If you're here strictly for girls in lingerie cavorting with plastic instruments, that's at the four minute mark. No one's naked, so that's why I didn't tag this NSFW.

Otherwise, Playmates Karissa & Kristina Shannon give a brief interview about their love of Guitar Hero, as does Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.

"The game is very popular, it's youth oriented. It's a good Playboy connection," says Hef.

Guitar Hero 5: Behind the Scenes of Playboy Playmates' Risky Business Video @ The Playboy Mansion [YouTube user elmundotech]

Not as creepy as I think it should have been, but it still manages to work a couple of good startles in there.

Signing up for the military has never been so easy. The Royal Air Force ran an ad in the "Rock Band" issue of Edge featuring a faux video game called Battle Manager and telling air force potentials to text "BATTLE" and your email address if you're interested in joining.

Hit MTV for a glimpse at the full ad... and then text to your heart's content.

How The British Military Attracts Gamers [Multiplayer]

EA Chicago: Infinity Ward is hiring. jobs@infinityward.com

You've heard of in-game advertising — but in-game job recruitment? It's certainly no secret that the guys at Infinity Ward aren't huge fans of EA. (They once worked on Medal of Honor and then broke away to build the first Call of Duty). Los Angeles is a long ways from Chicago, but for those EA Chicago employees not looking to relocate, Midway has nearly 30 development positions open in its Chicago office.

Thanks for the screen cap, Jon!

With typical product placement you simply see a product in the game, GET allows you take the relationship one step further and allows the consumer to interact in a more meaningful way with the brand.

Halo 3 Advert - Consolevania [youtube]

Making it to the final stages of negotiations, it looks like Nintendo's new agency will be Karmarama. Their clients, from IKEA to CNN, had us scratching our heads. But after a little perusal through Karmarama's portfolio, we think that we understand why they'd be a good fit.

Karmarama's portfolio seems to be driven on rebranding old products/companies for new markets.

Take Coleman's, an aging condiment producer. With the "Meatylicious Campaign" their sales jumped 17%.

Or look at the 1960's clothing label "Kickers". Once iconic and edgy, the brand had fallen off before a new marketing campaign boosted their trendiness factor by about 200%.

Sure, I'm just spouting back Karmarama's own self-marketing, and most ad agencies are required to re-invent the old to scrape by in the business, but it seems to be a running theme here—and I'm sold that it's motivating Nintendo's direction—even if they've already done a great job rebranding themselves through product alone.

Karmarama tipped to win £13m Nintendo account [via mcv]

Best Buy is running a special this week that knocks $600 off the price of a special HDTV PS3 gaming pack.

The get the deal you need to purchase a $2,000 1080p Sony LCD TV, a copy of Motorstorm or MLB07: The Show, a copy of a Blu-ray version of Casion Royale, Open Season or Underworld Evolution and a Playstation 3. The whole kit and kaboodle ends up running you $2,089.... or maybe it's $2,689, depending on which page of the ad you believe. If I were you and wanted to get this deal, which runs through the end of the week, I'd bring the front page of their ad in with me when I went to go pick up the deal. Brian Crecente

[Thanks Michael]

Nope, no it's not. Here's an ad for Nintendo DS software Eikenou that features a woman holding card with "wood" written on it in one hand and a *chunk* of wood in her other hand. The software helps students prep for the English proficiency test. In Japanese it says that using Eikenou is better than a foreign teacher. Well, if they're holding up blocks of wood, I guess they're right! Brian Ashcraft

Odd DS Ad [Random Thoughts]

Everything's bigger in Russia! An enormous country like that needs enormous consoles. And enormous consoles need enormous ads! Explains Kotaku reader MaxS:

The caption here above PLAYSTATION 3, which sais "игровые просторы России", can be roughly translated as "the gaming spaces of Russia", that is "spaces" as in "vast open spaces of land".

