Yesterday, The Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) five commissioners voted unanimously to move ahead with the discussion on Net Neutrality.

While all five commissioners approved the move, the two Republican members (Robert McDowell and Meredith Attwell Baker) indicated that, while they think further exploration is a good idea, they don’t think regulations will ultimately be needed.

McDowell was quoted in a Washington Post website as saying:

Today we do disagree on substance. I do not agree with the majority’s view that the Internet is showing breaks and cracks and that the government ... needs to fix it. Nonetheless it is important to remember that the commission is starting a process, not ending one.

Senator John McCain expressed his displeasure with the Net Neutrality movement as well. PC World reports that McCain introduced his own Internet Freedom Act, which would “expressly prohibit the FCC from making rules on net neutrality in the simplest terms.” McCain thinks Net Neutrality will affect the job market and stifle competition.

The Net Neutrality movement will now record comments until January 14, 2010 and subsequent reply comments until March 14, 2010.

In an op-ed published at 1up, Michael Gallagher, CEO of game publishers trade group the Entertainment Software Association, frames the recent presidential election as "a historic time for America and the computer and video game community."

Recapping many of the campaign-related game developments (Obama's XBL ads, McCain's Pork Invaders game), Gallagher writes:

The campaign produced a milestone of its own in the use of our technologies to engage and communicate with voters.

 

 For the first time, American gamers and the entertainment software industry played an active role in the political process...

With the U.S. recession deepening, Gallagher also cites the benefits that the game industry provides to the U.S. economy and lays out the ESAS's agenda going forward:

• working closely with all levels of government
• preserving the First Amendment rights of gamers
• supporting parental education efforts around video game ratings
• protecting our industry's intellectual property
• leveraging broadband to increase the connected experience
• working to improve our industry's contributions to the economy
• supporting state-level tax incentive legislation
   

Gallagher concludes with:

We look forward to working with the Obama administration, the new Congress and state leaders around the country and ensuring that America's governments recognize the positive effects of the computer and video game industry.

UPDATE: For more of Gallagher's thoughts, see GameStop's interview.

Gene Koo of Valuable Games live-blogs an appearance by serious games guru Ian Bogost (left) at a Harvard study group led by Nicco Mele:

Video games [serve] as a centrifying values issue, making it very cheap [for politicians] to decry video games. Ian mentions the ECA (Entertainment Consumers Association), and the idea of a union of video game players, or a common identity among gamers, “weirds” him out.

Gamer demographics — if there are political games, whom will they reach?: There’s a lot of bad data, but… see the Entertainment Software Association. The better question is to break them down by style/type. Ian’s own games — TSA game since 2006 has approached 50M plays. (< $10K to build).

An Obama game could really sell. Who wouldn’t buy an Obama game? Well...

So what about an abortion game that attempts to help each side understand the perspective of the other side of the debate? ...

Nicco mentions that the [Howard] Dean [2004] campaign’s game did inspire people to donate, get involved. Ian wonders if this idea will “peak” (novelty factor).

The problem is that the vast majority of these [political] games are meaningless tripe. See Ian’s discussion of Pork Invaders, in the Gamasutra article, and also the contrast with Tax Invaders as a rhetorical device.

FULL DISCLOSURE DEPT: The ECA is the parent company of GamePolitics.

GamePolitics covered so many election-themed Flash games during the run-up to November 4th that we actually lost count.

Surprisingly, however, a roundup on Amazon.com's Game Room Blog turns up a few that we missed. For the sake of completeness, here they are, along with Amazon's description:

• Joe The Plumber: Layin' Pipe  ...use your brainteasing abilities to beat the flush in this escalating series of puzzles that are reminiscent of the hacking mini-games of BioShock.
• Below The Beltway  ...this boxing game [featuring the red and blue tickets]... pulls no punches.
• Campaign: General Election Edition ...A turn-based strategy game where players choose their candidate and support staff members--each with different strengths, weaknesses and special moves... Singleplayer and multiplayer...
• AirMILF ...Thanks for the memories Governor [Palin]
   

While GP was glued to old school CNN for news of this year's presidential voting, Bixyl Shuftan recaps what election night was like in the Second Life metaverse for the Second Life Newspaper:

Princess Ivory had this to say, “Do you all realize that this is a historic election not just for the US, but for SL? 4 years ago SL wasn't as popular. In the past, we would gather with our neighbors and family in the living room and watch the election results on television. Now we sit and watch our avatars sit together, and listen to the BBC broadcast from another window. Incredible..."

