War games or bore games?

Obama and gaming seems to be a good combination. A while ago I wrote a post about the Obama campaign advertising in-game to entice earlier votes, now I’m writing about a game called “Commander in Chief” that let’s you have a shot at running the USA. The game, which hits the shelves the day Obama is sworn in, lets players make decisions about everything from budget through to health, military and diplomatic.

Produced by Eversim, the game is played out on a 3D world map and even lets you pick your own cabinet. To top it off, you get information from the likes of the United Nations, G7, OPEC, NATO and NAFTA to help you make the right decisions such as invading foreign countries (fail) topple unfriendly regimes (fail) and plot assassinations (fail?). The game is yours for a mere $US39.95, for which you get the play God with the entire planet.

MyTake – sims are always hugely popular, I remember getting hooked on Command and Conquer when I was at University. But do people really want to play a game about running the US? Yes, I think they do. The chance to run one of the biggest modern empires is going to appeal to a lot of people and given that it’ll probably be available on PC, the uptake should be good thanks to the huge install base. The question is – will people be trialling Obama’s decisions to see how they pan out?