Lets take things a step further...

I have a proposition. In light of the over reaction of lawmakers to the game “Bully” (see a trailer here: http://media.ps2.ign.com/media/746/746536/vids_1.html ) where the objective is to beat up bully’s in a new school, I have come up with my OWN idea for a game. For those of you who have respect for our senators, congressmen, governor, and other elected representatives, please tune out now and go have a serious think about why you’re allowing yourself to be an idiot. The game is based around our wonderful political system. It will somewhat resemble the SIM games, but with a more first person approach. The objective is to compete for political offices and get them… no matter the cost. You’ll start out as a lowly citizen with very little money and no experience. As you advance through certain “quests” you’ll gain XP and be able to compete for entry level positions on town councils. While there you’ll forge important relationships that you can take advantage of later in the game. In the early stages of the game you need to be careful, angering already elected officials is a bad idea and may cost you popularity points. All thru out the game you’ll need massive amounts of money for various things. You’ll find that one of the easiest ways to gain funds for your thriving political machine, is to extort it and launder it through several charities and foundations that are set up in a manner to appear legal. Other methods include siphoning money off of your own or friends businesses, and having been a celebrity in the past (this game will allow characters to transfer their fame from games like DDR, Karaoke Revolution, Unreal Tournament, Rainbow Six, Worms Armageddon, Mine Sweeper and Spider Solitaire). When you feel you’re ready, you can compete for Mayor. If you feel you just can’t wait until election time, you could oust the old looser in a number of ways. These range from simple slander of his/her name up to hiring a hit man to “take care of business”. These same tactics will come in handy in many stages of the game. Once you’ve won the Mayoral election, it’s time to start thinking big. From this point you can slowly advance your political career through small stepping stones or shoot straight for governor, senator, congressman, or even presidency. They key to survival is to get a lot of friends who have a lot of friends (preferably who are rich and stupid) and make a lot of promises that the “voters” want to hear (i.e. lower taxes, cop on every corner, cracking down on crime, free chocolate, and don’t forget licking babies, etc). These investors will expect something in return, so you can choose how to reward them in any way you see fit (position in the white house or a nice shiny pair of concrete loafers). Once you’ve clawed and fought your way into the presidency, it’s time to keep it by any means deemed necessary. Various ways of doing this may include but are defiantly not limited to: starting a war, becoming everyone’s best friend, making good on your promises (which you never really intended to do in the first place, and may raise your popularity to dangerously high levels), destroying foreign relations only to build them back up, and any other way you can think of. The game will feature a variety of challenges to make it a new experience every time. For instance, there will be an “adult” portion of the game where you can have your very own sex scandal, there may be terrorist activities that need to be dealt with, past friends or co-workers that will try to expose your shady background that need to disappear or be paid off, and many other things which will distract you from sneaking furniture out of the white house. The game will display a “Public Opinionometer” which will display your popularity. When this falls below 50% you know you’re a bona fide politician. When elections come around it’s time to win a second term. Remember, it doesn’t matter what the “voters” think of you just as long as it’s ever so slightly better than what they think of your opponent(s). This is where it’s time to dig up some dirt on them, but remember that they’ll be doing the same on you. Discredit them in debates with confusing statements like “the only thing my opponent has been consistent on is being inconsistent”. Remember the “voters” are like cattle, they’re unintelligent and tend to stay in groups. If possible, purchase your opponents supporters and/or companies or bankrupt them to pull the funding from underneath them. The game has no rules, and will allow you to do almost anything at any time, so take advantage of it. There will be multi player and online versions available as well so you can play with other aspiring jackasses. The release date is TBA, but trailers will be coming soon!