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Campaign-Themed Video Games?
An Anonymous Coward writes: "Gov. Jesse Ventura has come up with a 'great' way to get his campaign message to the younger demographics. 'The Ventura game -- or collection of games -- would be entertaining, 100-percent political and distributed free to voters as campaign literature, he says.' Wow, I can't wait, I haven't been this excited since Avoid the Noid from Dominos Pizza came out." Too bad video games aren't considered protected speech.
great...I'd like to use my BFG to take out george dubya any day...wait a minute, maybe the rail gun is a better choice
It will really knock the lil tykes out.
---
Patrick Cable II
(Bad pun, i know...)
Help microsoft avoid fedral prosecution in an exciting action packed adventure
Nowadays, we have games that advertise for Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson, boy bands, Britney Spears, etc. I think using video games in politics is actually a step up?
PS: Does anyone know if Jesse Ventura is in the PS2 game "Legends of Wrestling"? This might mark his second video-game appearance...
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
After hearing about this new Britney Spears video game, I have become consumed with the idea of Video Game Satires. If one were to make a video game where, say, the objective is to traverse through America as Britney Spears, selling addictive pink bubble gum to urban teens, could I use her likeness without her permission?
-- PK
oh, yes, all the youngsters will be dying to play an "educational"-game.
If at first you don't succeed, then sky diving definitely isn't for you.
Electronic campaigning isn't exactly a new world for Mr. Ventura. Just see How Jesse Ventura Used the Internet to Win the Election. He certainly went beyond banner ads, folks. I guess his 'innovation' (I hate how that word has become so tired) has brought him into a new frontier of campaigning.
I really like Jesse Ventura. He shakes up things! And he usually has a good point of view. For instance, pointing out that he's disappointed in Bush because "Bush wants to control everything from Washington, never mind what the states think, or have voted for, twice; he said he was for federalism, but apparently he's not" (paraphrase) in reference to recent medical-marijuana and assisted-suicide laws.
Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
"Gov. Jesse Ventura has come up with a 'great' way to get his campaign message..."
"In the meantime, the video game idea is still in its talking stages, and Ventura hasn't yet been approached with the suggestion."
Shouldn't that say "...Ventura's campaign committee..."?
Just a clarification...
Jeremy Baumgartner
Anyone remember the Chex cereal version of Doom where you went around with a spoon or other weapons and killed the "squishy" enemies? Screenhots here
of Max Ventura or Jesse Nukem Forever?
Ventura recently opposed a plan to give a little money to teachers for retirement, with a paltry cost of $15 million per year. (Star Tribune I guess he had video games in mind instead.
Ebert: I am married to a black woman and I find this troll thoroughly offensive. Thumbs down Gene, WAY DOWN.
Siskell: hahahahah
The name of Ventura's new video game should be 'Big Man Hunter'
click here if you don't know why that is funny.
Make it a malt liquor. I want to be as clever and handsome as possible.
This can become a great example for the next time games are challenged in court. Political speach is at the very core of what the 1st Amendment is intended to protect. By censoring or banning games courts would now be placing prior restraint on political speach.
I'm sure the games will be vastly entertaining (especially for the price) if they use some of his lines from old movies. Some of my favorites:
"It'll make you a sexual tyrannosaurus . . . Like ME!"
"Ain't nothin' but a bunch of slackjawed faggots"
I'm all for more wrestlers going into Politics, it will improve the overall intelligence and will make c-span more interesting.
1) Campaign spending is a growth industry.
2) This idea takes some of the large pool of campaign money and funnels it to deserving computer geeks.
3) More money spent on deserving geeks means less time to be unemployed and griping.
j.
SlashDot writes "Too bad video games are not protected speech". Please don't put out negative, pessimistic vibes like that when it is way too premature, lest by propagating them they become true!
Video games ARE protected speech. Just because a single judge two days ago makes an unsupportable ruling like that is not sufficient to make it so. That is not enough to be settled law! It applies only in that small jurisdiction (St. Louis) until it is overturned on appeal, and then it won't apply anywhere in the US! It may be true that governments can place restrictions on minors access to certain forms of video games, but they also do so on books, magazines, and films without denying that those are protected forms of free speech. One judge saying so does not make it so.
