Australia's Bureau of Statistics has released an interesting game for iOS devices that uses real census data (circa 2011) from the country's various towns called Run That Town. Players build a town using real census data (which can include the real town they live in… in Australia) and run it.

You've seen the movies, read the books, and now you can play the video game based on "Watergate," the scandal named after a prominent Washington D.C. office complex where operatives of former President Richard Nixon broke into the Democratic National Committee offices. The scandal eventually led to the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974, who failed to cover up his involvement in the entire mess.

The designer of an iOS game that focuses on Syria's ongoing civil war is defending his game and explaining why he created it in the first place: to inform those people around the world who might be ignorant about the conflict. The game, Endgame Syria, is decidedly pro rebel forces and gives players choices like negotiating peace with President Bashar Assad's regime or sending jihadist fighters to kill the pro-government military forces.

Ball State University (in Muncie, Indiana) professor Ronald Morris and computer science professor Paul Gestwicki have teamed up with graduate students to create a Unity-based game that teaches fourth grade students about the Underground Railroad (thanks to Polygon). The game is called The Underground Railroad in the Ohio Valley River and puts students in the shoes of a runaway slave who must make his or her way to Canada where they can live a free life.

In a six minute interview with Joystiq, Irrational Games boss and lead on BioShock Infinite Ken Levine talks about why it is important to not be afraid of using topics that some might consider controversial as vehicles for a story. In BioShock Infinite, Levine has weaved a narrative around a number of belief systems and ideals, and all of these things come together in the floating city of Columbia to create tension and drive the narrative.

In case you didn't hear about it earlier this month, High Stakes Politics has been released and is available on Android, Kindle Fire, Barnes and Noble Nook, Facebook, Chrome Store, and the mobile web (using an HTML5-capable browser). The creators of the game describe it as the gamification of politics through trivia that uses play mechanics similar to the popular game show "Jeopardy" with some gambling thrown in for good measure.

A new game for Android devices called Whack a Candidate: Election' 12 charges you with suppressing the vote of the political party you don't like by whacking them in the face with the "Hammer of Justice." The game is much like whack-a-mole but the field is a map of the United States. When a candidate or their vice-presidential running mate pops up on the map you whack them with a hammer to stop them from scoring votes in a given state.

While we often point out the failures of crowd-funded games like Haunts: The Manse Macabre, it's always good to bring you a story where a game has been successfully funded via a Kickstarter campaign and ends up being available for purchase.

The Truman National Security Project plans to launch a browser-based game this week that explores the United States' political and military involvement with Iran, according to a report in Defense News. The group describes itself as an institute that recruits and trains progressives to lead on national security issues.

Rocket Surgeon, makers of the political social Facebook game, For the People: Fantasy Politics, have launched a special contest today called For The People: November Madness.

For The People: November Madness is free to everyone and allows participants to take a stab at predicting the winners of the 2012 presidential election and every House and Senate race across the country. Each correct pick earns a point, and the person who ends up with the most total points wins a grand prize.

2012 Election - Rise of the President is an iOS game that stands out because it was created by Stiven Deleur, a talented 14-year-old who started coding only a few months ago. But the inspiration for the game actually came from his father, who came up with the idea one afternoon.

"I wanted a fun way for people who are interested in politics, to participate in the election process and show support for their candidate," said Alex Deleur. "Plus, by collecting data per team, the goal was to create a game that could predict [the] result of the upcoming election."

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor's online educational video game site iCivics has partnered with educational technology company EverFi to create a new initiative called Commons – Digital Town Square. Available for free to all K-12 schools, Commons – Digital Town Square hopes to provide educational gaming with social components, testing, simulation-based gameplay, animations and pre- and post-assessments for students.

A new game infuses the concept of the popular Game Boy Advance game Advance Wars, with the antics of the 2012 presidential elections in what developer Silverware Games calls "Strategery 2012." Strategery 2012 is a web-based game offering Advance Wars mechanics that feature the top two factions in politics today: those of President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

IGN points out that Ubisoft's upcoming DLC for Assassin’s Creed III will have a very unique villain: George Washington. The founding father of our country and the first U.S. president was basically offered a position similar to "king' or "emperor" of America. Washington declined that offer and instead became the first president of the country, according to every history book I have ever read.

Eurogamer points to an interview earlier in the week with Valve's Chet Faliszek, who mentions in passing a Street Fighter-style fighting game that appeared on Steam Greenlight that lets you play as our current presidential candidates and past presidents like Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. Here is what he said about it then:

You may recall the Space Invaders-inspired flash game Truth Invaders way back during the 2008 presidential campaign. Back then the game focused on the "lies" told by both Democrats and Republicans.

