it's nothing more than fodder for the Daily Show writers and will be forgotten within two weeks. 

the single most important question is if you are a folder or a crumpler. but this rather belongs to the philosophy thread, doesn't it... 

http://bp3.blogger.com/_3jj3mzidCHA/RmPQ9gSA5qI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/Thk8WfALNwQ/s1600-h/Presentation1.png

"nothing can be done!" 

.. we are all already "cooked"... 

http://www.stormberry.tv/searchAndView.php?vid=youtube1Ic4xgOERgk&search=Bill+Maher+on+the+French&src=youtube&contrib=siwu

Quite funny IMHO, but I'm French so my objectivity is biaised :P 

people sometimes make political songs, books, films. is it possible to make a political game/level? 

I guess new monster models with Ben Laden, Bush Chirac, Sarkozy, Poutine, etc.. etc... is needed.. and the action should take place in all these leaders country (e.g Paris - France, USA - Washigton, etc.. etc...)
What do you think ? 

it's certainly possible, but it's limited only by people's general inability to make games as art -- generally, they don't know how and there's little precedent.

However, I would say that SimCity and SimEarth were both political, as they hard-wired their sociological and scientific beliefs into the game rules. These included beliefs about economic growth, sustainability, climate change, etc, which have political implications. Also, Civilization has the same sort of assumptions coded as rules:
http://econ161.berkeley.edu/movable_type/archives/000806.html

Of course, this isn't the only kind of political game you could have. You could write a very story-heavy game where the story was politically charged in the same way a movie is.

There's also game design as performance art, where you make a game about Columbine shootings, or the WTC plane crashes, and the game itself isn't as important as the reaction from people who don't actually play it. 

However, I would say that SimCity and SimEarth were both political, as they hard-wired their sociological and scientific beliefs into the game rules.  

Surely you remember the map inspired by COMMUNISM: http://rpg.leveldesign.org/pajitnov.html 

interesting point of view.

but I meant something a little different.

civilization, simcity are not the things I mean by saying "political game". in these games people play politicians again other (AI) politicians. those believes you mentioned are quite common imo and do not make much influence on people.

Also I didn't mean making games about certain political leaders/countries.

I meant (comparing to other forms of art) making a game with a hidden political message that doesn't say clearly "i like them/i don't like them". but if player digs deeper he may see some kind of author's point of view at political situations or forms of goverment or something like that. For example a game about humans making an expansion to some planet with independent lifeforms.

I doubt my english can describe my thoughts in a good way, but i hope that you catch the point. 

Very clearly a political title, and also freakin' hilarious. 

civ clone, but had factions that were very different in their beliefs and political systems... so it kinda put a highlight on how different man can live (and still be successful). 

Two from the front page of metafilter:

----------------------------------

The Redistricting Game is designed to educate, engage, and empower citizens around the issue of political redistricting.

http://beta.redistrictinggame.org/index.php?pg=game

I played through the missions. UI kind of sucks, but the game does a good job of presenting the challenge of redistricting with varying political goals, and opponents to appease. Obviously intended as an educational device, but I think it is successful at being a game as well.

----------------------------------

Torrent Raiders playfully addresses issues of domestic surveillance and intellectual property by putting players in the role of a mercenary copyright enforcer...

http://www.torrentraiders.com/

I haven't played this yet. 

http://ucsaction.org/campaign/science_idol_2007_vote 

Deus Ex and DX Invisible War.

Quite politically rich and varied in that it presented multiple political groups and views and all the game conflict centered around the clashes between these groups. You could chose your alignment.

I really enjoyed both. 

http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2007/07/people-as-pixels-in-monumental-art.html 

If global warming causes the ice sheets at Greenland and West Antarctica to disintegrate, they will not reflect the sunlight anymore, and global warming will accelerate significantly.

This is very possible.

NASA:s James Hansen has a new paper about this, a short review here:
http://backseatdriving.blogspot.com/2007/08/james-hansen-and-albedo-flip.html 

nothing new there 

. 

Alpha Centauri is the single most addictive and replayable offline game I've played.

I've deleted it more than once just so I stop playing it. I've played it on and off since 2001.

It's like an offline WoW in the sense of it's addictive and time consuming nature, really evil stuff. Even now, just thinking about it makes me want to play it but it takes 10-12 hours to 100+ to finish a single game.

Sigh ... they shouldn't make games like that. 

:) 

http://caro.tumblr.com/post/52905901 

for the sake of accuracy, every one of those pictures needs a thick brick wall on the tracks in front of the trains. 

I saw yesterday a short summary of a meeting with McCain. And something surprising happened, but I think it was really fair play.
MacCain acted like that: some republicans were flaming Obama saying he was an arab, a dangerous muslim terrorist, etc... And McCain stood up for Obama, saying that regardless of the their different ideas onto economy, policy, etc.. if Obama would be elected, he would be a good President of the USA (OMG !)...
Wow: are republicans (McCain first) already defeated ?
McCain was really fair, and I think he did the right thing: showing he respects a lot Obama, but rgarding the campain that drags sometimes a lot of shit, McCain was surprisingly very fair play...
Anyway... who will win now ? Wait and see...