I have this weird hobby of reading up on US politics. I loved Woodwards trilogy (Bush at War, Plan of Attack, State of Denial), Hersh’s Chain of Command and Galbraith’s insider look at Iraq and his three-state solution in The End of Iraq. When I arrived in NYC from Boston after a four hour train ride last December I talked to a man next to me. We had the o-so-casual conversation about me being Dutch and him having visited the Netherlands (he had been in Almelo of all places). We talked a little bit and I admitted I am actually quite intrigued by US politics. He was amazed as he found politicians stupid. The last weeks have been extra newsworthy with all the election stuff (gooo Obama!). As a result of all this I wrote a newspaper piece yesterday for De Pers on the presidential cadidates’ take on media & children and games in particular: “Games zijn geen spelletje voor politici VS”.

Check it out here (.pdf) at page 19. I had some fun with Mitt Romney’s views. This guy is truly delusional: “I’ve proposed that we enforce our obscenity laws again and that we get serious against those retailers that sell adult video games that are filled with violence and that we go after those retailers.” Right. Buying adult games in the US is not that simple. I tried to buy Manhunt 2 and had to show my ID. I still think this is a parental issue, not a legislative one.

At the bottom of the page there’s also a review of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (PS3). I really loved it. HD galore!