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]

This Guitar Hero 5 ad has less jiggling, but it does have ten Playboy Playmates, Hugh Hefner and the voice of Matt Pinfield. Matt Pinfield voice, mmm sexy.

Guitar Hero 5 commercial stars 10 Playboy Playmates, Hugh Heffner, and a voiceover from Matt Pinfield [Go Nintendo]

The stylist, whom she impersonated with a swishy, faux-frenchy accent, kept suggesting she try outfits that were plenty evocative of the oops-I-forgot-my-panties style of glamour photography. Then he reached into his costume trunk and pulled out the deal-breaker, a black fishnet number that was a swimsuit in name only. It left zilch to anyone's imagination, least of all what was in his.

She wasn't going there. "My vagina would have looked like a Honeybaked Ham," Munn said, sitting in a makeup chair and talking to Kotaku before Thursday's taping of G4's Attack of the Show, which she co-hosts. Despite the browbeating to Take! It! All! Off!! Munn's decision not to reveal her charms remained as final at the end of her shoot as it was when she rebuffed Playboy's original request.

Munn thinks she knows now why Playboy came back to say, no prob, a clothes-on pictorial was OK. "I'm convinced the photographer and the stylist were in cahoots to get me naked," Munn said. Hey, never let it be said Playboy doesn't have its readers' number one interest foremost in mind.

"They were showing me all these things to put on and saying, ‘And you can just see everything! And it's just gorge,' and I'm thinking, 'You guys are out of your mind," Munn said. "It ended with my publicist and the stylist screaming at each other."

Becoming one of the few women ever to do a Playboy cover and pictorial without nudity has certainly bolstered Munn's profile as the hottie with Geek Goddess approachability - the gamers' Athena, if you will, thanks largely to her three years with G4. But it's led to plenty of speculation that her choice of a fully functional wardrobe was only a business decision. That now isn't the right time for her to get naked, but one day that right time will come, and we'll both know it, and when it happens it will be tender and magical.

Yeah, forget it.

"It'll never happen," Munn said. "It would never happen. I think there's nothing wrong with Playboy - there's nothing wrong with women who want to be in the magazine, if they're comfortable being naked and showing everything. But I'm looking through it like, ‘Holy shit, that's a lot of vadge.' I mean, it's filled with that stuff. There's nothing wrong with it, it's just not something I'd do."

Not only did Munn turn away trained professionals with graduate degrees in coaxing hot women out of their clothes, she showed them less than she did to Complex back in April. "My underboob's in that shoot," she said. "You can't see anything like that in what I did for Playboy. I did the same amount of nudity, for them, that I did in a bathing suit for Surf magazine."

You can get a look at what she did show for Playboy in this online pictorial. "It's not like I'm the pizza guy in some porno," Munn said. But even though she'd never go half as far as that, Playboy or what it represents isn't intimidating to her. "It's just naked pictures, and they're all of hot girls," she said, "except there's one in there with big bush, that's not really good."

Munn's knows that part of why Playboy came calling, and was cool with her not doing nudity, is she has a fan base that's highly coveted by advertisers. Gamers are easily separated from their dough, after all. But the positive response she's gotten for not taking it off tells her that her fans do care. "They're not going to say, 'Oh, titty! Oh, that's Olivia's vagina, let's go buy it!'" she said. "They're supportive, not just because it gets them off."

But she doesn't worry about being typecast for the geek demographic. To the contrary, it gets her plenty of work. She's just finished up a role in Iron Man II, and got an offer for another from producers who said they wanted someone who isn't the kind of pedestalized-hot that Megan Fox represents.

"I love this world I am in," Munn said. "If I could stay in this world forever, the nerd world, I'd be happy. I've been here for three years, and I can confidently say this is a world I feel comfortable and welcomed in."

Unpublished picture courtesy Playboy.

On tonight's ATOS, Munn revealed the cover: Her in a red bikini.

Pretty sure we've seen her in a bikini, though maybe not red and definitely not on the cover of Playboy. So this is new, right?

Munn is one of the few to appear on the cover without doing nude pictorial — a short list that includes the likes of Peter Sellers and Steve Martin.

