Fancy yourself as a player president? A new videogame is going to give gamers a chance to be the virtual Barack Obama.
The new game, 'Commander in Chief', is set to hit US stores on 20 January, the day Senator Obama is sworn in as US president.
It challenges players to see whether they can do a better job running the country than he can.
'Player presidents' will make budget, health, education, military, diplomatic and other decisions in simulated environments and have to live virtually with the ramifications of their choices.
'Commander in Chief' will give players information from 50 international organisations including the UN, G7, NATO, NAFTA, and OPEC to enhance the realism of the game made by Paris-based Eversim.
'You can put your own political theories into action and see the domestic and international domino effect,' Eversim lead designer Louis-Marie Rocques said when plans for the game were unveiled in April.
'Anyone will now be able to develop their own exit strategy for Iraq, reverse the course of the economic recession, and attempt to prevent terrorist attacks from Al-Qaeda.'
Players will start by selecting cabinet members and then go on to tackle the same social, environmental, economic, energy, cultural, and military issues facing Sen Obama's administration.
Throughout the game there is a constant threat of terrorist strikes or invasion by foreign troops.
'We are offering the chance to step into the president's shoes and take on those difficult and influential decisions,' Interactive Gaming Software chief executive Paul Lombardi said in a release.
Players can lobby foreign leaders, invade neutral countries, topple unfriendly regimes, or plot assassinations but must bear in mind economic, political or military consequences.
Domestic decisions such as raising or lowering taxes will result in players having either upset citizens or tight budgets.
'Commander in Chief' is a geopolitical simulation game played on a three-dimensional world map showing 192 countries and 8,000 cities.
Players can opt for an open mode where the goal is to remain in office as long as possible or a mode that assigns them missions to complete. A multi-player war game mode pits players against one another online.
Versions of the game have been crafted to let players become virtual leaders of other countries including France, Germany, Spain and Russia.
