@randygbk: I don't think it's because he's a conservative, but the fact he's supporting the Republicans and John McCain. Neither really represent conservative ideals and they are so corrupt that quite frankly I'd expect someone like him to see through it.

McGaveson

@kojirodensetsu: Right there with ya.

mablung

@3x3gamer: Me, on the other hand, now intends to buy Spore and Sims.

Strong Arm

This is a good argument for this stuff being private as I can see this keeping me from wanting to buy any of his future games.

Crowbot

Someone's political views should not be the determining factor of whether you give them your business or not. You don't choose a mechanic because he is conservative. Likewise you wouldn't not go to your doctor or have a surgery performed by someone just because they backed a specific candidate. I'm looking at you '3x3gamer' and to 'ninjacor' Will Wright is entitled to his opinion and it should not be considered "Dirt". If you sum up anyone or anything based on one data point then you are doing yourself a big disservice.

randygbk

@Heliophage:
"I'm smart, you're dumb. I'm big, you're small. I'm right, you're wrong. And there's nothing you can do about it!"

OriginalGman

Just lost a lot of respect for Will Wright.

Who would've expected someone who made a game based on evolution to donate to a conservative political party that doesn't believe in the theory.

/Come to think of it, they don't think that we're the cause of global warming. (If it exists, according to them.) Guess he needs to rethink that whole terraforming part of the game, as well.

jared11889

Even as a Democrat, I don't understand how people can consider it a negative attribute to have differing political philosophies. He's supporting John McCain, not neo-nazis.

Heliophage

Without getting into too much of a political debate (though it will happen anyways) It is interesting to see the popularity contest winning.

Hand_O_Death

Really, the right is going after Take-Two's games? All I ever hear about are Democrats like Clinton and Lieberman going after them.

fearing

Who in their right mind would give money to Guilliani?? That guy might as well have the word UNDERLING tattooed on his forehead.

h-town

Three donations to the Republicans? It's more than I'd have expected.

Gofthick

I gave money to Ron Paul in the primaries. Not much but hey it was the first presidential candidate I gave money to.

kojirodensetsu

So, so sad.

/Didn't buy Spore. Not going to now.

//Maybe I'll pirate it.

3x3gamer

Knew there had to be some dirt to be found on will Wright somewhere...

ninjaconor

I think my favorite political position that people take is the 'We're fucked either way, I can't believe you support (candidate x) because he's the same as (candidate y).'

I, for one, welcome our corrupt overlords. Though I won't be giving money like these fine chaps have.

ServiceMaster

@Dayvie and @jared11889: McCain said he "believed in evolution" while at the same time believing that "God created evolution."

In a sense, it's the premise of Spore.

Frank

@wonder6oy: I'd follow ANYONE over a cliff as long as it keeps Palin out of office. "Golly gee, gosh darnit, I could be President *wink. OMG, witches!"

Gray665

wow another game site that has tons of liberal users, never seen that before... nice to see will wright and the activision guy support mccain

ThisIsJackBauer

Politics and world news never work well on games related sites due to a majority of the people who frequent them not knowing ANYTHIHG about the subjects.

Seriously people, stick with the stuff you know: Video games and shut up about the the stuff you are hopelessly aloof at: Politics.

SamuelJackson1

Look - we aren't here to judge. I wish Kotaku never posted something as stupid as this. This is something STAR magazine would do.

Please keep political affiliations out of this: I come here to read about games and NOT ABOUT POLITICS.

Kempatsu

@jared11889: Spore clearly isn't based on evolution. You decide how it goes, hence it's intelligent design.

dragon

Oh, so we're supposed to believe Will Wright is a champion of science, and he contributes to McCain/Palin? The VP candidate that in the latest debate said she has no clue what causes global warming but still says she can help?

I'm not even going to read or respond to the other comments, I shouldn't get too riled up on a game blog.

themunk

@undefined:

Yeah, it's not like people oppose abortion or any number of other issues. Nope, it's all about the money.

Nitroid

@Maudite: Well put, now we need to develop Smokey "The Kotaku Fire" Fish figure head to stop comment trolling LOL.

Hand_O_Death

I can't believe people will seriously stop buying games because one person at the development company made such-and-such a donation. Why not boycott all American games from the last eight years because Americans elected Bush as their President/Mouthpiece of God? Why not boycott all Japanese games because of Pearl Harbour?

PenguinJim

@kojirodensetsu:

Buy the damn game. Pirating it would just be helping prove the naysayers right when they say "piracy is killing PC gaming".

Will Wright is a self-described atheist, so he's certainly not a wierdo evangelical Republican. He's probably just part of the dying breed of small-Government Republicans (something of an oxymoron these days).

I could understand boycotting a product if it was produced by a company that donated to extremist political causes, but that's not the case here.

In any case, Brian Eno (the game's composer) is an advisor to the UK Liberal Democratic party. The Lib Dems are usually categorised as part of the centre-left in the UK, and many of their views are decidedly left-wing by US standards.

And EA's CEO donated money to Obama.

I'm sure a wide-range of political views are represented by the people involved with the game.

Marlor

So the impeccable Will Wright isn't as perfect as you'd hoped, nerds.

dragon

Wow - you Obama supporters really would follow him right off the edge of a cliff, wouldn't you?

I for one would not deny any of these fine folks my business based off of their candidates of choice. That there are so many here that would is so sad on so many levels.

wonder6oy

please keep politics out of here Kotaku you know it never ends well. I come here for gaming news not politics. Stick to what you know how to do not this.

taftsearlobe33

ROFL @ the people calling one political party more corrupt and not the other.

