Before there was The Political Machine there was The Corporate Machine. A real time strategy game in which you start a company and try to crush your opponents.

This criticially acclaimed (ex: Gamespot review) strategy game allows you to pick a chosen market (cars, computers, aircraft, etc.) and then puts the company in your hands as you compete against other companies (either controlled by the computer or others via the Internet) for world wide dominance.

Research new technologies, take out advertising to promote your products, and take advantage of the numerous dirty tricks available as you work your way to the top.

The Corporate Machine is $29.95 on its own or you can get it as part of a TotalGaming.net subscription (which includes The Political Machine). With a TotalGaming.net subscription you can download the latest/greatest version of all of Stardock's games to your machine and even try out new versions before they're generally available.

http://totalgaming.stardock.com/games/tcm.asp