Ian Bogost - Water Cooler Games - The Clintons on SNES

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Water Cooler Games

Water Cooler Games served as the web's primary forum for "videogames with an agenda" — coverage of the uses of video games in advertising, politics, education, and other everyday activities, outside the sphere of entertainment.

The site was maintained at watercoolergames.org from 2003-2009, where it was edited by myself and Gonzalo Frasca. It is now archived here in full.

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The Clintons on SNES

by Ian Bogost August 14, 2008

categories: Console & PC Games , Political Games

For some reason, it was possible to select then-White House occupants Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, or Al Gore as players in NBA Jam Tournament Edition for SNES.

The White House routinely issues cease and desist notices for using the President's likeness for marketing, but this wasn't exactly marketing, exactly. One of the features of NBA Jam TE were hidden characters from outside of sports, including Will Smith, the Beastie Boys, and Prince Charles. It's unclear to me what if any likeness reproduction rights Acclaim acquired for these characters back in the early 1990s. I'd love to know.

(Thanks to Dakota)