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Aside from a few wicked pinball machines a few decades back, Playboy has kept a relatively low profile in gaming. In the past, perhaps it was because all of the potential raunch the brand implies. After all, could Playboy exist alongside kid-friendly titles in your local game store? Not likely. But oh how the times have changed. The new Playboy Enterprises is all about class. While titles like Maxim and FHM are going for the grunting apeman demographic, Playboy is for the refined gentleman who knows how to mix a martini, tune his hi-fi, play smart poker, and please a woman. Oh yeah, the magazine also has naked boobies.


So, with Playboy's "mainstream" acceptance (hey, when the History Channel does a package on the Playboy Mansion, you know it's "safe") comes news of a new multi-genre, multi-platform game: Playboy: The Mansion. Developed by Massachusetts-based Cyberlore, the game is set to street sometime late in 2004. In order to get the announcement out during E3, Arush Entertainment sent a fleet of limos to scoop up some journalists and take us on out to the legendary Playboy Mansion.

Strolling around the Playboy Mansion, we found that all the familiar elements of a great party are already in place: peacocks, grotto, spider monkeys, open bar, hundreds of birds, and a game room stuffed with quarter-free perfect condition games such as Donkey Kong, Defender, Frogger, and Pac-Man. Unfortunately, there were only four models and while they looked dashing, they were far from naked. Still, we pushed on and got a pretty good sense of just how massive Hef's estate is. If you're thinking that a game based on a mansion sounds limiting, one tour around the grounds will knock out that perception immediately. One of the main goals in the game is make sure people come to the mansion and not be bored. If your creation is anything like the real deal, that shouldn't be a problem at all.

Combining three elements of game play (simulation, role playing, and tycoon), Playboy: The Mansion features you as pajama-clad Hugh Hefner milling around the mansion making sure everyone is having a good time. As you might expect from a game about the frickin' Playboy Mansion, you don't start out small. There is no crappy table here and a busted up lamp. The items you're able to buy will rise as you gain more power and money but even the stripped down level will be fun to hang out in. "We are modeling the fantasy of the Playboy lifestyle, not changing diapers" said a Cyberlore rep.

From: http://ps2.ign.com/articles/402/402383p1.html