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Gaming characters pose nude for Playboy

Here's a hooter: Some of those sexy butt-kicking babes from video games will be taking it all off for a pictorial in the October issue of Playboy. Pix of familiar characters from such popular games as "Bloodrayne," "Mortal Kombat" and the "Tekken" series will accompany an article about the changing face of gaming. With the average gamer a 29-year-old guy and the average Playboy reader a 33-year-old guy, it seems like an au natural match. The magazine spread reflects the growing presence of nudity and sexuality in gaming. "Singles: Flirt Up Your Life," for instance, features full-frontal and encourages players to make the characters have sex. However, some publishers choose not to have their characters appear nude, often because they think it will offend female gamers, a segment the industry is actively trying to court.

The Playboy pictorial is just more evidence that video games have come out of the geeks' closet into the media limelight. We've seen them spawn movies like Lara Croft Tomb Raider, and if characters like these are top-of-mind with a mass audience, it just may be time for planners to take this new medium more seriously.

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