Never far from the harsh glare of the media, the Clintons have once again been in the news of late.

Bill, of course, was recently credited with negotiating the release of two American journalists held by North Korea. Hillary's news was less positive. During a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo this week, a journalist's misstated question prompted a testy reply:

You want me to tell you what my husband thinks? My husband is not the Secretary of State, I am. You ask my opinion. I will tell you my opinion; I'm not going to channel my husband.

As it turned out, the questioner meant to ask what President Obama thought about the issue, not former President Clinton.

The incident did not go unnoticed by the crew at T-Enterprise. The UK firm offers a new online game just about every Friday and this week it's Hillary: First Blood. In the game, a Rambo-esque Hillary, equipped with an RPG, tank and helicopter, must rescue a trio of journalists from Iran before Bill can fly in and sweet-talk them out of captivity. Along the way, the Secretary of State has to dodge spikes and a minefield.

Via fidgit we've been clued into Sackboy, done up in patriotic style as the Sacktue of Liberty...

...which reminds us that Hillary Clinton's face appeared on the Statue of Happiness in Grand Theft Auto IV.

So, are there other Statue of Liberty appearances in gaming? Gotta be...

A recently-released Xbox Live Community Game (MS recently announced that these will soon be called Indie Games) features President Obama as a side-scrolling, 2-D brawler.

Angry Barry is available for 400 points on Xbox Live. We didn't spring for the game although we did check out the free demo.

Hillary Clinton makes an appearance in the game and the screen shot at left appears to feature Sarah Palin. From the game's XBL page:

Angry Barry is a sidescrolling, political parody, 1-2 player 2D beat 'em up in the tradition of many classic arcade games. Take control of Barry as he tries to take over the Presidency of the United States!

When President-elect Barack Obama announced this week that Sen. Hillary Clinton was his choice for Secretary of State, we noted that the diplomatic nature of her new job would distance the former First Lady from domestic social issues, including those relating to video game content.

And, as Hillary moves away from the video game arena, one thing becomes clear: The video game industry no longer faces any high-profile political opposition in the United States. Sounds crazy, I know. But consider that, in 2008:

• Jack Thompson self-destructed. Sure, Thompson will still be a critic, but his recent lifetime disbarment flushed whatever mainstream credibility he had left.
• The National Institute on Media and the Family was co-opted by the video game industry. Earlier this year NIMF accepted a $50,000 grant from the ESA, a mind-bogglingly bad decision. How does a watchdog organization justify taking money from the people it is supposed to be watching? Not surprisingly, NIMF's 2008 Annual Video Game Report Card was a valentine to the game biz.
• Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) has, for some time, been preoccupied by internecine battles with his former friends in the Democratic Party. He hasn't been heard from as a game industry critic since he stood with David Walsh during the release of NIMF's 2007 report card. In fact, most recently, Lieberman (and Clinton) offered their support for the ESRB's new game rating summaries.
• Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), as mentioned, will be focused on foreign affairs.

There are remaining critics, to be sure, but they are fragmented and most lack the national profile of Thompson, Walsh, Lieberman and Clinton. Will one of these emerge to fill the void? Hit the jump to see...

Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) have praised a new ratings supplement announced by the ESRB today. Both senators have been harsh critics of the video game industry in the past, lending extra weight to their support for the inititiative, which the ESRB is calling “rating summaries.”

The summaries, which provide additional detail on game ratings, can be accessed via the ESRB website or through sites which host the ESRB widget (like the one in GP's sidebar). The ESRB's new mobile site allows parents to check the summaries in real-time while making game purchasing decisions. The new rating summaries go into effect today and apply to all games rated after July 1, 2008.

Of the enhancement, ESRB president Patricia Vance said:

Parents can always use more help when making choices as to which games are right for their children. With our new rating summaries, which provide exclusive and unprecedented insight into the nature of the content that triggered a given rating assignment, parents will be that much more empowered in making those choices.

Sen. Clinton said:

This new supplement to the ratings is a real gift for parents as we head into this holiday season.  Parents need all the information they can get to make more informed decisions about what’s appropriate for their children.  These new rating summaries offer more helpful information than ever before to help parents to get involved and get informed.

While Sen. Lieberman added:

For well over a decade I have called upon the video game industry to inform consumers about the content in video games so they could make the right choices for their children.  One result was the creation of the ESRB rating system... The ESRB has now taken consumer education one step further with their new rating summaries, which provide a greater level of detail about game content to help parents be even more prepared to make informed game selections for their children.  I applaud the ESRB for taking this proactive step to inform video game consumers.

