Video Games Chars Go All The Way
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Join Date: 2004-04-19 Member: 28028Members
Join Date: 2004-04-19 Member: 28028Members
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<div class="IPBDescription">Playboy host to first official game porn</div> Normally, you probably wouldn't expect to see CGI on the cover of any porn mag, but prepare to make an exception for the October edition of Playboy.
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->http://money.cnn.com/2004/08/25/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/index.htm
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – She's a statuesque redhead with green eyes who stands 5'7". Her measurements are 36-22-36 and she's posing topless for the October issue of Playboy magazine.
Oh, just one thing... she's a video game character.
Her name's Bloodrayne and she'll make her naked debut alongside a feature in the upcoming issue of the men's magazine.
Joining her in the CGI photospread (which will accompany an article about the changing face of gaming) will be a handful of gaming characters. While not all the characters will appear in the pixilated buff, you can expect a lot of come hither looks from some butt-kicking women, including familiar faces from Midway's (MWY: Research, Estimates) "Mortal Kombat" and Namco's "Tekken" series as well as Vivendi's (V: Research, Estimates) upcoming "Red Ninja" and "Leisure Suit Larry: Magna **** Laude" and Sammy Studios' forthcoming "Darkwatch: Curse of the West". (See the accompanying pop-up gallery for some of the characters that were submitted to the magazine.)
"Majesco (MJSH.OB: Research, Estimates) thought it was all in good fun. The game's coming out that month and it's perfect timing," said Laura Heeb, a spokesperson for the "Bloodrayne" publisher. "BloodRayne is a very viable franchise now. It has definitely made the step up to a full-fledged video game franchise. The Playboy thing is nothing more than just another cool thing we can do with this franchise."
Playboy declined to comment on the pictorial feature, since the October issue won't hit stands for a couple of weeks.
Welcome to the weirdest stop yet on the gaming industry's 2004 Naked Olympics.
A quick recap, for those of you just tuning in: The games kicked off with Eidos' (EIDSY: Research, Estimates) May release of "Singles: Flirt Up Your Life". The game was a "Sims"-like clone that featured full frontal nudity and encouraged you to get your two characters to have sex. It earned a rare "Adults Only" rating from the Entertainment Software Ratings Board. Because most retailers will not sell an AO game, Eidos offered it via download only. (A toned down "M" rated version is due on store shelves later this year.)
Due up later this year is the slightly less raunchy "Playboy: The Mansion" and the aforementioned "Leisure Suit Larry: Magna **** Laude," which sticks closer to "Animal House" or "American Pie"-style hijinks.
It seemed, for a while, that these would be the only players – but the layout in Playboy magazine ups the skin level substantially.
Meanwhile, waiting in the wings is another game that's bound to raise a few eyebrows: "The Guy Game". Basically, what you're looking at here is the bastardized love child of "Girls Gone Wild," college drinking games and The Tonight Show's "Jaywalking" segments. Real (not digitally animated) nubile coeds on spring break are brought onto stage and asked various trivia questions. If they answered wrong, they flash their breasts at the crowd. If you play the game right, you can see that flashing uncensored.
It's not a game that's likely to make friends amongst parents groups or conservative religious organizations. But developer TopHeavy Studios (really!) and publisher Take Two Interactive don't seem too concerned.
The growing presence of video game nudity and sexuality – both in and out of games – is something of a double-edged sword for the industry. On the one hand, female characters appearing topless could reinforce the outdated stereotype of gamers as shut-in losers who lack any sort of social skills.
Want more video game news and commentary? Click on "Hef"!
On the other, it underlines how much older the audience for these games has gotten in recent years. According to the Entertainment Software Association, today's average game player is 29 years old. And the average game buyer is 36.
Be that as it may, the industry has been trying to attract more women gamers – and including characters that have been positive (albeit overly buxom) role models in a Playboy layout could potentially turn away that customer base.
That's part of the reason some publishers opted against their characters appearing nude.
"We spent a lot of time thinking about it," said Namco spokesperson Kristin Calcagno. "We wanted to move forward with the coverage opportunity, but we wanted to ensure that the characters would be seen as they are in the game. We ensured they were in poses and attire that were sexy, but were appropriate to their character. ... By no means do we hope anyone finds it offensive."
So why take the chance? Basically, Playboy's demographic is very much in line with the sweet spot of the gaming industry. Eighty-five percent are male. The average age is 33. And half of its readers make $75,000 or more per year.
That's a lot of men with cash to burn. And that's a lot of potential cash those publishers could be pocketing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morris, who (if his mother happens to read this) only buys Playboy for the articles, is Director of Content Development for CNN/Money. Click here to send him an email.
