Politics, there’s hardly any other word that can make me sigh more than it. Radio, television, internet; these are all places where politics rears its ugly head and it’s something I get tired of fairly quickly. At least from the mainstream aspect of things.

When I pick up a video game controller, I can be secure in knowing that it’s one place I’ll be safe from political advertising. Or is it? It has been reported that Obama has launched an ad campaign that will see his ads plastered over a slew of EA titles. The most notable is in Burnout Paradise, where Obama’s ad/face will be featured on many of the billboards in the virtual city. This makes me sad personally because I really like Burnout: Paradise, and I don’t want political advertising making its presence known there.

I’ve been against a lot of in-game advertising since its conception. I know some will say it adds to the ‘immersiveness’ of the games, but do we really play video games to feel more in the real world? I know that when I put a game disc into my system, I’m doing it to become part of something outside the conventions of the real world. In Burnout: Paradise for example, it’s all about driving cars really fast and in some instances pulling off crazy aerial stunts. So when I’m doing 3 aerial flips with my Ferrari looking sports car, do I really want to see Obama’s face and be reminded of what’s happening in the real world?

In game advertising before this latest example was all about selling products. Now its shifted to getting a political message out to the masses. And I’m not talking about in-game politics, but real life politics. Which to me, there’s nothing more sad and depressing than the current political system.

So, I’ve expressed my general feelings towards Obama’s political advertising. Now where does my frustration and anger need to be directed at? Should I completely blame Obama for wanting to get his message out to gamers? Even though he’s mentioned before that people need to get off their couches and stop playing games. Or is it EA who’s profiting off Obama’s big dollars and they’re the ones to blame?

The truth of the matter is that the problem even goes beyond Obama and EA. But to encompass the overlying problems would require more than just one blog post, so let’s keep the focus just on these two. In this situation both are sharing my anger and frustration equally. My main anger towards Obama is the statements he’s made about video gaming in the past, yet he doesn’t mind trying to score some votes through its advertising. EA gets the brunt of my anger because even though Obama paid for the adspace, there had to be someone else out there that was willing to pay equal to what he was offering. Specifically companies without a political agenda.

People who aren’t into video games will probably say I’m over dramatizing the situation. As a gamer who’s been going strong for about 20+ years, I think I have a cause for anger, and concern. Like I mentioned earlier, video games are one of my great escapes from political agendas, and ideas, and basically everything that sucks about the real world (I’ve overused it haven’t I?). So when a media platform that I love and enjoy starts to adopt this kind of advertising, I can’t rightfully sit by and not voice concern.

Ok, I think I’ve went on a rant long enough. For those who think I’m trying to pick on Obama please know that if this were McCain I would be writing the same article with a different name at the beginning.

The fight against piracy has been an ugly and grueling battle ever since Napster shook the establishment back in the day. Since the fight between artists, and pirates (video game idea anyone?), this has now spilled over into the serious world of the government. Which in turn has led to the latest piece of legislation that will strengthen the federal involvement against piracy. For better or (in my mind) worse.

The first major part of the “Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008″, is to establish the Interagency Intellectual Property Enforcement Advisory Committee. Then of course it will be under the direct authority of the president to appoint the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator. This committee will be in charge of concocting the Joint Strategic Plan, which will help the fight against piracy and counterfeiting.

If you’d like to take a gander at the ‘Act’, and not take my word for it you can click here.

Doesn’t this all sound like the same song and dance that we’ve heard/seen before? And has it worked before? By song and dance I mean giving the federal branch of our government even more power in policing the wrongs of our country and world? This will more than likely lead to policies, and measures that shrink the freedoms of the American people even more. By freedoms I mean giving the government the right to seize any properties that have been used in alleged pirating (yes, there’s a part in the act for that).

But in the end, will it even solve the problem it’s going after? Sure there might be a few ‘property pirates’ nabbed here and there, but it doesn’t make the problem go away. It’s like trying to pick off a few pesky ants entering your house with a magnifying glass. Yes, there might be a few ants incinerated but the problem lies at the ant hill. Wow, that was a weird analogy.

There is one shining light in the this piece of legislation and it lies with the amendment, “Amends the Computer Crime Enforcement Act to allow existing grants to combat computer crime to be used for activities relating to infringement of copyrighted works over the Internet. Requires the Office of Justice Programs of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to make grants for training, prevention, enforcement, and prosecution of intellectual property theft and infringement crimes.”

It’s in this writer’s humble opinion that this is the extent that the bill should have been left at. Instead of utilizing tax payer’s dollars to police this by our government, how about helping companies fight it themselves? It’s going to be technology, and staying a step ahead that will help eradicate piracy. The research for these technologies is where the money should be going. Not a ‘Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator’, and his committee.

If you’re looking to those who sponsored the bill, here is a list of the Senate co-sponsors so you can write them accordingly:

Sen Alexander, Lamar [TN]
Sen Bayh, Evan [IN]
Sen Bond, Christopher S. [MO]
Sen Boxer, Barbara [CA]
Sen Brown, Sherrod [OH]
Sen Cardin, Benjamin L. [MD]
Sen Clinton, Hillary Rodham [NY]
Sen Corker, Bob [TN]
Sen Cornyn, John [TX]
Sen Feinstein, Dianne [CA]
Sen Graham, Lindsey [SC]
Sen Gregg, Judd [NH]
Sen Hatch, Orrin G. [UT]
Sen Hutchison, Kay Bailey [TX]
Sen Levin, Carl [MI]
Sen Schumer, Charles E. [NY]
Sen Smith, Gordon H. [OR]
Sen Specter, Arlen [PA]
Sen Stabenow, Debbie [MI]
Sen Voinovich, George V. [OH]
Sen Whitehouse, Sheldon [RI]

In case you George W. Bush haters out there were wanting to flock, know this… The Senate passed this by an unanimous decision of 100-0. The House voted on it with an overwhelming majority of 381 - 41, with one of the nays being Ron Paul (shameless political mention). I wonder if the MIAA, or RIAA had any say on the matter?

Twitter, MySpace, YouTube..these are all places people love to go and check out what other people are getting into, and what they’re saying. Could these places be hit hard from the current economic crisis that’s effecting the nation?

I think the common sense approach is that, ‘of course it will affect them’. Really looking at the broad scope of things, I think everyone is in potential trouble of the failing economy. But how does some of the immensely popular Web 2.0 sites stack up in terms of survivability?

MySpace - This is one site that most people would be scratching their head at. How could one of the biggest social networking sites fall off?

One word, momentum. MySpace is losing tremendous speed at the moment. With all the problems with bots, and other things plaguing that site I can see why. If something drastic isn’t done at MySpace, I foresee a troublesome future ahead.

Twitter - Twitter’s problems stem from some of what is causing MySpace problems. It’s getting to big that it’s becoming hard to sustain. It doesn’t quite have the bot problem, or problems of the sort. It’s problem comes from too many people, not enough server space.

Also, there have been the numerous reports of Twitter having touble monetizing their efforts. It will take some creative thinking to bring in the money from the millions who do use it.