video games get political

I’m 23 years old.  And I play video games.

It’s not something I’m real proud of, but about once a week I sit down in front of a big screen with some buddies and do a little online gaming.  We are all old enough to vote, and I guess are within the age range of the average gamer.

Barack Obama ads have started appearing in EA games for Microsoft’s Xbox 360.  Barack Obama billboards can now been seen in EA games including Burnout Paradise, Madden 09, Nascar 09, NHL 09, and Skate.

From NY Times:

Jeff Brown, vice president of communications at Electronic Arts, which publishes Burnout Paradise, said Mr. Obama’s campaign had purchased ads to run in the Xbox 360 version of the game, which he said is most popular among male players ages 16 to 30. The ads will run until Nov. 3 in 10 battleground states.

StubHub NE1?

I had my first StubHub experience today.

I never really liked the idea of online ticket brokering.  And I never understood why somehow it  perfectly fine for websites to make money off of reselling tickets to concerts and sporting events at higher than face value when there are laws, at least I always thought there were, against standing outside a stadium or theatre scalping tickets.

Sites like StubHub drive up ticket prices by showing promoters how much people are willing to pay for popular events. 

Well today I crossed over to the dark side.  I made my first sale on StubHub.  It was a really easy way to make some extra money.

A couple of months back I was able to pre-order tickets for Trey Anastasio’s solo show at the Palace Theatre this Saturday.  I ordered 4 tickets before calling and asking each one of the friends I had in mind. 

Fast forward to about two weeks ago.  The tickets arrive in the mail.  Everyone I know interested in going to the concert already has tickets.

I didn’t want to.  It wasn’t my intention to flip them for profit.  And I listed them at a price lower than any of the 6 other listings for tickets to the same show.

I can’t say I feel bad about it, or won’t ever do it again.  I see the need, or I guess the reason, why ticket brokering sites exist.  I just hope the guy sitting next to me on Saturday night doesn’t wonder if I was the one at FedEx this afternoon overnighting his tickets.