Stardock has released The Political Machine 2008, the highly anticipated follow-up to its 2004 smash hit. The Political Machine 2008 is a PC game that puts players in control of the 2008 presidential campaign. Play as the campaign manager for a host of candidates including Barack Obama, John McCain, Hillary Clinton, historical candidates or design one from scratch. Players choose their campaign battlegrounds and are off on the campaign trail to face a host of challenges including fundraising, talk show appearances, hiring spin doctors and winning endorsements. The game is won on Election Day by the player who gets the necessary electoral votes to become President.
The Political Machine is both a single- and multiplayer game - players can either compete against the computer or against others online on www.politicalmachine.com. The website also provides an ideologically neutral location for users to discuss the current election. The game is available at major U.S. retail outlets as well as directly from www.politicalmachine.com for $19.95. It requires Wndows XP or Windows Vista to play.