In honor of Election Day, Microsoft has released the results from an Xbox Live poll taken in October.

Microsoft's official Gamerscore Blog published its results from Halloween weekend, and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has extended his lead over Republican John McCain to 53% to 33%, with 14% answering "Undecided/Other."

Today's numbers update polls from September which showed Democratic candidate Barack Obama ahead of Republican candidate John McCain by a 12-point margin.

The numbers do not coincide with major national polls, which show Obama leading by no more than 11 percentage points.

The Shacknews editorial staff once more wishes to implore all eligible American voters to go out and vote.

Boris Johnson, the London mayor who wrote that "computer games rot the brain" in the British newspaper Telegraph before his election, is now "delighted that the London Games Festival is back in our city for its third year."

The LGF, which starts on October 31, "demonstrates the creativity and range of the gaming industry, which, as an important part of London's creative sector, makes a vital contribution to the economy as a whole," according to a press release quote from Johnson.

In particular, the mayor is happy to see the return of EA's marketing team: "I am pleased to see EA's Be the One event is returning to Trafalgar Square," referring to an expo from the publisher which is open to the public during the Festival.

Johnson is a long-standing opponent of video games. His 2006 editorial in the Telegraph claimed "It is about time ... that we admitted the catastrophic effect these blasted gizmos are having on the literacy and the prospects of young males." He proceeded to blame gaming habits for "ignorance and underachievement and ... poverty," citing England's illiteracy statistics as evidence.

Earlier this year, after taking office, Johnson also blamed a wave of knife crimes on violent games.

Many thanks to Eurogamer in their guidance of things gaming and European.

In-game advertisements for Democratic president candidate Barack Obama are running in more than just the Xbox 360 version of Burnout Paradise, with publisher EA confirming to AP that the ads will now appear across 10 titles, including Madden NFL 09.

Furthermore, the Obama ads are geographically targeted to 10 "battleground states"--Ohio, Florida, Iowa, Colorado, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, and Wisconsin--according to GameSpot.

The advertisements will run up until November 3, the eve of the election. They will only appear in the Xbox 360 editions of the games as Microsoft subsidiary Massive handled their placement, while rival IGA Worldwide handles PS3 in-game ads.

In addition to Obama, Massive approached Republican presidential candidate John McCain with the prospect of in-game ads, though it appears his campaign declined.

Hot on the heels of the news that the games industry likes presidential candidate Barack Obama comes confirmation that the feeling's mutual: Obama is running in-game ads in Criterion's Burnout Paradise.

"I can confirm that the Obama campaign has paid for in-game advertising in Burnout," said publisher EA's corporate communications director Holly Rockwood to GigaOM.

"Like most television, radio and print outlets, we accept advertising from credible political candidates," added Rockwood. "Like political spots on the television networks, these ads do not reflect the political policies of EA or the opinions of its development teams."

The first images of an Obama billboard appearing in the racing game surfaced on Friday, when a user in the Rooster Teeth community took and posted pictures of the billboard, which GamePolitics noticed. The board advises readers that "Early voting has begun" and advertises Voteforchange.com, a site run by the Obama campaign that assists users in registering to vote. The in-game ad also carries the usual small print: "Paid for by Obama for President."

The last time we looked at the political connections in the gaming industry, we looked at contributions from individuals in the game industry like Sims creator Will Wright and Grand Theft Auto co-producer Sam Houser.

Now, Kotaku has done some studying of their own and found that, in accordance with previous unscientific efforts and an Xbox Live user poll, the games industry's support may swing in the direction of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The gaming blog checked the Federal Election Commission records for Activision, Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Nintendo, Sony Computer Entertainment of America, Take-Two, THQ, Ubisoft and Valve and found that they collectively "donated a total of about $97,800 to ten candidates, about $61,000 of which went to Democratic candidates, while about $36,700 went to Republican candidates."

