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Hef's Playboy Mansion Coming To PS2 and XBox
Living the Playboy Life to Become Virtual Reality
The Playboy Mansion at your fingertips. What could be finer?
Eager to attract men in their late 20s, Playboy Enterprises Inc., Chicago-based parent of the world's best-selling men's magazine, plans to release an interactive video game, "Playboy: The Mansion," in the fall.
Players assume the identity of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, combining empire building with the fine art of partying. Wearing Hef's trademark bathrobe and slippers, the user oversees all mansion activities, runs the magazine and holds as many parties as cash allows.
With the click of the remote, said Lorna Donohoe of Playboy's Global Licensing Group, a player chooses the mansion's cast of characters, assigns personality traits and, yes, chooses their body types.
"You do all the things that go along with being Hef," Donohoe said Thursday. "The more money you make, the more lavish parties you can throw."
At $50, "Playboy: The Mansion" will be priced at a premium. It's scheduled to reach stores for the holiday season.
Designed by Cyberlore Studios Inc. of Northampton, Mass., and co-published by Arush Entertainment and Groove Games, the game is part of Playboy's larger effort to make the company's brand--and the 78-year-old Hefner--more accessible to younger consumers, the 18- to 34-year-olds that advertisers covet.
Playboy wants its video game to be seductive without being pornographic. Donohoe said the designers are working with the Entertainment Software Rating Board to make sure that the game receives a grade of "mature," intended for ages 17 and older, rather than "adults only."
Versions will be available for Sony's PlayStation 2, Microsoft's Xbox and personal computers.
Ultimately, Sony and Microsoft will choose the versions of "Playboy: The Mansion" to be sold. The game's version for personal computers, Donohoe said, is likely to contain more nudity than those sold for consoles.
"We won't release the game if it receives an `adult' rating,'" she said.
Arush's video game titles include "Devastation" and "Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project."
Two-fifths of the magazine's roughly 10 million U.S. readers own video game players, Donohoe said. According to the Entertainment Software Association, the average age of a video game player is 29.
"People who grew up with video games in 1980s have migrated to these more advanced games," Donohoe said. "It's a natural extension for Playboy."
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