Audio By Carbonatix
The highly anticipated first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will take place tonight, and verbal jabs will surely be thrown. The campaign trail has featured Trump and Clinton hurling haymaker insults at each other through the media. But wouldn’t you rather watch the two try to physically knock each other out?
The people at MAD Studios certainly would. The South Florida agency has created the game Political Punch ‘Em, which allows the public to take out their collective frustrations on the candidate they most despise. According to MAD Studios, the new game uses Google technology to allow users to control the punching gloves of Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton via their smartphones, as the characters battle it out simultaneously on their computers.
How did the company come up with the idea? Chris Stegner,
“We asked ourselves, ‘How can we comment on how many Americans are feeling about the two presidential candidates?’ and ‘How can we inspire people to take action and vote?’ The conversation led to growing up with Rock’em Sock’em Robots, featuring two dueling robot boxers that became a pop culture phenomenon. It seemed like a natural progression into what we wanted to accomplish for the first MAD Lab experiment.”
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“Both options in the presidential race leave the American public in a shot or stabbed situation. It seems that no matter what party you identify with, you most likely are unsatisfied with your party’s candidate. Is this really the best America has to offer?”
Though Political Punch ‘Em was created for audiences in the name of fun, the creators also want to remind everyone that the game should also be a reminder to get out and vote.
“Your vote is your voice,” says Denise Wissmann, senior art director at MAD. “We as a country have struggled to give this right to all of our citizens, so even though we are poking fun at the political race, we want people to know that their vote matters.”
Asked what the litigious Trump and his camp might think of the app, the MAD folks respond appropriately for makers of a knockout boxing game:
“Bring it on.”
If you’d like to play Political Punch ‘Em, visit politicalpunchem.com
