I listened to Mitt Romney and all I got was this lousy Halo avatar?

Posted by on October 3, 2012 in Games

Tonight’s Presidential candidate debate will be the first of three. The focus of this one, broadcast from Denver, will be domestic policy. Are the closing of Guantanamo and outsourcing jobs technically domestic issues? Listen to find out! Next week is the VP debate that no one cares about, followed by two more Presidential debates. A catch-all town hall format debate is on the 16th and a foreign policy debate is on the 22nd. You can watch or hear them pretty much wherever you want — television, radio, or the online stream of your choice — but Xbox Live is hoping to entice you by pestering you with questions while you watch.

Throughout the debate, the Xbox LIVE community (Xbox LIVE gold membership required) will be able to weigh in with their opinions by responding to real-time poll questions about the candidate’s performances, their responses to questions and views on issues. Participants will be able to view poll results of the Xbox LIVE audience throughout the evening…. Xbox users can access and participate in this interactive television experience directly through the Xbox LIVE dashboard.

Some of the polling questions were submitted via Twitter by random joes like me. I sent in “Whose Bad Lip Reading Video is funniner, Barack’s or Mitt’s?” Which is a trick question, really, since Obama has only one Bad Lip Reading video, but Romney has two. Why do you think that is?

But wait, if that sort of intelligent commentary isn’t incentive enough, there’s more!

As a bonus, Xbox LIVE users who watch three of the four debates will be awarded with a Halo 4 Warrior Armor avatar.

The debate begins tonight at 6pm Pacific.

  • CowCookie

    I normally love reading your stuff. Even if I arrive at a
    different conclusion, it forces me to take a deeper look at what I enjoyed. But
    I think Microsoft should be applauded for attempting to do this, not mocked.
    Will there be clumsy moments? Will there be inane poll questions? Absolutely.
    Nonetheless, it adds a few new things.

    First, it brings the debates to a new audience. I’m not just
    talking about gamers, many of whom are already attuned to politics. I’m talking
    about the people who turn on the Xbox to watch Netflix or Hulu and go, “Oh
    yeah. The debate is on tonight. I’ll check it out.” There a too few
    opportunities for that to happen with so many switching to on-demand media (which,
    admittedly, I rely on almost exclusively.)

    Second, it’s one more step toward making consoles a
    respected medium. Xbox news apps may have been around for a while, but news outlets
    across the country are covering Microsoft’s decision to do this — reminding the
    non-gaming public (again) that consoles aren’t just about blood and cleavage.

    Finally, it’s one more source of competition for the major
    networks — all of whom can be just as clumsy as Microsoft and use online polls
    that are just as inane. I’m sure it won’t come close to usurping their place in
    politics. But perhaps alternatives like Xbox Live and the various online
    streaming options will prompt them to rethink how they differentiate their
    product.

    I say this as a journalist who will be moderating a statewide live
    blog during the debate. I plan to watch Xbox’s coverage while doing that — if only for my own curiosity.
    Maybe the Microsoft content will be a failure, but I’m happy anytime someone
    experiments with a new addition to the political ecosystem.

  • tomchick

    Thanks for your comments, Mr. (Mrs?) Cookie, which are far more thoughtful than my brief remarks. But I do want to clarify that I’m not making fun of Microsoft so much as the modern media approach of giving weight to random yahoos who participate in realtime polling. For the record, I will be one of those random yahoos today.

    But I agree with you that I’m glad to see Xbox Live giving time and space to political content. And good for you for the moderating you’re doing! Best of luck with that!

  • Anonymous

    I missed the debate last night so I hope the polls were more substantial than MTV level “who has better hair/hotter wife” questions.

    What really breaks the system is the echo chamber mentality of today’s politics. Right know social media is really good at helping people listen only to other people they agree with. I feel like there is so much that can be done to help bridge that divide, if we take the next step from simplistic “do you agree/not agree” polls.

  • CowCookie

    After I defended Microsoft, I kept having the connection drop out. I ended up watching it on regular network TV. Bad first impression.

  • tomchick

    Yeah, it kept dropping for me as well. I certainly won’t be watching the other three debates on Xbox Live, and not just because of the inane polling questions.