--*Disclaimer<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
if you're a MegaTokyo follower, you've probably already read <a href='http://www.megatokyo.com' target='_blank'>Seraphim's rant</a> concerning the above article. her rant is a pretty good read, and it covers the "raising of the bar" of games into the Adult Only rating, which i'm not going to bother with. while seraphim brings up a good point in stating that "video games, once deemed the realm of the very young, are growing up with their audience," you'd be surprised how many 20-30 year olds don't pick up issues of Playboy on a regular basis. personally, i think that someone needs to start knocking some sense into game publishers everywhere.
how does this entire scheme help profit the publishers involved? why, some fat, smelly, and single 20-25 year old, while picking up his weekly supply of SlimFast, will no doubt notice the nude CGI vampire on the cover of the latest issue of Playboy, and decide that he could conserve some bandwidth by using Playboy as his source of porn for the week. after he is done masturbating to pictures of Bloodraven or whatever her name is, he'll want more, and where can he get more? by buying the game of course.
i have to admit, it's a pretty clever little marketing scheme, the likes of which hasn't been seen since Eidos began marketing Tomb Raider. while i don't own any of the next gen consoles myself, nor have i played any of the games which will be featured in October, i can pretty much guarantee that much better games have been made that didn't involve an oversized bust or excessively revealing leather dressings. the most successful video game franchise ever involved a bloody plumber for crying out loud. do developers think that more mature "organs" will help mature the gaming community? No! At least, not unless it becomes normal for people to start having sex in public.
i'm trying to keep this from becoming a design-over-eyecandy post, so i'll just keep this short: this little antic by the industry will only give the PTA mommies more reason to label video games as evil byproducts of a corrupt society. it's helping unravel the fragile foundation of cultral (sp) acceptance games like Super Mario, Yoshi's World, or Kingdom Hearts have helped to establish. (that is, if Rockstar games hasn't already brought it all down) designers need to realize that big **** aren't the only way to market games, "fun value" helps as well.
sorry for the long post, but i'd appreciate if you read it before posting.
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->http://money.cnn.com/2004/08/25/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/index.htm
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – She's a statuesque redhead with green eyes who stands 5'7". Her measurements are 36-22-36 and she's posing topless for the October issue of Playboy magazine.
Oh, just one thing... she's a video game character.
Her name's Bloodrayne and she'll make her naked debut alongside a feature in the upcoming issue of the men's magazine.
Joining her in the CGI photospread (which will accompany an article about the changing face of gaming) will be a handful of gaming characters. While not all the characters will appear in the pixilated buff, you can expect a lot of come hither looks from some butt-kicking women, including familiar faces from Midway's (MWY: Research, Estimates) "Mortal Kombat" and Namco's "Tekken" series as well as Vivendi's (V: Research, Estimates) upcoming "Red Ninja" and "Leisure Suit Larry: Magna **** Laude" and Sammy Studios' forthcoming "Darkwatch: Curse of the West". (See the accompanying pop-up gallery for some of the characters that were submitted to the magazine.)
"Majesco (MJSH.OB: Research, Estimates) thought it was all in good fun. The game's coming out that month and it's perfect timing," said Laura Heeb, a spokesperson for the "Bloodrayne" publisher. "BloodRayne is a very viable franchise now. It has definitely made the step up to a full-fledged video game franchise. The Playboy thing is nothing more than just another cool thing we can do with this franchise."
Playboy declined to comment on the pictorial feature, since the October issue won't hit stands for a couple of weeks.
Welcome to the weirdest stop yet on the gaming industry's 2004 Naked Olympics.
A quick recap, for those of you just tuning in: The games kicked off with Eidos' (EIDSY: Research, Estimates) May release of "Singles: Flirt Up Your Life". The game was a "Sims"-like clone that featured full frontal nudity and encouraged you to get your two characters to have sex. It earned a rare "Adults Only" rating from the Entertainment Software Ratings Board. Because most retailers will not sell an AO game, Eidos offered it via download only. (A toned down "M" rated version is due on store shelves later this year.)
Due up later this year is the slightly less raunchy "Playboy: The Mansion" and the aforementioned "Leisure Suit Larry: Magna **** Laude," which sticks closer to "Animal House" or "American Pie"-style hijinks.
It seemed, for a while, that these would be the only players – but the layout in Playboy magazine ups the skin level substantially.
Meanwhile, waiting in the wings is another game that's bound to raise a few eyebrows: "The Guy Game". Basically, what you're looking at here is the bastardized love child of "Girls Gone Wild," college drinking games and The Tonight Show's "Jaywalking" segments. Real (not digitally animated) nubile coeds on spring break are brought onto stage and asked various trivia questions. If they answered wrong, they flash their breasts at the crowd. If you play the game right, you can see that flashing uncensored.
It's not a game that's likely to make friends amongst parents groups or conservative religious organizations. But developer TopHeavy Studios (really!) and publisher Take Two Interactive don't seem too concerned.
The growing presence of video game nudity and sexuality – both in and out of games – is something of a double-edged sword for the industry. On the one hand, female characters appearing topless could reinforce the outdated stereotype of gamers as shut-in losers who lack any sort of social skills.
