Kal Penn likes Rayman... and President Obama

(Harold And Kumar) Actor discusses his Rayman Origins commercial and his time in the White House

Actor Kal Penn had so much hope in President Obama that the actor left a good gig on Fox's hit TV series House in 2009 to become the associate director in the White House office of public liaison. But the actor has returned to Hollywood work (he still lives in Washington, D.C.) and can currently be seen on the big screen in A Very Harold & Kumar's 3D Christmas and on the small screen in How I Met Your Mother. The actor is also starring in his first video game commercial for Ubisoft's Rayman Origins, a project he chose because he spends most of his free time playing games.

"The thing is I'm not very good at games like Halo or Call of Duty so the stuff that I play is similar to the Rayman-type platform games," said Penn. "Over the last ten years or so, I've been really into things that are designed well, especially with a lot of the new graphic designs that aren't computer-generated art. The cool thing about Rayman Origins is that the art is all hand drawn and then fed into a computer. The end result is that what you're getting visually in terms of the actual art and graphics is real legit art. On the business side of things, I love any time you can combine art and commerce in a way that you employ actual humans to draw art."



Penn logged a lot of hours working in the Obama White House, but he ended up leaving his gaming consoles at home. He never partook in any gaming sessions at the White House.

"Most of the work that we did at the White House, the hours were so long that there was no opportunity to play video games there," said Penn. "I'm still living in D.C., now just without the job, so maybe I should have a videogame party and invite them over."

Penn, who continues to support Obama and may become active again with the 2012 re-election campaign, loves the fact that Obama plays Wii. In fact, he was the first President to have a game console in the White House.

"I think it speaks volumes of the President," said Penn. "We've had a lot of past Presidents that lived in a bit of a bubble. I think it's great. It's no secret that President Obama is incredibly pop-culture savvy, and technologically savvy. He's got an iPad. He's got his iPod. I didn't know he had a console, but that's very cool. I should send him Rayman Origins."

Although Obama bought the Nintendo console for his daughters Sasha and Malia, he's admitted to The New York Times that he plays games like Wii Bowling regularly. He also told Entertainment Weekly that he played games like Pong growing up.

In fact, Obama tried connecting with gamers like Penn during his run for office. His campaign purchased in-game ads in 18 games in 2007, including Electronic Arts games like Madden NFL 09, NBA Live 09, NHL 09, Burnout Paradise and Skate. Obama also appeared in NBA Jam.



Penn is all for using videogames to help students in the classroom. One of the growing areas of interest in the game industry, serious games, was a focal point of Obama this past year. He was behind the first annual National STEM Videogame Challenge, which asked students and game designers to prototype games that could be used to help students develop skills in and apply concepts from science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.

"Our success as a nation depends on strengthening America's role as the world's engine of discovery and innovation," Obama said in a statement. "I applaud partners in the National STEM Video Game Challenge for lending their resources, expertise, and their enthusiasm to the task of strengthening America's leadership in the 21st century by improving education in science, technology, engineering and math."

"I think it's great," said Penn. "People all over the world play videogames, so I think it's cool that it's not just being used for entertainment anymore."