance?05/21/2013 - 1:53pm
E. Zachary KnightOn the TV front, does the XBox One require a cable/satellite subscription or will I be able to use my over the air channels?05/21/2013 - 1:48pm
E. Zachary KnightAlso, that name was not one of the options on our poll.05/21/2013 - 1:42pm
 

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