Slashdot Mirror
SimCandidate - Why Aren't There More Political Sims?
Thanks to Slate for their piece discussing why there aren't more videogames simulating current-day politics. The article posits: "The U.S. presidential campaign may be the first true election of the digital age, but it's still missing one key ingredient. Where is the video-game version of Campaign 2004?" It goes on to suggest that "presidential politics lends itself naturally to the idiom and audience of today's games. Political campaigns are already structured like games, with an escalating series of discrete competitions that determine the eventual winner. In addition, there's an existing body of readily available data, going back many decades, that could be harnessed to craft the simulation" Would you play a modern-day political sim videogame?
Back in the days of the original IBM PC was a game called nomination. It was alot of fun and followed the primary elections. You picked your candidate then answer questions and got results on a timely basis. It was a text based game I believe (blue and white).
Surprised no one has mentioned this. While it isn't really a campaign simulation by the strict idea of what campaigning is, it does simulate a particular method of gaining power. Perhaps it isn't totally to the point that this news story is looking for but it is an option in my opinion.
I can't speak of the quality of this game, but it reminds me of some others. It's tough to guess whether or not this EoT game is a super-christian game or if it's just a clever and whacky idea... If I were a super-xian I'd think the idea blasphemous, but so much of what fundamentalists do seems blasphemous to me, so *shrug*.
:)
Yes, the games. I love wierdo christian games. I remember a game a friend of mine had for his SNES, which sat somewhere between Wolf3d and Doom in its 2.5D quality... You played Noah, and you had to go around shooting your animals and some evil demons who were trying to prevent you from rounding up your animals. Of course, it wasn't real shooting; you were using a slingshot and you shot out pellets of food with a bit of tranq in them. Why the evil demons would eat these without question is beyond me; must've been holy water in them or something. Heh. That friend- his youth group was always letting them know of xian versions of various fun stuff- new, popular music, video games, etc. "Hey guys! This is like Doom, but Christian!" I'll never forget when he came to middle school one day, excited off his little weak feet- "Hey guys! You gotta check out this new band!" We were always very wary of any music he was trying to push, but he put the last nail in his cross when he said: "yeah, this band rocks- they're just like Green Day, but christian!!" heh.
Then there was an FPS a few years back (5?) that was for christians. You played either an angel or a demon, you picked your path at the beggining of the game, good or evil. You spend the whole game battling the opposite side- I believe it was the battle for the throne, for control over heaven, the revolt of Lucifer. Anyway, the best part is that if you choose the side of evil, you can't win. You can invest a hundred hours in the game to play out its story mode, but at the end- an inch from winning- you loose. Because you're evil, and they're christian.
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
That would be Super 3D Noah's Ark.
See also: Forgiveness, Saints of Virtue, and Life's Battle.
I wouldn't say they had to "dumb down" the Uruk-AI (get it?! :p). Basically, the guys were running, not FROM battle, but TO battle. The problem was, since they couldn't see anyone in front of them to attack, they ran off looking for new prey. Some ran forwards further, others ran to the side, and a few ended up running in the other direction.
From a bird's-eye perspective, it certainly looks odd, especially considering that they don't wear armor on their backs simply because they would never run away from battle. But from a soldier's POV, it would appear completely different.