Democracy 3 enters beta

Positech's Democracy 3 has entered beta, which in 2013 means you can buy a potentially buggy version of it right now! Being 2013, you'll get a Steam key and DRM free versions on the Mac, Linux and of course Windows. If you're interested, pre-ordering will net you the beta as well for $25.

Rather than simulating the election, like most political games, Cliff Harris' Democracy 3 is a "government-simulation, built around a custom-programmed neural network and unique iconic user interface that represents the thousands of simulated voters, pressure groups, policies, laws and statistics that make up a detailed model of a western democracy. All political careers end in failure and Democracy 3 is thus a game that cannot truly be won, only eventually lost".

Even though Democracy 3 is a simulator, Harris acknowledges the probable biases inherent in creating anything so explicitly political: "I look forward to being accused of an evil capitalist or a naive communist in equal measure. It was an artist decision to make the capitalist guy the largest one in that image, and ditto about there being more women than men."

As you may or not know, Positech is Cliff Harris' one man game company that also made the wonderfully different Gratuitous Space Battles, the kind of game a life of Guitar Teaching and Boat Building prepares you for.

Thanks PC Games N.