Obama was a Pong Player

Born August 4, 1961, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has lived through every gaming generation, seen the rise and fall of systems, yet his own experiences are limited to Pong matches from his childhood.

In an attempt to understand the candidate more closely, Entertainment Weekly interviewed Obama on the aspects of his social life. Among questions of who controls the remote in his home (He claimed, "I usually have some clout when it comes to the remote," but Michelle Obama was unavailable for comment) and his favorite childhood sitcoms (M*A*S*H), Entertainment Weekly asked about his gaming experience:

EW: What's the last videogame you played?
Obama: Pong. That gives you a sense of my age. I loved that game.

Those disheartened by Obama's lack of recent gaming experience shouldn't be surprised; the nominee has repeatedly asked parents to "put the videogames away" to "instill a sense of excellence in our children."

Obama is behind on trends in most other mediums as well, with his iPod sporting Bob Dylan and Frank Sinatra and the last movie he has seen being Shrek 3, which he reviewed as "Not as good as the original."

Source: Entertainment Weekly via GamePolitics

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But was he alive when McCain first played that riveting game of Horseshoes?

Good to see he's current on such hot issues.

Yes, I am also glad to see he is current on a housing crises, a stagnant economy, environmental crises, a racially divided county, and two bloody international interventions. I really don't think video gaming is/should be at the top of his list for good reason.

There seem to be very few politicians who have played any video game that came out in the last 10 years (or at least admit it.)

I think he's just trying to score points with parents. There are two kinds of parents; those that play them and enjoy their merits, and those that do not but still have opinions about them. I like to refer to them as undecided voters.

He's probably the one person I could beat on TF2

C'mon Obama! You want my vote! Bring it on!

Lol Obama can have my vote if he can beat me at 1v1 CoD4, starcraft and if he is forced to play WoW for a minimum of 6 months hehe. But seriously thats about the only way I would vote for him (I dont care about his stance on video games at all, but if he could do all 3 of those things I would have to give him my vote as a prize). Otherwise my vote is going to McCain. Yes I am a college student with strong Conservative values and I am still a video game addict.

Abako:
Otherwise my vote is going to McCain.

I want so desperately to kick you in the balls right now.

My opinion on the matter is that I am glad he spends his time focusing on the world at large, and not video games.

Meh, the president is not required to have any hands on experience with games, imo. His advisers (on crime and such) and the legislators however do need it. Sadly it's the lawmakers who are the real clueless ones.

Abako:
Lol Obama can have my vote if he can beat me at 1v1 CoD4, starcraft and if he is forced to play WoW for a minimum of 6 months hehe. But seriously thats about the only way I would vote for him (I dont care about his stance on video games at all, but if he could do all 3 of those things I would have to give him my vote as a prize). Otherwise my vote is going to McCain. Yes I am a college student with strong Conservative values and I am still a video game addict.

McCain? You mean the guy who doesn't even know how to use a computer?

SeaCalMaster:

Abako:
Lol Obama can have my vote if he can beat me at 1v1 CoD4, starcraft and if he is forced to play WoW for a minimum of 6 months hehe. But seriously thats about the only way I would vote for him (I dont care about his stance on video games at all, but if he could do all 3 of those things I would have to give him my vote as a prize). Otherwise my vote is going to McCain. Yes I am a college student with strong Conservative values and I am still a video game addict.

McCain? You mean the guy who doesn't even know how to use a computer?

As I have said previously, I dont really consider the video game issue in my decision with these 2 candidates. Now if it was someone like Hillary, of course it would affect my vote seeing as how she wants to regulate the gaming industry so much that you couldnt release anything more violent than Viva Pinata.

Abako:

SeaCalMaster:

Abako:
Lol Obama can have my vote if he can beat me at 1v1 CoD4, starcraft and if he is forced to play WoW for a minimum of 6 months hehe. But seriously thats about the only way I would vote for him (I dont care about his stance on video games at all, but if he could do all 3 of those things I would have to give him my vote as a prize). Otherwise my vote is going to McCain. Yes I am a college student with strong Conservative values and I am still a video game addict.

McCain? You mean the guy who doesn't even know how to use a computer?

As I have said previously, I don't really consider the video game issue in my decision with these 2 candidates. Now if it were someone like Hillary, of course it would affect my vote seeing as how she wants to regulate the gaming industry so much that you couldn't release anything more violent than Viva Pinata.

Right, but my point wasn't about video games. McCain actually does not know how to use a computer, which might present major challenges for him were he to become President.

Aries_Split:

Abako:
Otherwise my vote is going to McCain.

I want so desperately to kick you in the balls right now.

Zomg Dissenting Opinion. Obvious penalty is a nice hard kick to the balls. Now onto the oppression of human rights and minorities.

I beat Obama at Pong.
Vote for me.

While I am a bit disappointed with his lack of video game experience, I agree that he should focus more on his country's policies. He does have to deal with one of the most powerful nation's economic slumps, the same nation's war efforts and such.

I don't think that it's overly important for him to be in touch with gamers, it's really not a high prioty. I'm from Ingahland, could you guys in America tell me if the proportion of 18-35 year olds (I'm assuming this makes up for the large majority of gamers) who vote is as low as it is in Great Britain.

Thank god he doesn't play videogames, otherwise he might decide to nuke Russia when he's president to later explain before the security council that he was inspired by DefCon.

"I just wanted to see if nuking a foreign power is as easy in real life as in DefCon..."

Tiamat666:
Thank god he doesn't play videogames, otherwise he might decide to nuke Russia when he's president to later explain before the security council that he was inspired by DefCon.

"I just wanted to see if nuking a foreign power is as easy in real life as in DefCon..."