EnigmaNemesis

The rich and the greedy support McCain. What a surprise!

Orionsaint

@Me: Btw... here's a link to the original article:

[www.gamepolitics.com]

The list, as McCauley very clearly states, was culled from publicly available records.

geminibros

@3x3gamer: @Strong Arm:
If politics changes your mind on which games to buy then there is something wrong.

Quicksilver4648

@Strong Arm: lol@jared11889: When you think about it, Spore is more about intelligent design than evolution.

Grumpz®

Hmm, explains a lot of his moves, lately.

lumpi

Some more first-class fact-checking from Kotaku. Dennis McCauley of GamePolitics.com did all of the legwork for this particular list, as the Develop article so clearly states.

Did you actually read the article or did you just skim it and copy/paste the list?

Bravo guys... bravo.

geminibros

booo!
I disagree with something in this article.

*zips mouth*

"Only you can prevent Kotaku fires."

Maudite

@jared11889:

Didn't you know that computer games aren't real??

/sarcasm

Seriously though, it is a bit retarded. Hypocritical, much?

Dayvie

A lot of you are being way too short sighted. Truth be told, we have no idea why these people contributed money. Its ridiculous to say you aren't going to purchase a developers games because he himself personally gave money. So, instead of sounding like idiot Democrats, giving the party a bad name, recognize that fact.

NLMantia

@Marlor: I think you just commented on the wrong guy there.

Acebuckeye13

@Kempatsu: Grow up, pal.

Anarchist_Gamer

Gotta love the "Vote for Obama or you're stupid" logic.

Will Wright, you just got +100 awesome points with me.

AdeptVoice

I thought Will Wright was supposed to be smart? I guess you can't put an IQ to political beliefs - and the nonsense that informs them.

Anarchist_Gamer

When you think about it, Will Wright supporting republicans makes perfect sense. Since in the sims you control peoples private lives and cheat for more money.

bobeotm

@Frank: Hmm. Weird coding placed my reply here. >_> Sorry.

Frank

@FourthStooge:

Yeah - I really wish it WAS funny.

wonder6oy

@PenguinJim: You know I never thought about that, damn and here I am supporting Japan. I better go sell my Wii, DS, and PS3.

Xer0Ph0kus

Nice to see Will Wright supporting McCain

corvette53p

@FourthStooge: I realize that this is a gaming and games blog so I will keep this to two words: Liberal Media.

th3-1nf1d3l

@Gray665:

Witches.

Oh brother.

wonder6oy

That's funny. I've never heard McCain mention videogames so I'm not sure how he is a villain in this, unless you subscribe to the conspiracy theory that all Republicans are evil.

I have, however, heard a lot of negativity from Hilary, Joe Lieberman and Obama. Funny how that works.

On a side note, I have heard McCain speak in favor of reform of Freddia Mac and Fannie Mae (over 5 years ago). Not one word from Obama. Ever. And McCain is being blamed for the mortgage meltdown. Funny how that works.

FourthStooge

@OriginalGman:

Telekinesis > Politics

Heliophage

@jared11889: Congratulations! You've successfully generalized the beliefs of a few to an entire political party. Stupid Republicans, all making millions of dollars every year trying to screw the poor man and corrupt our science systems while destroying the Earth with their awful greenhouse gasses!

Except oh wait, some Republicans do none of the above, and some Democrats do everything you just mentioned. I'm not even a Republican and I know this, so I'd expect you'd be able to know this too. Please don't overgeneralize, be it about politics, gaming, or anything else.

Saxboy

Darn it Shawn Elliot, why'd you have to leave for 2K Boston!? This whole comments section is ripe for a Heroes of the Web!

SwimOdin

Yeah, so what if Will Wright is a republican or supports John McCain. That should definitely not make you want to stop buying games from one of the most innovative game developers of our time, even if he's a greedy troll.

Thirok

@etchasketchist: Exactly. Boycotting is a lost art, and it needs to be revived. You won't hear either party say that.

scrapeape

@Heliophage:

Neo-cons are almost as bad.

Lucidity

CEOs contributing to Republicans and Democrats should be alarming to everyone. Essentially, corporations are the biggest campaign contributors, putting themselves in the favor of both parties and candidates.

With that said, as consumers, boycotting IS one of the most essential ways of influencing the system. Look at the Spore DRM issue.

The legislation on CFCs and Dolphin Safe Tuna all started out with boycotts of the products. Car manufacturers are starting to change their tunes about fuel efficiency because everyone's buying the smallest cars. If only more people boycotted more often, in a more organized and focused fashion.

As for myself, I say down with the status-quo Republicrats. The two dominant parties are like the Apple/Microsoft binary of gov't; they're just two flavors of the same thing. We need an open-source, "Linux" solution.

We also need a reform of the electoral process: if the Green or Libertarian party receives 3% of the vote, they should get 3% of the seats in congress, etc. This is how it's done in Iceland, for instance.

scrapeape

@Acebuckeye13: How many Michael Moore DVD's and Dixie Chicks albums do you own?

etchasketchist

Drama! Nobody will boycott his games because of this. Hardly anyone will even read or remember this article.

This discussion is completely harmless and noneffective. Don't get emotional over it. Don't post or read if you don't wanna loose virtual internet friends over it.

I lost most of my respect for Will Wright since the 10th expansion pack for The Sims. I lost all my respect when he blatantly stated that he'd rather make the most money than a greatest game.

