This week's controversy over President Obama's speech to America's school children has morphed into a rather unfortunate online game.

Obama's School Camp comes from Scottish firm T-Enterprise, which often mocks political issues with their Friday game offerings. Today's game challenges players to press letters on their keyboards which correspond to paper airplanes floating toward an animation of the President. Press the right letter quickly enough and the paper airplane disappears. Otherwise, it strikes the Obama character.

The paper airplane imagery seems to be an especially poor choice for a game published today, September 11th. It seems an even worse decision given that the game comes from T-Enterprise, which was the firm behind the now-canceled Rendition: Guantanamo project. A consultant to that game was alleged to have ties to Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Earlier this month GamePolitics reported on a study which suggested that excessive video game and T.V. time may be contributing to reduced vitamin D levels in children.

Funny man Stephen Colbert, however, may have the answer. In the clip at left, Colbert recommends using the "VaxBox 360" to play Tan Theft Auto, thus soaking in gobs of vitamin D-producing UV rays.

Okay, so it's funnier when Colbert says it...

If you want to skip ahead to the game-related bits, they begin at about 3:45 into the clip.

Via: Kotaku

Never far from the harsh glare of the media, the Clintons have once again been in the news of late.

Bill, of course, was recently credited with negotiating the release of two American journalists held by North Korea. Hillary's news was less positive. During a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo this week, a journalist's misstated question prompted a testy reply:

You want me to tell you what my husband thinks? My husband is not the Secretary of State, I am. You ask my opinion. I will tell you my opinion; I'm not going to channel my husband.

As it turned out, the questioner meant to ask what President Obama thought about the issue, not former President Clinton.

The incident did not go unnoticed by the crew at T-Enterprise. The UK firm offers a new online game just about every Friday and this week it's Hillary: First Blood. In the game, a Rambo-esque Hillary, equipped with an RPG, tank and helicopter, must rescue a trio of journalists from Iran before Bill can fly in and sweet-talk them out of captivity. Along the way, the Secretary of State has to dodge spikes and a minefield.

A recently-concluded strike by sanitation workers in Toronto serves as the subject matter for Trash Wars, an online parody game.

As the Toronto Star reports, the game was designed by Hafiz Kassam, owner of Q-KMBR Games. Kassam told the newspaper:

It just popped into my head. I have made games in the past... just for the sake of making them, but I wanted to (release) something for the mainstream public – something with a message versus just a game.

 

I dumbed [the complexity] down so people don't get overwhelmed. (It's) for people who don't play video games that often.

Indeed, the game simply involves shooting ever-increasing numbers of rats as you stand atop a large pile of uncollected trash bags.

GP: Thanks to GamePolitics reader Trencher for the tip!

New from Addicting Games is the tongue-in-cheek puzzler Where's the Naughty Governor?

The super-easy Where's Waldo? clone challenges player to find visual clues related to the cases of philandering guvs and ex-guvs like South Carolina's Mark Sanford, New York's Eliot Spitzer and New Jersey's Jim McGreevey. Philandering would-be president John Edwards is tossed in for good measure. Sarah Palin  made the cut too, but for quitting her post rather than for extra-curricular marital activities.

As an added bonus (and this lackluster game needs all the help it can get), the Los Angeles Times has an interesting article on the creative process behind Where's the Naughty Governor?:

The quintet [of game designers] quickly work their way through 15 politicians with slippery zippers before settling on five. Sen. Ensign of Nevada is labeled "kinda boring" and tossed out because he promptly admitted his infidelity; mayors Villaraigosa [of Los Angeles] and Newsom [of San Francisco] don't have big enough national profiles; former Sen. Larry E. Craig of Idaho is set aside because his arrest for allegedly soliciting sex in an airport bathroom by tapping his foot could... deserve its own game.

Those making the cut: Sanford, Spitzer, McGreevey and Edwards [Palin was apparently added later]. Dave Williams, senior VP of Nickelodeon's games group, even reaches into the past for one more addition.