So, project a positive strong attitude when it comes to our inherent rights, and don't let negative thinking undermine all the good work on rights you do here Slashdot!
The game of Go (Igo, Weiqi, Baduk) has the simplest concept and the deepest play.
I remember there was a game on the BBC Micro where you got to be Prime Minister - only way I could get elected again after five years was to bankrupt the country though! I can't remember what it was called though. Anyone else remember?
Video Game cheats, hints a
I know I would vote for him and any other ex or current pro wrestler for president or Senate/House seats.
These guys would do a better job that anything the Republican or Democratic part can dig up... I am sick of the Ultra-old and ultra-rich being the only ones who get to run the country...
If the wrestlers cant get in, then let's try the Actors Guild, or maybe Lars from metallica might want to give it a shot... Oh wait... H'e exaclty like the Old farts we have in congress now... Narrow minded puppet of industry..
Hmmmm... anyone got any other ideas?
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Anyway, to get back on topic, computers are definately great campaign tools. The amount of information that could be conveyed through handing out cd-roms (think aol) is enormous. I'm not sure games are the right way to go though; it's tough to make a fun game. It's harder to make a fun, educational game. It's damn near impossible to make a fun, educational game in the kind of time the programmers are likely to have before the election. A lame game seems likely to do a lot more harm than a fun game would do good.
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
Sounds to me like they realized that a large majority of the youth population doesn't give a damn and would rather go play nintendo. So what better format to invite propoganda into their minds, considering they don't bother watching biased news tv?
The question remains, do they know how to make a good video game?
Volition released the full source code for FreeSpace 2.
Very cool stuff. They still claim copyright -- they haven't GPLed it or anything -- but as far as I can tell it's free for noncommercial fan projects and such.
All source code herein is the property of Volition, Inc. You may not sell
or otherwise commercially exploit the source or things you created based on the
source.
Can't wait to mess around with this beast (four megs worth of code).
Dragging people kicking and screaming into reality since 1996.
Good lord people. Do you REALLY expect anyone to take you seriously when you can't even properly spell a six letter word? Especially when that word is the central to the topic you are talking about?
Repeat after me: THERE IS NO "A" IN THE WORD "SPEECH". It's not that difficult, k?
I hate to be a spelling Nazi, but I've seen this mistake probably a dozen times over the past week, and it's just a dumb one to make.
I am sure that since I have taken it upon myself to point this out that there are at least five spelling mistakes in this very message. Always seems to happen that if you bitch about spelling and/or grammar, your message will magically transform into something that looks like it was written by George Bush.
Oh boy. A video game Jesse Ventura endorses. We all know what a techno connosieur HE is, don't we!
*yawn*
mje0w!!!1!
Gee, I wish the Rock would run for president. Or maybe Mr.T... Yeah.
"I Pity the foo who messes with Isreal! I pity em!
"I've come for the biological weapons... And your HEAD."
Ronald Regan turned out to be a pretty good president, but I just can't see Ventura as presidential material... And as much maligned as Bush is, the Texas Governship is no picnic. The governer actucal has to sign off on the execution of inmates.. I don't care what you say; That can't be an easy thing to do.
You need a FREE iPod Nano
Normally I look down on the professional wrestling. I mean you got a couple guys in underwear grabbin' each other. ewwww. But even though Ventura was/is a wrestler doesn't mean he aint a bad guy. The interesting thing I wonder is advertising free speech? And if advertising is free speech, then wouldn't a video game with an ad in it be free speech? Then wouldn't any computer program with an ad in it be free speech? That could be good and bad the way I see it. Another case of a great idea coming from an unlikely source.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 + Pizza Hut.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
What? i thought that the Patriots where running America and the campaigns were just a show. So they're planning on distributing computer programs now? like that y2k bug 'fix'? Will these computer games involve realistic VR combat situations? driving large mechanical monsters?
Seriously though, i wouldn't trust any software a political party had written on my computer. Obviously the games will be Windows only. Computer games can be very addictive and i would categorise this strategy as borderline aggressive psychological manipulation.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
Image a Warcraft-like game where the resources (oil, forests) are modeled after their real-life counterparts. You'd gain a whole new perspective on drilling for oil in the middle east, africa, or alaska. You could use the buildings and vehicles to explain concepts about how our government works.
