One of the biggest stories of the 2008 Presidential election has been Democratic candidate Barack Obama's fund raising ability and where he has chosen to invest those dollars. Of course the infomercial the other week was the headliner in this department, but one of his most forward thinking and cost effective investments was the money the Obama campaign put into video game advertising. Just a few of the places where Obama made an appearance were Burnout Paradise, Second Life and NBA Live.

Unlike TV advertising, which all together cost the Democrats hundreds of millions of dollars, the monies put into gaming advertising was probably not much more than 0k or so, this based on the expenditure for its major placement in Burnout Paradise, which was less than k. So, if the election were held today--ooops I guess it is today isn't it--who would win according to the Xbox LIVE poll that has been going on for the last few months? Surprise, surprise, it looks like we are looking at an Obama presidency. The other surprise is that Obama's leading percentage, 53%, is the same as CNN's percentage, both for the Halloween weekend, while there is a 13% differential between the McCain's percentage across the two polls. Now, as brave a face as John McCain has been putting on over the last few weeks, I'm sure he would prefer to have the 46% seen in the CNN poll over the sad 33% seen in the LIVE version. Does that mean if the GOP would have spent a few dollars cow towing to gamers that maybe they would be doing a bit better. Who knows, but again, we are talking a few hundred thousand dollars here. Both sides can obviously afford that and since change is driving this election it might be a good idea to pay attention to those most looking forward to that change, the youth of the nation. I've a feeling that regardless who takes the white house this year both sides will be covering all their bases next time around.

Check out the polls below, especially in the LIVE undecided category. Looks like there is some opportunity there:

--Hobson's Choice

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It has been reported in at least one blog today that select or not so select Xbox 360 games are shipping with Netflix streaming video trial offers that will allow Xbox 360 owners to take advantage of the Netflix functionality set to begin November 19th through the New Xbox Experience (NXE).

Bundled with the standard 48 hour trial offer for a LIVE Gold Membership (all 360 owners receive a free Xbox LIVE Silver Membership with their console) that are commonly inserted in game boxes, this added carrot would not be usable until the NXE starts up on November 19th and has only been reported thus far with the just launched 007 game, James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace. The service will require a Xbox LIVE Gold Membership, an existing Netflix Unlimited account (served through the trial offer) and of course a broadband connection. If this news proves to be true, lots of Xbox 360 owners can expect to be seeing this offer with the realease of hot-prominent titles this month like: Gears of War 2, Call of Duty: World at War, Tomb Raider: Underworld and others.

--Hobson's Choice

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Just after the New Year EA and Pandemic will be launching The Lord of the Rings: Conquest. An interactive overview of the major battles/conflicts shown in the three movies, the real hook of the game will be that players will be able to fight for either "good or evil." Hopefully it won't be quite as black and white as that, but we shall see.

Personally I'm a total Tolkien freak, so I'm down regardless. But what I am hoping for is a little evolution though, if not through this game and others like LOTR Online, then through the others that will follow. What I mean is that as fantastic as the movies and all the games based on them are, they are far from the end all of what I hope to see emerge out of Middle-Earth. The movies are fine for the mainstream, but as Tolkien--as opposed to LOTR--fans will tell you, the time period during which the events of LOTR happen are really the lesser, or at least much later, days of Middle-Earth. A LOT of really cool stuff happens in the first, second and earlier parts of the Third Age of Middle-Earth. If you don't believe me simply open up a copy of "The Return of the King." You'll notice that a full third of the book is dedicated to appendices. Even better, read through the Silmarillion, basically a mythology/history of the peoples and civilizations that are referenced in Tolkien's books and stories. Anyway, enough with the dork-fest. Conquest will be available on Xbox 360, PS34, PC and DS in January '09. I just hope that we Orc-a-philes are allowed to pick the specifics of our kind. We Uruks hate being stuck playing as that Morgul slime that's been on offer for years.

--Hobson's Choice

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Remember that day years ago when you walked into the local arcade, 7-Eleven or bowling alley and saw Street Fighter for the first time? I have to admit that I don't. And why is that? Beyond problems with my terrible memory, it's because Street Fighter seems to me to have always been somewhere in the background of my life. Maybe this is just fallout from years of $.50 corn dogs or taquitos and two for one specials with no charge for shoes at the local lanes. Regardless, it's good to see that with the upcoming Street Fighter IV that the grand old game still has a presence.

The video below was released the other day at TGS '08 and looks pretty fantastic. Apparently we can expect the same classic arcade action featuring old friends, but with cool anime and watercolor stylings illustrating the backstory of each combatant like never before. The game is due next Febuary on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC platforms. Very cool, check it out the trailer:

--Hobson's Choice

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As a perusal of thousands of LIVE members' games and achievements lists would reveal, LIVE Arcade is huge part of the Xbox LIVE experience. That's why the an announcement a few months ago that did more than imply that Microsoft could be delisting under performing XBLA titles in the future may have left a bad taste in the mouths of LIVE Arcade players, especially those with smaller hard drives. Well corporate VP John Schappert may have gone a good way to ease those player's fears with his comments on the subject at TGS this week. According to Schappert, as quoted in a piece published on IGN:

"We have no immediate plans to act on de-listing," continuing on that earlier statements by Microsoft on the topic were meant to set "parameters by which we can delist."

So, this doesn't mean that XBLA titles couldn't be dropped in the future, but if the gist of the problem is surfacing titles in the an order that Microsoft wants instead of limiting users to scrolling through an alpha or genre list of games, then the upcoming Vista-like Xbox Experience makeover of the Xbox LIVE UI should solve that.
And with that, on to another rousing game of Hexic HD. Like that ever going anyway, please.

--Hobson's Choice

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