Even if he gave a million to Obama, it wouldn't have any impact on my opinion about him.

lumpi

@NLMantia: Who cares about "why"? If you give money to the McCain campaign you're giving material support to people who oppose the Democratic party's agenda. It is completely reasonable (admittedly symbolic and probably ineffective) to try to deny Will Wright or any other politically active businessman the money they need to promote the McCain campaign. Whatever his reasons, he gave McCain cash money which McCain is using for his own purposes. I don't like those purposes so I'm not going to use my limited funds to add to a cashflow which goes through Wil Wright and into John McCain's pocket. Same reason I don't smoke cigarettes or drink Coors or shop at Walmart. You say: "Its ridiculous to say you aren't going to purchase a developers games because he himself personally gave money." and pretend like that's some kind of "fact". To which I retort, "uh, not really."

etchasketchist

@Crowbot: Yeah, because that was Will Wright's decision. Please... That was a company level publishing decision, not a dev issue.

randygbk

Go Obama!

I'm not going to boycott over this, or anything like that. That would be silly and immature.

But, I do appreciate those with the sense to support a president who will help us get out of the hole the Republicans have buried us in.

Ansem

@th3-1nf1d3l: This has to be an ironic post.

Do people still use the whole "Liberal Media" shtick seriously anymore? There is no Liberal or Conservative media. It's only scapegoat used by those who have a victim complex.

The news networks only serve to get ratings not to blindly follow an ideology. If acting conservative one day gets them ratings then they'll continue to do just that until they need to demonstrate a liberal slant in order to remain "Fair and Balanced" or keep the trademark "No Bias. No Bull"

SamuelJackson1

@Anarchist_Gamer: Why? Because he's voicing a legitimate concern?

Acebuckeye13

I've just lost all respect for Mr. Wright.

AuthenticM

@Anarchist_Gamer: You, obviously, for generalizing like that.

Acebuckeye13

@FourthStooge: It's strange that the Democratic party has for so long been the staunchest of supporters for free speech when it comes to film, but when it comes to video games the Democratic leadership is the first and the loudest to call for censorship.

Vaegrin

The fact that so many people here are saying "I'm not going to buy the sims anymore because the rebuplicans are evil" is embrassing. We all have our own political veiws, and saying crap like that makes you look retarded. Seriously, I support McCain, but that doesn't mean I think that Obama's a secret musilum extremist or anything!

Acebuckeye13

@Anarchist_Gamer: Assuming that anyone who disagrees with you must simply be stupid is pure closed mindedness.

Vaegrin

@undefined: yeah...my thoughts exactly...

Tipper Gore, Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman...all quite strongly left of center

mAaron

@jared11889: I'm somewhere on moderate/republican but I definitely do not have those kind of republican views. I'm prochoice, heavily supportive of stem cell research, all for animal testing and human testing, supporter of evolution, and I believe that the rich are rich because they earned it (most). Also, seriously? global warming, this topic is controversial. Facts have proven that we are at a time when carbon dioxide in the atmosphere but it's also true that the pollution isn't helping us. 30 years back, there was the scared of the next ice age. I see things more conservatively than most people in NYC but if you think all republicans believe the same, you're quite closed minded.

UltimateIdiot

@AdeptVoice: One ticket doesn't believe in evolution or global warming. One ticket does. You tell me which can arguably be considered "stupid".

Anarchist_Gamer

@McGaveson: Joh McCain's corrupt? first I've heard about it, and I go to the bbc every day.

Acebuckeye13

@dragon: Well the DRM mess already proved that...

Crowbot

@jared11889: Yeah, really. I've decided; I don't believe in evolution either so I'll no longer vote for McCain, I'll go for Obama. But wait, I don't believe in stricter gun laws so I can't vote for anybody now cause it's contradictory. Fuck.

Look at the politics for Obama if you're going to vote for him or whoever you originally wanted to win and I doubt you'll agree with anyone 100% on their politics.

That said, I think it's pretty poor practice to not buy a game from someone that supports a different party. Shutting people out because of their beliefs is the definition of ignorance. Necessary change to benefit the well-being of us all as Americans requires action, not inaction.

Absent Blue

@Orionsaint: I'm sad to say that our richer, greedier counterparts support Mr. Hussien-Obama.

pyromaniac

I really didn't want to know this stuff. Now idiots everywhere like jared11889 will have a reason not to buy a really good game. Leave politics out of my videogames thanks.

Another thing. If you're one of those retards that thinks one party is more corrupt then the other you have a lot of growing up to do. I don't care who you support I can assure you they have lied and probably done some nasty things.

I could make this post sooo much longer but I am already mad reading some of the stupid ass comments posted and don't want to bother dealing with the unintelligent people this will attract.

ReVivAL

I find it amazing that some of you think the rich back McCain because of greed. Let me tell you, I'll be the first to say I don't like McCain (although I equally hate Obama), but from the perspective of someone who grew up in a 'rich' home, hear me out. I suspect most of you on Kotaku (myself included) work entry-level jobs. You make on the order of 6 or 700 dollars a month and the government takes about 1/3 of that in income tax. In high school, my father made about 275,000 dollars a year, and about 175,000 of that was taken in income tax. For those of you who can't do the math, that's nearly 2/3 of his annual income. Obama wants to raise that rate even further. Some of you may be thinking, "Hey, 100,000 dollars! He doesn't need that money!" Well, first of all, even if we didn't need all that money it was money my father earned every year. It didn't just fall on his lap while he was sleeping. I remember for long stretches of time my dad would get 3 or 4 hours of sleep a night. I know some of you are thinking that you get a similar amount, but before he saw a nickel of that he had to go to college for 6 years to get his master's degree. He was in deep, deep debt before he even started his career.

