Jobber of the Week 0 Report post Posted August 16, 2004 UbiSoft has just released a game called The Political Machine. For those who don't know, this is basically like SimPolitics. As you can take many established politicians, the current breed of politicians, or make your own politician and try to act as their campaign manager in various races. They've tried to copy the feel of everything from the candidates themselves to the media as far as they can without being sued for copyright infringement or slander. Here's some screenshots to get you interested: Someone's Democrat running against GWB: Special Interest money, anyone? Ad creation John Kerry appears on the Bill O'Malley show Bill Clinton sets up an HQ: And with troublemaker characters such as protestors and activist people and just plain loons. This guy seems kind of familiar: He certainly is rather fat on the game screen: Granted, in 10 years the issues will be entirely different and nobody will be arguing over stuff like the Affirmative Action and the War On Terror (I hope), but I still think some of you guys might be interested in this. It also has online play. Anyone up for a game? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Justice 0 Report post Posted August 16, 2004 Does it have primaries? We could have a CE Folder contest to see who can win over their party, and the winner of that gets to go to the general election. Or is that too much? Otherwise, kick ass find. I salute you, Jobber. :) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kkktookmybabyaway 0 Report post Posted August 16, 2004 I'll stick with my Madden '04 and Baldur's Gate -- I lose interest in Sim games after about 10 minutes or so. But the TSM election idea does seem interesting... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jobber of the Week 0 Report post Posted August 16, 2004 You could arrange a lengthy tournament, but the game is 1v1. Since it just a hit retail, a demo will be coming soon. Also, I love the Protestor... "Did you know that every 5 seconds a million acres of forest is cut down in the Sahara in order to sell it to oil companies?" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
teke184 0 Report post Posted August 16, 2004 How much is this game and what places carry it? I may pick this up, although I've got two older election games already... the Election Game from the mid-80s and the *ack* Doonesbury Election Game from the mid-90s. Unfortunately, the rules on the last one did NOT allow me to run an independant ticket of Jesse Helms and Jesse Jackson, thus alienating 100% of the country without even trying. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jobber of the Week 0 Report post Posted August 16, 2004 I saw a ton of copies at Best Buy. I noticed that although you can play as Gerald Ford, there's no button to not fall down. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
teke184 0 Report post Posted August 16, 2004 I saw a ton of copies at Best Buy. I noticed that although you can play as Gerald Ford, there's no button to not fall down. If they did that, then they'd have to do a button for George Sr. that says "Don't puke on the Japanese Prime Minister" and one for Clinton that says "Don't fuck the intern." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vyce 0 Report post Posted August 16, 2004 You took me away from my Fire Emblem ROM for this? Feh. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndrewTS 0 Report post Posted August 16, 2004 I saw a ton of copies at Best Buy. I noticed that although you can play as Gerald Ford, there's no button to not fall down. If they did that, then they'd have to do a button for George Sr. that says "Don't puke on the Japanese Prime Minister" and one for Clinton that says "Don't fuck the intern." You lose 1 million points for each entirety-too-played out joke, plus you lose a turn since you just replied to and tacked onto another person's joke. I'm assuming in this game you go from city to city telling everyone what the want to hear if you're running for president, but if you're the incumbent you make promises that you'll eliminate the terror threat, wipe out the deficit, keep taxes low, create 3 million new jobs per week, save the spotted owl, reverse global warming, create new alternate fuel sources, don't say how and continue to do things just as you've been doing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tommytomlin 0 Report post Posted August 16, 2004 If you live in a distant country and cannot find a copy, suprnova has a link to a popular torrent where you can....trial it. Achem. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0 Report post Posted August 16, 2004 Ugh, pirating is so wrong. Suprnova has it? AWESOME! Downloading it now... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0 Report post Posted August 16, 2004 (edited) removed by request Edited August 17, 2004 by Tyler McClelland Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jesse_ewiak 0 Report post Posted August 16, 2004 On the other hand, if you want to play against other people to gain power and prestige, there's always here American Government Simulation. Or want to joni the race to be a Senator, go here -> KernsCorp Or, want to be the big dog himself? -> Election Night Yeah, I'm involved in all three, so hey, it's better than play against an AI you can exploit. Other people are so much more fun. :-) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jobber of the Week 0 Report post Posted August 17, 2004 I'd NEVER do that! I was kind of hoping nobody would do that. Which makes it all the more deperessing that it was you who did. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
