Naturally Sony wants to stop this. They can’t stand the idea that they’re selling hardware at the expense of losing control of that hardware. Somehow, the idea of “giving the customer what they want” doesn’t seem to enter into the picture.

Perhaps that’s why I own a Nintendo DS…

Stardock has come out with a new game. It’s called Political Machine

It’s a turn based resource management game where the object is to win the US presidency. You do this by pandering to the public, begging for money, and giving speeches. It is a surprisingly fun game for one built around electoral math.

You get to build and control a bobble head-like avatar in a bunch of different scenarios. Wanna win the Election of 1860 and prevent the civil war? Go forth! The election of 2008 is the main feature, and there are a couple others. I’ve been fighting the ’08 battle as me, slagging the evil Republican U.S. Grant. Not the real grant who knew that fighting terrorists was a police job. The fake Grant who wants to rape our environment. Also, he hates the economy. At least, that’s what I’m telling people…

The only real criticism I can offer is that it’s not always clear what buttons do. Why should I want to take out an attack ad vs one lauding my own stances. What do some of the icons mean? Why can’t I put together a web machine to pull in money automatically? I may be able to mod some of these things into the game

It’s US$20, so even if you only get a few hours of entertainment out of it, it’s a better bet than a movie. I highly recommend the game. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Grant has just gained 6pts in 3 weeks and pulled even with me. Should I go after independents? Or try to win over my base? We’ll see…