Who is or who is not included in the game is irrelevant as long as the ability to create new candidates is maintained. My game includes tons of other candidates that are, IMO, accurately depicted. It includes all the major party candidates going back to 1928, candidates from the 19th century, and even Canadian candidates, and some candidates who did not win their party's nomination.

I love this game! props on the simplicity and overall fun... can't wait for the 2008 version (with the way they have already started so early with the campaigns I just hope you guys can get this out pretty fast!)

Ok now for my 2cents....

DEBATES!!!! this is a must.... just ask John Kerry or Al Gore!!!! it is one of the missing ingredients that took away from the game! Especially considering that ALOT of people use these to help make up thier mind up in a close race.

MOD(abilty) Being able to add key issues to the game easily would be great way to extend the replay value! I have searched high and low for mods for this game to update it to atleast a close relation to the 2008 race.

More Special Interest Groups!

There should also a price to pay for playing "dirty" politics IF YOU ARE CAUGHT!

Primaries would also be nice... but should treated more as a mini game.

VP candidates should have more impact.

Unrealistic Candidates should be kept to a minimum in my opinion, as it takes away from the realism... and these can always be created by the user.

Real Time Updates on issues and Candidates.

The Actual Election should be more robust, maybe presented as it is on TV!

- Just my thoughts, keep of the great work!

what is important in PM 08 - after each round (in campain game) you should be able to add points to you character

I cant wait for this game to come out. What is it expected to hit the market? I like some of the ideas that have been brought out.

One. I like the idea of adding some new characters that werent in the first game. These are some people I think need to be added.

Former Presidents-
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
James Monroe (new-Democrat)
Andrew Jackson (new-Democrat)
William Henry Harrison (new-Repubican)
Jame Polk (new-Democrat)
Abraham Lincoln
Ulysses S. Grant
Benjamin Harrison (new-Republican)
Grover Cleveland (new-Democrat)
William McKinley (new-Republican)
Theodore Roosevelt
William Taft
Woodrew Wilson
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry S. Truman (new-Democrat)
Dwight Eisenhower (new-Republican)
John F. Kennedy (new-Democrat)
Lyndon B. Johnson
Richard Nixon
Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan
George H.W. Bush
Bill Clinton
George W. Bush

Some Guys who ran but didnt make it;
Aaron Burr(democrat)
Henry Clay(republican)
Samuel Tilden(democrat)
Charles Pinckney(republican)
William Jennings Bryan(democrat)
Eugene Debbs (socialist party)
Thomas Dewey(republican)
Aldai Stevenson(democrat)
Barry Goldwater(republican)
Robert F. Kennedy(democrat)
Ross Perot (reform party)
Bob Dole(republican)

Some Statesmen that could or of should on ran;
Benjamin Franklin(independent)
Alexander Hamilton(republican)
Martin Luther King Jr.(democrat)

2008 Presidential Candidates;
Al Gore
Hilary Clinton
Barrack Obama
Tom Vilsack
Bill Richardson
John Edwards
John Kerry
Joe Biden
Christopher Dodd
Mike Gravel
Dennis Kucinich
Same Brownback
Rudy Giuliani
Mike Huckabee
Duncan Hunter
Alan Keyes
Ron Paul
John McCain
Mitt Romney
Tom Tancredo
Fred Thompson
Wesley Clark
Howard Dean
Lamar Alexander

Two. Something that I think would add a lot to the game play would be Scenerios. Scenerios would give gamers the opportunity to play out different presidential elections from the past. In these scenerios the campaign map will change, reflecting America at the time of the election. Electors for each state will change and certain states will not be available due to the fact that it wasn't a state at the time of the election scenerio. Some Scenerio elections would be;

1800 Jefferson, Burr, and Adams
1844 Polk and Clay
1860 Lincoln, Breckinridge, Bell, and Douglas
1876 Hayes and Tilden
1896 McKinley and Bryan
1912 Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft, and Debs
1948 Truman, Dewey, Thurmond, Wallace
1960 Kennedy and Nixon
1968 Nixon, Humphreys, and Wallace
1992 Clinton, Bush, Perot
2000 Bush and Gore, possibly Nader

These are just some of the more intense elections in the history of the US. I figure that these would make great gameplay as gamers need to battle through some of the obsticles some candidates faced. Some of these, or maybe most of these involve more then two Candidates, which will lead me to the next point.

Three. I think it would be great to add a third or even forth party option. I don't know how it would mess with the game play or the set up (because some of that I do not want to change), but this would add a greater intensity to the election. We see in history how third party candidates have tipped the scales and intensified the whole election process. In the same way, I feel a third party option would make the game even more interesting. Now I will say that it could make the gameplay a little confusing, but that is usually the point.

Four. I am also an advocate of adding primaries. There is no doubt that this will attract more people in to the game. Now how that will be done, I am not sure how it would work. I heard the idea of making it a minigame and that would work well, but it would also be fun to add it to the main game as well. But I just want to throw in my five cents on primaries.