My dad started out around what the average professional starts out at, 60,000 dollars a year. A good 30,000 of that was gobbled up by income tax alone. After that, he had to not only pay for his home, food for him and his wife, appliances, monthly payments on his debt, insurance, and etc. After all that, he was still deeply in debt and ended up with nothing at the end of every month. Over time, his wages slowly went up. People, recognized he was one of the best at what he did. He only managed to pay off all his debt by the time I was born. That's nearly 10 years after college. Finally, around the time I was born, he started putting money into savings and was getting ready to move into a nicer home. For all the years of sacrifice, hard work, and debt my dad had endured, he, my mom, my two brothers, and my sister had been living in a very small and run-down condo. It was only around the time I was born that we moved somewhere else. My dad didn't want to get into debt again, so he waited to move until he had all the money we needed to pay off the morgage immediately. After many years of hard work, and around the time I was 12, we moved into a 300,000 dollar home. It's something my father had worked for for over 20 years.

We were finally able to afford 2 good cars for my mom and my dad. Finally, we were putting money into the bank faster than it was coming out. Here's the kicker, the government only leaves you enough money to survive a very small rainy day. As I mentioned before, my dad was making 275,000 dollars a year. After income tax, it was 100,000 dollars. After all the other kinds of taxes (property, sales, insurance, vehicular), taking care of the whole family, and various other things. We ended up with around 25,000 dollars a year. Over a long time, that turned into about 150,000 dollars stored in the bank, but you'd be surprised how fast that will disappear.

We didn't know for a while that our social security fund was being taxed, that's another 8 years before my dad could retire. Soon, my sister started struggling with depression and a hardcore form of bi-polar. Even with health insurance, we still had to pay a ridiculous amount for all the times she was hospitalized. Not to mention, she had countless bouts with the law, forcing my parents to spend ridiculous amounts of money on lawers for her. Suddenly, she came after the family itself. We were bound by law to pay for a lawer for her and pay for a lawer ourselves.

After all of that, we had no money in the bank and we were in the red 25,000 dollars.

Obama would like you to believe that people who make more than 275,000 dollars a year are just swimming in money, but what he's really doing is manipulating your desire for more to get you to vote for him. The fact of the matter is, we are already taxed a LOT. All of my parents' children have moved out now, it will be several years before my dad can even hope to retire. It has been characterized to people that the rich were just sitting around when tons of money fell into their laps. Let me tell you, my dad was the hardest working person I've EVER known, and in the end we still had hard times.

What democrats plan to do is take money from the rich and give it to the poor so we're all on an even plain. Sounds an awful lot like communism to me. The idea that regardless of how much work, sacrifice, time, and sweat you've put into your career, you'll end up with the same amount of money as someone who works at McDonalds. You see, the reality is, the 'rich' people you like to mock so much aren't the greedy ones. It's all the people who don't feel like making sacrifices that just want a free handout, no questions asked.

I'm more than aware, there are tough situations out there, single moms and so forth, but we're hanging on the the last strand of capitalism we have left, and some people want to let it go.

tehflyingwombat

@etchasketchist:

Well hypothetically, what if every other person at Maxis gave money to the DNC, with Wright being the lone exception. Wouldn't your boycott be hurting those employees who would be donating themselves? Now if the list said "Maxis gave $$$ to RNC" I would understand your argument, otherwise, it shows narrow-mindedness.

NLMantia

1) How can anyone in their right mind, in the comments section here, I'm exempting the business criminals from this, but people, in these damned comment sections... how can anyone of you justify giving AID MONEY to corrupt, terrible, RICH, monsters? I mean, how? What the hell kind of terrible leap of logic did yo make to make you think they needed it?

2) If you support any of these political criminals, you're just as bad as the other.

orentholjames

@ninjaconor:
Yeah, I'm a little disappointed in him.

Pantsman

What the hell Newell?? Dodd???

I'd forgive you for giving to Obama, Biden, or Hillary. But Dodd?

cametall

@Acebuckeye13: did I just say that politcal system in Iceland is completely different then Iceland? Wow, I'm slow today.

Acebuckeye13

@scrapeape: That's because the politcal system in Iceland is completely different then Iceland. If the Green party wants seats in congress, they have to campaign at the local level, not national. That's how representative democracy works.

Acebuckeye13

@PenguinJim:

very true. which console maker said that 5 million of their loyal followers will buy their new console even if there aren't any games available for it?

hint: Japanese based company
hint: Isn't nintendo

kneehighspy

@etchasketchist: I think that both Micheal Moore and the Dixie Chicks posses about half the brainpower of a retarded monkey.

Acebuckeye13

@kneehighspy: We more than payed back the Japanese. I don't buy stuff from people that hate me (or vice versa) if I can help it and since this is videogames we're talking about I can afford to miss quite a bit.

Crowbot

@Quicksilver4648: 100% agreed. People should take themselves less seriously.

antialias02

Rabble Rabble Rabble!!!

Centorz

@Acebuckeye13: Right, and I said "reform," as in change. + it could start locally. They are using the same system for local gov't elections in a district outside of Chicago.

scrapeape

@Lucidity:

As well as ones who want to strip civil liberties.

EnigmaNemesis

Boycotting games seems a little extreme, but if you don't agree with someone you have that option. Calling someone stupid for not supporting someone in the game industry seems a little brash. It's their choice.