"Could we end on Bill Clinton? He's the big boss!" [a designer] says with a laugh, using the video-game term for a final and most difficult opponent.

Having finished Team of Rivals, a study of Abraham Lincoln's politicial genius, blogger Nate Janewit of Tech Industry Guerilla notes with despair that a Spielberg/Peter Jackson film adaptation may be in the works.

Expecting that the movie won't do justice to historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Janewit, a program manager in Microsoft's Bing team, goes on to speculate about what a subsequent video game version of Team of Rivals might be like:

[CUE DEEP-VOICED ANNOUNCER AND IMAGES OF EXPLOSIONS]

ANNOUNCER: From the studios that brought you The Sims and Madden 2009 comes…LINCOLN!

[IMAGE OF LINCOLN SITTING IN A CHAIR THINKING]

ANNOUNCER: Balance the conservative and radical elements of your party…

[IMAGE OF LINCOLN WITH HAND IN THE AIR SURROUNDED BY CROWDS]

ANNOUNCER: Placate the masses with your oratorical skill…

[IMAGE OF SALMON CHASE, PLOTTING AGAINST YOU AS SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY]

ANNOUNCER: Navigate the dangerous waters of political intrigue within your own Cabinet!

I can already picture the crowds of enthusiastic gamers lining up or preordering weeks in advance. For some reason, real history just isn’t as interesting as video games.

A recently-released Xbox Live Community Game (MS recently announced that these will soon be called Indie Games) features President Obama as a side-scrolling, 2-D brawler.

Angry Barry is available for 400 points on Xbox Live. We didn't spring for the game although we did check out the free demo.

Hillary Clinton makes an appearance in the game and the screen shot at left appears to feature Sarah Palin. From the game's XBL page:

Angry Barry is a sidescrolling, political parody, 1-2 player 2D beat 'em up in the tradition of many classic arcade games. Take control of Barry as he tries to take over the Presidency of the United States!

If you've finished watching every E3 game trailer imaginable, check out Brain Chef. The browser-based game lets players fight with the likes of the RIAA, the Disney Corporation, and even the much-despised SecuROM DRM-ware.

Progress far enough and you can fight other players online...

Via: boingboing

Oddly enough, Obama Girl introduces this (NSFW) E3 parody protest of the Mario Bros. franchise.

GP: Thanks to LaxGamer 34 for the tip!

Via: Kotaku

A social game for web-capable mobile phones parodies rogue financier Bernie Madoff's long-running Ponzi scheme, reports CNNmoney.

Made Off, available from publisher Cellufun, allows players to create virtual scams of their owns, promising other players investment returns of up to 20%. Player need to continually attract new "investors" in order to pay back the older ones, lest their Ponzi scheme collapse. No real money is involved. Instead, players trade "cellupoints."

Cellufun CEO Neil Edwards, who says his game pokes fun at the jailed Madoff, not his victims, told CNN/money that Made Off has an educational component:

When your fund goes broke, you go, 'Holy crap, I didn't invite enough people... There is a lot of misconception and confusion on what happened. People don't really understand a Ponzi scheme."

A blurb on the game's website describes the action:

Play as a slimy Fund Manager, a savvy Investor, or both. The game will end without warning when the Feds finally crack down on the Cellufun community, and people managing Funds will get to keep all the Cellupoints invested in them. Investors will keep all the Cellupoints they've acquired through interest payments as well. And we'll give trophies to those who have "made off" with the most profits...

In a bit of political commentary, George W. Bush - looking very much like a chimp - has turned up on a fanciful cartridge for Nintendo's Famicon

Kotaku notes that the former President's cartridge is one of 58 contained in retro game shop Meteor's 2009 Famicase exhibit.

The Labour Goverment of Prime Minister Gordon Brown is pushing ahead with plans to monitor all Internet usage in the U.K.

Britain's Conservative Party is against to the plan and that opposition is the basis for t-enterprise's latest online political parody, Hands Off Our Data!