Watch the clip below.

Olivia Munn's Playboy Cover Reveal [Attack of the Show!]

Here's a video teasing the Attack of the Show host's shoot in the next edition, so, yeah, this is basically a big free ad for Playboy. And G4, I guess. And since she's not gonna be nekkid, this is also a tease of a tease, which makes it a hall of mirrors of frustration, like blue balls in infinite regression.

People are making a big deal about Olivia being one of the few to do a cover shoot without a nude layout, a list that also includes Steve Martin, thankfully. She's just showing solid business acumen - you can only take it off the first time, one time, after all. And she's also not being a skank.

Olivia Munn is Playboy's Next Cover Girl [thebbps, image from OliviaMunn.com

In Playboy Manager, you'll play a talent agent managing the careers of Playboy's hottest (and nudest) up and coming models. The objective is to get her bedded by Hef named Playmate, with a room in the Playboy Mansion. I guess that guy at left is your character.

Flackery describes it as "The luxurious Playboy lifestyle presented in an online game packed full of wit, style, and pictures which can only be described as titillating," and says the game will combine elements of turn-based gaming and trading cards. Of course, there's no way any of this could be real-time. Too much afk - or jfk, really.

Jolt Online Gaming is handling the development. They're taking preregistrations now, offering a chance to win a lifetime supply of porn as sign-up inducements.

Playboy Casual MMO Announced for PC [Video Games Blogger]

This year's batch includes virtual babes from games like Afro Samurai (pictured), Ride To Hell, Velvet Assassin, Saints Row 2, Domination and Rise of the Argonauts. Yes, Rise of the Argonauts. Please do run with that in the comments.

The December issue features "supermodel" Carol Alt on the cover, should you be in a great hurry to pick up a copy and can't find the date in your rush to the register.

You can watch her play all the instruments, which includes pounding the kick drum in a pair of less-than-sensible stiletto boots, and getting booed off the stage singing Blondie's "One Way or Another." I want to bring her into Kotaku tower to have her eat Kentucky Fried Chicken's Guitar Hero Super Smack Pack Whatever the Hell it Is Meal and tell us what she thinks of that.

Playboy's Miss November vs Guitar Hero World Tour

“I was giving so many excuses,” Grace said, “I even went to CVS and bought crutches, and pretended I had a fractured ankle. At this point, Activision was getting annoyed. They were really heavily promoting Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, and Guitar Hero for the DS. My boss was getting really upset.”

Finally, on the fifth straight day away from the office, she couldn’t think up any more alibis. So she quit, but she couldn’t tell Activision why.

She was in front of a camera, taking off all of her clothes for Playboy, becoming Miss November, 2008.

“It was difficult for me to come home from the shoot and then write a bunch of press releases for Guitar Hero,” she said. “I couldn’t tell them I was going to be in Playboy. At that point, I didn’t want anybody to know at the time. I hadn’t told anybody, not my parents or my friends or anyone.”

Before you think, “Oh, what a burden,” consider that becoming a Playmate is a yearlong process, from test Polaroid to final publication, fraught with acceptance, rejection, uncertainty — and nondisclosure — in between. The waiting is the world’s worst job interview, for either gender. Before you imagine, “What a problem, having the opposite sex want me,” think of what it would mean, to reveal yourself as a potential Playboy centerfold in the context of an everyday professional workplace.

Especially — look to your left, look to your right — among a bunch of gamers.

“I love the gaming industry, I really do,” Grace said. ”It’s so cool, and everyone is so passionate, and you get to test out the prototypes but, then, the guys, if they find out a co-worker’s gonna be in Playboy ... you know, they’re gonna act a little bit weird.”

So Grace, 29, is mindful today of what she left for what she achieved. As Miss November this coming month, her pictorial is the fusion of both — a game-themed centerfold in the men’s magazine whose women have set the standard for desirability for more than 60 years.

“It just, coincidentally ... it happened — at the same time,” Grace said, “and I did feel a little bit guilty. Out of 100 applicants [for the Activision job] there were so many who were better for the job than I was, with years and years of gaming experience, and I was really lucky to get the job.”