Personally I'm voting for Obama. He's actually talking to the country about the issues that are going to matter in the future, education, environemnt, and pulling ourselves out of a losing battle.

McCain? Yeah he abandoned his first wife and son when she was in the hospital after a car accident. He abandoned her for the woman he was having an affair with.

Oh, and he want to tax your heath benefits, and give Exxon a 4 billion dollar tax break.

Palin? She is quoted as saying Jesus is going to come back to earth in her lifetime... so yeah, not even going to touch that.

Bluur

@Orionsaint:

Yes, because Obama is scrounging to buy on the dollar menu.

EnigmaNemesis

I'm not gonna play a video game because the lead designer has different political views than me! ROFL OMG WTF!!

dowingba

@Heliophage: As in most cases, timing is everything here. If he gave money to McCain back before August then I have absolutely no problem. McCain isn't a bad guy, I just disagree with him on most things.

If he gave money to McCain after Palin was selected as VP, then that is something I have an issue with.

GodBen

Brightest man in the industry ;)

As for the comment about right wing culture warriors, let's not forget who has and hasn't hitched their wagon to the dearly disbarred Mr. Thompson.

The right-wing pundants may be more likely to come down on videogames, but it's the politicians on the left (the ones actually making policy) that get all worked up over how no one is thinking of the children.

Hell, just look at the democrats left slugging it out at the end of the primaries. Sen. Clinton has had a relationship with Thompson VERY briefly when she thought it would help her anti-videogame cred. Sen. Obama has never seemed shy about cramming a "get kids away from the videogames" line when working the campaign trail.

I'm not saying you can't support these folks, just that if you take them at face value, they're a larger "threat" to videogames as a medium and to businesses the size of Take Two.

GorbyGipper

@M*A*S*H:

So damn true...

The ENTIRE galaxy is heating up, so those humans on Pluto better stop driving their diesel engines!

EnigmaNemesis

...People here are seriously boycotting people because of who they vote for?

Great. Why not get into the industry? Then you can officially blacklist them for exercising their rights as American citizens!

SuperMaxZero

@jared11889: Newsflash: The Earth's been heating up and cooling down for billions of years. Certainly, we aren't helping matters, but for humanity to suggest it is the originator of such a mammoth and complex process is arrogance indeed.

M*A*S*H

I don't know Wright's political position, but I find it odd a man who created a game about evolution would support a candidate who has a fundy creationist nut as a v.p.

In the hardcore creationist world his game would be banned. This isn't some crazy idea either.... The fruitcake Palin tried to ban books as mayor of Wasilla.

Y0URGOD78

@Gray665: LOL! Is it true she never even had a passport?

Kaneda

@mAaron:
Tipper doesn't represent the opinions of Al (as he's noted from time to time), Hillary was going for the soccer mom vote, and Lieberman's an independent stumping for McCain. None of them are "strongly left of center", in fact I'd be willing to say they all are slightly right of center, but in our current political enviroment, anything less than "BOMB THEM A-RABS" tends to be considered pansy liberal speak. You want left of center politicians? Look at third parties.

Sgoast

@proust: Because he cant have his own opinion unless he shares yours?

Its funny how everyone is ragging on Wright, but all those who backed a democrat ticket on that list are good to go.

mikevanpwn

@Pantsman: I'm a little disappointed in you two for judging someone based on their political beliefs...

Kevin856

Will Wright, with name like that I am so very disappointed. Stick to video games Willy.

proust

@M*A*S*H: Who cares if we are the whole cause of global warming or if we are only encouraging it. We need to slow it down. Like, now. I can't believe some people in still aren't able to take responsibility for global warning. Like a kid standing next to an empty cookie jar with chocolate all over his mouth saying "I didn't do it" when his mom catches him. Who cares if half were already gone. Go get some more cookies, brat.

Kaneda

@Orionsaint: You do realize that the list of people donating to Obama are also quite wealthy?

Illusion

@Bluur:

Money talks, bullshit walks.

EnigmaNemesis

@dragon: Seriously, any game that portrays one cell eating another and then incorporating its DNA is not based on science.

Although one way to look at it isn't that you decide how this species evolves arbitrarily, its that you decide what parameters nature sets on these lifeforms, thus shaping their evolution.

Any game solely based around evolution would be incredibly boring anyways. You pick one planet, then wait for a few billion years and hope to hell that something happens.

AvidAbey

@scrapeape:

Yep, look at all the people who continue to take gas prices up the rear, and do no action, just bitching.

EnigmaNemesis

@McGaveson:

Does Obama represent anything even remotely conservative? Maybe he thinks you can clean up a republican mess easier than the kind left by a democrat.

Of course either way were going to have a big mess after this election.

brokenscope

@Acebuckeye13:

Win!

EnigmaNemesis

@SamuelJackson1:

Yeah, because the equally dirty Biden just gets so much coverage as Palin ... oh wait!

The best thing to happen to Biden and Obama, was Palin being selected by McCain.

EnigmaNemesis

@Bluur: Well I heard Obama eats puppies. And he's actually a robot being controlled by Hillary Clinton. Who also eats puppies. And kittens.

dowingba

@fearing:

Lieberman is not a Democrat.

He used to be, but Connecticut Democrats were tired of him, so they selected another candidate in the primary. Joe ran as an independent and won.

He's a member of the Connecticut for Lieberman party. Party of one.

He is a frequent guest on the McCain's campaign bus, the Straight Talk Express, and was even aboard the bus when it sideswiped and destroyed a minivan.

doubtful

@toadwarrior:

Why do you care? Politics, and politicians alike, are a joke.

