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.

When you think of news sources, Something Awful probably doesn't come to mind, but one of its writers took some time away from writing jokes to point out a few odd things with the Ron Paul: Road to REVOLution game that has managed to rake in over $10,000 from a highly publicized Kickstarter campaign. SA obtained access to the developer's server and found that his game uses assets borrowed from other games.

MTV has revamped and fine-tuned its "get out the vote" campaign (Rock The Vote) with a gamification scheme that will feature several parts including a viral online campaign and a game that mixes fantasy football gameplay with 2012 election year politics. The gaming part of the equation is called Fantasy Election '12, and will give those who sign up to it "points" for registering to vote, watching debates, and publicly supporting candidates who do not engage in shady campaign financing or mudslinging. 

This year's Games for Change Festival is set for June 18-20 in New York City. The event dedicated to promoting social change through video games will offer plenty of activities this year including case studies, roundtables, lectures, demos, and more. Featured speakers for this year's event include Jane McGonigal, New York Times bestselling author (Grand Theft Childhood) and co-founder of SuperBetter Labs; leading researcher, Dr.

At a recent Google-sponsored Big Tent event in Mountainview, Jennifer Pahlka, the founder of and executive director of Code for America, participated in a "fire side" chat with Google's SVP, David Drummond, about her various initiatives related to using technology to solve public sector problems and civic life in general.

A nifty Flash game called The Republica Times lets you be a would-be editor-in-chief for a state-owned newspaper where you must balance editorial control with keeping the government happy by selecting headlines that make your country look like a utopia instead of the mess that it probably is. With a little imagination, you can pretend you're in Russia, Cuba or North Korea keeping the populace safe and happy with news that is likely one-hundred percent fabricated.

Presidential candidate Ron Paul probably won't get the Republican party nomination, but he will appear in at least two video games. I guess that's something... The two video games are Stardock's Political Machine 2012 and an odd platformer called Ron Paul: Road to Revolution.

Stardock announced that it will release its latest election year strategy simulation game, Political Machine 2012, this summer. The game will let you pick from various candidates including President Barack Obama, Republican candidates Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, and Newt Gingrich, or a politician that you create from scratch. The game can be played in a one-on-one election year match up against the game's AI or against a human opponent via the Internet.

The pay-what-you-want DRM-free bundle Humble Bundle for Android 2 has added Snuggle Truck into the mix today. If the name sound vaguely familiar, that's because it used to be called "Smuggle Truck," and was a game about smuggling immigrants across the border. The company that made it (Owlchemy Labs) called it "immigration satire" but not everyone got the joke they were trying to tell... Snuggle Truck replaces immigrants flying out of the back of a pickup truck with fluffy stuffed animals.

If you have ever wondered what it would be like to work in a sweatshop like those poor souls at Foxconn (who work long hours for little pay to build the devices we all use every day like iPads, iPhones, Xbox 360's and PS3's) then developer Littleloud has just the thing for you: a game called Sweatshop. Yes we have highlighted this game before here at GamePolitics, but in light of recent events at Foxconn it's worth revisiting again.

In an exclusive interview with Verizon Foundation's Thinkfinity Education Speaker Series, retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor urged educators in the United States to do their part to enliven civics education and engage students in the democratic process.

"You have to study [civics] and be taught how our system of government works," Justice O’Connor said. "And you have to be shown how each individual can be part of it and can make things work.”

The United States Army is testing a new PC strategy game that teaches captains who are being deployed to Afghanistan how to think like local village elders do. The game is called CultureShock: Afghanistan and is being tested at the U.S. Army Engineer School via the captains’ career course at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. The purpose of the game, according to its creators is to teach cultural awareness and to show officers what drives the decision making process of local leaders whom U.S. forces will have to encounter and communicate with.

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has teamed up with the Verizon Foundation to celebrate Constitution Day by launching a national contest for middle schools students. The goal of the contest is ultimately to teach youngsters about the importance of our country's most important document and about the important role of civics in modern society.