In the game players assume the role of Conservative leader David Cameron. Wielding an old school raygun, players must blast data mining spiders bearing the likenesses of Gordon Brown and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith while allowing e-mail packets and search engine traffic to pass by.

It has been a whirlwind of a week for Italian provovateurs Molleindustria and Faith Fighter, their online game which parodies religious hatred.

On Monday Metro UK created a controversy where none previously existed. It appears that the tabloid solicited comment from several religious leaders whose level of familiarity with the game is unclear. Not surprisingly, the comments on Faith Fighter were negative.

By Tuesday, the powerful, Saudi-based Organization of the Islamic Conference had waded into the Faith Fighter debate. Molleindustria, apparently bowing to OIC pressure, announced that it had taken the game offline, although it remained available at other portals.

On Wednesday, Molleindustria unveiled Faith Fighter 2, a non-violent version in which players must give love to various deities lest they fade away.

On Thursday, Molleindustria brought the original Faith Fighter back. There's no word yet on what actions the OIC or other groups may take.

Via: GameCulture

Given the recent outbreak of swine flu, could an online swine flu game - perhaps several - be far behind?

Of course not.

The first to emerge is Swinefighter, a game which challenges the player to inoculate as may pigs as possible under the pressure of a time limit. The game's - ahem - viral spread is being helped along by a direct link to Twitter.

Via: VentureBeat

An online game released more than a year ago is suddenly causing a stir in religious circles.

Faith Fighter, launched in January of 2008 by the always-provacative Molleindustria, allows players to pit various deities against one another in Mortal Kombat-style action. The virtual combatants in the game include a depiction of Allah, a serious no-no in the Muslim faith.

Metro.co.uk reports that some Christians, Hindus and Buddhists are upset as well. Douglas Miller, pastor of Birmingham's Link Church, told Metro:

This game is going out of its way to upset people and I think it should be taken off the internet. Playing violent video games will ultimately affect your behaviour and this game is deeply offensive and provocative.

An unnamed representative of the Federation of Muslim Organisations added:

In the current climate, this game can only create fear about religion. Having images depicting Muhammad in this way is also very offensive to our faith.

However, a spokesperson for Molleindustria defended the work:

[The purpose of the game is] to push gamers to reflect on how sacred representations are often used to fuel or justify conflicts between people.

The authors of the parody children's book Goodnight Bush are back with a bit of post-presidential Dubya bashing.

While not excatly a game, The George W. Bush Presidential Librarium is an interactive parody:

Completion of the George W. Bush Presidential Library... may be stalled indefinitely, due to an apparent lack of funding, public support, and basic legality. Make no mistake, the public's desire to endlessly relive Bush's greatest achievements may go unanswered for years to come—and his legacy remain (like America) in limbo.

All hope is not lost. We at Origen & Golan Architects are proud to unveil the plans for the George W. Bush Presidential Librarium! Themed attractions provide more entertainment than a library, and more accurately represent Bush's remarkable legacy—start by exploring The Stax, Supreme Food Court, Book BBQ, and the ever-popular Golden Parachutes...

Via: Water Cooler Games

The Onion skewers the video game violence issue in this faux news report which celebrates the launch of Close Range, a new game which features an "immersive, richly-detailed world where players shoot people in the faces with guns."

To see the video, click here.

RapeLay, an obscure Japanese hentai game, sparked controversy earlier this year when an Amazon re-seller was found to be offering the PC title in the U.S. market.

Although there would seem to almost limitless room to criticize the thoroughly disgusting RapeLay, parody site Christwire added a satirical touch yesterday with some over-the-top commentary:

My friends the Japanese are at it again, this time as they prepare to rape your child’s mind and ethics with a horrifying new video game named Rapelay...

I cannot find the words to express my outrage, disgust and disbelief with this anime pornography game, especially the liberals who are trying to market it in America.

Last year studies revealed that 98% of games being marketed to teens contain violence, and after playing a violent video games teens may become 3 times more likely to commit acts of murder, drug violence and date rape...

