The Weekly Nuke: Demo Units and Booth Babes – Wrap Up

This week’s Nuke ran into overtime, as we had a few of our own writers at Eurogamer, the last of the big annual conferences, and wanted to give them the opportunity to weigh in on the topic of Demo Units and Booth Babes. Unfortunately, that didn’t really seem to happen; however, Pete gave us an interesting article about his experiences with the OnLive device he received for free at Eurogamer.

On the Forums

Faye Lanks kicked off the Nuke by chastising me for jumping the gun on the topic, saying that Eurogamer hadn’t yet happened. To this I of course replied with something vaguely insulting, and extended the Nuke another week – which had always been my evil scheme! But Faye also got the ball rolling:

My ideal Expo has tonnes of swag and some nifty people there as well as loads of games I want to sample. Also a real short line to the bathroom, as I have heard horror stories of such things.

I don’t know what it’s like in Europe, Faye, but I was at this year’s E3 and there was never a line for the ladies’ room – as most of the participants were men – but I don’t know about the mens’ room situation. Could’ve been a true horror show for all I know.

In fact, Faye went on to recap Eurogamer for us, since our representatives were clearly out being irresponsible and overly enjoying their time at the convention. The recaps are worth a read.

Ace Flibble joined in with a positive point:

I can’t say I care about swag and clearly I’m not fussed about actually playing much, I just love that there are these events where thousands upoen thousands of people can come together, united by a simple love for screens that show different pictures when you press buttons.

But later admitted that all gaming conventions had their flaws:

This last gamescom saw queues in excess of nine hours long for a single game. The show floors are generally badly organised and arranged at random, making it something of a nightmare to find whichever title it is you want to see. Certain publishers can’t even get their press areas organised properly, let alone the show floor (I’m looking at you, EA).

And later took a soapbox stance I can get behind:

My biggest gripe is definitely the favouring of certain events. [...] It’s just bizarre to me as you don’t get that with film, music or anything else. Record labels don’t send promo singles only to one particular radio station and tell the others to get stuffed. Film trailers don’t appear only on select TV stations. Big Brother failures don’t get their tits out in Nuts but refuse to do Loaded. It’s crazy to me that publishers will deny people at one event access to something when other people have had access to it at other events.

Our own Wesley added his two cents in his short but sweet manner:

I like the new things. I hate the smells/biohazards.

Poetic, sir. Truly. I admire your succinct approach to life.

But then, the conventions weren’t the only part of the Weekly Nuke, were they? I had to bring up the dreaded topic of The Booth Babe, didn’t I?

Ace Flibble stated why he was anti-booth babe:

Personally, I find the concept insulting; I don’t need a stripper in cosplay standing around in order for me to notice a game, thank you very much. I go to games conventions for games, I could easily go to adult industry expos if that’s what I wanted. Let me talk to the developers, the publishers, even the damned PR parrots. What is there that a scantily clad model can tell me about a new title?

I actually spoke to a rather informed booth babe at this year’s E3, though I suspect it was because she was standing right next to an informational video with a ten-minute loop all day.

Ace later added:

It pisses me off that that is how little our indsurty thinks of us, that is how simple-minded both the publishers and press think we gamers are. Stick some tits on it and we’re hooked. It’s just insulting. It insults me, the reader, the attendee, the writer. It shows a complete lack of faith in us and even the games themselves. “We think you’re dumb sheep and don’t trust this game to impress by itself so here, look at this woman’s arse” is all it says to me. “Booth babes” are, to me, a gigantic slap across the face of every person that attends the event, public, press and even publisher.

Adushan chimed in regarding booth babes that actually serve a purpose other than standing and looking pretty:

And I really think Nintendo should reconsider their tactics regarding DS demos. Having girls with DSs slung around their neck hanging between their boobs is a bit embarrassing for consumers. I look at the DS and it looks like I’m glaring at her. Let’s not mention touching, stylus action, and dual nipple action.

It must be awkward to try out the new Pokemon game with a large fake rack in your peripheral vision the entire time, no?

Gavin, however, decided to play devil’s advocate in what was clearly a satirical response meant to evoke the nature of every gamer stereotype that the gaming industry believes we as gamers possess:

Their cracking tits and also arses.

And there you have it, folks. Tune in soon for another Weekly Nuke, as Pete is back from Eurogamer with his mind fit to burst with ideas.