Will Halo 4 beat out Romney and Obama?

Shane Wade

Opinion Editor

Let’s paint a picture of Nov. 6.

12.7 percent unemployment for 18-29 year olds. 46 million Americans impoverished. Nearly 1 million youth minorities at risk of disenfranchisement. A vast world of uncertainty abroad and an abundance of social issues at home. On that day, one group of Americans will form long lines at polling stations and decide whether Barack Obama or Mitt Romney will lead us to a brighter future.

The other group of Americans? They’ll be forming long lines at Best Buys and Wal-Marts to buy Halo 4.

Laugh all you want, but Republicans and conservatives won’t have to work any harder on their efforts to suppress or disenfranchise youth and minority voters. Over it’s history, the Halo franchise has sold more than 34 million copies of Halo games worldwide and grossed more than $2 billion sales in 2010 alone.

Call it a waste. Call it a distraction. But it’s a force to be reckoned with, and come Nov. 6, there will be repercussions.

Give those young voters that won President Obama the election in 2008 $60, point them to a Best Buy and they’ll pass the election to Romney handily.

Obama’s real competition this year isn’t a political party that’s spent billions of dollars discrediting, satirizing and misrepresenting him; it’s a LAN party and a company that’s spent millions of dollars in designing graphics, game physics and voice-overs. Four long years of an overall stale economy has left vast swaths of the American populace in want for a better future. Even if the majority of that swath doesn’t fault President Obama, they won’t necessarily come out in droves to re-support him. Staying home, or going to buy a video game, might and will be a viable alternative for optimists turned cynics.

Politics, with all its broken promises, taboos, and the general grime that comes with it isn’t the alluring adventure it once was for Americans. The culture war that once erupted and divided Americans into two venement camps has slowly and steadily faded; we’re flat-out tired of talking and hearing about politics.

While I’d like to believe in the goodwill of American citizens, particularly those in the ‘youth’ category, I’m too familiar with our society to have faith that we’ll put country first.

According to the 2010 Essential Facts report by the Entertainment Software Association, 49 percent of gamers between the ages of 18-49 and 67 percent of American households make up part of the video gamer populace. Those that care about voter turnout, namely the Obama and Romney campaigns, will need to work double time to ensure Halo 4 doesn’t do to the 2012 election what a Friday night timeslot does to qulity sitcoms.

If you think people care more about electing the leader  of the free world than a blockbuster video game, remember that on the day after the U.S. Consulate in Libya was attacked, the top news story on multiple news outlets was the press conference around the iPhone 5. After all, this is the same generation that rallied together via Internet signal boosting in order to stop the infamous Kony. After all this is the same generation that rallied together via Internet signal boosting in order to stop the infamous Kony until “YOLO” became a thing.

You may feel as though your vote doesn’t matter, and honestly, in a national election, it probably doesn’t. But that same ballot you cast for president also has important local elective official names and propositions on it.

You don’t owe Romney or Obama a vote, but if you care about your country, your city, your voice, vote on Nov. 6 and just pre-order Halo4. CT