If he used the game to educate people about the issues, then made analogies to the game to explain his stance on them, it would be a great way to get people more involved in elections. Granted, it'll probably be more like the fast-food games mentioned in other posts, and from the article, it seems like it'll be more like a collection of mpgs than a game, but don't knock it just yet.
c-hack.com |
I'm far too lazy to do this, but I thought of a way to evangelize open source.
Make some sort of educational software for windows, and do it right -- something like reader rabbit, cluefinders, or some other popular line -- and give it away for free.
The catch would be that in order to install it, you'd have to answer a couple of questions about what open source means. The installer would display a short text, and afterwards you'd have to answer three or five very simple questions about the open source philosophy, based on the text.
Make people read a text that says things like "with all the money the government spends on education, wouldn't it be nice if they funded open source educational software that anyone could download and run?"
The idea is to try to get away from preaching to the choir.
But, as I said, I'm too lazy to do it. Hwere's that pizza deliery man, anyway?
What if the voters are to busy to vote because they are playing a game that is supposed to make them go vote?
Campaign Action 52!!!
52 Crappy games starring jesse ventura!
With Cheetahmen!!!
This has already been done. There's a 3d Action game called Ethnic Cleansing where the objective is to kill as many Jews and Blacks as possible on the streets of New York. A bit extreme, but it's politics nonetheless.
The World is Yours.
and what got me to vote for the guy was his cheezy ads that featured his action figure beating up interest groups for offering bribes to him.
-makoffee
Still the only politician I respect:
"Chat away, i'll just amuse myself with these pornographic playing cards."
"You can't seriously want to make ban alcohol, it tastes great, makes woman appear more attractive, and makes a person virtually invulnerable to criticism."
"Check out the rack on the blonde in the forth row."
I would much rather see political games over a britney spears or nsync game. It could be a great next step.
Thanks for asking this question. I, myself, was wondering how he was doing. You are correct that those of us who don't live in MN never hear how Ventura is doing unless it's shocking. I was disappointed to hear so many here describe that he's acting like a wildman. When he got elected, I was hoping that this was a man who you could trust to be honest and straightforward. I disregarded all the ex-wrestler, ex-moviestar criticism as elitist crap and hoped that he was a "man of the people" dispite his freakish appearance. Apparently that is not the case.
Making the assumption that most in MN see Ventura in the same light that the above slashdotters do, I submit that this videogame is a BAD idea for him. It sounds like he needs to project a more responsible, serious public image. Putting out a videogame starring him is inconsistent with that goal. If his constitutents feel he is "throwing a tantrum" as one slashdotter put it, he needs to do some serious "growing up" in the public eye. Most people do view videogames as fluff and would not take his appearance in such as a sign of maturity.
One last point, and this is somewhat off-topic. I admit that I don't know very much about Ventura. But in his book he mentions somewhere (so I've been told) that he makes the statement that he finds athesists to be decent, hardworking people. For most of us here on slashdot, this is an obvious statement. But when was the last time you heard a politician saying something like this? Probably never. Most politicians have no qualms about bashing the non-religious in public forums. I'm not saying that Ventura's maturity to recognize non-religious peoples as decent should excuse the screw-ups he's apparently made in office. But it's something to keep in mind. It's going to be a very long time before we hear another politician come out and openly support non-religious people.
GMD
watch this
wow, thinking about this now...arnold vs. the iceman vs. jesse ventura, fighting for their lives in the 'running' for office
teachers get paid a full $30,000+ a year to baby-sit. that's rediculous. they only work 180 days a year, so that's all we should pay them for. first off, we should pay them a babysitters wage. let's say, $3/hr from each parent. but remember, they only work 5.5 hours per day. i'm not going to pay for some "planning period." so lets say some teacher averages 25 students/class. so that's 25 sets of parents paying $3/hr each hour for 5.5 hours, for 180 days. ok, let's multiply this all out, 25*3*5.5*180 equals uh...
$74,250
uh-oh, wait a minute...
speaking as someone about to go into the teaching profession (i will be student teaching this coming fall) i find your remarks very narrow-minded and ignorant. as far as being able to do a real days work, i used to pull 12 hour shifts in an un-air-conditioned plumbing supply warehouse in texas. now you tell me who would drop dead after a real days worth of work.
my pet machine
The king of marketing video games
May we never see th
Won't the pollen from the hemp interbreed with cannibis and dillute the high quality product. God forbid this should reduce the quality of our highest grossing crop.