 

America is a land that is being overrun with video game violence. Last year California banned the banning of violent video game sales and Barack Obama allows a Wii in the White House while not pushing for a universal anti-violent video game law.

How many more of these games are we going to allow to exist anywhere on Earth? ...

My friends, the gaming liberals and their atheistic Japanese allies are without morals when it comes to video game violence...

GP: Some around the web seem confused as to whether Christwire is a parody. But gay-oriented news site The Advocate reports that Christwire is an affiliate of The Onion.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) may have suggested that executives of public money sink AIG commit ritual suicide, but animation artist Joaqin Baldwin's approach to the new icon of corporate greed is far more diabolical. More fun, too.

AIG Exec UFO Catcher is Baldwin's AIG-themed take on those coin-op claw machines that one finds in arcades and the lobbies of greasy spoon diners. You know, maneuver the claw to grab a small stuffed animal.

In Baldwin's vision, however, players use the claw to collect AIG execs who are partying on the taxpayers' dime. Trillions of dimes, actually...

Entertainingly, things just don't work out so well with the claw feature.

Although the game is a bit NSFW, AIG hate is so rampant at the moment that even the most prudish of bosses will probably look the other way. After all, the boss is a taxpayer, too.

Via: GameCulture

If you've been laid off, you'll have plenty of time on your hands to play the Layoff game - at least until your PC is repo'd.

The new, Bejeweled-like offering from tiltfactor satirizes the plight of worker bees who are paying the price for the incompetent Wall Street types behind the economic meltdown.

A company press release describes the game, which was developed by Prof. Mary Flanagan, Dartmouth’s Digital Humanities Chair in partnership with the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Game Design and Development program:

Players play from the side of management needing to cut jobs, and match types of workers in groups in order to lay the workers off and increase workforce efficiency... Players eliminating many workers in a row find financiers and bankers taking the place of working class jobs. The financiers in this game cannot face layoffs.

Prof. Flanagan comments on Layoff:

The game has an unsettling feeling. It is cute and fun to play, but when you realize how frightening the situation is, the game in fact functions as a very dark portent.

Via: Kotaku

It has been a rough week for frenetic financial guru Jim Cramer, host of MSNBC's Mad Money program.

Having been pilloried on several recent episodes of The Daily Show, Cramer opted to appear as a guest, apparently in an attempt to explain himself to host Jon Stewart. Bad idea: Cramer's Daily Show appearance was a disaster.

Financial site The Big Money lampoons Cramer's media woes with Crashteroids, a fun little Asteroids knock-off:

Avenge Cramer’s disgrace at the hands of Jon Stewart by blasting his smug grin into space dust. Defeat Business Insider’s Henry Blodget, a man who once called Cramer “a chair-throwing, self-aggrandizing clown.”

 

Protect Cramer from Fox Business, a network that sneered, “[T]he last thing you need is Jim Cramer.” Shred Barron’s magazine, a publication that has tried to prove Cramer gives crappy investment advice. And, of course, keep the grizzly hordes of bear-market economists at bay.

Via: The Business Insider

I thought I knew my classic games pretty well, but somehow I'm drawing a blank on this particular Atari 2600 cartridge.

In fact, Technabob has uncovered an entire series of parody 2600 carts. Most aren't political, but they are definitely worth a look - and a laugh.

Via: Examiner.com

Over at Water Cooler Games, Ian Bogost writes about Jetset, his iPhone/iPod Touch game that pokes fun at the bureraucratic nightmare that is modern airport security.

From the description:

The challenges of today's airport security make business and pleasure travel increasingly difficult. Security is there to make you feel safe and get you to your plane in one piece. However, today's regulations change frequently and are often different from airport to airport. Now, you too can stand in the shoes of a security agent trying to avert terrorism while getting everyone through a checkpoint quickly...

