No more booth babes at E3

[Lady Jaye]

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70075-0.html?tw=wn_tophead_16

[njiska]

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/01/24/booth-babes-update-e3s-response/

I almost wanna do a Phoneix Wright style "TAKE THAT!" LOL

The Babes aren't gone.

[MegaDrive20XX]

Who's to blame for this kind of crap? The Booth babes are a tradition for the past 10 years, why cease it now? Especially in LA...I'm surprised LA actually is against this sort of thing when many famous porno's are produced in this lively city...

[Lady Jaye]

Of course, the thing too is how do they define scantily-clad? Midriff baring? Skirts above the knee? Cleavage?

And I'm sure that nonetheless, a 5k fine might deter all but the most resilient game companies...

Besides, back in the pre-E3 days, weren't the gaming companies sharing floor space at CES with the porn industry?

[Half Japanese]

How will they ever be able to draw attention to every 'me-too' street racing game now?

[MegaDrive20XX]

Besides, back in the pre-E3 days, weren't the gaming companies sharing floor space at CES with the porn industry?

LOL Bitter irony! She's right!

[Crazycarl]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.....figures the year im going to go they ban the booth babes.... :(

p.s. don't tell my g/f i said that )

[mdk]

I have to agree with and FULLY support this descision. I attended E3 2004. It was sad to see the lines to get your photo taken with some hot cosplay lady longer than the line to peep out a hot game.

Seriously...E3 for me was half business men doing business and half dudes in anime shirts snapping photos at any booth babe they could see.

[Ed Oscuro]

False alarm! :D

[Lady Jaye]

MDK: Like that story about the guy who got himself in a wheelchair and took panty shots of booth babes last year at E3?

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=62703

[Ed Oscuro]

That's something you could do to somebody who isn't outrageously dressed - of course you shouldn't, duh LOL

I'm not at all convinced that anything much is going to change. It seems to mean that swimsuits are a no-no.

I do wonder if some companies will go in, get dinged for fines, and try to keep the swimsuit girls around. $5000 isn't really that much for some of these companies' E3 budgets.

[Lothars]

true I think if it helps advertise a new game they would take the 5000 dollar fine and just keep going with it.

but hey I think all in all this may not be a bad thing.

[NE146]

So that means we no longer get to see the famous Nintendo Booth Babes? :(

[hbkprm]

i like looking at those pix of girls in binkinis in the mags

[poloplayr]

Oh my God! How will crap developers be able to keep attendees' eyes off the crap games they're promoting now?! *gasp*

[hezeuschrist]

Of course, the thing too is how do they define scantily-clad? Midriff baring? Skirts above the knee? Cleavage?

None of the above.

Our society is so completely petrified of sexuality it's disgusting. Let them stay, E3 might be a trade show, but it's still a show, an 18+ only one at that. As long as they don't cause too much trouble (which sometimes they do, but thats more a problem of overcrowding than the girls themselves), I don't see a reason to drop them.

I'd imagine there'd be some pissed of Japanese men if they came to E3 06 and found no women in bikinis.

[Lady Jaye]

But what are their exact criteria for scantily-clad? When does it stop being scantily? It's a pretty subjective definition.

[jajaja]

lol this is crazy. What is next? They ban the beach?
Possible babes from E3 2006?

http://www.esinet.it/cardano/images/Burka.jpg

http://www.cumberlink.com/welcome/images/amish.jpg

[Joker T]

I don't belive it.

As mentioned the show is 18 and up for a reason.

[Famidrive-16]

I remember reading articles on E3 2005 last year where they had five pages on the Gun booth girls, and yet the only thing mentioned of Nintendo was "oh yeh they had zelda lolz!1"

I love skimpy models as much as the next guy and all, but that feature has always seemed distracting from the whole event.

[Queen Of The Felines]

We can still have them at CGE, right?

Kristine

[Leroy]

Too bad it wasn't true.. I always thought that just helped fuel the misconception that gaming was for pre-teen/early-teen boys.

[keiblerfan69]

I wish they were gone. Only bad games have booth babes.

[hezeuschrist]

Too bad it wasn't true.. I always thought that just helped fuel the misconception that gaming was for pre-teen/early-teen boys.

Yeah, me too, because they're the ones that bang all the models. Since I left my teens I no longer bang models :(

[Richter Belmount]

Wow is the game industry the next thing to be whipped? like movies , music and tv? I mean come on , the main demographic is men/teenagers in video games , of course people are going to use booth babes to attract attendees because it makes sense to attract a average joe in the show .The thing is to me its not about exploiting them(they are getting paid after all and agreed to even show up there) Im just tired of people raining down on someones parade.

