Election 2012 Hub coming to Xbox Live
By
Connor Sheridan, News Intern
Coverage begins August 27 with Republican National Convention; will host updates on Obama, Romney campaigns, live video, access to voter registration.
Two sides competing for points with a range of tactics to take down their opposition will come to Xbox Live next week. But they're vying for the White House instead of the leaderboards. The U.S. Election 2012 Hub will receive its first wave of content on August 27, showcasing a range of prerecorded content as well as interactive polls and video streams from the upcoming Republican and Democratic National Conventions and elsewhere.
Microsoft will again collaborate with Rock the Vote (after working together in the 2008 election) to offer voter registration through the service as well as local information. The hub will also feature regular Obama and Romney campaign coverage from NBCnews.com, daily polls from online market research agency YouGov, and contributions from public policy fact-finding group Face the Facts USA.
"Technology has been a transformative force in politics during recent years," said Fred Humphries, vice president of government affairs at Microsoft. "By bringing the elections directly into the home through this Xbox platform, we hope to encourage greater participation in the democratic process this fall."
Some of the hub's features require an Xbox Live Gold membership to function, including NBC news updates and live event streams.
By
Connor Sheridan, News Intern
Connor Sheridan is the News Intern at GameSpot in San Francisco. He loves Super Metroid and has seen "Weird Al" Yankovic in concert three times.
69 comments
WTF?! Use a PC for surfing the web. Use your console to play games. micro$oft once again trying to make the 360 a media center.
1 Like i like this. i still remember seeing this stuff when i got my xbox in 08... i still have my obama/biden wallpaper for my xbox dashboard. Microsoft cares about getting the gamer out to VOTE. not leaning them to a certain candidate. they had mccain/palin wallpaper, and i am sure they will have Romney Ryan wallpaper and stuff for your avatars this year. they are going to BOTH conventions, so how is it leaning to one party? some folks like to make controversy where there is none. heck, they are even pointing people where to register to vote! how is that bad?
2 Like Political garbage needs to stay out my gaming. At least Halo 4 will keep me busy.
1 Like Coming from an independent who is sick and tired of the media bias and influence in this country....
NBC, owned by GE, who is in the pocket of Obama, and microsoft...aka Bill Gates...who has obama in his pocket, will be providing election updates to young people. Anyone want to bet how one sided this information will be?
I urge everyone, especially those under 30, and from reading the comments, i'm guessing that's over 95% of you, to watch the documentary Media Malpractice. It is available for instant stream on netfilix and other media sources.
I also suggest to everyone, to read the executive order that obama signed, available at the white house website - http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/16/executive-order-national-defense-resources-preparedness
if you don't think this is a blatant violation of the constitution and bill of rights, then i suggest you re-read or read for the first time, those documents.
@jrmorgan23 actually you would be wrong with MSFT. microsoft more or less cares about GLOBAL affairs. APPLE cares because a member of the board WAS OUR VICE PRESIDENT AND NEARLY PRESIDENT AL GORE! get your facts straight, sir.
3 Like @jrmorgan23 Oh shut it. Independent my ass. Both sides have their biased news organizations. I'm sure you would be entirely against this if it were Fox News that was providing this coverage. Also, don't come on here and act like you know anything about the constitution. Most people don't. It's Microsoft's service, and they'll host as they wish. It's your decision to not click it. Young voters are going to Obama anyway. It's not like Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Grover Norquist, the Koch Brothers, and all the other GOP cronies are going to persuade the young voters their way.
@o016945 I am an independent. And yes, if the republican side owned easy methods to persuade young uninformed and unintelligent voters I would be saying the same thing. I don't watch or listen to fox news but thanks for assuming. I was/am appalled by everything Bush Jr. did, and all presidents going back to Reagan. Reagan is lauded as a hero and great american, but most of the current problems can be directly drawn back to his administration.
Watch Media Malpractice, but you probably won't because you don't want to see how you were influenced, and how your vote was bought. John McCain was heavily scrutinized throughout his campaign, being asked tough questions regarding foreign policy and the economy, and obama was sofballed "boxers or briefs". fair and balanced? not in this country. he was chosen as the next president as soon as he was elected senator. I remember the day and the media quotes, do you? Can you name another president that accomplished so little in their adult life and was handed so much?
As for the constitution, there is something called the 4th amendment that is supposed to prevent unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause.
The executive order is so vague in its implementation that it flies in the face of our constitutional rights. Essentially, everything in the country is now owned by the government for the continuance of the government. people, food, technology and machinery. Everyone and their business is being watched, recorded and categorized. Egypt had a brighter future under it's dictator than we do at this moment. Individuals do not matter anymore. your choice has been stripped from you from medical decisions to the food you eat. bow to the Federalist States of Amerika.
4 Like No different then Fox News being owned by the GOP. Seems every station had their favorite party. I'm sick and tired of the government and congress as a whole.
Oh wow, this is great! I am going to go buy an Xbox 360 right now!!!
