I was in Best Buy the other day and noticed a new game on the shelf called "Political Machine" (the box art reminded me of the game "North vs. South").

It shows a cartoon G.W. Bush sneering at a cartoon pic of John Kerry sneering back as if they are about to get into a big fight.

Anyway, the game is labelled "edutainment" and supposedly allows you to take control of either candidate for the 2004 presidential race, or you can take control of a candidate from the present or the past, and even create your own. It goes through the political process and supposedly helps you learn about the whole process of running for public office.

Also, I thought I caught a mention of "multiplayer" on there.

Online debates? Whoa!

So I was curious if anybody else had seen this game or tried it out. I wonder if there's a demo.

While it may not solve any problems, on the other hand, if the game is accurate, perhaps it can help teach people how the political process in the US works. At least it would get them thinking and we need better informed people for the voting booths.

wow, this sounds very interesting. I think I'll check that out.

It's right here (http://www.politicalmachine.com/game.asp?c=1&u=0). Haven't read the entire site yet, but it looks fun.

isn't it by the guys who did Galactic Civilizations?
They are pretty cool developers, and release all there stuff for direct download over the web.

It looked interesting, and they were good at simulating AI in GC.
They also do some sort of package where you pay a ceratin ammount, and then can download all their games for free.... which is worth it if you want more than one game.
totalgaming.net (http://totalgaming.stardock.com/) I think it is $89 for all their games, though i don't know if there are any limits...

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I think it allows you to run as either of the 2 real candidates, or run as your own character against them. :D
http://www.politicalmachine.com/5050.png)

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Or, for those with a more action mood:
September 12th (www.newsgaming.com)--whose) creator insists that it "is not a game"--challenges the player to fire cruise missiles at terrorists in a densely populated Middle Eastern city. As the explosives wreak havoc, civilians weep over the casualties and morph into terrorists themselves, creating an ever-growing number of enemies.