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Yes, The Political Machine 2012 is coming

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Yes, The Political Machine 2012 is coming

from JoeUser Forums

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I’ve been getting a lot of emails in recent weeks asking if Stardock is going to make a 2012 edition of The Political Machine.  The answer is: YES. 

The Political Machine is a PC strategy game where players run for President. You can play against a computer opponent (which is fun) or against a human over the Internet (which is sick fun).  This year, we’re doing things with it a bit differently. It’s going to focus just on the 2012 election (rather than throwing in historical elections and fantasy elections which tended to dilute the experience) so that we can make it available at a much lower price – $6.95 to pre-order.

While The Political Machine has always been designed to be a “game” first, its statistical model is robust enough that it’s been used in schools to help teach players about Presidential elections.

This year’s election is looking particularly exciting.  As some may recall, the game accurately predicted the results in 49 out of 50 states in 2004 (the original edition) and predicted the results in 2008 as well – months before the election in both cases.

Here’s the home page:

https://www.politicalmachine.com/

Here’s the official announcement:

https://www.stardock.com/about/newsitem.asp?id=2717

101,380 views 43 replies
Reply #26 from Sins Forums Top

Awesome!

 

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Reply #28 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 20

You can even go on the Colbert Report in the game.
End of Frogboy's quote

 

Have you thought about sending a message to Stephen Colbert to wind up on his show and show off the game? He loves stuff that includes him or likenesses of him!!! You would instantly get a huge following just from the show alone that would buy the game.

 

Just saying. ;)

Reply #29 from Elemental Forums Top


Just pre-ordered.   Love a good election game! :thumbsup: ....I think?  

Reply #30 from Stardock Forums Top

Aaawwwwww!  No fantasy elections?  That was one of my favorite parts!  (The historical ones rocked pretty hard, too.)

But, I understand that it's getting pretty late in the game, as it were, to get this installment out.  A lean, mean, fighting Political Machine is better than none at all.

Reply #31 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting boshimi336, reply 28

Quoting Frogboy, reply 20
You can even go on the Colbert Report in the game.
 

Have you thought about sending a message to Stephen Colbert to wind up on his show and show off the game? He loves stuff that includes him or likenesses of him!!! You would instantly get a huge following just from the show alone that would buy the game.

 

Just saying.
End of boshimi336's quote

 

I agree, I think it would be some fun publicity :p

 

 

Hmm. Does this mean perhaps Brad Wardell will appear on the show? Well probably not, but at least he could show off the game for a minute or two between guests :)

Reply #32 from PolMach Forums Top

I'm waiting a Political Machine Game with Primaries... Like a minor and funnier version of the President Forever Game.

Please Stardock make this!

Reply #33 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Superique, reply 32
I'm waiting a Political Machine Game with Primaries... Like a minor and funnier version of the President Forever Game.

Please Stardock make this!
End of Superique's quote

 

I do like a nice dose of vigorous snark, especially when it's dead on accurate. :)

Reply #34 from Elemental Forums Top

I want to make a Russian Mod where you take out all the voting and just alternate the real president with the puppet one every decade or so.

Reply #35 from PolMach Forums Top

Really, I'm not kidding. What is the dificult part of doing primaries? The same national map, your awareness should increase when you win on a state  and  it should have the momentum thing. And we also need a debate, that would be nice, specially on multiplayer!

 

Maybe political endorsements from other politicians.... I don't but it seems to me that this new game will be an evolution, Gamers deserve a Revolution! :P

Reply #36 from PolMach Forums Top

Are the screenshots on the Political Machine 2012 site from the actual game? It has Romney vs Obama but I was hoping not because it looks identical to the 2008 version. I enjoyed 2008 but have been patiently waiting for its strengths to be built on and for Stardock to take it from good to great with 2012. So I'm hoping TPM 2012 will not just be a repackaged 2008 with updated candidates and issues that also happens to strip out features from the previous version. I already have 2008, after all, I don't care to buy it again. I know you guys are busy with the aftermath of the Elemental disaster but I hope 2012 gets more than a half-hearted attempt to cash in on the election season.

And why, why must you stick with those awful looking bobble heads?

Reply #37 from Stardock Forums Top
I would like to know if the new game includes primary battles as that would increase the fun and strategizing involved in game play. It would also better reflect the real world as the AI and the gamer would both be forced to take into account ideological shifts and intra-party insurgencies such as the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street.
 
For example, suppose that we could have primary options on the GOP side in which we could not only pit Romney against Gingrich and Santorum, but what about a race that would see Rockefeller run against Goldwater for the soul of the Republican Party, or a race in which the player can pit their own customized Eisenhower against Reagan? On the Democratic side we could have Bobby Kennedy run against Johnson in a replay of 1968, and we could have FDR campaigning against Bill Clinton?
 
Does the existence of PM2012 mean that PM2008 will be wiped out, or we can continue to play both? Moreover, what about the Win-Customized candidates from PM2008? Can we transfer them to 2012? If not, are there any plans to allow people to upload their own candidates? I would also like to know why some of the uploaded candidates were stronger than the ones in the game [Josiah Bartlett and Leo McGarry from West Wing in particular] and how we could design our own candidates with enhanced statistics.