Checking the Obama HQ, they had set up some bright glow-balls, bathing the interior of the building in light. And with victory declared, many were dancing away...

Then a couple came in, telling everyone they had just been banned from the Straight Talk Cafe, saying they ran through the place naked...

GP: Only in SL...

DasGamer has an entertaining feature on what they bill as the The Top 20 Video Game Moments In The 2008 Presidential Election.

Highlights include:

• the Ron Paul WoW march
• Barack Obama's XBL ads
• John McCain's Pork Invaders Facebook game
• the Sarah Palin All Your Base video
• a list of Game Biz contributions to candidates

Things turn out better for Republican John McCain in this user-created level from PlayStation 3 smash Little Big Planet.

Of course, you could play this level so that Obama wins, too. 53% of American voters would probably play that way, based on yesterday's popular vote.

The level was designed by Richard Windsor of gaming site Aeropause.

Via: Destructoid

The official Xbox color may be green, but when it comes to politics, online gaming venue Xbox Live is clearly a blue state.

According to a Microsoft rep, a final pre-election poll taken over the weekend shows Democrat Barack Obama with a commanding lead over Republican John McCain among XBL gamers. Here are those numbers:

• Obama 53%
• McCain 33%
• Undecided 14%

In a late September XBL poll, Obama led 43-31%. The new data seems to suggest that some XBL users who were undecided or who supported other candidates in the earlier poll have largely shifted to Obama.

As Xbox Live project manager Ben Vaught recently pointed out to GamePolitics, with 14 million subscribers, if Xbox Live was a state, it would be the seventh largest in the U.S. with 20 electoral votes.

Although he is trailing in the polls, Republican presidential candidate John McCain got a boost from 38 Studios boss Curt Schilling at a campaign appearance in New Hampshire last night.

Schilling, of course, is better known as the pitching ace of the Boston Red Sox. and that's the persona he displayed on McCain's behalf at the rally. As the Boston Herald reports, Schilling told the crowd:

The size of the payroll has nothing to do with the heart and talent of the team. They’d have you believe that we’re down 3-0, but let me tell you I have a little bit of experience with that and it doesn’t mean anything.

As GamePolitics reported last month, Schilling has been a financial supporter of McCain as well.

Also on hand at the event to lend their support to McCain were Joe Lieberman and Sam Brownback, a pair of Senate colleagues with a history of attempting to legislate video games.

USC grad student John Brennan dropped GamePolitics a line to show us this amazing Half-Life 2 machinima featuring John McCain, Barack Obama, and an authentic HL2 head crab.

By way of explanation, John writes:

I'm an MFA student @ USC's interactive media program.  My thesis project is a series of modifications to Half-Life 2 that will operate in the same space as political cartoons.  I'm playing with format right now, but so far it is Modding and Machinima as self expression and political commentary:)

I have a process for quickly getting 'news-makers' (providing enough photography) into Half-Life 2, access to MoCap data, and some good people helping out.

I'm just launching my first piece now, but it is sizable enough that I'd like to bring it to your attention.  It includes McCain, Obama, a debate stage, and is just in time for the vote.

Maxis is serving up a preview of The Sims 3 engine with a pair of videos featuring a Sim Sarah Palin.

In the trailer embedded here on GP, the Republican VP candidate dances (in camouflage lingerie) at a rally. In a second video Palin tussles with her opposite number, Democrat Joe Biden.

John McCain and Barack Obama also appear. We enjoyed this little notation at the end of the trailers:

No candidates were injured during the making of this video.

Maxis has crafted the 2008 presidential tickets for Spore users.

From the press release:

For a bit of fun, EA’s Maxis studio has created the presidential and vice presidential candidates in the critically-acclaimed video game, Spore. Created with the game’s Spaceship Editor, players can download the characters, drag them into Spore to edit – even subscribe to the Sporecast and meet them flying around in Space! 

CLick here for more info...

Wired reports that the McCain campaign bailed on a technology debate scheduled for Thursday just hours before it was to begin.

According to Wired's Nicholas Thompson, a debate on tech issues had been arranged between an Obama rep and McCain adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin. Tickets to the event sold out quickly. Thompson writes:

Then, oops, yesterday morning, a couple hours before the event began, the McCain camp emailed to say that, actually, no, sorry, Holtz-Eakin can't make it for the 12:30 debate. Apparently he had very important meetings to attend. Right. Apparently, though, he stepped out in the middle. At 1pm he was on MSNBC attacking Obama, trying to tie him to George Bush's economic policies...