Want more video game news and commentary? Click on "Hef"!
On the other, it underlines how much older the audience for these games has gotten in recent years. According to the Entertainment Software Association, today's average game player is 29 years old. And the average game buyer is 36.
Be that as it may, the industry has been trying to attract more women gamers – and including characters that have been positive (albeit overly buxom) role models in a Playboy layout could potentially turn away that customer base.
That's part of the reason some publishers opted against their characters appearing nude.
"We spent a lot of time thinking about it," said Namco spokesperson Kristin Calcagno. "We wanted to move forward with the coverage opportunity, but we wanted to ensure that the characters would be seen as they are in the game. We ensured they were in poses and attire that were sexy, but were appropriate to their character. ... By no means do we hope anyone finds it offensive."
So why take the chance? Basically, Playboy's demographic is very much in line with the sweet spot of the gaming industry. Eighty-five percent are male. The average age is 33. And half of its readers make $75,000 or more per year.
That's a lot of men with cash to burn. And that's a lot of potential cash those publishers could be pocketing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morris, who (if his mother happens to read this) only buys Playboy for the articles, is Director of Content Development for CNN/Money. Click here to send him an email.
--*Disclaimer<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
if you're a MegaTokyo follower, you've probably already read <a href='http://www.megatokyo.com' target='_blank'>Seraphim's rant</a> concerning the above article. her rant is a pretty good read, and it covers the "raising of the bar" of games into the Adult Only rating, which i'm not going to bother with. while seraphim brings up a good point in stating that "video games, once deemed the realm of the very young, are growing up with their audience," you'd be surprised how many 20-30 year olds don't pick up issues of Playboy on a regular basis. personally, i think that someone needs to start knocking some sense into game publishers everywhere.
how does this entire scheme help profit the publishers involved? why, some fat, smelly, and single 20-25 year old, while picking up his weekly supply of SlimFast, will no doubt notice the nude CGI vampire on the cover of the latest issue of Playboy, and decide that he could conserve some bandwidth by using Playboy as his source of porn for the week. after he is done masturbating to pictures of Bloodraven or whatever her name is, he'll want more, and where can he get more? by buying the game of course.
i have to admit, it's a pretty clever little marketing scheme, the likes of which hasn't been seen since Eidos began marketing Tomb Raider. while i don't own any of the next gen consoles myself, nor have i played any of the games which will be featured in October, i can pretty much guarantee that much better games have been made that didn't involve an oversized bust or excessively revealing leather dressings. the most successful video game franchise ever involved a bloody plumber for crying out loud. do developers think that more mature "organs" will help mature the gaming community? No! At least, not unless it becomes normal for people to start having sex in public.
i'm trying to keep this from becoming a design-over-eyecandy post, so i'll just keep this short: this little antic by the industry will only give the PTA mommies more reason to label video games as evil byproducts of a corrupt society. it's helping unravel the fragile foundation of cultral (sp) acceptance games like Super Mario, Yoshi's World, or Kingdom Hearts have helped to establish. (that is, if Rockstar games hasn't already brought it all down) designers need to realize that big **** aren't the only way to market games, "fun value" helps as well.
sorry for the long post, but i'd appreciate if you read it before posting.
Comments
It is only interesting b/c it is playboy picking it up (making it slightly more main stream), but aside from that:
H Stuff has been around for a long time (And this is basicaly just an americanization of Henti)
They have been ussing sex to sell video games from a long time
I remember an amusing "article" in PC Gammer that consisted of bikini wearing TombRaider, and some other female game lead (the game bombed).
I think these will be a flop in anything other than novelty value. Even gameplay doesn't count when it's figuring out how many condoms you need at your brothel o' laughs. or something.
1) You're assuming everybody jacks off to, or would jack off to, humanoid models with a few textures and suggestive poses. WTH?!
2a) The mommies and pastors will always find something to whinge about. So long as it's classified correctly, no laws broken, then it'll be fine....
2b) Although, i don't know how you'll define "fine". it'll be a novelty game, each and every one of them. sure, they might try to put in some 'gameplay' etc, "flesh it out" a little [hur hur]... but in the end, the main marketing push is a block with a few shaped limbs and some bumps, missing a few colours to signify clothes.
I think that gamers and people will have high enough standards to ditch these 'games'. But then again, people play the Sims, so i guess it's 50/50.
read?
read? <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Write?
I say bonus points to Majesco for having the balls to actually show Bloodrayne, even if they're still pulling their punches by keeping her pants (or whatever) on. The gaming industry needs to grow up along with its customer base.
Is it selling out? Maybe. But maybe having them actually pose in the buff will curb some of the totally overhyped, puritanical "OMG SEX SELLS" crap that currently permeates the industry. Yeah, some of them are pretty hot. Get over it and make/play the game (as appropriate).
Sex sells, and has been used to sell for such a very long time that this shouldn't even remotely be considered a big deal.