Candidate Attacked For Playing World Of Warcraft

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Maine state senate candidate Colleen Lachowicz is being slammed by the Maine GOP for her “bizarre double life”, which is how they describe her pastime as a level 68 female orc rogue in World of Warcraft. The Maine GOP’s press release called her game role an “orc assassination rogue” and described her green skin, fangs, and Mohawk hairstyle in the game.

Lachowiz’s GOP opponent, incumbent state senator Tom Martin, said he was unaware of the state GOP press release until contacted by Politico.com about the story. The state GOP spokesman, David Sorenson, said “Certainly the fact that she spends so much time on a video game says something about her work ethic and, again, her immaturity.”

Lachowiz told Politico that her enemies are out-of-touch if they think being a gamer is shameful. She is a 48-year-old social worker, and noted that she hasn’t played that much recently because she’s been busy campaigning. Both she and her opponent have declared themselves as “clean election candidates,” meaning they have vowed to abstain from negative campaigning. Of course, that doesn’t apply to the state parties, and the Maine GOP has already sent out a mailer with pictures of Lachowiz’s orc character.

“There are a lot of these misconceptions about people who play online games,” said Lachowicz, who has a Master’s degree in social work and runs a division of a statewide mental health facility. “I’ve played with people who are retired, college professors and lawyers. I’ve only ever played with adults.”

Lachowicz said that she has played games her entire life and has never tried to hide the fact that she’s a gamer. She started gaming with an Atari home console and loved going to arcades, and more recently enjoyed playing Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on her PS3.

While the Maine GOP is clearly hoping that her gaming hobby will drive voters away, it may serve to connect her to younger voters and gamers in general. Perhaps the gaming audience is big enough that being a gamer will help her politically, and not hurt her. The results will be interesting to observe when the votes are counted in November.

Source: Politico.com

Game Consoles Closing TV Time Gender Gap: Report

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According to the latest data from Nielsen, game consoles could be an advertisers’ best friend, helping them target the elusive 18-34 male demographic.

As of March 2012, women aged 18-34 watched an average of 4 hours 11 minutes of TV per day, while men in the same demo logged only 3 hours 34 minutes of TV time in homes with a 7th generation game console. However, when factoring in daily time spent using a 7th generation game console, that difference of more than 30 minutes daily is nearly neutralized since women 18-34 only used consoles for 22 minutes while men 18-34 spent 48 minutes with their consoles.

“That’s screen time with value, giving advertisers increased opportunities to target consumers no matter how they’re using the consoles —whether it’s playing the latest first-person combat game, binging on an old sitcom, or streaming a movie,” Nielsen noted.

Sony Sues Kevin Butler Actor

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Jerry Lambert, the actor who portrayed a Sony executive in several different series of ads for Sony, is now being sued by Sony. Apparently Sony did not take kindly to the actor’s appearance in a Bridgestone ad where he can be seen playing Mario Kart on a Wii; the Wii is offered for free if you buy a set of Bridgestone tires.

Sony’s lawsuit, filed September 11, includes Bridgestone Tires and Wildcat Creek, a firm listing Jerry Lambert as its owner, claiming that they violated one of Sony’s intellectual properties: Namely, Kevin Butler, the fictional Sony exec.

Actors in commercials often have to sign agreements restricting their ability to appear in commercials for competing products; it’s not known if that is true in this case. So far, there’s no comment from any of the parties involved in the lawsuit.

Source: VentureBeat

Google Maps Explores The Oceans

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Apple has been getting slammed for its newly intergrated Maps app on the iPhone (which replaced Google Maps). Now Google is running a TV commerical showing off another amazing feature: ocean exploration. It’s one of AdWeek’s top 10 commercials of the past week. Check it out.

 

Xbox 360 Is About To Get Its First Free-To-Play Game

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The console world hasn’t seen many free-to-play games. That may be because developers are set in their ways to launch $60 boxed products for these systems, but with digital gaming on the rise, developers are more free to experiment. On October 12, Xbox Live will finally get a free-to-play game called Happy Wars, from developer ToyLogic.

The multiplayer combat game involves 15-on-15 skirmishes, and as you’d expect it’s being driven by microtransactions. Each player’s character will be completely customizable with thousands of items, including outfits, weapons, and shields.

While the game is free-to-play, there is a catch: Xbox Live Gold membership is required. If Xbox Live wants to truly become a haven for free-to-play titles, it’s going to have to open up for Xbox Live Silver members.

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn – Part 1

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Aside from Call of Duty, the next Halo is expected to be one of the biggest sellers this holiday season. The folks at Microsoft and 343 Industries have just kicked off a new, live-action series which “tells an exciting story of heroism and sacrifice on a scale never before seen in the Halo universe, taking fans back to the beginning of the human and Covenant war, and leading into the events of Halo 4.”

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Facebook – The Things That Connect Us

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Facebook had a brand new commercial to celebrate hitting 1 billion members. An interesting comparison is made between the site and chairs (you’d think the subject would be avoided after Clint Eastwood’s chair rant at the RNC) but it manages to be dynamic if a bit ethereal.

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