 

In short: the McCain camp chickened out. Spinning is easy; debating is hard. And defending John McCain’s record on broadband deployment, spectrum issues, and net neutrality is particularly hard...

Political cartoon site Filibuster takes a look at current presidential campaign poll results through the lens of Guitar Hero...

Thanks to: Sharp-eyed GP correspondent Andrew Eisen. No worthy webcomic escapes his all-seeing eye!

Some pundits are saying that high profile GOP vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has hijacked the Republican spotlight from John McCain.

No argument here.

But if you require proof, consider that Pandemic Studios is releasing two playable characters as DLC for its controversial Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. The characters are Barack Obama and Sarah Palin, not Obama and presidential rival John McCain.

Among other combat activities, Obama struggles with a tank commander before dropping a grenade into the turret. Palin, clad in a designer red jacket and fashionable black skirt, wields an RPG and beats a helicopter pilot into unconsciousness.

It's all very presidential.

G4's Adam Sessler has a video report (at left). Pandemic exec Tom Stratton offers an explanation, of sorts:

Mercenaries 2 is a game seemingly ripped straight out of today's headlines and fueled with the same type of over-the-top action found in the best summer blockbuster films. It only makes sense we inject the game with a spin on current affairs. The timing was too good to let pass.

Venezuelan government officials and others have protested Mercs 2's invasion narrative in the past about. Placing Obama and Palin in the game will likely generate another round of outrage from the Hugo Chavez regime.

Nor is this the first appearance for 2008 candidates in a controversial video games. Last month GamePolitics reported on the inclusion of Obama and McCain in a trailer for GTA knockoff Saints Row 2

Watch Adam Sessler's report here... Additional Obama/Palin Mercs 2 footage can be seen here...

If World of Warcraft was a U.S. state, its 11 million players would give it the eighth largest tally of electoral votes.

That being the case, which candidate will carry Azeroth on election day? Do the polls show a split between Alliance and Horde voters? Between Dwarves and Night Elves?

In the video from Machinima.com comedian Rich Kuras polls WoW players on their presidential preferences.

Is McCain gaining ground on Obama? 

Is Obama surging ahead?

Second Life users can check out the latest presidential poll data, thanks to a clever, interactive polling map created by Steve Nelson, who also devised the SL-Twitter mashup we reported on earlier this month.

At his Clear Night Sky blog, Steve describes some of the tech behind his latest creation:

Capitol Hill in Second Life continues to draw visitors from around the world interested in the political season... I’ve added an electoral map that shows most recent polling on a state-by-state basis...

I may channel my inner Brokaw and use the map in manual mode on election night, or I might challenge myself to quickly find a site that can be Dapper-scraped and feed the board automatically.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain introduced the world to Joe the Plumber during last week's presidential debate.

His running mate, Sarah Palin was recently quoted to the effect that the time is right "that normal, Joe six-pack American is finally represented in the position of Vice Presidency..."

Now, Joe the Plumber and Joe Sixpack battle it out...

Boston-based Metaversal Studios has released Rock the Quote, a web-based game which challenges how much players know about remarks made by November hopefuls John McCain, Sarah Palin, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Players earn two points for correctly identifying a quote and one point for getting just the party right. Three wrong answers leads to game over.

Metaversal Studios' founder Jay Laird, lead designer on Rock the Quote, talked about his game:

With over 100 questions, we have yet to see anyone finish the game... [While watching the debates] I noticed how many of the candidates' sound-bites seem interchangeable. Sure, there are things like the hockey-mom references that make it easy, but when it comes down to the bigger issues, I wonder how many people can tell the difference.

 

[For example,] McCain says he won't raise taxes, while Obama says he'll cut them for 95% of Americans.  In the past, you'd expect the latter promise to come from a Republican, and I bet a lot of people would still make that assumption.

It was pretty depressing to hear Biden say so forcefully that he doesn't support gay marriage.  I know it's a political maneuver to try to hold on to some socially conservative votes, but now that 3 out of 50 states have legalized it, you'd think they'd make it part of their 'change' initiative.

Rock the Quote is planned as a trilogy, with the second part launching on Tuesday. Check Metaversal's Burning Village site for updated news on RTQ.

The Associated Press reports that Barack Obama's Xbox Live ads have sparked some humor.

According to an AP report, Seth Meyers of Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday quipped:

Barack Obama has begun running ads within video games. Obama ads can be seen in video games such as `Madden NFL '09' and `Burnout.' Not to be outdone, John McCain has begun putting ads inside many MRI machines.

GP: Look for Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert to have some fun with the Obama ads as well...