 
I would like it if issues such as War on Drugs, Free Trade, Nuclear Disarmament, Diplomacy with China, Student Debt, Humanitarian Intervention, Arab Spring, Democracy Promotion, Natural Gas Exploration, Nuclear Energy Expansion, Stem Cell Research, Contraception in Health Plans, Wall Street Reform, Tax Reform, Grand Bargain and more are included in the game in addition to those already mentioned.
 
 
Also, can we buy it as a disc rather than a download purchase? The Internet speed is weak where I live.
 
Most importantly,I would like to know if the system requirements match my computer;
 
HP Compaq Presario CQ61
 
Windows 7 Home Premium [64-bit]
802.11b/g WLAN
320GB [5400RPM]HARD DRIVE
ATI RADEON HD4200 GRAPHICS with 128MB DDR2 Display Cache
5 in 1 Digital Media Reader
3072MB DDR2 SDRAM [2Dimm]
AMD TURION II DUAL CORE MOBILE PROCESSOR M500 [2.2GHz 1MB L2 Cache]
Thank you
 
 
Reply #38 from Stardock Forums Top
I would like to know if the new game includes primary battles as that would increase the fun and strategizing involved in game play. It would also better reflect the real world as the AI and the gamer would both be forced to take into account ideological shifts and intra-party insurgencies such as the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street.
 
For example, suppose that we could have primary options on the GOP side in which we could not only pit Romney against Gingrich and Santorum, but what about a race that would see Rockefeller run against Goldwater for the soul of the Republican Party, or a race in which the player can pit their own customized Eisenhower against Reagan? On the Democratic side we could have Bobby Kennedy run against Johnson in a replay of 1968, and we could have FDR campaigning against Bill Clinton?
 
Does the existence of PM2012 mean that PM2008 will be wiped out, or we can continue to play both? Moreover, what about the Win-Customized candidates from PM2008? Can we transfer them to 2012? If not, are there any plans to allow people to upload their own candidates? I would also like to know why some of the uploaded candidates were stronger than the ones in the game [Josiah Bartlett and Leo McGarry from West Wing in particular] and how we could design our own candidates with enhanced statistics.

 
I would like it if issues such as War on Drugs, Free Trade, Nuclear Disarmament, Diplomacy with China, Student Debt, Humanitarian Intervention, Arab Spring, Democracy Promotion, Natural Gas Exploration, Nuclear Energy Expansion, Stem Cell Research, Contraception in Health Plans, Wall Street Reform, Tax Reform, Grand Bargain and more are included in the game in addition to those already mentioned.
 
 
Also, can we buy it as a disc rather than a download purchase? The Internet speed is weak where I live.
 
Most importantly,I would like to know if the system requirements match my computer;
 
HP Compaq Presario CQ61
 
Windows 7 Home Premium [64-bit]
802.11b/g WLAN
320GB [5400RPM]HARD DRIVE
ATI RADEON HD4200 GRAPHICS with 128MB DDR2 Display Cache
5 in 1 Digital Media Reader
3072MB DDR2 SDRAM [2Dimm]
AMD TURION II DUAL CORE MOBILE PROCESSOR M500 [2.2GHz 1MB L2 Cache]
Thank you
 
Reply #39 from Elemental Forums Top

Hi Timothy!

As far a I know, the game will be download only, but I'll try and see if a burn-to-disc option is going to be made available.  Also, no primaries I'm afraid :(

 

I'll get someone more knowledgable to come in and anwer your other questions (it's a long weekend for Memorial Day, so thanks for your patience, and thanks for your interest in the game!).

Reply #40 from Sins Forums Top

Honestly I lol at these types of games. It is like they are going to release a video about the Olympic games in like July and it is going to be crap. I mean if it takes like hundreds of staff, not including people who are doing the polling. and video games are suppose to imitate real life, how can one with a low budget and doesn't take a mainframe to process the data be accurate?! It is like people who play COD think they can shoot a gun in real life just because they get like 20 headshots in a match.

Reply #41 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting ice27828, reply 40
Honestly I lol at these types of games. It is like they are going to release a video about the Olympic games in like July and it is going to be crap. I mean if it takes like hundreds of staff, not including people who are doing the polling. and video games are suppose to imitate real life, how can one with a low budget and doesn't take a mainframe to process the data be accurate?! It is like people who play COD think they can shoot a gun in real life just because they get like 20 headshots in a match.
End of ice27828's quote

Hundreds of staff ... mainframe ...

Hahaha.

No.

EDIT: On second thought the mainframe may be needed if you are doing realtime analyzes with lots of new incoming data every minute. Like you do on voting day. Are you comparing a game with realtime analyzes or just standard polling procedures (every month or so)?

Reply #42 from Sins Forums Top

No I am saying the voting and setting your message takes more than just a computer AI with set programmed parameters. These things can't be replicated on a computer level.

Reply #43 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting ice27828, reply 42
No I am saying the voting and setting your message takes more than just a computer AI with set programmed parameters. These things can't be replicated on a computer level.
End of ice27828's quote

Of course not, but it's possible to match a lot of what's in the 1000 yard view, and make the game interesting.  Simulating something in gameplay is tricky, because your paintbrush can only be so small, so to speak.  The trick is getting as much detail as you can with that size brush.  You'll never end up with photo quality, but if you do it right, you can at least tell what the painting is supposed to be.  And in game terms, as long as it's fun, the missed details don't matter as much.