Also on board are National PTA president Jan Harp Domene and Dr. David Walsh of the National Institute on Media and the Family, a frequent game industry critic.

Check out Far Cry 2's ESRB page for an example of the new rating summaries.

GP: This is a smart move by the increasingly proactive ESRB. The rating summaries certainly can't hurt and the backing of Hillary and Lieberman may assist in heading off a pair of bills presently in Congress which seek to bring "truth" to video game ratings.

With the constitutional battle over California's 2005 video game law apparently heading to the U.S. Supreme Court, potential appointments to the Court by President-elect Barack Obama take on added significance to gamers.

While there are no current SCOTUS vacancies, NPR's Nina Totenberg reports that, given the age of the current justices, one or more slots are likely to open up during Obama's presidency.

Among potential Obama appointees, Totenberg drops the name of Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm. Veteran GamePolitics readers will recall that Granholm was the driving force behind Michigan's 2005 violent video game law, later ruled unconstitutional by a U.S. District Court judge. Michigan was compelled to pay the video game industry's legal fees in that case to the tune of $182,349.

In 2006 Granholm also joined other Michigan politicians in calling for a boycott of Eidos' controversial cops-and-robbers shooter 25-to-Life.

The appointment of Granholm could influence any Supreme Court consideration of laws related to video games. Current Justice Antonin Scalia has previously commented that video game restrictions might be constitutional.

Totenberg also notes that Hillary Clinton, whose anti-game resume far exceeds that of Granholm, has been mentioned as a possible justice. However, Totenberg concludes that a Clinton appointment would be seen as far too political for the Supreme Court.

Obama, of course, is an expert on constitutional law. In his book, The Audacity of Hope, he writes:

The Constitution envisions a road map by which we marry passion to reason — the ideal of individual freedom to the demands of community. And the amazing thing is that it has worked.

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.

Strauss Zelnick, chairman of Take-Two Interactive and John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts, might not be able to get together on a merger, but they seem to agree on at least one thing: Barack Obama.

Both game biz execs have contributed to Obama's presidential campaign.

In fact, in research conducted by GamePolitics of publicly available records, A-list video game industry types seem to be leaning in the Democratic direction. Of 16 donors we found, only three had given to Republican candidates. Meanwhile, 13 had donated to Democrats (although only 9 of these gave to Obama).

While our survey can't in any way be considered scientific, we looked at several dozen other prominent industry figures, but did not find any presidential campaign contributions that met our guidelines. The ground rules in use dictated that we would only consider 2007-2008 presidential contributions. In some cases, however, donors gave substantial amounts to congressional races or non-candidate-specific political action committees. Those aren't listed here.

Among the biggest names we found were Rockstar's Sam Houser (Obama), Spore designer Will Wright (McCain) and Ultima designer (and space traveler) Richard Garriott (Hillary Clinton). Here's the list:

Republican contributors:

• Will Wright: (Spore, The Sims) $3,000 to McCain; previously donated $2,350 to Giuliani
• Bobby Kotick (Activision CEO) $2,300 to McCain; previously donated $2,100 to Romney
• Curt Schilling (38 Studios) $2,300 to McCain.

Democratic contributors:

• Strauss Zelnick (Chairman, Take-Two) $2,000 to Obama; had previously donated to $2,500 to Edwards, $1,000 each to Biden & Richardson
• Ben Feder (CEO, Take-Two) contributed $1,000 to Biden in 2007
• Sam Houser (Rockstar) $4,600 to Obama
• Patricia Vance (president, ESRB) $2,000 to Obama
• John Riccitiello (CEO, EA) $4,600 to Obama
• John Smedley (Sony Online Entertainment) $2,300 to Obama
• Richard Garriott aka "Lord British" (Ultima series, NC Soft) $2,300 to Hillary Clinton
• Alex Rigopulos (CEO, Harmonix) $32,900 to Obama
• Kathy Vrabeck (president, EA Casual) $2,300 to Obama
• George Lucas (LucasFilm) $33,100 to Obama
• Doug Lowenstein (former ESA head) $2,300 to Hillary Clinton
• Kenneth Doroshow (new ESA general counsel) $2,500 to Obama
• Gabe Newell (pres., Valve) $2,300 to Dodd

GP: We will update the list as additional donors are located.