But to hear the full retelling, her short time with Activision sounds much like a quick and torrid affair, one she loves and regrets, ended by a choice only the heart could make and suffer.

In more ways than obvious.

“I was,” said Miss November, “secretly playing a lot of Rock Band.”

In fact, the guitar Grace posed with in her Playboy pictorial — by now on newsstands and Playboy.com (NSFW), is her own Fender Stratocaster made by Harmonix exclusively for the original Rock Band. She bought it more than a year ago and brought it to her shoot. And on her data sheet, she lists her six favorite video games. Rock Band is there. Guitar Hero is not.

‘When you’re working for something you like, it can somewhat kill your passion for it,” Grace said. “Especially when you’re doing PR. When I was doing PR for Activision and Guitar Hero, it kind of stunted my playing, because I was working on it all day.”

Playboy says the timing of Grace’s pictorial was not deliberate— Rock Band 2 for PS3 came out last Sunday, Guitar Hero: World Tour is out this coming Sunday. Although she lists five other titles on her data sheet, Grace doesn’t really consider herself a gamer, as nearly all of her effort and interest goes into a single genre. “Maybe Call of Duty 4,” was the last non-rhythm game she played, “but that was a looooong time ago, maybe like six months. Then it was just playing with five other people online, and I just got slaughtered. I wish I was a better gamer. [2008 Cybergirl of the Year] Jo Garcia is a much, much better gamer.”

So her flirtation with games really began with Guitar Hero II in 2006. She’s 29, older than the stereotype one imagines of a Playmate, out clubbing from 9 pm to sun-up Thursday to Sunday. Grace, as a fashion publicist after graduating UCLA, found herself much more at home playing this guitar game against her friends. Her nonstop rocking out — admittedly not that great, but still — eventually led her to Activision.

“I had heard of an opening to work directly with the head director of Guitar Hero, so I applied, and I didn’t think I’d get the job because there were so many applicants,” Grace said. “I mean, a lot of other people are obsessed with gaming, and I only had fashion industry experience, but I also had a lot of PR experience. I was really blessed that they brought me on board. I think they appreciated my passion.”

She was “fully in charge of the Guitar Hero account,” but it only lasted for about two months. Living in L.A., her girlfriends wanted to go to the Playboy Mansion for the Halloween party in 2007. Grace sent in pictures of herself to get in the door. “The next day I heard back from them, asking if I wanted to be a Playmate.”

Bailing on work was easy enough for a one-day Polaroid test shoot in mid-October, Grace said. Three uncertain weeks followed, and then Grace got a phone call asking her to do a full pictorial After five days spending 10 to 12 hours on the set, Grace realized she had to leave Activision.

“Activision was getting annoyed, and I wanted to keep my job [at first],” Grace said. “But my boss wasn’t happy and I wasn’t happy, and being a Playmate is a job. I really wanted to explore that area, and see where this path would take me. And, working so much for Activision kind of killed my love a little for Guitar Hero.”

But it would be almost a year before she would become a full-fledged, published Playmate. In a behind-the-scenes video for Playboy, Grace says she had to pretend like she knew how she was playing a guitar. So, yes, she’s among those who thought Guitar Hero would teach her how to play for real. “Right after I started playing Guitar Hero, I went and purchased a used Gibson Junior, flaming red, gorgeous, ready to rock out, and I just failed miserably. Someone tried to teach me, and I was thinking I could just push these buttons and become a rock goddess for real. Now it’s something I just pop up on my wall as a piece of art.”

Her main axe now is a Starpex Obsidian that Peak Products gave her on the day she viewed her published pictorial. (She reviewed it on her Myspace blog.) Grace plays with it (although probably not like this) in two bands, one’s all-girls, and the other is a boys-allowed troupe, because “none of my girlfriends ever want to play the drums.”

She owns four consoles, a Playstation 3, Playstation 2, Xbox 360 and Xbox. But — and Sony fanboys, go get a glass of ice cold water for this next paragraph — she only plays on the PS3.

“Really, the PS3 or the 360? It’s like comparing a Lamborghini to a Pinto,” Grace said. She started playing on the PS3 when a now-ex boyfriend loaned one to her, and bought her own when Sony cut the price to $399.

