The Political Machine returns for '08 election

23 Comments by Alexander Sliwinski Mar 26th 2008 11:00PM
Filed under: PC, Strategy

Stardock's political strategy game returns for this year's election with The Political Machine 2008. The full retail product puts players in charge of a national campaign for President of the United States; tasking them to control their candidate, raise cash, hire spin doctors and win endorsements. TPM 08 releases in June for $20.

The game is the follow up to 2004's The Political Machine, but with a whole new engine and style -- the candidates are depicted as "bobble head" dolls now. Stardock says the game mirrors real-world events like answering questions on "Colvert Report" and "O'Malley Factor." Players can also play a campaign from history or create their own future election. Publisher Stardock has really upped its game the last couple years; bringing us solid expansions to Galactic Civilizations II and the exceptional Sins of a Solar Empire.

Tags: political-machine, stardock, the-political-machine

Source

(Page 1) Reader Comments

Sam: Mar 26th 2008; 11:09PM

oh man. I bought the 04 version back in..04. It was fun, but not that indepth. This game is probably just as mediocre. And they could have just made a patch for the 04 game..

Damian G.: Mar 26th 2008; 11:11PM

I really liked the 2004 edition, but I hope that they make the issues more accurate this time round (Arizona voters SUPPORT illegal immigration, REALLY?). And they need to add political conventions and/or debates. Those are what make or break a candidate.

Jonah5678: Mar 27th 2008; 9:29AM

Damian G., the country is a lot more diverse than one would think. Arizona has a strong libertarian population, who generally are okay with illegal immigration (particularly geo-libertarians). That coupled with a large amount of immigrants (both legal and illegal) makes Arizona support of illegal immigration very possible.

It's not always as simple as North vs South, Red State vs Blue State. If this game mirrors that, then kudos.

Damian G.: Mar 27th 2008; 4:36PM

I know about their libertarian tendencies. But in 2006, Arizonans overwhelmingly supported anti-illegal immigration measures. Most Arizonans do NOT support illegal immigration, period; the game was flat-out wrong.

Jake11: Mar 26th 2008; 11:12PM

nice! edu-tainment at its finest.

Jeremy White: Mar 26th 2008; 11:22PM

Can't wait.

ApolloIV: Mar 26th 2008; 11:27PM

Covert report huh

ApolloIV: Mar 26th 2008; 11:27PM

Colvert me and my damn ways

Shmil (Brawl Code 2621-2310-1994): Mar 26th 2008; 11:34PM

can i play as ex-candidates such as Ron Paul?

Maverick Saturn: Mar 26th 2008; 11:47PM

You have to buy them seperately :) Remember, the devs have to make money.

HighFiveJesus: Mar 26th 2008; 11:58PM

yeah, actually it looks like he's on the box too. its a very ron paul looking guy on the right. http://images.stardock.com/tgn/boxes/pm2k8box.png

You can also create your own characters too apparently. I hope there are different endings for each candidate, like if you play with guilanni, you alienate yourself from the rest of the world and get attacked by godzilla or something

HighFiveJesus: Mar 27th 2008; 12:00AM

though i don't know why people even put him in their games, even ol' ron beat him in most of the states, and failed horribly in "rudy country" florida.

Damian G.: Mar 27th 2008; 12:10AM

I would think that all of the 2008 major party candidates would be included in addition to past and fantasy candidates. The 2004 edition included all of the Democrats even though it featured Kerry on the box art since he had locked up the nomination months before the game's release.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School): Mar 27th 2008; 12:17PM

Guliani was never a serious candidate to begin with. Not because he could never get elected, but because he chose not to campaign during the early primaries.

Cale: Mar 27th 2008; 12:07AM

President forever is better. While not quite as nice graphically is it crazy detailed. Plus it's already out. You can even get a demo for it right now.

http://www.80soft.com/p4ep/info-upgrade/index.htm

Truman: Mar 27th 2008; 12:31AM

I wonder if you can create a "Cthulhu" candidate who wins because a disgruntled populace decides not to vote for a lesser evil

Mrblonde: Mar 27th 2008; 3:17AM

Very happy to see that this did not turn into a argumentative thread. When I saw the title of the thread and picture, I was like "Oh noes"

axt113: Mar 27th 2008; 5:41AM

Will Hillary recieve any special abilities, like party ripping, or knee-capping?

Willl McSame forget who we are fighting in Iraq?

Will Obama get Swiftboated by the MSM?

axt113: Mar 27th 2008; 5:44AM

http://www.draginol.com/images/EarlyscreenshotsofThePoliticalMachine_F116/PM2008_Mar19_Interview.jpg

Cool you can go on the Colbert Report

Josh: Mar 27th 2008; 9:18AM

Indiana going to a Democrat? I wish!!

NATO_Duke: Mar 27th 2008; 10:14AM

Screw the new elections, I wanna play and finally vindicate Dewey.

Dewey Beats Truman!!!!!

Desmond Destructo: Mar 27th 2008; 12:48PM

Wow. In the article on GalCiv2.com it says that you can run for Emperor of the planet Drengi. I wonder if I will run on a platform of "Death to the Humans" or the social issue of slave pit reforms to better oppress the people of Toria.

Desmond Destructo: Mar 27th 2008; 1:03PM

Actually, as I recall the Drengin had a civil war over whether to kill all non-Drengin life or to leave some left as slaves, so that might be interesting.

Circuit City LittleBigPlanet preorder details Frank Gennaro performs self-surgery for Project Abraham PSN cards expanding to Blockbuster, 7-Eleven and Rite-Aid in September	Blizz posts overpriced ringtones, wallpapers BlizzCon makes the must-see list Ask WoW Insider: How to PuG Heroics
'Several hours' of Duke Nukem Forever currently playable Meteos heads to Japanese Live Arcade this October X3F TV -- XBLA in Brief: Castle Crashers	Rumor: Disaster: Day of Crisis speculation hots up Aly & AJ guitars prompt pointing & laughter Nintendo of Europe rubs it in with Hanabi Festival video
DS redesign speculation returns, gets quashed Bury the Shovelware: Peter Jackson's King Kong Video, in case you forgot what Chrono Trigger looks like	Exclusive Pipemania PSP trailer PSN cards expanding to Blockbuster, 7-Eleven and Rite-Aid in September Gundam vs Gundam headed for the PSP
Will Wright not offended by Spore porn Nvidia pushing for more 3D PC gaming Dead Space DVD and Blu-Ray animated prequel details	What Stuart Scott Should Have Asked Obama Golden Touch: Sparks' Leslie, Parker and Milton-Jones Talk About Beijing Jay Mariotti on the Future of Sports Journalism: 'If We Can't Compete on the Net We're Dead'

Breaking News »