By Edge Staff
Electronic Arts has confirmed that presidential candidate Barack Obama's team have taken ads in its Xbox 360 racer Burnout Paradise.
An EA spokesperson told Gigaom, “I can confirm that the Obama campaign has paid for in-game advertising in Burnout. Like most television, radio and print outlets, we accept advertising from credible political candidates. Like political spots on the television networks, these ads do not reflect the political policies of EA or the opinions of its development teams.”
Obama's use of games is just one facet of a campaign that has been noted for its innovative use of media. No presidential candidate has used a game before.
Nevertheless, Obama has consistently used videogames as short-hand for parental negligence. Again this week, he told an audience in Ohio, "You know, I will invest in education. We'll make sure government gets behind the schools. But it won't make much of a difference if parents aren't turning off the television set and putting away the video games and making sure that our children are doing their homework.