Why is he an ex? Predictably, some guys can get insecure when their girlfriend is posing nude. “It’s kind of harder to date when you’re a Playmate,” she says. Most guys immediately consider her well out of their league. But don’t give up hope. She confesses having a thing for shaved heads (are you paying attention Fahey?)

“It’s just a strange fetish,” Grace said, “I have one and it happens to be shaved heads. I like the feel of it, when it feels like peach fuzz. I think every guy looks better with a shaved head. It’s cleaner and gives them a harder look —”

And on that note:

Hey, someone had to appear topless in this post.

Update: Grace ventured into our comments (Oh God) and has some answers for all you career counselors who think she made a mistake. Plus she wants to clear up that she left Activision on good terms. And the PS3/360 analogy. But sorry dudes, she's not giving out her PSN ID. You can read all about it on her blog.

Further update: Playboy's put out a video of Grace cavorting with the DESTROYING A Starpex Obsidian. See it here.

Photos courtesy PLAYBOY Magazine © 2008 by Playboy.

No, not in THAT WAY. Pwn or Die (the Funny or Die network's venture into gaming) talked to everybody's favorite Cybergirl Gamer. She's insistent that Madden 09 widows/girlfriends will be able to play the game with their significant others and have just as much fun. In fact, Jo's gonna grab it, and she never thought she'd enjoy a sports title. But the training mode and the dual-difficulty levels for cooperative play sold her.

And for you pervs, there's nothing provocative in this, unless you count the glimpses of the covers of Playboy in the background. Oh yeah, you know you're looking. I call that the 7-Eleven Eyeball, the scanning "Where is that thing I need" look on your face while you check out the covers of the girlie magazines. Actually, I use that when I'm at the grocery store and looking at Glamour. And Cosmo. And Woman's World. Dude, the cake on last month's cover was unreal. Where was I anyway ...

Jo Garcia Talks Madden 09 [Pwn or Die]

The old E3 was all the worst parts of nerd culture mashed up with all the worst parts of frat culture. When these two natural enemies join forces it can only presage the eldritch touch of Satan. Imagine a giant steaming helping of brain-dead rah-rah awesome bro 'tude combined with sweaty, hygenically challenged man-children futilely chasing their ever-receding childhoods. The old E3 was a three-day migraine with a side order of Asberger's Syndrome, which turns out is neither pretty nor pleasant. Plus, some of us were trying to get work done. Seriously, no one likes a good party more than me, but a good party has to ebb and flow or people get exhausted. The old E3 was like a four-day bender with your friend who just discovered how awesome crystal meth is. It's entertaining at first, then it gets tiring, then annoying, then scary, then you wake up in jail without your pants.

Sounds like Revenge of the Nerds, but better. Way better.

How To Sound Smart About E3 [Playboy]

Hit the jump for the clip. It's NSFW and there is man ass. You've been warned.

The most frightening Wii Fit Hula Hoop video ever [Balance Board Blog]

Playboy Spices Up MGS4 [Siliconera]

The link is to a version that, while probably NSFW, is non-nude and won't get you arrested. I can vouch for the fact there is a topless version out there too, and let's just say she sticks the landing in the ski jump. I'm sure the intrepid amongst you can find that, I won't be providing it here, aside from the screen shot above.

The Perfect Fit [Playboy, non-nude but NSFW]

We've seen many beautiful faces representing themselves as gamers, of course; booth babes, models and even amateur cam girls using photos of themselves posed suggestively with game paraphernalia to sell products or drive web hits. Because of this phenomenon, every time you see a so-called "hot gamer chick," the temptation is to assume she can't possibly be an actual gamer.

So is Jo Garcia the real deal? Full interview - and slightly NSFW pics - follow the jump.

"People don't understand that that the whole gaming world is not just for geeks, and assume that every person who plays video games is a geek that wears glasses," Garcia said. "It's a misnomer that needs to be put to rest."

Garcia told us she plays PC games and console titles, and owns both a Nintendo DS and a PSP. "It's something that I carry with me everywhere, like some people carry their iPods. It's the norm to me. I've had people send me messages like, 'oh you play video games?' And I'm like, 'why are you so surprised?"