Lethal_Dosage

@tehflyingwombat:
The last strand of capitalism? Surely you must be joking. No-one is proposing total redistribution of wealth, an "even plain" as you call it.

Pantsman

Wait... Sam Houser? Isn't he British? Didn't realize foreigners got to fund Presidential campaigns.

BtownDesignGuy

@hezz05: Having said that, I'm not judging anyone. Just posting a comment on whether you can or cannot.

hezz05

@fearing:
You have to think of it this way: Technology in general is not a republican thing, that's usually more on the democratic side. Video games being technology and a new medium makes it more accepted by democrats in general then by republicans. Of course there will be cases from each side that see it differently then the others from their party, but overall, dems are more accepting of change and new technology.

Darkest Daze

@Kevin856: Well, it does say a lot about someone. I mean, it's not 'just' political beliefs, there's more to it than that. He's supporting someone's views on culture and way of living probably because he can identify with a lot of the standpoints. I don't know how you couldn't at least partially judge someone based on that.

hezz05

@Kevin856:

It's called voting with your dollar. If you know that buying their products puts money into the pocket of politicians you don't agree with, then you can make the informed decision not to buy their products or shop at their stores.

I think making a judgment based on someone's political beliefs and specifically their political contributions is one of the most rational justifications.

doubtful

@toadwarrior:

Then you should restructure EVERYTHING in your life, see where it is made, and who designed it, and then find out their political affiliation ... so you can get rid of the junk you dont agree with.

EnigmaNemesis

Between this little nugget of information and spore, I don't see myself supporting Will Wright again.

toadwarrior

@Y0URGOD78:

The game isnt "about evolution" ... it is a game of CREATIONISM, that has evolution.

You do have to "create" the things that "evolve" you know.

Better understanding now?

Oh, those poor books, almost got me as much as a man who will ban civil liberties.

EnigmaNemesis

Will Wright may be my hero. But damn... McCain?

EA's changed you, man...

Boba.Fett

@Darkest Daze:

I wouldn't say that. It's more like conservatives support technology that turn deserts into glass, and democrats support technology that ends pregnancies. Either way, you win!

tzaketh

@Kevin856: There are so many people who are bias against republicans that when ever someone wants to vote republican, they are a bad guy. I get it alot from people.

mascot1063

@Marlor: Almost every countries political right is more aligned with the US's political left. (Most democratic, stable countries anyway)

Raiden218

I only ever see the "for the common good" social liberals in the Democratic Party going after video games. The greater GOP kinda brushes off the Christians when they get upset about a moral issue in a game. The Democrats scare me more though, because when they go after something it's because they feel it threatens their vision of "Animal Farm" populace control.

ca36gtp

@Marlor:

Yeah, wrong thread.

Oh and yeah, same here-- first political donation ever. I don't agree with the guy on everything (I think his stance on Standing Armies is somewhat antiquated) but I do think he was the closest one to my ideals.

Plus he's the only elected person in the Federal Government who seems to actually A) Mean what he says, and B) Act on what he believes. Even if you disagree with him thoroughly you have to begrudge him that.

tzaketh

@Spiffyness:

I realize I'm in a minority, but I'm okay with that. I don't mind making the sacrifices I have to, skipping some games, some CDs, even some movies, because I don't agree with the politics of their creator.

doubtful

lieberman is not a democrat, he fucking gave a speech primetime at the rnc. furthermore, obama has nothing against video games, he just feels that kids are playing them too much and not focusing on their studies or physical activitie. that statement may not affect all gamers, but it does affect many fat bastards who just play WoW all day. Also, when GTA4 came out, Obama and his wife did not scream for it to banned but warned that kids shouldn't play it. Obama's response to this has been the best I've heard.
McCain is getting criticized for supporting regulation even though in the past 26 years, not once has he voted for more regulation. Also, it is mccain who is blaming obama for the bailout mess, even though it was his party for the past 10 of 12 years who sat by doing nothing. get your facts straight or go back to looking at lolcats while playing halo.

brainboy77

@Marlor: Wait, Brian Eno, like... producer of U2 and Viva La Vida? Small world, eh?

Spiffyness

@Marlor:
The naysayers are right. Piracy is killing the PC gaming industry.

SnakesSolids

@tehflyingwombat:
Under Communism proper, there wouldn't even be any money to begin with. Let alone it being distributed.

In reality, Democrats don't want anything like what you said, or anything like communism. They want votes, they want votes so they can have power, and they want power, because they're politicians.

orentholjames

@Kaneda:

I'm not getting involved here, but I fail to see how doubting mankind's role in Global Warming has anything to do, even remotely, with taking cookies from a cookie jar.

In one case, you're saying that scientific evidence for a certain thing is lacking, and that we shouldn't cripple our economy further by trying to avert something we have no proof we can stop. In the other, you disobeyed a direct order from a superior, and then denied having done so when caught.

Maybe I'm missing something.

tzaketh

@doubtful: Well, personally I think that an artist's work should be bought or not bought based on its own merits and NOT on where the money is going. If Spore is a great game, then it should be bought. If it's not, then it shouldn't. Politics be damned.

You vote with your dollar, sure, but you're not voting for McCain, you're voting for Will Wright to make more games like Spore (or not, if you don't buy it).

Spiffyness

Well, I must say, as a moderate liberal, it saddens me to know that Wright is a Republican.

