Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com Joystiq http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://www.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2013 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Obama, Palin, others playable in NBA Jam]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/05/obama-palin-others-playable-in-nba-jam/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/05/obama-palin-others-playable-in-nba-jam/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/05/obama-palin-others-playable-in-nba-jam/#commentsFiled under: , ,

What, you expected any less? Yes, of course various political and cultural icons will be showing up in EA's just released reboot to NBA Jam. ESPN revealed as much in a recent interview with the game's creative director, Trey Smith, who said not only is former President Bill Clinton a playable character, but also the Beastie Boys, President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former VP Al Gore.

A team of republicans is helmed by Miss Wasilla 1984 herself, Sarah Palin, with former President George W. Bush, former VP Dick Cheney and Arizona Senator John McCain backing her up. "Secret characters were on the list from day one," Smith said, adding "these secret characters and the element of surprise is something we hung our hats on very early." EA wouldn't reveal how said characters are accessed, but considering the game was released today for Nintendo Wii (with 360 and PS3 versions coming "in time for the holidays"), we'd suggest you start pounding away at buttons on that character selection screen right now.

JoystiqObama, Palin, others playable in NBA Jam originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 21:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>barack-obamabasketballbeastie-boysbill-clintondick-cheneyeaea-sportselectronic-artsgeorge-w-bushhillary-clintonjohn-mccainmicrosoftnba-jamnintendoplaystationps3sarah-palinwiixboxTue, 05 Oct 2010 21:15:00 EST<![CDATA[What if politics were more like Pokemon?]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/25/what-if-politics-were-more-like-pokemon/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/25/what-if-politics-were-more-like-pokemon/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/25/what-if-politics-were-more-like-pokemon/#commentsFiled under:



If politics were more like Pokemon, we would be campaigning for Meowth. How can you lose when your platform consists of being totally awesome?

But we digress ... One gamer has captured his view of this year's election lead-up with a mock Pokemon battle between the three presidential hopefuls. It has an obvious pro-Barack Obama slant and an anti-other candidates bias, but it's still clever enough to warrant a look no matter which politician you're leaning towards. Check it out past the post break as an animated GIF image and its evolved form, Youtube video!

Continue reading What if politics were more like Pokemon?

JoystiqWhat if politics were more like Pokemon? originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>clintonelectionelection-2008hillary-clintonjohn-mccainmccainobamapokemonpoliticspresidentFri, 25 Apr 2008 13:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Ron Paul wins WoW's presidential naming race]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/02/ron-paul-wins-wows-presidential-naming-race/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/02/ron-paul-wins-wows-presidential-naming-race/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/02/ron-paul-wins-wows-presidential-naming-race/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

With Iowa's first in the nation presidential nominating caucuses coming tomorrow, and New Hampshire's primaries following early next week, pundits and observers across the nation are closely watching the polls and prediction markets for early word on who might win. But these pundits might be ignoring a potentially important leading indicator of political opinion. We're talking, of course, about World of Warcraft character names.

As pointed out by blogger Andrew Sullivan, a full 48 realms in the popular online game have a player-characters named after Republican candidate Ron Paul (player names must be unique to a realm). The WoW naming support for Paul isn't that surprising given the recent in-game rally held in his honor in Whisperwind's IronForge. Paul runs well ahead of his closest competitor, Democrat Barack Obama, who shares a name with 36 WoW characters. No other candidate breaks the ten-character mark in a search of World of Warcraft info. resource The Armory.

While naming a WoW character after your favorite politician seems a great way to show your support, it's not always possible. For one, names longer than twelve characters are not allowed, meaning supporters of Hillary Clinton or Bill Richardson couldn't use their full names for a WoW character. Even shortened names don't always work -- in our tests, characters named HillClinton, HClinton and just plain old Clinton were deemed "unavailable." This likely means the Clinton name has run afoul of Blizzard's terms of use clause against using character names that belong "to a popular culture figure, celebrity, or media personality." (This is also probably why there are no characters named BillClinton or GeorgeWBush. There are 29 GeorgeW's though).

While tracking WoW's presidential naming race is fun and all, it probably has very little actual value in predicting nationwide voting preferences. After all, there are 71 characters named Trogdor, and no one really expects him to burninate across the 2008 elections.

Read on for a complete list of WoW's presidential candidate name counts, as of press time.

(Thanks to WowInsider's Elizabeth Harper for help with this story)

Continue reading Ron Paul wins WoW's presidential naming race

JoystiqRon Paul wins WoW's presidential naming race originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>2008Activisionbarack-obamaBlizzardelectionhillary-clintonPCpoliticspresidentron-paulworld-of-warcraftWoWWed, 02 Jan 2008 17:30:00 EST<![CDATA[When Senators attack: Politicians target ESRB and Wii]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/21/when-senators-attack-politicians-target-esrb-and-wii/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/21/when-senators-attack-politicians-target-esrb-and-wii/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/21/when-senators-attack-politicians-target-esrb-and-wii/#commentsFiled under:


Some high-profile U.S. Senators, including Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Joe Lieberman (ID-CT), have made attacking the ESRB their new pet project. The cause of this controversy is, of course, Manhunt 2. You may recall that Rockstar was forced to revise the game in order to remove the "Adults Only" rating given to it by the ESRB. These tactics may have worked in the U.S., but the British Board of Film Classification was unimpressed and still refused to issue a rating for the title.

The Senators are pretty ticked off at the ESRB for not being as censor vicious as the BBFC. But the ramifications of the Senators' attack on the ESRB go deeper than Manhunt 2, and may affect the video game industry in general if the ESRB is put under the "thorough review" that they are demanding.

Even worse, the Senators are calling for more extreme ratings on the Wii, due to the console's motion-sensitive controller. They argue that the Wiimote "permits children to act out each of the many graphic torture scenes and murders."

Of course, they don't acknowledge the fact that children shouldn't be playing Manhunt 2 at all, since the game was given a "Mature" rating by the ESRB, and one of the few ways they can even play the game is with parental permission. If children playing mature games is really their concern, perhaps the Senators should be putting parents under review, and not the ESRB. Those old enough to play violent games can differentiate between using waggle and using real weapons, making separate Wii ratings unnecessary.

At times like these, we really yearn for Stephen Colbert to make a political comeback.

JoystiqWhen Senators attack: Politicians target ESRB and Wii originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 21 Nov 2007 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>BBFCESRBHillary-ClintonJoe-LiebermanManhunt-2Manhunt2PoliticsRockstarTake-TwoWiimoteWed, 21 Nov 2007 12:45:00 EST