But in all seriousness, I already know who I'm voting for. Come Election Day it will be go inside the curtain, push a couple buttons, get out, give the stink eye to the strange ballot worker with a mischievous smile who was standing by the side of the machine the entire time, and leave, 5 minutes.
4 Like Pfft, I already know who I'm voting for, Sheen/Busey 2012! (hey, at least I know what I'm getting.)
To the readers of this who are 12, and to those who are of voting age but want to act 12, please disregard.
To the rest of you, I think this is a good thing. More people connect through games these days than talk on the phone, and I think this is a pretty good idea to reach out. Its another way Social Media has worked its way into all of our lives, and regardless of the choice you make in the election I cant see any harm with staying informed. If Sony wasnt a Japanese-based company, Im sure theyd be doing it too.
1 Like I voted my concience in May, and my guy is loosing. I won't be voting at all this November it looks like. It's all rigged anyway.
2 Like So lame... Oh well at least demoRATS and Libtards can now follow this from the safety of their couch while they continue to mooch off the guberments.
4 Like @Recont It's funny that you say that. Me being very non political and take neither side, notice how ignorant the republican party is, has been, and how blind they are to what truly has caused economic issues. In fact it is the rich that benefit more from the government then the poor. And while you think that the Democrats are solely responsible for the problems in this country look at the recent non partisan study that shows that the middle class has the worst decade in modern history. In the past ten years, which party has had greater control over the government? I know Republicans like you don't like to do research on their own and just listen to the craziest person with the loudest mouth but you should really do research before you speak foolishly. I hate to talk politics on a game site but it's clueless people like you that make me. Keep drinking the kool aid, I heard it's good for hot summer days.
2 Like @rasterror @Recont I wouldn't waste your time. He's already mindfucked by the alternate reality that Fox News and other GOP controlled sources created. Any normal person can see right through the bullshit, but small minded nimrods like Recount has been lost. It's okay, it's what Roger Aires wanted, to create people like Recont to live in some alternate universe. He's under their spell, and he'll never actually try to look at facts. He'll just counter them through ignorance and idiocy.
1 Like @rasterror @Recont Oh, and never waste your time on someone like recont. Simply predict the 5 talking points that he'll come back with. Conservatives are predictable, almost like pulling a string on a dolly. They are filled with hate and rage, and they don't know why. They are filled with this through misinformation of the sources they choose, and they only choose a select couple because those sources are directed in the same way that cults are directed. They insert fear, tell lies, and tell you that everything else besides them is false. That's a cult, and it's why the GOP base all sound like the same ignorant and angry person.
1 Like @rasterror @Recont I know, but remember, the GOP is only pandering to their own base. Their base is dying. As more and more younger people continue to get older, and the baby boomers continue to die off, they'll need a change of tone in the future in order to have any chance of winning. Independents are not being influenced by the propaganda of the GOP, and the GOP has absolutely no respected leadership. They have puppets. They aren't used to seeing a president, but only a puppet that is stringed by their base and has no original thought or leadership. That's what their followers are becoming, but they're dying, and they'll need to change their approach. If they lose this election (and they will), you will see high anger, but you may see a different approach from them in the future.
3 Like @rasterror @Recont You make the mistake of thinking that he needs facts. Let me remind you: he's a Republican, regardless of the facts he will make stuff up to fit his political agenda. Lol these Republitards never fail to make me laugh at out STUPID they are.
3 Like @beast70 Name one? Every news organisation does it, most of the time for MSNBC and CNN it's not made that way though. It's because of time constraints usually, not to intentionally mislead people, which is all Fox Propaganda does.
1 Like @beast70 Actually I don't watch MSNBC anymore after they tryed to bribe Cenk Uygur off the air because he was being an actual journalist. Good try though. The Young Turks ftw.
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2 Like @Recont*sigh*
To counteract your first argument 75% of people on well fare do work. In fact there are many myths about well fare that you should look up. The Republican party would like you to believe that those that are on well fare are people that just like to pop out babies to live off of the system or be lay and just stay at home and get drunk and get high off of the government's care. most people that are on well fare are on it because they need it not because they want it.
Second point, I don't even know why I'm bothering to argue with you on this but here it goes, the President does not have control over the country. He's not a dictator, he's not a king over a monarchy, he's need even the leader of a tribe. Do you even know what a President's job is and what he has power over? He can enact and laws veto them and give out an executive order to send troops to war.
Lastly and definitely not the least, by the time illegal aliens would be made legal the voting would have been done and over with so there's no point in that. And if you would see the tactics that Republicans are using to bar those in lower in =come or minority communities to not vote like barring or shortening voting privileges in certain areas while increasing it in others, you would be shocked. and the last part about the Black Panthers, WTF! Trust me as a teen I in the 90's i hung with them. In fact I wanted to be one because of some of the things that they stood for like getting drugs out of the community, helping the poor and building up the community and, oh you'll love this one, KEEPING THE GOVERNMENT OUT OF THEIR COMMUNITY. They don't want to be apart of the American political system you idiot. They don't like Obama either. I have friends that are Panthers and they don't like him. Why would Obama intimidate whites? He is half white and was raided by his white mother and white grandmother in predominantly white communities. That's something Republicans either forget or hate to admit.
