After ducking a pair of shoes hurled at him during a farewell news conference in Baghdad, United States President George W Bush is now up against online gamers.
Within 24 hours of the infamous press conference addressed by Bush, online game lovers have hooked on to the game on websites http://kroma.no/2008/bushgame and flash.vg.no/grafikk/bush/kast_sko.html just two of many -- that were launched within hours of the news conference.
At last count today, over 6 lakh (0.6 million) shoes had hit the "target" in each of the on line games that replicated the press meet scene telecast on television news channel all day long the world over.
Bush had ducked a pair of shoes hurled at him - one shoe after the other - as he began addressing the news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Though the shoes hurled by television correspondent Muntadar al-Zeidi had narrowly missed their target, the on line game allows for the gamers' to hit the "target" by setting the computer mouse at the mark.
Of course, Bush in the on line game keeps ducking -- quite successfully at that -- and challenges the gamers' deftness in getting him.
The Bushgame on http://kroma.no/2008/bushgame opens with a question to the player: "Can you throw a shoe at Bush?" And when a shoe flung at Bush, behind a microphone mounted on a rostrum, hits the target, the player has scored.
And if the gamer has hit several times, the window closes with the slogan: "Yes, you can!"
But, the game ends with a rider: "Remember, this is just for fun".
The 'Shoe Bushgame' is the latest in the 'Bushgame' genre that spawned on the Net after Bush won the presidency in 2000, delighting on line gamers this decade.
Among the most popular Bushgames are the "Bush Shoot Out", "Boneless Bush", "Punch Bush", and "Dancing Bush."
As if in response to the fun poked at the US President, a rival Bushgame -- this time to test the gamer's skills at protect Bush from the flying shoes -- called the "Bush Boot
Camp" too is growing in popularity.