If the PS3 speaking Russian isn't enough to get you in the mood, check out the romantic night view below. Kotakuite Igor, who works for gaming and computer Igromania Magazine, got up close and personal with the Moscow billboard. His pics after the jump. Brian Ashcraft

Big PS3 Ad
Igor's Pics [Flickr]

Late last month, the PS3 launched in India. Well, we hear it launched, but didn't really see any photos of the people lining up and buying the console. Most India news sites were running stories that read like a press release. Reader Dave provides this update:

I didn't see any television coverage (which is not unusual for a country so interested in politics and self-actuation), nor have I seen any major advertising like billboards or other such standard western fare. It (the premium system) is currently retailing for 39990 Rs, or roughly $1200 AUD, which is $200 above what an Australian would pay, and THAT is obviously over what buyers in the NTSC market pay even after exchange rates. I've only seen the PS3 in specific gaming stores (themselves a rarity) and the local music and pop-culture chain of stores, Planet-M.

Not as big a presence as Microsoft with their ubiquitous Yuvraj Singh cricket demos. Though, I do like that PS3 ad. Simple, to the point and won't piss anyone off. Brian Ashcraft

So Sony figures that the only way to target the teen audience is making dick jokes. But, not just dick jokes, dick jokes with a grown man and a teenage boy. Oh, there's an added pee gag, too! Keyword here folks: Dicks. Brian Ashcraft

Can I Play With It? [Arrogantics, Thanks lawl!]

No one will argue that the PLAYSTATION 3 is powerful. But more get up and go than a computer? A PS3 ad that appeared in South Africa stated:

The PS3 is built on the revolutionary cell-processor, which is 8 times more powerful than most computers... [and] RSX Graphics Technology — twice as powerful as the most advanced computer graphics engine available today.

Four South Africans actually disputed these remarks on the grounds that the advertising was misleading and that there was no proof to support these claims. What's more, the country's Advertising Standards Authority actually upheld these complaints and had the ads withdrawn. Now that's powerful. Brian Ashcraft

SA Has PS3 Ads Removed [My Broadband, Thanks Funky J!]

First cups, now this. And this is better. Maybe I'm a sucker for BMX tricks or maybe it's the lady's classy accent, but I do like this latest Euro spot featuring Lair. Am I alone or just crazy? Brian Ashcraft

This isn't kinda surprising, but REALLY surprising. Japanese magazine Best Gear has picked the Xbox 360 as the console which best fits (or suits) Japanese business women. In the March issue (already?), the magalog features a "shopping forecast 2007" for a slew of goods that runs the gamut from MP3 players to printers. And for each item, there is a "shopping barometer" that had different categories for each product type. While head phones were rated on things like "noise canceling," the new game systems were scored on the following:

• The software suits Japanese business women
• The function fits Japanese business women
• Future/prospective business women

None of this is scientific whatsoever, and from what I understand, no businesswomen were polled. So guess which machine one? Hit the jump for the exciting results.

The article itself is centered around the Xbox 360. A leggy woman sits in a purple chair and plays UNO! The Wii and the PS3 are shoved off in the corner. Some guy, too.

For scores, the Xbox 360 took perfect 5s across the board. The highest score. Note: The "OL" refers to "Office Lady," Japanese English for "businesswoman."

Oddly, the PS3 and...

...the Wii got exactly the same scores.

And look at that! At the back of the mag, Best Gear is giving away one Blue Dragon bundle and one Xbox 360 HD DVD player to two lucky readers. What a kwinky-dink. Brian Ashcraft

For $39 you can get:
WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2007 for the PS2
Zelda The Twilight Princess for the Wii or Gamecube
Final Fantasy XII for the PS2
Tony Hawk's Project 8 for the PS3 or Xbox 360
Need for Speed Carbon for the PS3 or Xbox 360
Gears of War for the Xbox 360
Marvel Ultimate Alliance for the PS3 or Xbox 360

For $18.88 you can get:
Star Wars: Battlefront II for the PSP
Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition for the PSP
Need for Speed: Most Wanted for the PS2
Socom: U.S. Navy Seals Fireteam Bravo for the PSP
ATV Offroad Fury: Blazin' Trails for the PSP
Shadow of the Colossus for the PS2
Medal of Honor: European Assault for the PS2
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for the PS2
Super Mario Sunshine for the GameCube

There's more stuff that you can find on the second and third pages of the weekly ad. Go check it out for some hardware sales and more game discounts. Brian Crecente

Target Weekly Ad

Melting PS3, eyeballs and military weapons. Thing is, this ad is actually pretty cool and isn't annoying. Well, right up to the "If there is anything you can't do on the PLAYSTATION 3, you probably shouldn't be doing it." (Uh, like Zelda, Gears, flossing...) Brian Ashcraft