Violent video games have long been a favorite sacrificial lamb for everyone from parents concerned with their children's delicate sensibilities to politicians concerned with getting some good face time. CGI-generated carnage has been blamed for everything from the short attention spans of today's youth to some of the more horrific incidents of recent years. With the recent emergence of a popular iPhone application called "Bailout Wars," we can now employ the Nintendo defense if someone decides to go after Jamie Dimon with a machete.

A recent story on the Huffington Post details the application in which users are encouraged to "defend the White House and save the US taxpayers' money before it gets stolen! It's time for you to give them what they deserve! [...] It's your only chance to really take revenge on bankers for the recession they caused [...] Explore many different ways to beat bankers: tap, grab, or shake them in the air."

Of course even with an application as popular as Bailout Wars, which has been given a five-star rating by 219 out of 492 users, there inevitably are flaws and bugs that need to be worked out. Thankfully the fine folks at American Banker's BankThink blog took the time to detail some of the more constructive criticism levied by concerned players. For instance Gamereviewer.com feels that players "should be able to attack the bank's bank and confiscate CEO's private jets to recoup money!" Meanwhile a user going by the handle "roachkotchou" decides to make their suggestion short and to the point, "You should make CEO's easier to kill." Well, that sure was direct.

If Lloyd Blankfein and Vikram Pandit are reading this please allow us a quick word of advice, you might want to think about changing your locks.

The game's publisher, the Paris-based Gameloft, is something of a quiet heavyweight in the gaming industry. They may not be a household name, but the company is behind some of the most successful franchises in video game history, from Chessmaster to The Oregon Trail to the wildly successful Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six franchise.

Now that the TARP has finally been tackled in video game form, what can be next? Should we be getting ready for Public Option Warfare or Cap and Trade Cagematch '09? No one is saying staying home on a Friday night to work out your government fueled aggression on a poor defenseless iPhone doesn't sound like a good time, just that it might be a good idea to switch to decaf beforehand. 

Can Bailout Wars be far behind games like Call of Duty as the next big thing? Well...no probably not. But hey, if a game about broken wagon wheels and dysentery can become a cultural touchstone it would appear that anything is possible.