Pixelatious Presidents

Unfortunately, futuristic X-Box third-person shooter Metal Wolf Chaos never got an official release in North America. Strange, given the game comes with complete (and completely cheesy) English voice acting. Metal Wolf Chaos won't exactly win any points for an interesting, realistic take on geopolitical crises, but that hardly matters when you get to play as the most bad-ass American President since Harrison Ford in Air Force One. As Michael Wilson, you throw on a robotic armour suit that would make any Gundam Warrior jealous, hop aboard your presidential airplane, and shoot off to different parts of the United States in order to take the country back from the forces of your treacherous vice-president Richard Hawk (subtle, I know).

"The future is coming, it's coming and it's bringing with it armoured Kodiak bears, attack blimps and enough weaponized robots to turn hope into a four-letter word. You want hope? Keep dreaming. You want change? Put out your cup."

Not exactly the inspiring mantra the real president built his reputation on, but Westwood Studios in October created some genuine anticipation for the latest instalment of their alternate-history real-time strategy games with the help of some hilarious youtube videos starring Ackerman, played by none other than J.K. Simmons (Peter Parker's cantankerous boss J. Jonah Jameson in the Spider-Man movies).

Ackerman's words may seem a little harsh, but make more sense when taken into context. In the world of Command and Conquer: Red Alert, the Soviet Union never collapsed, and America constantly finds itself at war with the Soviets for control of various pieces of land.

Shockingly prophetic or juvenile gamer sci-fi? Last year's seminal FPS/RPG hybrid, Fallout 3, had gamers trekking through a post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland uncomfortably reminiscent of Washington D.C., wandering outside their nuclear shelter illegally. The president of this forsaken land was none other than John Henry Eden, who seemed to have a digital presence in nearly every corner of the game world, along with unmatched eloquence and charisma. In one of the game's darker twists, it turned out Eden was actually a highly evolved form of artificial intelligence bent on wiping out the last ragged remnants of the human race.

Hmm, a president that uses high technology to directly communicate to his people, is highly charismatic and intelligent…I wonder if…nah, I'm sure someone would have noticed the power outlet on the back of Obama's head by now.

Unlike the presidents we saw on the list so far, Ballantine represents the more traditional role political figures have tended to play in video games for most of the medium's existence. In other words, he's a bit of a wimp who constantly needs rescuing by the titular Ghosts Special Forces Team on a diplomatic trip to Mexico City.

Ostensibly, Ballantine is to sign a joint security agreement with the president of Mexico and the Prime Minister of Canada. Yes, the NDP is opposed to the agreement in Ghost Recon as well.

British developer Rare sort of under-estimated America's capacity to elect a black president. In the futuristic first-person shooter Perfect Dark, which is set in the year 2023, the president of the United States is an unnamed black man constantly on the look-out for treacherous entourage (or ennurajh, as one of the stereotypically accented bad guys pronounces it). Of course, the game never says this is the first black president, but the setting sort of implies it.

There is nothing really that interesting about the character himself. He is kidnapped at one point so his enemies may clone him and use his access codes to hijack a nuclear submarine…which sort of seems a little silly. It would probably have been easier to just kidnap his family and force him to do their bidding instead.

One particularity about him does stand out though. Besides being black, he somewhat physically resembles Obama as well.