UPDATE: Adding links for each donor. Just click on the name for details. Also, removed a couple of mistaken entries on the Democratic side. Specifically, we had initially listed a John Carmack, but further review indicated that it was not the game desgner.

Pwn Or Die has posted this short but funny parody of the classic AYB... with a presidential campaign twist.

A San Francisco-based game designer is among a subset of Hillary Clinton supporters who can't seem to get their minds around the notion that Barack Obama is the presidential choice of the Democratic Party.

As reported by Newsday, Toni Alves was among several hundred Hillary backers who marched through the streets of Denver on Monday shouting, "Honest Roll Call!" and "Yes We Can!"

Alves, whose design credits include Heroes of Might & Magic V , told Newsday that she has voted as a Democrat for 40 years and traveled to Denver on behalf of her local chapter of Party Unity My Ass (PUMA). She claims that she will vote for Republican John McCain should Obama secure the nomination.

When last we heard from the Girl Scouts in relation to video game issues, they were standing behind California's Leland Yee following passage of the state's 2005 video game law.

But, as reported by the Woodbury Bulletin, a Minnesota Girl Scout has a much different view on video game regulation. Colleen Stone, who created a 10-minute video on game content issues, told the newspaper:

I guess it all started when Hillary Clinton started getting public about video games and video game violence. It was just a blatant disregard for first amendment rights…That was a slippery slope that would easily have transferred to books and movies and newspapers, and that really disturbed me.

In response, Colleen developed a seminar to educate parents on game content and ratings. She invited the manager of a local GameStop as well as a rep from the Minnesota-based National Institute on Media & Family. The seminar was filmed and makes up a good chunk of her video. 250 copies have been distributed to various organizations.

Colleen, who will attend Johns Hopkins University in the fall and is considering a career in video game design, added:

I was worried this was just a pet peeve of mine, but deep down, it’s a constitutional issue. Some games can be so beautiful — some of the games I put on, my mom will just stop and stare… That’s why I think I did this. Video games are not evil.

 

Since the April 29th launch of Grand Theft Auto IV, fans have been scouring the game for Easter Eggs, those secret items tucked away by game designers and prized by fans.

One persistent claim is that GTA IV's Statue of Happiness, the game's take on the real-life Statue of Liberty, bears the face of Hillary Clinton. Senator Clinton, of course, was the leading political critic of the Hot Coffee scandal which surrounded the last major release in the series, GTA San Andreas. You can compare the images and decide for yourself.

We've also heard that the tablet held by the statue makes reference to Hillary, but we've not seen proof of this yet. Perhaps we should grab a chopper in-game and check this out...

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.

Politics, as the saying goes, makes strange bedfellows.

And there could be none stranger than seeing Hillary Clinton, who has long decried violence in video games, cozying up to the pro wrestling crowd with a tongue-in-cheek campaign promise that, if elected, she will deliver "the people's elbow" when things get rough.

Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain all appeared in taped WWE promos last night. Obama seemed uncomfortable, cracking only a "Do you smell what Barack is cookin'?" joke toward the end of his remarks.

Clinton's video was more enjoyable, if for no other reason than because it was such a departure from her normally aloof public persona. But, "Call me Hillrod?" A bit much...

John McCain's performance was funny ...and a little scary:

You want to pull out of Iraq? Well I say, no surrender... I'm gonna introduce Osama bin Laden to The Undertaker... [Americans] watch WWE because wrestling is about celebrating our freedom...

Watching these videos brings a few video game-related points to mind:

First, will we ever see major candidates making official appearances within a video game, or even at a video game event?

Second, why is WWE, with its real-life violence, steroid abuse issues, and hyper-sexualized "diva" wrestlers an acceptable venue for presidential candidates while video games are, apparently, not?

Finally, if one of these candidates goes after video game violence in the future, whether as president or as a member of the Senate, they need to be reminded of their political pandering to the wrestling audience.

Today's crucial Pennsylvania primary will surely be nothing like this over-the-top WWE video of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton facing one another in the wrestling ring...



UPDATE: Wired reports that game publisher THQ created the Clinton-Obama wrestling animations...

The Democratic presidential nomination could turn on tomorrow's primary in Pennsylvania. And while both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have had their issues with video games, this campaign has far deeper ramifications.

As a Keystone State resident, I can assure you that the candidates are working overtime with appearances, rallies and the like. And phone calls...

Here at GPHQ we've received about a dozen calls since last week, evenly divided between the Clinton and Obama camps. Phone calls from volunteers, recorded messages from candidates, and even one from Bill Clinton.

