Young people: stop playing Halo 4 and go vote!

Serious concerns that outcome might be swayed by young people choosing Halo 4 over the election

As many of you know something happened today that many people have been waiting to happen for a long time. It will be a defining moment for them, something that they will remember for the rest of their years. It’s something that is so important nothing could ever be more important.

That’s right! Today, at midnight, Halo 4 finally went on sale! And, according to an article on FoxNews.com, it could have major implications for that other big thing that is going on today.

You see, Barack Obama won in 2008 because, among others, young people went out to vote for him. Ever since then, pundits have loved to talk about how young people are less enthusiastic about voting this time than they were four years ago (though, if you looked at my Facebook news feed you might disagree with that assumption). Also, young people play video games a lot, or so I’m told.

So if you combine young apathy with theur insatiable hunger for video games… do you see where this is going? People are now seriously wondering if the release of Halo 4 on the same day as the Presidential election will keep young people from going out and taking a few minutes to vote.

It seems like a rather silly question, but perhaps there really is something to it, as stupid as it makes my entire generation seem.

FoxNews asked gaming analyst Jon Peddie what he thought about the potential for young people to not want to leave the house for a few minutes, lest their new video game somehow get up and walk away forever. His response was quite… blunt.

“There will always be that percentage who are too cool, too cynical, and too ignorant to be bothered. I would guess that's between 10 and 15 percent of the kids of voting age,” Peddie told FoxNews.

“The idiots who can't get a date and look at the women's breasts in the games will definitely find Halo 4 more interesting than something that requires thinking.”

When VatorNews contacted Microsoft to get their take on the story, a spokesperson pointed to the efforts made by Microsoft, and Halo 4, to get people to vote, including giving people who watched the Presidential Debates on Xbox Live an exclusive set of gold Spartan armor for their avatar.

The Halo 4 in-game message system will also give users a reminder to get out and vote once they boot up their copy of the game.

“Halo 4 has supported a get-out-the-vote campaign for several months that began with voter recruitment efforts at major consumer events (like New York Comic-Con), as well as a voter registration program on Xbox LIVE. Microsoft also partnered with Rock the Vote to encourage and facilitate voter registration. We’re continuing the message at major launch events this evening and more than 100 college campuses nationwide,” the Microsoft spokesperson told VatorNews.

So it seems as though Microsoft is doing its part to make sure that it won’t be held responsible for affecting the outcome of the election. Let’s just hope that all those Halo 4 users out there actually listen.

(Image source: https://etyman.wordpress.com)