Lol sounds like something good old Jackie boy would say hehe

afrophysics:
I don't think that it's overly important for him to be in touch with gamers, it's really not a high prioty. I'm from Ingahland, could you guys in America tell me if the proportion of 18-35 year olds (I'm assuming this makes up for the large majority of gamers) who vote is as low as it is in Great Britain.

Not registered. >_>

You can tell that democracy has been destroyed if the candidates are elected purely because one of them played videogames as a child and one didn't.

Vote Fire Daemon 08, he played Quake!

Tiamat666:
Thank god he doesn't play videogames, otherwise he might decide to nuke Russia when he's president to later explain before the security council that he was inspired by DefCon.

"I just wanted to see if nuking a foreign power is as easy in real life as in DefCon..."

"They set us up a bomb! I swear!"

The mental image of Obama sitting in front of a small tv playing pong with a child's body is stuck in my head.

i could care less what he plays, seriously when did a candidates choice of video game become newsworthy, christ this country is in trouble

That's why they continuously blame games for the problems in American youth...hahahahaha

Dude, this is Obama trying to "connect" with the American youth...too bad too many of them know more information on the current issues than he does, lol.

josh797:
i could care less what he plays, seriously when did a candidates choice of video game become newsworthy, christ this country is in trouble

I agree that it's a little frivolous, but there are about a hundred other stupid contoversies surrounding these elections.

At least he liked it. Also, Bob Dylan is never out of date.

*gasp!* Barack Obama killed Jack Thompson's little brother! It all make sense now! My, my word, The room is spinning, everything is coming into focus, the whole scheme of things; our economy, our political system, where elephants go to die, they're all connected to one single event in 1979. Oh dear, I feel faint. This is horrible, there just aren't things mere mortals were meant to know!

I need to get some sleep.

It doesn't really matter if Obama is a gamer so much, but it would be nice if more politicians were knowledgeable about gaming, or at least deferred to those who are when it comes to issues of regulating games, or to what degree game influence behaviour, rather than taking a side purely for political gain.

Ploppy:
It doesn't really matter if Obama is a gamer so much, but it would be nice if more politicians were knowledgeable about gaming, or at least deferred to those who are when it comes to issues of regulating games, or to what degree game influence behaviour, rather than taking a side purely for political gain.

Legend has it that if a politician takes a side for something other than political gain an angel gets his wings. Government-subsidized wings.

i don't care about their knowledge of Electronic Entertainment, as long as they don't try to ban it every 5 seconds. that's how they lose my vote.

the day is mine, hillary! suck it long, and suck it hard!

In a way, its a shame they're even allowed a figurehead, wouldn't it be vastly preferable if it was democrats vs republicans, not obama vs mccain?

I think its a bad thing when someone gets a vote because people like them, you're not really voting in a person as such, but a whole party, and all its 'experts' and advisers.

I know it'd be a big change, but the amount of speculation when it was hilary vs obama, as to the votes being decided on if people were more racist or sexist was a bit scary. (that's SOME people, btw, I'm not tarring all americans with the idiocy brush.)

But would it not be better to be presented with a list of their policies and then choose a party, not base it on who has the better image and sales patter during speeches?

As for videogames, Are Microsoft and EA both american, along with many many other companies in the industry? Maybe Bill Hicks should throw some of his millions into someone's campaign fund if they'll run on treating the industry like its more mature than Nerf. But then, noo, there'd never be any bribery or corruption in politics.

SenseOfTumour:
In a way, it's a shame they're even allowed a figurehead. Wouldn't it be vastly preferable if it were Democrats vs. Republicans, not Obama vs McCain?

I think it's a bad thing when someone gets a vote because people like them, you're not really voting in a person as such, but a whole party, and all its 'experts' and advisers.

Not really. You seem to be confusing the American political system with the English political system. Our having a Democratic President does not necessarily mean that Democrats will control Congress. Many people actually prefer divided governments; plus, the President is not obligated to agree with his party, nor is he required to appoint Cabinet members from his party. In a way, choosing Obama or McCain is simultaneously electing the advisers, but it's not like the DNC and RNC choose the advisers for them.

SenseOfTumour:
I know it'd be a big change, but the amount of speculation when it was Hillary vs. Obama, as to the votes being decided on if people were more racist or sexist, was a bit scary. (That's SOME people, btw; I'm not tarring all Americans with the idiocy brush.)

But would it not be better to be presented with a list of their policies and then choose a party, not base it on who has the better image and sales patter during speeches?

That would be much better. Unfortunately, America is not quite so unique that the majority of its people are spared from the stupid virus. Most people don't understand the complex issues at hand, so they either vote on general ideological lines or, in the case of the real idiots, which one they "feel" will be a better President based on frivolities. It would be nice to discourage the major idiots from voting, but in this country we have this idea that everyone is entitled to vote regardless of whether they are making an informed decision. The media, of course, realizes that more people will pay attention if they're talking about arugula than if they focus on the issues, so they stay superficial in order to get more ad revenue.

SenseOfTumour:
As for video games, Are Microsoft and EA both American, along with many many other companies in the industry? Maybe Bill Hicks should throw some of his millions into someone's campaign fund if they'll run on treating the industry like its more mature than Nerf. But then, noo, there'd never be any bribery or corruption in politics.

Yes, Microsoft and EA are both American, as are the plurality of the major game manufacturers. As for Bill Hicks, I don't know what a comedian has to do with the video game industry. Did you mean Bill Gates? If so, he'd probably be more concerned with piracy and international relations than with legislation regarding video games. Plus, the maximum amount one person is allowed to give to a political campaign is $2300. Small additional amounts could probably be swept under the rug, but no one would be fooled if one of the candidates just suddenly received a few extra million.

In all, video games are an extremely trivial matter compared to other issues, so I don't think it should be a big deal what the candidates think.