teke184 0 Report post Posted August 17, 2004 I "hear" that the "Smear Merchant" looks surprisingly like Al Franken... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0 Report post Posted August 17, 2004 Oh, bite me. I'm poor. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jobber of the Week 0 Report post Posted August 17, 2004 Eh, something weird happened. In campaign mode my Edwards managed to beat Condi on election night (and she spent more money than I did, too) but supposedly I'd be moved on to some bigger fish like Dick F.U. Cheney but nothing happened and I eventually went back to the main menu.. Uh? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0 Report post Posted August 17, 2004 As per Jobber's guilting, I went out and actually bought the game this morning and have been playing it the entire morn/afternoon. I think what you have to do is go back through campaign mode and start another campaign with Edwards... and your next opponent is Ahnold, by the way. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jobber of the Week 0 Report post Posted August 17, 2004 He can't even run.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0 Report post Posted August 17, 2004 They address that! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jobber of the Week 0 Report post Posted August 17, 2004 The second time went much better. I dominated Condi through the whole election and got to move on to Ahhnold. Appearantly I "lost" last time because I got the electoral college without the popular vote. The funniest part of the last race was that every media report about Condolezza called her a "him." I thought it was just shoddy thinking until I tried again and the media got the gender right. An amusing event, however, is that I went up to New Hampshire and got stuck up there, as the icon for Edwards was completely taken away from the map. I could still move around Kerry, my Hollywood Friend, a couple Spin Doctors, a Smear Artist, and an Intimidator. I won the race by sitting around in New Hampshire and spending eight turns just collecting Endorsements from various groups to cement the victory. The Fixer makes me laugh. Condi didn't spend any capital whatsoever, but got gifts in the form of a Texas cowboy (definer?), and some guy who was trying to do me damage. Both mysteriously disappeared from the map after I hired some foreign agent who flew in from somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. She also had a little old Grandma who told people friendly stories about her somewhere on the East Coast, but I already had that state and I figured calling in the secret agents to remove a Granny who can't even travel to another state was a bit much. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kkktookmybabyaway 0 Report post Posted August 17, 2004 They address that! Mods, baby... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jobber of the Week 0 Report post Posted August 17, 2004 What makes me laugh is that his name doesn't fit in the box. Also, no Dean? "Howard Dean blew through Florida today, screaming about supporting Social Security as he did so." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0 Report post Posted August 18, 2004 I wonder if he's unlockable. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tommytomlin 0 Report post Posted August 18, 2004 I rock at this game. I'm Clinton and I'm kicking ass and taking names. Notice how much the computer cheats in the harder bits of the campaign mode? Spending like, $30 million when it's near impossible to raise that much money while balancing ads, HQs, speeches and political capital? But, they ARE Republicans I guess. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kkktookmybabyaway 0 Report post Posted August 18, 2004 Republicans only spending $30 million? You must have it on easy mode or something... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0 Report post Posted August 18, 2004 Yeah dude... on the harder levels (i.e. Kerry v. Nixon), it's IMPOSSIBLE. He lowers my negatives so fast, I don't have time to fundraise and control the damage at the same time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tommytomlin 0 Report post Posted August 19, 2004 If you're really stuck, you can stick it to the Republicans and hit Ctrl+M for an extra $5 million. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Styles 0 Report post Posted August 21, 2004 OK, I want to get this game, but where do they have it? Both circuit city and bestbuy's websites don't have it, and I went into a local Circuit City today and they didn't have it (I'd prefer to buy it there since I have a gift certificate). Earlier in the thread Best Buy was mentioned, yet why is it not on their website? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest MikeSC Report post Posted August 21, 2004 Yeah dude... on the harder levels (i.e. Kerry v. Nixon), it's IMPOSSIBLE. He lowers my negatives so fast, I don't have time to fundraise and control the damage at the same time. Do you spend a lot of time getting endorsements? That is my key strategy. -=Mike ...Hard to beat a guy who has the business group AND union group... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