But, on a larger scale, it really doesn't matter. I didn't become a fan of Wright for his political views. I became a fan because he's a genius at game-making. He's still excellent at that, and I love his games, and I respect him for it. Just because he's made a few decisions I disagree with, it doesn't negate everything good he's ever done. I just won't listen to him talk on politics, that simple. I mean, Abraham Lincoln thought black people were inferior. Does that mean that the emancipation proclamation was evil, and Lincoln was a bad man? No. It just means that there were some points he was wrong on.

Ad-hominem

wow, you're an idiot.

brainboy77

@Kaneda:

I cant believe one would not do research and find out that there is NOTHING we can do. The Earth as well as our galaxy floating through this universe, goes through this cycle. And this is around the time where the cycle happens to hit.

But I guess when a political representative and his hypocrisy ways puts out a video, all of a sudden we must finally "do something". Even if we did EVERYTHING, and "went green" ... the event is still going to happen.

EnigmaNemesis

I've lost so much faith in a large portion of the kotaku kommenting krowd. If I followed the same logic as you people, I wouldn't allow myself to buy any games, because I don't support Obama or McCain, and there will always be SOMEBODY on every development team that supports one or the other. (Don't try to correct me about the Japanese or other foreign developers, my point still stands with or without the nitpicking.)

MagickBocks

You think people would be a little more upset that the president of the ESRB gave to a political campaign. Seems a little shady to me, unless he gets a free pass based on who the money was donated to.....

shumanjisan

If we elect McCain and Palin, I will have no more sympathy for America. We get what we deserve.

Benjamin Linus

I'm always shocked at how much gamers support democrats AND complain about their hobby being the subject of a witch hunt.

Here in Connecticut we've made Kotaku headlines twice this year. One liberal member of our state senate, Sen. Gayle Slossberg was determined to find GTA's hidden rape scenes where Rockstar rewards you for rape. [kotaku.com]

Meanwhile, Jeanne Stevens (not yet in elected office, she's running for state rep) made headlines on Kotaku for being a WoW player. She had a decidedly more sane standpoint consisting of the "I don't want my kids playing it, but fell free to enjoy GTA in your own home" approach.
[kotaku.com]

Then you have all the failed laws that would put gaming and porn on the same level. Aren't those laws (and I am asking here) almost always sponsored by the left? Leeland Lee in California, Mike Hatch in Minnesota, Jennifer Granholm in Michigan....

Sens Clinton and Obama have both spoken out against gaming. Back when the democrats loved honest Joe Lieberman, he was a LOUD voice against violence in games.

I'm trying to be fair here. Are there republican anti-gaming crusaders that I should be worried about?

GorbyGipper

@pyromaniac:

What's the point of hyphenating his middle name and his last name? What goal are you trying to achieve by that misnomer, not to mention the improper title. I don't see why, even when we disagree we can't be respectful. It's Senator Obama.

Mr. Sidney-McCain would likely agree.

doubtful

@SamuelJackson1: I don't think you can be aloof "at" anything. Why can't we be knowledgeable with regards to politics? I agree that the comments here are never going to be the most insightful forum for politics (or videogames, for that matter), but it's just as juvenile as the average troll to insist that we ignore the real world on this website.

themunk

@Acebuckeye13:

He was, along with four Democrats, one of the Keating Five who are integral to the savings and loan scandals of yesteryear.

Perhaps the BBC is failing to educate you properly and you should start reading newspapers. All of 'em. :)

doubtful

im not going to hold a grudge against people that supported obama because i wouldnt have any games left to buy.

Swatman

Newell gave money to Chris Dodd That's dedication right there.

Mr.Waffleton

@Crowbot: Forgot to say, that means I agree with you, not that I misunderstood and am diasagreeing with you while saying the same...
Sometimes I over explain things

pikachumariachi

@Vaegrin:

He's an anarchist, duh. They're all closed-minded idiots.

Good to see people that make great games do more than just make great games, especially Wright.

NESSter

Socialised health care here we come!

I use the term socialised quite happily! :)

Well, I wasn't going to buy GHWT anyway, but no more Sims 3 or Spore.

Time to buy 20 copies of GTAIV me thinks.

Communist_Gamer

@3x3gamer:

Thats what I want voting people into office. Ones who will openly steal things, because they dont agree with them.

EnigmaNemesis

@Crowbot: I'd say Hiroshima-Nagasaki was way worse than Pearl Harbor

pikachumariachi

Dammit Gabe Newell?! Dodd?!

unangbangkay

@3x3gamer: Dude, that's pathetic. Will Wright's integrity as a game designer has nothing to do with his political views.

Also, if you can't learn to get along with people who have different views than you, then here's to hoping you continue to live in your little bubble. 'Cause if you get out into the real world, you're going to have a very tough time.

topraman517

@tehflyingwombat: Bias people won't believe what you say. In fact, I used to be a heavy Obama supporter. When I found out a bunch of facts behind that particular individual, I turned my back on him. I also researched McCain, and the tyrant that he is portrayed as by the media, that isn't exactly true either. Look how much bias therte is against McCain and Obama.

mascot1063

I don't like McCain, but he's more a friend of regular people than Obama is in this race. McCain at least wants to do something to start bringing fuel prices down, Obama just opposes everything under the sun (from drilling to nuclear to clean coal), or wants to spend another few years pointlessly debating wind power when it doesn't work on any nationally significant scale. He only starting softening on oil drilling when he was getting hammered on it. I can't make sense of his do-nothing energy policy.

ca36gtp

@Benjamin Linus: After 8 years of bullshit I actually agree with you. And I almost always vote republican.

