Games As Editorial Content
Yesterday, Persuasive Games announced (via the Water Cooler Games blog) that their games will begin being featured in the New York Times online edition as editorial content. Effectively filling a similar niche as political cartoons. Their first title, Food Import Folly (subscription required to play the game, but that link has a description and screenshots), concerns the extremely limited FDA inspection of food imports. The website notes that the number of food import shipments increased from 2 million to 9 million over the last decade, but the FDA resources and personnel has remained roughly constant.

You may recall my evangelizing of one of Persuasive Games' previous titles, "Airport Security." I think this is an important step for games --- a new area where game-makers can and should explore. It is another potential market, albeit a small one. I don't know if the online games will help the TimesSelect subscription rates, but I'm pleased to see them embracing more of the potential of being an online news service. But more importantly, this is another small step for computer games in demonstrating their power - and importance - as a medium of communication.

And for rapid development buffs - Food Import Folly was created in Flash in only one week.

Congratulations to Persuasive Games!


(Vaguely) Related Attempts At Being Political...
* Airport Security Parody Game
* Games As Art: Media's Double Standard
* Do Games Matter?

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Labels: Indie Evangelism, Politics

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