Playboy sexing up PSPs

When the PSP first hit the market, Sony was quick to talk up how it could be used to view photos and videos downloaded from the Internet. Given that a sizable chunk of said images and video are adult in nature, it was only a matter of time before a purveyor of 18-and-up-only entertainment decided to take advantage of the handheld.

Now, just under a month after the PSP's release, Playboy Enterprises has released a suite of erotic video and photos custom-tailored for the device. This morning, the venerable nudie-mag media empire announced the creation of "PlayboyStation Portable," a section of Playboy.com that will let visitors download two free non-nude galleries and one free video. All three were formatted specifically for viewing on the PSP and feature Cyber Girl of the Year 2005 Amy Sue Cooper pretending to be a video game heroine. Additional PSP-formatted photo galleries and video of Cooper completely nude are available to members of Playboy.com's paid subscription service, Cyber Club.

"Gaming and the Internet go hand in hand, so shooting sexy, action-themed pictorials and video for the coolest piece of portable gaming technology out there was a no-brainer," said Playboy.com managing photo editor Chad Doering. "We took advantage of the PSP's 16:9 widescreen ratio and developed our own video game action heroine." For her part, Cooper also praised the PSP. "The thought of being carried around in a guy's pocket and having him push my buttons is really sexy," she said.

PlayboyStation Portable is not the first time Playboy has attempted to court the gamer demographic. Last year, Playboy magazine featured a series of virtual game heroines posing "nude," including BloodRayne, Mortal Kombat's Mileena, and Nina Williams from Tekken. It also oversaw development of Playboy: The Mansion, a simulation game that put players in the slippers and robe of Playboy founder and legendary lothario Hugh Hefner.