Play the 'Layoff' game

The ailing economy has once again become the focus of a new video game with the release of casual title Layoff.

The puzzle game created by Tiltfactor Labs and the Rochester Institute of Technology's Game Design and Development program examines the federal bailout of financial institutions.

"The game has an unsettling feeling," said Mary Flanagan, the director of Tiltfactor Lab, in a statement. "It is cute and fun to play, but when you realize how frightening the situation is, the game in fact functions as a very dark portent."

Similar in style to Bejeweled, Layoff requires players to click on adjacent workers and align them in groups of three or more to lay them off and save the company money. Laid-off workers fall to an unemployment office sitting at the bottom of the screen. Bankers are the only ones exempt from layoffs.

Players save more money by laying off five workers at once, initiating a bank takeover. When players get stuck, they can click on bank bailout to improve their chances.

This is not the first game to tackle the financial crisis. The Bailout Game lets players dish out bailout funds in a board game setting before the recession settles in. Another game, Bush's Billions, pits former President Bush against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a "bank heist shootout" over $700 billion in bailout funds.

Readers, what do you think of the Layoff game?

By Brett Molina
(Hat tip to GamePolitics)
Photo: Layoff (Tiltfactor Labs)

source:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gamehunters/post/2009/03/64314657/1