Five. The Candidates' Portrait should not change! I think the cartoon images of each candidate are accurate and keep the game simple. I also wanted to through that it there. The format of the game is awesome, and I do not want to see that change one bit. I would like to see more face options, so that you can make more custom candidates with.

Six. Definately more endorsement groups. Also recieveing endorsements from prominent politicians as well, especially in the primary mode. Some of these would be govenors or senators.

Seven. I dont agree with what was said of making the game eternally relevant. I think that would be bad for business. I hope you guys continue to produce Political Machines in the future. Also other styles of the game, which I will elaborate on in my next point.

Eight. I will end with this. I love this game and it is a great game! No doubt the best political PC game I have come across (and I have seen many), but overall, I would like to see this company expand to other types of political machine style games, such as a Political Machine game focusing on a State Level, where you can run for governor or Senate. So anyways, I leave with that and thank you all for giving me a bit of webspace to share my 5 KBs on what I think of Poltical Machine 2.

I hope it's not too late to suggest some stuff for The Political Machine 2008.

For one thing, instead of selecting a candidate portrait, I think it would be nice to be able to select facial features, glasses, hair, and such so you can create new candidates that look like real-life candidates without having to create your own portrait that doesn't look right compared to the other portraits. I understand the game artists may have already started work on drawing up the candidate portraits, but, perhaps he or she could draw individual facial features to use in a create-a-candidate thingy. Just a thought.

There was one thing that bothered me about The Political Machine: the political parties of historical candidates. George Washington was not a Republican; in fact, he didn't even have a political party (unless you count his support for the Federalist Party). And, while Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, I don't think he would run as one if he was alive today. Think about this. George Washington was all about completely reforming government and creating liberties that were previously unheard of. He was basically saying that the traditional values they had were a load of crap, and he was considered extremely liberal back then. Similarly, Abraham Lincoln's political platform was based on the notion that protecting and creating freedoms was more important than any other issue at the time. Abe actually considered giving up trying to abolish slavery, because many thought it was way too extreme and that they should just "stay the course." Since the game apparently takes place in modern America, I think it would make more sense that they would run as modern Democrats. Also, the hidden Republicans in the game seem to outrank the Democrats, so, if you switched Washington and Lincoln over to the Democratic Party, the Republican Party would still have excellent -- and more conservative -- presidents like Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. I don't mean to sound biased by saying that two of our greatest presidents in history would be Democrats in 2008; that's just the way I see things.

It would be nice to see some "unlikely" political candidates in the game, too; for example, politicians from other countries (like Tony Blair or Yasuo Fukuda), important people in politics who aren't actually politicians (like Stephen Colbert or Pope John Paul II), and even our historical enemies (like Adolf Hitler or Saddam Hussein). Seriously, who here wouldn't find it fun to see Stewart-Colbert beat Hitler-Himmeler? That kind of thing would just make the game even more interesting, entertaining, and educating.

Debates! What is a political campaign without debates? In addition to individual candidates being interviewed on TV, why not interview BOTH of the candidates at once? That way, there's a chance one of them might actually stand out in contrast to the other.

Two words: Dennis Kucinich.

How about the other US Territories, like Guam and Puerto Rico? Perhaps you could add an option to give them the ability to vote. Even if they can't vote, I think they should influence the game at least slightly. Perhaps that could be one of the game's issues.

That's all I can think of right now. I hope you (Stardock) read them and take them into consideration if it's not too late.

Oh, one more thing. YouTube (or at least a generic parody of YouTube) should at least have a mention in the game. Perhaps as part of the debate idea previously mentioned.

I hope the graphics are kept the same! I love having a game like this with cute cartoon graphics that are easy and pleasing to the eye. That was part of the appeal for replayability in my opinion.

And I think that it would be interesting to have the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primaries to be included as part of the campaign.

I can't wait!

At this point I think its safe to say that Stardock has made a really bad move in the timing of the release of this game. Development should have started way before the Primaries, since the Primaries are an excellent point to launch off of and then you would have had a longer run in peek political years for this game. This is Political Machines season and you guys still haven't come out with news, advertistments, or the product. This is a game with a great concept, but failure to market diligently and properly is going to cut into your profit, which just doesn't make sense. Of course, I have no idea what is going on behind the scenes, but I can tell that the symptoms of non-marketing and non-distrubution don't look to good.

Good luck gentlemen, love you product and I hope you get it out soon.

Justin

I think they dropped the ball too. They had 4 years to start development of the 2008 game. The game should be out already.

In the 2008 game, I will be disappointed if it doesn't have at least some of these changes:

1) Some type of primary process

2) Not every election takes place in the same time period. Unless you do the standard campaign, then you get stuck with lame issues like UFOs, etc.

3) I think they should sell add ons to the product so players can pick certain time periods for the election (elections in the 20th century, perhaps).

4) Debates

5) More in-depth interaction on the interview feature & on the hoped-for debate feature as well. In the interview segment, you are pretty much stuck with the same answers over and over.

6) More realism

Do you know when the beta version of PM08 will be released?

I would love to get the 1st hand of trying out the 2008 version of Political Machine.