14 DAY TRIAL // Barack Obama won the office of President of the United States in part by learning to talk so that youngsters could listen and understand. He used his web site as a hub for both organizing supporters and attracting donations. He launched ads in Burnout Paradise, proving that he knows the power of the videogame medium, and he even name checked Grand Theft Auto IV on the campaign trail. The man never parts with his Blackberry, so it's clear that his White House is set to be very technology oriented. There's even a Nintendo Wii somewhere near the Oval Office, as the President is said to be ready to bowl a little with his two little girls.
So, it's no real surprise that spokesman Bill Burton used a videogame industry comparison to describe the situation of technology in the White House when the Obama team moved in. Speaking last night, Burton said that “It is kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari.”
While talking to the Washington Post, the spokesman mentioned that the team accompanying the new President into the White House found a huge amount of disconnected phone lines, a slew of old computers running outdated software and security regulations which are forbidding them from using outside e-mail accounts.
It might just be the first time a spokesperson for the office of President used two videogames consoles, the Xbox 360 from Microsoft and the old Atari, in order to show a difference in quality between two systems. One should note that there was also no denigration of videogaming in the statements, which is not expected coming from the government.
We can only hope that an administration familiar with the Xbox 360, Atari and GTA IV will be able to limit the initiatives which seek to limit the rights of videogames, while also making sure that information related to games is easy to reach and evaluate by all potential buyers, especially concerned parents.