"If I could get a job... being a game tester, I would do that all day long."

Wouldn't she get sick of it? "I don't think I would! I think that's one of those things... like you can eat chocolate all day long, and I can play video games all day and I'll get lost in them."

Her favorite games? "I love RPGs that tell stories," she said, listing the Final Fantasy series, Radiata Stories and the Xenosaga trilogy among her favorites.

"I like those games because they have a lot of sidequests," Garcia said. "You can build up your character doing small things. I'm 100 hours into FFXII and I'm not even done with the game yet. I'm doing all the hunts and the sidequests - I'm probably a third into the game and my guys are at level 60. I hold my characters high so when I go through the game it's a lot easier."

Yeah. But did she get the Zodiac Spear?

"I actually got the Zodiac Spear the first time I played it... you have to go through hell to get that spear, but I happened to get it the first time because someone told me about it. You can't open certain boxes, but then you have to go through and fight that nasty esper at the end... I died three times before I actually beat it."

Garcia talked quite a bit about RPGs, with an enthusiasm for detail familiar to fans of the genre. She's aware, though, that both gamers and non-gamers might have a hard time believing that a winning Playboy model defers social time with pals to focus on her game console - perhaps because of the manipulative way in which the game industry uses pretty girls, or pretty girls use the game industry, to earn appeal.

Garcia has seen plenty of models paid to act like game fans when they're not, but said it's not the models' fault. "Sex sells," she said. "The thing that most of the guys see... the women taking pictures with an Xbox to make it look more glamorous... you can't blame so much the models, but the companies. [The models] are being paid to be there, like at the game conventions. I know a lot of girls that shoot that kind of stuff, but it's not done on purpose."

"They're trying to make it appeal to men. And I think men need more... finessing than women do. You can do woman-based advertising on a product, but I think if a woman wants to play video games, she's going to buy it regardless of the ads," Garcia said.

"[A woman] thinks more when she makes a purchase, versus guys have to be lured in. So if you just give them something cheezy, that's going to be implanted in their head and they're going to be like, 'I have to buy Call of Duty 4.' Women don't need that finessing. You can give her a million-dollar advertisement, and if she doesn't want to buy it she's not going to buy it."

How, then, does Garcia think that women might dissolve some of the misconceptions around females and games? "I think just playing them," she said. "Even something as small as just doing this. I've shot Playboy stuff with my PSP, and people have asked if I really play video games, and I respond back. I think, just getting more involved in it, and doing more with it, and seeing where it goes."

By the way, according to Garcia, one of Hugh Hefner's favorite rooms at the Playboy Mansion has a broad museum of old arcade cabinets. After seeing it on her first tour, Garcia decided to spend her visit hanging out in there.

"I was in there probably the whole time I was at the house, because I wanted something to do," she said. "I almost finished the whole Donkey Kong while I was there."

Yes, you read that correctly—aquatic mechanical bull riding. Doesn't anyone just swim naked anymore? What a grey, humdrum life is lived beyond the blessed walls of Hugh Hefner mobile entertainment. If you're looking for more details, here's the full, anatomically accurate version:

January 28, 2008 - THQ Wireless Inc., a subsidiary of THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI), today announced that it has signed a worldwide agreement with Playboy Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: PLA, PLAA) to exclusively develop Playboy-branded mobile games. The multi-year Playboy agreement covers the development and publishing rights to multiple Playboy-branded, lifestyle themed, non-nude mobile games featuring bikini-clad Playmates to be released worldwide. The first title, Playboy Games: Pool Party, is scheduled to launch in summer 2008.

"Given the extensive appeal and popularity of the Playboy brand, mobile games based on this license are sure to provide a fun and entertaining experience," said Adam Comiskey, vice president, international, THQ Wireless. "THQ Wireless is ideally positioned to provide engaging games with the hallmark of the Playboy lifestyle."

"The number of Playboy fans around the world has never been greater and that popularity is reflected in the growing sales of Playboy-branded products and services," said Ed Lang, senior vice president of mobile, Playboy Media Group. "Given the growth of the mobile industry, we're excited to join THQ Wireless in offering this next-generation form of entertainment to consumers."

