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Watch election coverage on Xbox Live, get avatar armor

Mike Suszek — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 12:00:00 EST

Xbox Live Rewards members that tune in to live election coverage via Xbox Live on three of four scheduled dates will receive Halo 4 Warrior armor for their avatars. Viewers will be able to participate in live polling as well as present poll questions via Twitter using the hashtag #XboxPoll.

The four debates, of which viewers need to watch three to get their totally-not-real Halo armor, are all scheduled for 9:00 p.m. Eastern 6:00PT:

October 3, 2012: Presidential Debate on Foreign Policy
October 11, 2012: Vice-Presidential Debate
October 16, 2012: Presidential Debate on Domestic Policy
October 22, 2012: Presidential Debate

Watch election coverage on Xbox Live, get avatar armor originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 29 Sep 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Election 2012 coverage comes to Xbox Live August 27

Richard Mitchell — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 12:15:00 EST

Your Xbox 360 could just serve as your hub for 2012 US election season, Microsoft has announced. Beginning August 27, Xbox Live members will be able to access the Election 2012 hub, which promises to include NBC News coverage, information about candidates, daily polls and live coverage of the presidential debates and the Democratic and Republican conventions. Certain events, including the debates, will also allow viewers to participate in live polls. Users will even be able to register to vote via their console.

This isn't the first time Microsoft has dabbled in Xbox Live election coverage. The company hosted a similar program during the 2008 election.

Continue reading Election 2012 coverage comes to Xbox Live August 27

Election 2012 coverage comes to Xbox Live August 27 originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 23 Aug 2012 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Presidential candidates talk video game violence

Kyle Orland — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Hacks, Fashion

Health care? Taxes? Immigration? Why do presidential candidates insist on wasting our time talking about such trivial issues? When will they address the questions we really care about -- the ones about video games? Well, actually, right now.

Non-partisan, not-for-profit advocacy group Common Sense Media has quizzed some of the leading presidential candidates on a variety of media issues, video game violence legislation among them. Here's a quick summary of their views on proposed federal legislation limiting children's access to violent games:

Senator John Edwards (D - NC): The ESRB and retailers are doing a pretty good job, but the FTC found that 42 percent of children under 17 can still purchase M-rated games, and that's too high. Publishers need to tone down the marketing of violent games to kids. If the industry isn't careful, the government "will need to consider further steps" to keep these games away from children
Senator Barack Obama (D - IL): Video games should use technology to let parents restrict content [Note to Obama: they already do.] The rating system should be improved to make content information "easier to find and easier to understand. ... but if the industry fails to act, then my administration would." In any case, the government should spend money to study the problem.
Governor Bill Richardson (D - NM): "I would consider this legislation," but it's really up to the parents. I'll give federal employees paid time off to spend with their kids.
Fmr. Governor Mitt Romney (R - Mass.): I would enforce current obscenity laws to protect children from "a societal cesspool of filth, pornography, violence, sex, and perversion." I would "go after" retailers that sell violent games.

While the responses are interesting, the lack of participation from front-runners like Hillary Clinton, Rudy Guliani and Mike Huckabee makes the information a little less than complete just weeks away from the Iowa caucuses. Still, the full questionnaire has illuminated the candidates' thoughts on other game-related issues such as childhood obesity, screen time, media literacy and the media's impact on the candidates' own kids. Be an informed voter and give it a read.

Presidential candidates talk video game violence originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mitt Romney presidential ad on GameTrailers

Alexander Sliwinski — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 17:51:00 EST

Filed under: Culture

It appears former one-term governor of Massachusetts and presidential candidate Mitt Romney is looking to recruit gamers for his campaign. As the ad we captured off of GameTrailers (while reviewing the Ratchet & Clank videos) clearly shows, Romney has taken out ads to help raise campaign funds on the site. Allow us to refresh your memory if you don't remember that presidential candidate Romney is "deeply troubled" by the culture our children grow up in today. Using a dirty ocean as a metaphor, Romney says, "I'd like to see us clean up the water in which our kids are swimming. I'd like to keep pornography from coming up on their computers. I'd like to keep drugs off the street. I'd like to see less violence and sex on TV and in video games and in movies. If we get serious about this we can actually do a great deal to clean up the water in which our kids and grandkids are swimming."

It is interesting that this ad pops up on a site that proudly displays clips of those violent video games and has a viewership that likes them too. We have no idea how the advertising process works at GameTrailers, for all we know we could have that ad pop up soon on our own pages, but how times have changed to see political ads on video game sites. We know the average gamer's age has skewed higher in recent years, we just don't know if it's necessarily skewed to helping Mitt Romney become President of the United States. Oh, and before the conservatives get all uppity, yes we will laugh when we see Hillary Clinton ads as well -- although she has tried to change in the last year.

Mitt Romney presidential ad on GameTrailers originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 20 Sep 2007 17:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mitt Romney cleaning up dirty video game water

Alexander Sliwinski — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 19:02:00 EST

Filed under: Culture

Former one-term governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney is starting his campaign off on the great motivator of fear. Using the ocean as a metaphor based off something Columbine related, he speaks of how "deeply troubled" he is by the culture our children grow up in today. Romney says, "I'd like to see us clean up the water in which our kids are swimming. I'd like to keep pornography from coming up on their computers. I'd like to keep drugs off the street. I'd like to see less violence and sex on TV and in video games and in movies. If we get serious about this we can actually do a great deal to clean up the water in which our kids and grandkids are swimming." Senator Brownback of Kansas says Romney is just a little late to the culture wars.

Brownback, who's already busy with his own battle on video games, says that Romney is a hypocrite because while he was on the board of Marriott International (hotel chain) he was paid $100,000 a year by a company that makes millions of dollars a year from in-room pornography rental. Raise your hand if you like yummy gooey irony.

As we move into high gear on what will be the longest US presidential election campaign cycle ever, it'll be interesting to watch how many times video games come up as talking points when, well, it's pretty clear there are bigger issues going on. But darn it, video games make for much easier talking points.

Mitt Romney cleaning up dirty video game water originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 18 Jul 2007 19:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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