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get jiggy w/ ayn rand!
That's not what people are talking about when they say that they feel he lied. I agree he made it clear before being elected he didn't support handouts for students. That's one of the reasons I was wary of him.
Not giving educational loans to students, however, is different from financial and moral support for the schools themselves. He did make a very big deal about supporting schools and whatnot during the campaign (thus choosing a former schoolteacher as his LG). What he's done since being elected, however, is criticize the schools and cut education funding--all of it, from K-12 to higher ed--way beyond reasonable limits and what even the most conservative republicans advocated. I'll agree with him that education can be improved. But what he's doing now is ignore schools completely and dismiss their concerns and warnings as irrelevant just because he's decided they're not doing what he wants. He doesn't like what they're saying, he has the answer, and anyone who says something other than what he thinks can't be listened to.
Consider, for example, the Osseo school referendum. Not once during the referendum did he consider or even admit that what the local administrators might be saying would be accurate. Instead, he got on the air and basically misinformed the public about the referendum, and it cost Osseo. His behavior was totally irresponsible. His attitude that he had the right to supercede local decision making because they were too incompetent to make the "correct" choices is typical of his behavior lately.
What voters are mad about is the contrast between his attitude during the election--that he was for the people, so to speak, for education--and his attitude now--that his way is the only way, and he's for no one who's not for him.
Big government liberal?
Are you an anarchist or something?
Maybe Jesse is socially liberal.
I think that's great.
But in terms of fiscally liberal, I have no idea what you're talking about.
With higher ed, he cut funding levels lower than even the most conservative republicans were comfortable with. This caused the president of the U, after a huge campaign, to completely switch funding strategies and philosophies. U tuition has been increasing to amazing degrees since.
With K-12 ed, he cut funding just as much. Schools are really struggling. My wife is in education (not as a teacher, as a language pathologist), and I can tell you, his proposed cuts went beyond recessionary into punishing and retaliatory.
He has consistently maintained his position on pro-choice matters. His consistency caused controversy once, actually, when anti-abortion individuals became upset that they thought they had come to an "understanding" with him on a piece anti-abortion legislation.
He has consistently advocated voter choice on stadium issues.
In general, he has insisted strongly (and achieved) ridiculous tax cuts and rebates.
I could go on and on.
I have absolutely NO idea where ANYONE, except the most unrealistically anarchist or libertarian individuals, would get the idea that Jesse is a "big government" politician.
Maybe I'm wrong, though.
As a Minnesotan voter and student, I pray that Ventura doesn't run for governor again. If he does, I hope the game is modelled after some console pro wrestling games (Wrestlemania on the NES, anyone?). There are a few politicians around here that could use a good virtual smackdown.
$ make work
make: *** No rule to make target `work'. Stop.
Judge rules games offer no conveyance of ideas, expression, or anything else that could possibly amount to speech
I expect he's in favor of his privacy. I never heard that he was in favor of anyone else's.
He had quite a bad reputation on a large number of fronts before he was ever nominated. I suspect that it played a large part in his getting the nomination. (I.e., either he was nominated because he was willing to do that kind of stuff, he was nominated as a payoff, or both. I suspect both.)
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
But consider how much better that is than what we got for a president.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
One measely judge in the most backwards big city in America, that's who...
Having political campaigns use interactive software (e.g. video games) to spread the word only helps the cause that video games and software are protected speech! Over the years the Supremes have protected peaceful political speech in many many situations where non-political speech could've been constitutionally prohibited.
Who did what now?
Screw that.... I already have a bunch of wrestling games.
The opinions stated herein do not necessarily represent those of anybody at all. Deal with it.
Do you REALLY expect anyone to take you seriously when you can't even properly spell a six letter word?
These are off the cuff-comments, not dissertations. If you think slashdot is some haven for intellectuals writing out thoughtful essays on everything tech then you're the one being foolish.
Grammar Nazis fuck off!!
I am so throughly frightened.
The_Shadows[LTH], out.
"The Ventura game -- or collection of games -- would be entertaining, 100-percent political and distributed free to voters as campaign literature"