Playboy Games: Pool Party will include a set of mini-games depicting animated, bikini-clad Playmates at the famous Playboy Mansion engaged in "pool party sports" including poolside water balloon fights, waterslide slaloms and aquatic mechanical bull riding. Developed by THQ Wireless internal studio Universomo, Playboy Games: Pool Party is based on actual events held at the Playboy Mansion and immortalized in the Playboy Home Entertainment DVD release, Playmate Playoffs, hosted by Chuck Woolery.

Playboy's Best Games of 2007 [Playboy]

If someone were to post naked pictures of me on the Internet, I'm not sure if the word "tribute" would be the first to come to mind. But if that someone were Playboy, and that Internet were Playboy magazine, maybe I would feel differently (don't worry, I'm joking and would never do anything to hurt pornography). See the KSFW but probably NSFW promo pics after the jump (you pervs).

Just Kidding.

Playboy's Annual Girls of Video Games [via n4g]

On traditional and digital distribution

I don't think the two markets are necessarily mutually exclusive. I think gamers will look to big epic games as something they'll buy five, six times a year. And then there will be a number of games that they will purchase by the PlayStation Network, perhaps every month, with a low cost of entry. I also think we'll start to see digitally delivered games generate a fan base, a following, some awareness, and then be developed up to full Blu-ray disc games and sold at retail.

On how the industry has changed

When I was 17 or 18 years old and hanging out in a bar, talking to girls and somebody would say, "What do you do for a living?" I would mutter something about working in computers. I wouldn't have said that I was in the computer game industry. It just wasn't cool. Wind the clock forward 20 years and say, "I work for PlayStation," and people are fascinated. It's a fashion brand, it's a technology brand, it's an entertainment brand that is very relevant to people's lives. We are now a part of popular culture. That is the most significant and, I hope, long-lasting change that we've seen.

On what he would change if he could

You can buy a Sunday newspaper in any city anywhere in the world and there will be a magazine insert in it called something like "Culture" or "Weekend Life." And in that supplement you will find excellent writing and reports about film and television and theater and radio and all kinds of print media like books and magazines, but you will very rarely see games considered as culture or art. That's what I would change. Most games are described in the technology pages, rather than in the arts and entertainment pages. Games are such a widely enjoyed entertainment pastime that it is completely appropriate that they be covered by the kind of high-level journalists you expect to get other cultural reporting from. Present company excepted, of course.

The Harrison interview is a good read as well as the other Q&As of game creators Playboy quizzed. Definitely worth checking out.
Geniuses at Play [Playboy via GameSetWatch]

I write occasional features for Playboy Magazine, which is kinda fun to brag about at parties. Recently, the mag has been trying to tweak their game coverage, upping their features to make them more thoughtful and quite a bit longer.

My editor sent me a copy of the recent magazine to check out how things were looking in print and I noticed a difference. In particular I quite enjoyed their Geniuses at Play feature which gave well-know game designers the space to explain some of the keys to making a good game.

At this point in the 21st century it's clear that video games constitute a medium unto themselves. It's an art form and an industry awash in possibility, with rules and boundaries that have only begun to be explored. When you play a game, whether it's Madden, Tetris or Halo, you create your own unique path through it. We may take video games' multiple narratives for granted, but they are precisely what separates games from other storytelling media. The player is as much the author of the experience as the game's creator.

To discern what makes the medium of video games different from other forms that preceded it, we spoke with
some of the foremost minds in the industry. They told us where games have been, where they're headed and what it all means. Some are cynical, some are stressed, others starry-eyed. All are passionate about what they do.

The article goes on to quote the likes of Warren Spector, Sid Meier, Ken Levine and Denis Dyack. Good read. But what I found even more interesting in the magazine (no, not that) was this quirky little Advertorial tucked away next to the game reviews.

The two-page ad was set up to look like a straight-up Playboy Interview with Kane of Kane & Lynch fame. The ad is full of back story grist, details about The 7, Kane's conviction on 25 counts of manslaughter and who the fictitious Kane would like to see portray him in a movie.

This is stacks better than a babe search for best sexy mascot, if you ask me.