Well the game is back with a 2012 edition, but this time it focuses only on the "lies" of Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney and the Republican party.

The FAQ on the site tries to explain the change:

Social game developer Rocket Surgeon has opened the beta of its Facebook game, For The People: Fantasy Politics to the public today. The 3D Facebook game lets players become the fictional 436th member of the House of Representatives, and play a key role in shaping the laws and policies of a fantasy democracy. Beginning today and running until the new Congress is seated in January, players can test their skills as a U.S.

Apocalypse November! is a fan-created Unity 3D-based web game being hosted over at GameJolt that pays homage to the 2012 presidential elections. Playing as an unnamed candidate running for reelection to the highest office in the land, players navigate mazes inspired by political themes and parties including the Blue State Maze, The Purple Swamp and The Red Zone Dungeon.

In what Comedy Central and 2K Play describe as a "dramatic end" to the Comedy Central's Indecision Game smartphone tournament challenge, The Hotline's Editor-in-Chief Reid Wilson was crowned "Greatest Political Mind of our Time." The competition was between 20 of the nation's most recognized political pundits and reporters and played on mobile phones and tablets during a three-week period. Wilson managed to beat out Fox News Anchor Greta Van Susteren in the final round of competition.

While some reporters were covering the Democratic and Republican Conventions earlier this month, quite a few of them were fooling around with a competition put on by 2K Play and Comedy Central's Indecision Game. A "clandestine" political trivia tournament was held between 20 of the nation's greatest political pundits and reporters to see who was the most politically savvy in a March Madness-style bracket.

FiveOneNine Games has launched Campaign Story, "the first political Facebook game." Campaign Story lets players run a political campaign as they see fit while trying to gain popularity, get votes and win the election. You can pick a campaign slogan, hire canvassers, hold fund raisers, hire campaign staff, and engage in dirty tricks or fight for the White House with some integrity if that's your thing.

Epic Games' Chair Entertainment has turned the 2012 election into a literal fight with its new iOS game that lets you play as Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney or President Barack Obama and punch and kick your way into the White House.

Players can equip their candidate of choice with "iconic American outfits, accessories and items," and as they progress through the game they can unlock score boosters, win votes, and more. Some of the key features, according to Chair Entertainment, include:

A new video game developed by a 19-year-old student and promoted by the Azerbaijani government lets players change the results of the Spring 1992 capture of the Nagorno Karabakhi town of Shusha by Armenian and Nagorno Karabakhi forces. The battle marked the turning point in the conflict for control of the territory.

While Political Machine 2012 is probably the de facto election year strategy game of choice for PC and Mac players right now, those looking to run a campaign on iOS and Android devices can always check out Election Game 2012: Race for the White House. While we can't attest to the quality of this game (we haven't played it personally) developer Lunagames promises a down and dirty political campaign to win the highest office in the land: the presidency.

A Kickstarter campaign for Election War Room has been launched, with the hopes of securing enough funding from the crowd to finish the development of this election-year strategy board game for iOS-based devices.

Gamasutra has a fascinating article on how developers in war-torn regions cope with developing games in the midst of chaos and bloodshed created by violence. Some, like Radwan Kasmiya from Syria, have fled to other countries but still find the wars they ran away from having a long arm and a strong influence on the ability to practice their craft.

Treyarch is diving headfirst into politics with the new villain from Call of Duty Black Ops 2. According to Gameranx the new villain will be Raul Menendez, a man described as a "champion of the 99 percent," who is a lot like Wikileaks front man Julian Assange. In the game Menendez hopes to start a "global insurrection against the status quo."

2K Play and Comedy Central have released Comedy Central’s Indecision Game for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Android, and Amazon's Kindle Fire. The game attempts to figure out who is really smarter - Democrats, Republicans or Independents (the answer: they are all pretty stupid). Players attempt to outwit their friends and family by correctly answering political questions and earning voters to score an Election Day victory.

Players will soon be able to play as the Muslim rulers in upcoming downloadable content for Crusader Kings II, Sword of Islam. Paradox Interactive said that the new DLC will be released at about the same time as an upcoming update that will add new features to the game, such as an expansion of the map into Mali-Songhay, differentiation on strong and weak claims, a new plot, expanded combat and more. With this new playable faction, Paradox says that "laws, marriage, holding, traits, titles and more will work completely differently."

The nonprofit started by retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has launched an online game to teach children about their local government. O'Connor is spending her time in retirement pushing the idea that children and Americans in general need to learn more about their state, local, and federal governments. The game is called Counties Work, and was put together by O'Connor's group iCivics and the National Association of Counties.