So we're running a poll today and tomorrow to ask GamePolitics readers who they think will win in Pennsylvania.

Be sure to vote!

As the crucial Pennsylvania primary draws near, competition between Democratic presidential contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is heating up in real life as well as Second Life's virtual world.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, SL's Obama and Clinton supporters have been griefing one another of late:

The trouble began in March 2007, when Obama supporters held a rally... [other avatars] raided the virtual Obama headquarters. They littered it with T-shirts, posters and signs sporting anti-Obama messages or expressing support for Sen. Clinton and Republican contender Rep. Ron Paul...

During a November rally at the unofficial virtual Clinton beachfront headquarters, supposed Obama supporters hid under a dock and then emerged with signs, shouting via connected headsets and shooting at people... it's unclear if the disruptors were actually from the Obama camp...

Last month, virtual gunmen disrupted a planned Obama march, shooting and pushing people around. That knocked some marchers offline... The Obama group responded by teleporting... to the CNN hub... to hold their rally. But soon images of a Clinton campaign poster and a clip of Sen. Obama next to a photo of Osama bin Laden were flying all over the screen...

Bonnie Ruberg's recent Heroine Sheik post, which detailed her quandary over just how important the video game censorship issue would be when she casts her presidential vote, got us thinking, too.

What, for instance, will GP do? (and I've got to decide quickly, because the Pennsylvania primary is just eight days away)...

More importantly, what will you do?

Given the situation with Iraq, with the economy, with environmental issues, with Homeland Security, with energy, the credit crisis, the housing market, etc., will your choice come down to a candidate's stance on video game issues?

How do we place video game issues in their proper context?

We'd like to know what you think.

Make your opinion known by voting in today's GamePolitics poll, located in the upper right sidebar, and feel free to offer additional thoughts by commenting to this post.

When you cast your ballot for the next president, will the candidate's stance on video game issues decide your vote?

It's a worthy question, and one that Bonnie Ruberg of Heroine Sheik asks herself:

The [presidential] primaries are front-page news even here [in France], and there’s a big election coming up in my home state of Pennsylvania, so French people always want to know, “Do you support Hilary or Obama?” Truth is though, I honestly don’t know...

When I try to explain my dilemma to a French person though, I always find myself falling back on the “Hilary wants to censor video games” angle though. And what do I get in response? Awkward stares that say, “You wouldn’t really vote for someone on the basis of video games, would you?”

The question is, would I? ...I really do think Hillary’s approach could be detrimental to our art form–especially if she’s the leader of the whole frickin’ country... Then again, Obama is no shiny light of tech positivism either. Al Gore, I miss you.

Although the only notice we've taken of World of Warcraft in relation to the U.S. presidential election was an unoffical rally for Republican Ron Paul (left) in January, USA Today reports that WoW is a hotbed of presidential politics - especially on the Democratic side:

The primary race between Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is so competitive, it has even barged into the online universe of the World of Warcraft game. Millions of players are supposed to be fighting dragons, raiding enemies and performing magical quests — not discussing superdelegates.

USA Today quotes 36-year-old WoW devotee Sean Goldman:

Here we are, logging into a virtual world to escape the grip of the real world for a few hours, but this election has brought the real world closer to the virtual world...

Hillary and Obama have created quite the buzz with the race, and it's created a buzz everywhere. I'd say 99% of the people talking about this (in the game) are the types who would usually stay away from talking politics because it wasn't cool. But now it's definitely roused a lot of people in World of Warcraft.

Whack-a-mole, boxing and martial arts knock-offs?

Sigh... 

Can't web designers come up with more innovative game metaphors for the presidential race?

In any case, we take note of Political Boxing at anti-Hillary Clinton site StopHerNow. The domain appears to be privately registered, so we're not sure whether the site was created by Obama supporters, Republicans, or some other group.

Sen. Hillary Clinton's struggling campaign has taken a credibility hit over recent revelations that she misspoke about arriving in Bosnia under sniper fire in 1996.

Did you doubt for a moment that a video game version would be far behind?



Via: RatTube

So GP got this e-mail last evening from the Hillary Clinton campaign. It ran under the headline:

Liberty City Democratic Club Endorses Hillary Clinton

Wait, we thought.. That can't be right. Hillary is most game-legislating of all the presidential candidates and Liberty City, well, that's Grand Theft Auto territory.

