David Bartlett – Tasmanian State Premier and Band Hero in one
We don’t dive into politics very often – only when necessary with stories that are generally on the negative side as some city/state/country goes off on a crusade to ban coin-op games for some stupid reason or another. It’s a hot political season in the US right now which means you might find that someone running for office says they like video games as a way to connect with certain voters. Whether it’s sincere or not can be a challenge at times as some politicians are skilled at pandering. Anyone can say “I enjoy system X or game Y” but do they really? Even rarer is someone who would say they enjoy playing an arcade title or they have fond memories of going to a location that had some of their favorite coin-ops on hand. As it turns out you can find a politician who enjoys playing all sorts of games on a range of systems as well as arcades, the State Premier of Tasmania, David Bartlett.
Just One More Game has the scoop as they interview Mr. Bartlett where they discuss the classic computers his family had as a kid, from the Vic-20, to the Mac to the Atari ST and go up to games he plays today, like Band Hero. And best of all (and the reason we’re getting into it here) is that he’s enough of a gamer to enjoy a variety of arcade titles. Mr. Bartlett and family went to the Game 2.0 event in Tasmania and relived some classics Sega’s Monaco GP, Konami’s Track & Field, Capcom’s original Street Fighter, Atari’s Star Wars and more. Hit the link above to read on.
We’re glad to see someone in the political realm who actually enjoys games, in particular arcade titles. I’d never say vote for someone based on their love of games (even arcades) alone and instead the overall issues they want to represent that you agree with, if that is available where you live. However a real liking/love of games certainly could be a plus if you want to see a legal environment that is positive towards games or arcades in particular where many areas out there, in the US and elsewhere, could use a change in laws that outright ban coin-op or regulate it into non-existence through heavy fees(Oklahoma I’m looking at you).
