Josh Marshall has confirmed that the Obama campaign has bought add space in the game Burnout Paradise for the Xbox 360 platform. A screen shot:
“I can confirm that the Obama campaign has paid for in-game advertising in Burnout,” Holly Rockwood, director of corporate communications at Electronic Arts, the game’s publisher, told me via email, noting that EA regularly allows ad placements in their online games. “Like most television, radio and print outlets, we accept advertising from credible political candidates,” she continued. “Like political spots on the television networks, these ads do not reflect the political policies of EA or the opinions of its development teams.”
It was only a matter of time for campaigns to move from MySpace and Facebook to video games. Now, if only the avatar could get out of his/her car, go to a polling station, and vote. Talk about changes to electronic voting. . . .
(I am actually waiting for the day when the 100 million-plus members of MySpace or Facebook will create oraganize themselves into a nation, complete with an elected president or prime minister, and demand entry into the United Nations.)