Malevolentburrito

@PenguinJim: America elected Gore, Bush cheated.

Boba.Fett

@proust: Because he has no right to support his political party.... you retard...

mascot1063

@mAaron: All those you mentioned are no good. I hate them sooooooooo much. They say they're "left" but everybody with half a brain hates their guts.
P.S. Take 2 and Rockstar are awesome. Also, another reason to love Valve :)

d3ath_fly

@dobilay: To get them to understand, you need to use retard speak.

mascot1063

@kojirodensetsu: Ron Paul FTW! Since he's out, now the best option is Bob Barr, who cannot win. I wish people realized there are more than 2 lines of thinking and more than 2 dinosaur parties out there...

BigDragon

@MagickBocks:

It's a weird mentality and an odd way to govern your purchases. It robs you of a great deal of enjoyment while not really punishing the creators for their views at all.

It sounds like a lot of the writers for Bungie are liberals while Marty O'Donnell is a conservative (they've taken playful stabs at him for his politics on the Bungie podcast).

As a conservative myself, should I support one of the few brave conservatives doing great things in a creative medium (Halo's music and sound design are both outstanding)? Should I not support a game written by the cursed liberal machine?

Or should I not be a friggin' idiot and act in my own self-interest; buying the products I enjoy regardless of the creators' political leanings?

There are views too far to the left or right that I wouldn't support, but boycotting a game just because someone is donor to the toothless republican and democrat parties? It's not like these folks are doing business with Iran...@MagickBocks:

GorbyGipper

@Kaneda: Why would she need one? The Russians came to her ;)

Mister Adequate

Come on guys, there are much better reasons not to buy Spore then this.

dobilay

@Mr.Waffleton:

Maybe he was hoping for a 3% APR on his mortgage, that Dudd somehow got, but others (normal folk) at the same time did not.

Then act stunned and pretend to be appalled at the bailout!

EnigmaNemesis

@Communist_Gamer:
They already gave all the money they legally could by now though. Sit on those thoughts for four more years (well, knowing the election cycle in this country, one and a half more years).

ca$h

Oh Owen. You always make the Kotaku a very, very interesting place to be during the weekends. Religion, politics, do they save these stories just for you? I would.

ca$h

@mascot1063:

Yeah, Jesus. I wonder why? /sarcasm

ca$h

@Orionsaint: You can point out obvious stuff! What a suprise!

Lessthan_tom

People aren't going to buy Spore now that he gave donated some money to McCains party? Really? Christ, really thats sad if its true

excel_excel

@wonder6oy: The whole ridiculous slander via youtube works both ways my friend. Rev. Wright - Witch Doctor, Ayers - First Dude's Alaskan Independence buddies. Believe me, I wish both campaigns would stick to the stuff that actually matters, but McCain wants to run a sleazy campaign based on lies and misinformation, so anything goes. So much for honor.

Gray665

@M*A*S*H: To ignore man's role in global warming is to ignore all the extremely accurate climate temperature data that we've gathered over the last 70 years, and the expert opinion of virtually every climatologist in the world. The IPCC, along with the Science Academies of EVERY MAJOR INDUSTRIALIZED NATION agrees that the most likely source of global warming is anthropogenic (man made).

The only opposition you will find is from crack pot Scientists who are of no standing within their fields, and/or NOT climatologists to begin with.

So, basically, your "Newsflash" is that you personally disagree with the opinions of every climatologist in the world. The changes in the temperature are too rapid to correlate with any other known natural phenomena going back 650,000 years. Arrogant? Not really.

I suppose your next post will be an endorsement for the teaching of Intelligent Design in schools in recognition of the "scientific controversy" over Evolution? Your error regarding this matter is on the same magnitude, and just as ridiculous considering the available body of information, and the consensus of the scientific community in opposition to your stance.

ludwigk

@Killalaz: +1

Robotube

Article is a troll, but I'm falling for it.

Now everyone is a pirate AND a terrorist!

Kuromimi

I am quite disappointed in Will Wright, and the rest of these people too. Not for supporting McCain, (although that is pretty bad) but for supporting politicians at all.

The system of electing a president in the US is backwards and broken. Anyone who supports the bi-partisan system is a fool in my book.

Killalaz

@PenguinJim:

Believe it. People have done much worse for for much less of a reason.

Killalaz

@Malevolentburrito: Blame Clinton for most of that. Economic Wave

mascot1063

Will Wright for President

PuppyGuarder

I think it has been scientifically proven that of the population of Kotaku, about ~50-60% of us are idiots. Seriously, saying you don't respect the person who ended more bloodlines then Stalin because he doanated rebuplican? WTF?

Acebuckeye13

@omicron1: So, you admit that your opinion of Will Wright is favourably influenced by his political convictions, and yet you object to others being negatively influenced by those very same convictions.
Do you see what I'm getting at...?

Antiterra

@omicron1: That's funny, because I have a hell of a lot less respect for Will Wright now.

jerimas

@Marlor:

I consider myself one of those "small government republicans" although I registered independent because the current republican party is nothing I want to be associated with. Despite my views, I'm voting democrat this year, because honestly, there's not that much of a difference between the two and at least Obama wants to end the war.

sluissa

@ninjaconor: I'm really disappointed in Will. After recent attacks McCain made arrogantly on Obama, I'm suprised anyone's still supporting him. Him and that freaky soccer mom Sarah Palin...

But Richard Garriot donated to Hillary Clinton? UGGGH...

DukeOfPwn