Play 100 different airports from around the world... Strip search travelers for fun... Confiscate dangerous travel items like pressurized cheese — all inspired by real events in airport security... Game automatically selects the airport you are in or near based on available location services

Jetset is currently available on the iTunes App Store for $3.99

2P Start takes note of President Obama's recently-passed stimulus package by invoking the graphic style of the old Number Munchers game (perhaps some GP readers played it in school).

The artist explains:

I kind of get the feeling this comic might appeal more to The Oregon Trail crowd... Number Munchers was another early educational PC game that a lot of us probably played in elementary school...

 

In any event, we’re not trying to spark a political debate here, it’s just that $787 billion is a staggering number, even for an old pro like Muncher!

Steve Nelson, who has created fascinating visualizations which combine real-world political data with the Second Life metaverse, is at it again.

On his Clear Night Sky blog, Nelson has posted a video which mashes up SL and the 2010 federal budget:

To commemorate the 2010 federal budget... I have installed a new feature at the Capitol Hill in Second Life.

Using the APIs available from USASpending.gov, the Show Me the Money! piggy bank will shower $100 bills down on the Capitol Hill legislative chamber. Each bill has the name of one of the top 50 recipients of government funding during 1Q 2009. The size of the bill is proportionate to the amount of money received, at a scale of $1billion = 1 Second Life meter.

Humor site The Onion asks whether violent games are doing enough to prepare our children for the coming Apocalypse.

Given the number of post-apocalyptic games, it may actually be a reasonable question...

Via: Kotaku

A Japanese finance minister who appeared to be drunk and sleepy during a G7 press conference earlier this month is the subject a new parody game for mobile phones.

As reported by the Telegraph, Shoichi Nakagawa delivered the less-than-stellar performance at left during G7 in Rome:

Now [Nakagawa] has become the latest target of Japan's mischievous game industry. Players are invited to wake a likeness of Mr Nakagawa as he fields questions at a press conference and then let him nap to increase his energy reserves.

Players gain points in "Drowsy Presser by Drugged Minister" if they boost Mr Nakagawa's "support rating" by having him answer journalists' questions. But if the minister is caught sleeping by journalists, he falls off his chair and the game is over.

A just-released online news game allows player to try their hand at saving the economy.

As reported by the New York Daily News, Addicting Games exec Kate Connally describes Trillion Dollar Bailout:

With this game we're giving game players the chance to experience what it's like to make a decision about who to bailout and who not to. Games can help people experience news events by putting them in the shoes of the people in the action.

 

News events are something that really unite our culture, everyone experiences it together, so adding games into the mix of how people are experiencing major national events is just part of what we do. They're not just a silly pass time. It's a form social commentary.

In Trillion Dollar Bailout players are presented with cash requests from corporate executives and average homeowners. It's up to the player to decide how to dole out the bailout bucks.

GP: We initially embedded the game with this story, but - rather obnoxiously - it starts running when the GP page loads. You can, however, click the link to check the game out.
 

While gamers continue to debate whether or not the upcoming Resident Evil 5 contains racist imagery, the Penny Arcade crew has weighed in on the issue with a new comic (left).

Incidentally, in a recent GamePolitics poll on the topic, 83% of GP readers disagreed with the idea that there was racism in the game.

For the full PA comic, click here.

Apple, it appears, takes a rather dim view of political satire - at least where iPhone apps are concerned.

TechCrunch reports that Apple has nixed a seemingly harmless game in which depictions of President Barack Obama and other U.S. political figures jump on a virtual trampoline.

The news comes on the heels of Apple's recent rejection of another would-be iPhone game which parodies December's hurling of a shoe at then-President Bush. That well-known incident was widely satirized via online Flash games.

TechCrunch questions Apple's censorship of Obama Trampoline:

Developer Swamiware was surprised to see its latest iPhone app rejected by Apple, and so are we. The application was a harmless game that let you select a known U.S. politician (both republicans and democrats) and have him/her jump a virtual trampoline...

 

Does the Obama Trampoline app actually ridicule public figures? It’s not obscene or pornographic of nature, so why was it deemed either offensive or defamatory?