Put on Your PJs and Run Playboy

Wired News just published a story about the Playboy game launch, written by my colleague Daniel Terdiman. Photos include some that I shot at the Playboy Mansion the other night, including the image below: Hef and companions testing out the game, and liking it.

[T]his November, anyone with a PC, PlayStation 2 or Xbox will have the opportunity to put on Hef's smoking jacket and lord over his mansion. Game publishers Arush Entertainment and Groove Games will release Playboy: The Mansion, a video game that puts players in the virtual footwear of the publishing tycoon. "You can create your own Playboy magazine and throw your own parties," Hefner said.

Given that it's E3 week in Los Angeles, the game was the center attraction at a party at the real-life Playboy mansion Tuesday night — that is, if it were possible to ignore a bevy of Playboy playmates, bunnies and naked models adorned with body paint designed to look like bikinis.

Think of the game as SimHef. Players take the reins of the Playboy empire, initially concentrating on getting the first issue of a faux Playboy on newsstands. They have to play Hef as a businessman, making financial decisions, developing fame and creating the kinds of personal, professional and romantic relationships Hefner did on his way to the top.

Link, and Link to previous BoingBoing post on the launch event.