As it turns out, this Liberty City group is a political club for the LGBT community in Pennsylvania, where the April 22nd primary is looking more and more like a make-or-break situation for Clinton and opponent Barack Obama.

UPDATE: I've been thinking... GTA IV launches in a month. Hillary has had a lot to say about GTA in the past, especially in regard to Hot Coffee. April Fool's Day is next Tuesday. Still, the group's website looks legit and so does its domain registration. What do you think, GP readers?

The idea of a universal rating system that would span a variety of media, including video games, movies, music and TV is a popular one among some game industry critics.

High-profile political supporters of universal ratings include presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Dr. David Walsh of the National Institute on Media & the Family, Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN, i.e., she's Minnesota-based Walsh's Congresswoman) and New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

Actually, I guess we can count Spitzer out of the mix as he has apparently been working on his own universal system for rating call girls.

The video game industry, on the other hand, hates the idea of universal ratings. Hates it. Writing in the April issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, ECA president Hal Halpin examines the issue:

Many of the industry's greatest critics can (usually) agree on one thing: The [ESRB] is the best rating system for entertainment products...

Hal writes that the ESRB system blows away that of the RIAA, which simply slaps "Parental Advisory" stickers on music, with no explanation. And while he finds the MPAA's system for movies to be better, its content descriptors can't compare to those of the ESRB.

Hal also notes the vagaries of the current multi-rating system media environment:

Some argue that it's unfair to have a [PG-13] movie that a 13-year-old can see, but a companion [E-rated] game that's available to "everyone." The inverse also occurs: One can watch the movie but not play the game owing to different ratings.

His conclusion? Universal ratings aren't likely to happen any time soon.

Full Disclosure Dept: The Entertainment Consumers Association is the parent company of GamePolitics.

Last week, GamePolitics reported on Yahoo! Games' recap of where the major presidential candidates stand on video game issues.

Cnet's Declan McCullagh has now penned an insightful article which outlines how the top candidates view some critical technology issues. While not game-specific, some of these issues will certainly affect gamers in a significant way. Writes McCullagh:
 

Who would be the most tech-friendly president?

The short answer: it depends. Do you like the idea of Net neutrality so much that you'd hand the Federal Communications Commission the authority to levy open-ended Internet regulations? Do you support pro-fair use changes to copyright law, which many programmers and computer scientists do--but which practically all software and video game companies oppose?

McCullagh sought the candidates' positions on seven key tech issues: Net neutrality legislation; Telecom spying immunity; DMCA fair use reform; Supports Real ID Act; ISP data retention required; Permanent Net-tax ban; and Increased H1-B visas.

Of these, Net neutrality and DMCA fair use reform are probably of the most immediate interest to gamers, so we'll look at those.

On Net neutrality, the question posed to the candidates was:
 

Congress has considered Net neutrality legislation, but it never became law. Do you support the legislation that was re-introduced in 2007 (S 215), which gives the FCC the power to punish "discriminatory" conduct by broadband providers?

Those strongly in favor of Net neutrality: Clinton, Obama
Those opposed: McCain, Paul
"Maybe": Huckabee
Ducked question: Romney

On DMCA fair use reform, the question posed to the candidates was:
 

The 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act's section restricting the "circumvention" of copy protection measures is supported by many copyright holders but has been criticized by some technologists as hindering innovation. Would you support changing the DMCA to permit Americans to make a single backup copy of a DVD, Blu-ray Disc DVD, HD DVD, or video game disc they have legally purchased?

Those probably in favor: Obama, Paul
Ducked question: Romney, McCain, Huckabee, Clinton

Read McCullagh's full article here...

Where do the leading presidential candidates stand on video game issues?

Ben Silverman of Yahoo! Games summarizes the positions of the top three candidates from both parties. Included in the recap is Democrat John Edwards, who announced yesterday that he is dropping out.

Of the remaining candidates, Silverman writes:
 

Compared to his more conservative opponents, [John] McCain is a viable option for Republican gamers, although his ties to [frequent game critic Sen. Joe] Lieberman are worth noting.

 

Obscenity laws? Societal cesspools? Unless you're wracked with gamer guilt, [Mitt] Romney is one hard sell.

 

[Mike Huckabee is] no Mitt Romney. That's gotta count for something.

 

Despite her good intentions, Hillary's scary track record might be enough to dissuade gamers from putting another Clinton in office.

 

[Barack] Obama is more skeptical of how violent games affect behavior than his rivals, and in turn seems less inclined to legislate right off the bat. That should ring true with gamers.