Will Wright Backs McCain; Zelnick? Duh, Obama.

Back in February 1Up took a broad look at who the gaming industry, on the whole, was giving to in U.S. political campaigns. Develop Magazine revisited the subject this weekend, going through Federal Election Commission records to find the donation history of games industry heavy hitters and see who's backing whom in the U.S. presidential smackdown. Interestingly, Will Wright's given $3,000 to John McCain, after crapping out with a $2,350 bet on Rudy Giuliani in the primaries. On the other side, Take Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick, has gone hard for the Democrats - no surprise there, considering how his games are such pariahs in the culture war demagoguery of the right. Zelnick's given $2,000 to Barack Obama, and hedged his bets in the primary with $2,500 for John Edwards in the primary, and a grand each for Joe Biden and Bill Richardson. No Hillary? Dis! Yeah, wonder why. Anyway, there are more names and numbers on the jump.Giving to Republicans, according to Develop: • Will Wright: (Spore, The Sims) $3,000 to McCain; previously donated $2,350 to Giuliani • Bobby Kotick (Activision CEO) $2,300 to McCain; previously donated $2,100 to Mitt Romney • Curt Schilling (38 Studios) $2,300 to McCain. Does Schilling really qualify here? Yeah, guess so. Democratic contributors, according to Develop: • Strauss Zelnick (Chairman, Take-Two) $2,000 to Obama; had previously donated to $2,500 to Edwards, $1,000 each to Biden & Richardson • Ben Feder (CEO, Take-Two) contributed $1,000 to Biden in 2007 • Sam Houser (Rockstar) $4,600 to Obama • Patricia Vance (president, ESRB) $2,000 to Obama • John Riccitiello (CEO, EA) $4,600 to Obama • John Smedley (Sony Online Entertainment) $2,300 to Obama • Richard Garriott aka "Lord British" (Ultima series, NC Soft) $2,300 to Hillary Clinton • Alex Rigopulos (CEO, Harmonix) $4,600 to Obama, the maximum allowable in two cycles, plus a $28,500 contribution to his victory PAC. • Kathy Vrabeck (president, EA Casual) $2,300 to Obama • Gabe Newell (pres., Valve) $2,300 to Christopher Dodd By the way, if you want to look up neighbors, bosses, professors, celebrities, whomever and see who they've supported with the long green, Congressional Quarterly's Moneyline is much more user-friendly than the FEC. Records Reveal Political Power of Dev Heavyweights [Develop Magazine via Play.tm]