Vincent Brown’s Journal and Photography

The Political Machine…

Ok, so, I’ve known this programmer for a couple years from our interaction in an internet community we’re both a part of. His name is Brad and he’s the president of a software development company called Stardock, Inc. For a long time they have created several popular Windows tweaking applications, desktop enhancements and all around goodies for the operating system; the most famous probably being WindowBlinds which re-skins the user interface of Windows with user created graphics.

For some time, they’ve done some work producing games through their Total Gaming network. Well, there’s a relatively new game from that division called “The Political Machine.” I haven’t played it yet, and I don’t currently own it, but I think it’s going to be a hit game. It has great distribution; I’ve seen it in just about every retail store and specialty store in my area. Not at all what I would expect from the software company I have come to love and “hate” so to speak.

The Political Machine is a strategy game in which players take on the role of campaign manager for a US Presidential candidate. They must put all their political knowledge to the test as they campaign around the country in an effort to win enough voters to their cause to win on election day.

The game makes heavy use of real world demographic information to provide a realistic playing field and models contemporary issues such as the War on Terror, the economy, the policy in Iraq, and many more (issues can be updated via PoliticalMachine.com to keep them up to date).

Since I apparently don’t have anything better to do, I decided to obtain this game (that has been featured on G4TechTV & Slashdot) and asked to have it signed by the developer, Brad himself as the President of Stardock, and in time, both Presidential candidates; John Kerry and George W. Bush.

I intend to chronicle my adventure here on VincentBrown.com and possibly for Stardock if they accept my proposition. They have already agreed to send me the game, signed and from there I will try my hardest to get both candidates for the U.S. presidency to sign it. I think this will be a valuable object in the future as it will mark a historic point in both technology and political moments for the country. What are your thoughts and ideas on what I want to do?

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