[Push Upstairs]

The thing is to me its not about exploiting them(they are getting paid after all and agreed to even show up there) Im just tired of people raining down on someones parade.

When it comes to issues like this i question who is really being exploited.

These women are being paid, probably some damn good money, to stand around while possibly sporting some kind of "i'm something you cannot have" attitude to a bunch of well, nerds.

"Well they wear revealing clothing" - Nobody forced them to work the show.

"They stand on thier feet all day long." - And underpaid retail workers don't do the same thing?

[Ernster]

OMG how stupid. Face it. There's males and theres females each want to F##! each other and its the most natural thing in the world yet us humans make it sound like a disgusting, bad thing.... Whats wrong with a few sexy "clothed" chicks at E3 @_@

[rbudrick]

When I worked for themushroom.com back in the late 90s and 2000, it was my job to interview the models and get pics of them for a booth babes feature we did. Most of them got paid $5000 a day to be there. Trust me, the fine is NBFD to the companies.

-Rob

[Ed Oscuro]

I'd think that the E3 folks could get them thrown out, though, cops or whatever.

But again, I think this is all blown out of proportion. As one of the sites said, hey, this is so that the expo has clearer rules and enforcement. All that's going to go away are girls in bikinis, like the one foolishly seen gallivanting around with the Alien Hominid a few years back (lucky to still be alive)!

[Push Upstairs]

When I worked for themushroom.com back in the late 90s and 2000, it was my job to interview the models and get pics of them for a booth babes feature we did. Most of them got paid $5000 a day to be there. Trust me, the fine is NBFD to the companies.

-Rob

Holy hell...I was thinking they'd get paid like $15 an hour to look pretty and have some random game name across thier chest....

...but if some are getting paid $5000 bucks a day to do that...damn.

[l_lamb]

We can still have them at CGE, right?

Kristine

Yeah, but you and Jaime can't table dance anymore.

[RCM]

I'm glad this happened. I was always against booth babes. I really dislike models at trade shows in general. Don't get me wrong, i'd fuck every hole no doubt, but it takes away from what we're there for.

If gaming is ever to be taken seriously this shit has got to go. We need a respectable institution to lead us into the next step in gaming. I see no sign of such a group.

[hezeuschrist]

If gaming is ever to be taken seriously this shit has got to go. We need a respectable institution to lead us into the next step in gaming. I see no sign of such a group.

I never bought that argument. Thats like saying, "If this auto industry thing is going to go anywhere, they've got to get all these bimbos off the cars..."

I understand it's a flawed analogy, but the principle is the same. And you better believe people take this industry seriously, and while it doesn't get the widespread penetration of the film or music industries doesn't mean it won't, and it certainly isn't the fault of the booth babes. It's more the fault of the fans who create the stereotypes. They might be stereotypes, but they are formed for a reason.

The game industry will get widespread penetration and recognition, with it's own shitty award show like the oscars or grammys (fuck that Spike TV VG awards, THAT kind of shit is what hurts the industry), but it's not going to happen overnight. It just needs to stay the course and sometime during our lifetime it'll be a serious institution.

[RCM]

If gaming is ever to be taken seriously this shit has got to go. We need a respectable institution to lead us into the next step in gaming. I see no sign of such a group.

I never bought that argument. Thats like saying, "If this auto industry thing is going to go anywhere, they've got to get all these bimbos off the cars..."

I understand it's a flawed analogy, but the principle is the same. And you better believe people take this industry seriously, and while it doesn't get the widespread penetration of the film or music industries doesn't mean it won't, and it certainly isn't the fault of the booth babes. It's more the fault of the fans who create the stereotypes. They might be stereotypes, but they are formed for a reason.

The game industry will get widespread penetration and recognition, with it's own shitty award show like the oscars or grammys (fuck that Spike TV VG awards, THAT kind of shit is what hurts the industry), but it's not going to happen overnight. It just needs to stay the course and sometime during our lifetime it'll be a serious institution.

I wasn't blaming the booth babes for the lack of respect the industry receives. I merely commented that there's no central group that not only deserves respect but demands it.

we've got a long way to go, don't doubt that.

[Richter Belmount]

I wasn't blaming the booth babes for the lack of respect the industry receives. I merely commented that there's no central group that not only deserves respect but demands it.
we've got a long way to go, don't doubt that.

Yeah but that group is gonna stay the same for a long time so why ruin someones fun?

[shertz]

I enjoyed taking this pic at E3 '05 =-)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v120/shertz/E305/DCAM0832.jpg

So it makes me a little sad that they are doing the ban :/

[Push Upstairs]

I think they should be banning those platform shoes instead.