One of the reasons Republicans are fond of Ronald Reagan, for instance, is that his coattails in 1980 were long enough to substantially reshape the Senate. By contrast, some Democrats are still grumpy because in 1996, Bill Clinton overwhelmed Bob Dole in the electoral college, but the party still lost two Senate seats.

The video-game industry has a similar view of new game releases. It's great for a title to sell a gazillion copies, but the real question is whether that game will boost the sales of related products -- in particular, the relatively expensive hardware needed to play it. On all fronts, the early returns for Grand Theft Auto IV look good.

Console Manufacturers Happy

GTA IV was released on two different platforms -- the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft 's Xbox 360 -- and both manufacturers are reporting higher console sales as a result. The only disagreement is about which company is getting the biggest boost.

Aaron Greenberg, director of product management for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, told NextGen.biz that "we expect that GTA IV is definitely driving a lot of people to Xbox 360. ... The fact that we know that we're outselling [the PS3] two-to-one on the game is a pretty good sign that a lot of those games are going with a new console out the door."

That version of events was disputed by Sony Consumer Electronics, which said in a statement that "as expected, the demand for Grand Theft Auto IV drove sales of the PlayStation 3 entertainment system within the first 24 hours, continuing the strong legacy of the franchise on PlayStation platforms."

Neither of the console manufacturers provided documentation of GTA IV's effect on their console sales, in part because sales information for the game is still being compiled. The only figures so far are from England, where Elspa's Chart-Track put GTA IV's first-day sales in the United Kingdom at more than 600,000, setting a new one-day sales record.

GTA IV Ripple Effect

Console sales are not the only sector that could gain from the game's release. Microsoft hopes to see a surge in Xbox Live subscriptions, which allow GTA IV players to engage in multiplayer contests online. Greenberg reported that as many as one in 10 Xbox Live subscribers played the game online during the first day, replacing Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 as the service's most popular titles.

And even Google has gotten into the act, collaborating with IGN to produce a detailed Google Map of Liberty Set, the setting of GTA IV's detailed mayhem. Players can not only see where they're going, but use the interactive features of Google Maps to post the location of unmarked buildings, activities and even characters.

But at least one of this year's presidential candidates is not a fan.

"I was just catching the news this morning about Grand Theft Auto, this video game, which is gonna break all records and make goo-gobs of money for whoever designed it," Democrat hopeful Barack Obama said in a speech in Indiana. "Now, this isn't intended for kids, although I promise you there are kids who are playing it, but these video games are raising our kids."

He urged parents to get their children to stop playing video games and concentrate on their studies.