Marking the 80th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, and with all the appropriate political pomp, Tom Clancy's Politika board game and CD demo/novel package officially launched during a press conference in Washington, DC, Wednesday morning.

　　Tom Clancy is cofounder and chairman of Red Storm Entertainment and a distinguished author, and Politika is the first Internet game of espionage and intrigue tied directly to current geopolitical events and is based in a post-Yeltsin Russia. The game thrusts players into the midst of a power struggle for the new Russia, representing the Russian Orthodox Church, the Mafia, the KGB, the Nationalists, the Military, the Reformers.

　　If presale orders of the paperback and the game demo package are any indication, the game (further promoted via an online sweepstakes from Dec. 1 to April 30) should be a huge success as the package has already marked over 1.8 million sales.

　　In related Politika news, Headland Digital Media and Berkley Publishing Group launched the Politika Web site today to support the Berkley paperback release of Tom Clancy's Power Plays: Politika.