If Bill Clinton's presidential administration is remembered for one thing, it's his cat Socks. The first feline called the White House home during Clinton's presidency and was so popular that he even received mail from fans across the country.
Socks was so famous that he almost had a video game created in his honor, titled Socks The Cat Rocks The Hill, a sidescrolling platformer with more than a splash of political satire tossed in.
As the plot of the game goes, Socks overhears foreign spies stealing nuclear missile launch codes, and must make his way to the Clintons to warn them of the oncoming terrorist attack. Bosses for the game include former presidents like Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. Unfortunately, the game was canceled last minute, despite prototypes being built and review copies of the game being delivered to various publications.
Not to worry though, because Socks may still get his moment in the spotlight. It seems a fan by the name of Tom Curtin recently acquired a working prototype of the game, and not only that, but also acquired the rights to the game as well. The plan is for Curtin to host a Kickstarter to raise enough funds for the distribution of the full game.
It's currently not known exactly how much Curtin's campaign will be asking for (the Kickstarter isn't live yet), but Curtin has revealed that fans who want a boxed cartridge version of the title will be able to snag one with a $50 donation. Digital copies of the game are expected to require a $20 or $30 donation. The backer who donates the most will receive the prototype itself as a backer reward.
Curtin says he bought the prototype for about the same amount as "a decent used car" from a video game collector. Curtin says some will criticize his decision to do a Kickstarter for the game, rather than simply releasing it online for the entire world, but he says he wanted to do the game's release right.
"The game deserves a real release: A box, a manual, a physical cartridge that you can plug in," Curtin says. "People have been waiting 20 years to play this game; I feel like that's the right way to do it."
Socks may have died in 2009, but if his game is finally released, he will be remembered for a long, long time to come.