Anything else?
12 Like This is probably by far one of the dumbest ideas I've heard all week. I play video games to escape reality. To get away from life's annoyances.
I DO NOT WANT POLITICS ON MY XBOX LIVE!! D:<
4 Like @DragonRift I was thinking the exact same thing. If I wanted to hear about the presidential election I would just watch the several thousand commercials they put out ever year around this time.
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3 Like i hate politics so fucking much. in my teen years i found it interesting, but now it's just fucking torture every time someone even mentions a politician or an election.
3 Like I'm still strongly considering a write-in vote for the Master Chief. The economy is horrid under President Obama's leadership and I don't see Mr. Romney changing it.
@Tsuchikage Go to Romneys website examine his in depth economic plans explain in what way they won't not only change but take large steps towards fixing the problems we face economically today. I understand it takes work and effort to be informed and that this is a gaming website making that a lot to ask...
@ZeroX91 @strayfies Yes Romney is! Feel free to try to invalidate any of the things on this list composed by Real Clear Politics user Twister.
"-Graduated with ?University Honors? from BYU (also known as ?Highest Honors?, their most prestigious from of recognition, somewhat equivalent to valedictorian) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English; he?s not just a numbers guy
- Master?s degree in Business (Harvard, a Baker's scholar: top 5% of business students)
- Master?s degree in Law (Harvard, graduated Cum Laude / with Honors, top 1/3)
- Earned both master?s degrees (business AND law) at Harvard University simultaneously (Could you do that? I couldn?t.) - Enormously successful in private business and now worth between $200 and $250 million (compare this to Obama and many of Obama's closest advisers who have never had to turn a profit or go hungry, and, no, don't whine about workers Romney let go when taking over a company while at Bain Capital because you'd be forgetting to look at: A) the fact that Bain was INVITED by the companies to have Bain invest in them; there were no ?hostile takeovers? by Bain Capital and B) the workers' jobs Romney saved by saving a dying company and C) the jobs he created after those struggling companies were turned around and started to grow again)
- Gave away his inheritance in 1998 to start / help fund the ?George W. Romney Institute of Public Management? at BYU (his father, George Romney, died in 1995)
- As head of the 2002 Winter Olympics (Salt Lake City) turned a potential loss (-$379M shortfall) into one of the few profit-earning Olympic games (+$100M profit)
- Donated his entire Olympics salary and severance package ($1.4M) to charity
- Put aside partisanship prejudices/trash-talk by successfully campaigning/winning the governor's seat (2003 ? 2007) as a Republican in a heavily Democrat-controlled state LONG before Scott Brown
- While governor of Massachusetts, at HIS request, served the people of MA at the salary of $1/year (that?s right, ONE DOLLAR)
- Previous executive leadership experience as a state governor, including Massachusetts' Commander In Chief of state military forces (Yes, a state governor is legally the Commander In Chief of that state's National Guard forces unless those troops are called to active-duty by the President)
- Turned Massachusetts' budget from red to black while governor (- $3.0B to +$2.16B; that?s ?billion? with a ?B?)
- Cut taxes 19 times as Massachusetts governor (that?s not a typo, NINETEEN)
- As MA governor, developed a plan that would make deadbeats pay for their own health care (you may not like the MA health care law but that's what it's sole purpose was. Still don't like it because of the mandate? Don't move to MA.) (BTW, how would YOU have solved the MA healthcare free-loader problem and how would you have done it with an overwhelmingly Democrat-controlled state legislature like Romney had to work with?)
- ?Service over self?. Romney endorsed McCain only 2 days after ?Super Tuesday? in 2008 when it became obvious McCain was the clear front-runner; America is more important to him than his ego
- Volunteer service to community as a church head pastor for 13 years all with ZERO pay (that's right, none)
- Would give ALL his Presidential salary ($1.6 million total) back to the American taxpayers if elected (yes, he's on record as committing to this)
- Voluntarily turned down enrolling in Medicare when he turned 65 on March 12, 2012 (in other words, he?s NOT sucking up our precious tax dollars because he knows he can, and therefore should, take care of himself)
- He also chose to NOT receive any Social Security payments upon turning 65 because, again, he knows he can take care of himself and therefore should not rely on our tax dollars to help fund his daily living
- Looks, talks and acts "Presidential"
- Understands commitment (never divorced, in a loving 43 year marriage)
- Understands morality (never had an affair)
- Understands family (5 kids, all successful adults)
- Willing to let all of America see his birth certificate without a fight
- Released his most recent filed tax records (2010) proving he?s not a tax cheat (the IRS has no problem with his filed taxes), with more tax records (2011) promised to be released before the election. (Has been audites multiples times as well and has never been prosecuted or owed back taxes.)
- He?s pledged (repeatedly) that he?ll repeal Obamacare. "
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