Almost half of the total donations went to Obama. Other major recipients, from both parties, included Sen. Hillary Clinton, Congressman Ron Paul and Sen. John McCain.

According to Kotaku's report, "the company with the largest contributions to campaigns was Electronic Arts, followed by Activision and then Valve."

By searching through public campaign records, GamesPolitics has compiled a list of politically-active prominent game industry figures and who they support.

Of the 16 found so far, 9 have personally donated to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, while 3 favor Republican candidate John McCain. An Xbox Live poll previously found that Xbox Live users tended to support Obama.

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and Spore creator Will Wright rank among McCain's more high-profile supporters. Meanwhile, Obama has been backed by ESRB president Patricia Vance, Star Wars creator George Lucas, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick and ESA general counsel Kenneth Doroshow, among others.

Still a work-in-progress, the current list can be found below... Read more

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama leads Republican John McCain in a poll of Xbox Live users performed by Microsoft.

Microsoft's official Gamerscore Blog reported nearly 100,000 participants in the poll, which was conducted through the Xbox 360's homepage for the Rock the Vote campaign. The results were as follows:

• Obama--Biden: 43%
• McCain--Palin: 31%
• Undecided: 13%
• Other: 13%

The results are not in line with major national polls, which show Obama and McCain running at a near statistical dead heat. Microsoft, however, touts the results as "[providing] insight into a unique subset of young engaged citizens."

The company also said that 55,000 voter registration forms have been requested in addition to 350,000 downloads of Rock the Vote-related content ranging from videos from party conventions to avatar Gamerpics supporting both candidates.

The use of Grand Theft Auto as a scapegoat isn't going anywhere, says law professor Ashley Lipson. The trick is worth too much money.

"A good defense lawyer will blame everyone in sight, except of course the client. When he or she runs out of people to blame, it's time to look around for objects. What could be better than a popular videogame?" Lipson reasoned to the Palm Beach Post.

James Waller, a practicing defense attorney--and gamer--admits to using the tactic. "Portraying your client as the victim of outside forces (be they child abuse, coercion by peers, or an ultra-violent video game industry) humanizes the client and shifts the culpability," he said.

As a gamer, Waller is put in a strange situation by using the ... Read more

A partnership with Rock the Vote will allow Xbox Live users to register to vote through their Xbox 360s, Microsoft announced today.

Voter registration will be available via Xbox Live beginning Monday, August 25, with Microsoft also set to provide polls and a forum for discussing presidential candidates. No details were provided as to how the process will operate.

"If Xbox Live were a state, it would rank as the country's seventh largest, giving it approximately 20 electoral votes," Microsoft said of its 12 million Xbox Live users.

"Xbox is a natural partner to help us reach out to youth voters," explained Rock the Vote director Heather Smith. "To realize our goal of registering 2 million young Americans by this fall, we need to go where young Americans are, and there's no doubt in our minds that many are on Xbox 360 and Xbox Live."

In addition to voter registration, Microsoft will also have a "presence" at the Democratic and Republican conventions, which respectively begin on August 25 and September 1.

A recent campaign ad for maverick Republican John McCain uses music from Electronic Arts' World War II game Medal of Honor: European Assault, causing great displeasure for the composer, who supports Barack Obama as his presidential candidate of choice.

"While I do not control the ownership of this piece, I am extremely disappointed its placement in this commercial. I did not authorize the use and was not made aware of the situation," composer Christopher Lennertz told GamePolitics.

"I am dismayed that my music has been used to promote [McCain's] platform and even more disappointed that a candidate who claims to be the best voice for American entrepreneurs and business owners in this troubled economy so flagrantly ignored the most basic values and tenents of copyright and intellectual property."

Lennertz was quite clear that there was nothing illegal about the McCain campaign's use of his piece, saying the situation resulted from a rights mix-up between companies. "I do think however, that they should have checked to see if the creators of content that they are using to promote their views are in fact in sync with them," he ... Read more