So, in respect to the adult industry, it’s only a matter of time until viewers can put themselves into the action, sword fighting with Evan Stone or getting totally interactive with a star like Tera Patrick in a customized POV scene.
At least, that was one innovation being touted at the Comic-Con International, held in San Diego over the weekend.
The fantasy/sci-fi/comic book/entertainment media convention is the largest convergence of fans and media technology businesses in the world with attendance at more than 125,000 for the four-day event.
The gathering, maybe more than any other, puts a face on the vastness of the online community — and more often than not, that face is dressed up like Darth Vader, the Joker [lots of those this year], Wonder Woman or any one of a thousand characters that exist in fantasy or in Cyberspace.
The new BD Live Blu-ray discs were being previewed at Sony's massive booth at the "Con," along with a new BD Live-enabled disc player that hooks up to the Internet, released by the company last week. A company spokesperson pointed out that the new discs also would work with any Playstation 3 or Internet-connected Blu-ray player. Sony expects to have 13 movies on Blu-ray with BD Live features available by the end of the month.
At the show, there was a demo of the photo upload feature using the 1997 movie "Starship Troopers," in which could make yourself a bug-killing storm trooper.
Another feature was demonstrated with the recently released movie "21" [starring Kevin Spacey], showed off an interactive blackjack game, where players could post their scores to an online bulletin board and compete with other players on the Web.
The BD Live discs also allow users to download movie dialogue ringtones and extra bonus content available exclusively online, as well as movie previews and trailers. Not to mention, the slideshow-style scene menu in an overlay format that allows viewers to browse through scenes without leaving the movie.
It was fairly obvious that the new bells and whistles at Sony are in response to consumers' never-ending fascination with interactivity and customization, as well as advancements in home theater technology — the added pay-off being that content customized by the user is not something that can be downloaded from a bit torrent or file-hosting website.
With both mainstream and adult entertainment industries experiencing a decline in revenue partially attributed to content piracy, new innovations like the BD Live features offer consumers the kind of stuff that they can't steal off the Web.
On the floor at Comic-Con, fans dressed like Pinhead from "Hellraiser" and Xena seemed, like, so 20 years ago already — and the lines between movies, television, digital/online gaming, online interactive communities and sim worlds extended far into the future with different technologies blending into new entertainment media that combines aspects of all those different worlds.
Bravely going where no adult star has gone before, Tera Patrick announced this week that she has been named a "special producer" of the new version of open world combat game "Saints Row 2" , created by game developers THQ/Volition .
Patrick made an appearance at their booth on Saturday and drew a line almost as long as THQ gaming artist Joe Madureira, who was treated like a rockstar by the throng of game-crazy fans.
While porn star Jenna Jameson [who appeared at last year's Comic-con] has her own "Virtually Jenna Forever" interactive adult game, Patrick is the first adult performer to work in collaboration with a mainstream gaming company and, in doing so, is clicking on her core demographic — men between the ages 18-30 who spend a lot of time online and have expendable income for things like website memberships and downloads.
"It's great. I think that obviously this is my demographic and my market, and it's opening me up to a whole new group of fans. So many fans that came to see me today — I had eight-year-olds and 18-year-olds and 38-year-olds," Patrick told XBIZ. "I have to say that video games are like adult movies — no boundaries — everybody watches them, everybody loves them and everybody plays with them.
"It's really cool. I have a younger brother and a stepson, so this is something they can see me in and I'm like their hero," Patrick laughed.
Her husband Evan Seinfeld was engrossed at one of the Saints Row 2 gaming consoles set up at the booth. According to Patrick, her brother and stepson play the original version of the game with Seinfeld and have formed their own online street gang, which is one of the aspects of the game.
The demo that could be played at the booth showed a smooth-functioning interface for players and character customization features that were virtually Second Life-like. Rated M for Mature, the jailbreak sequence was like a scene from a completely CGI-generated movie with lots of hand-to-hand combat, shooting and all-around ass kicking, all directed by the player.
THQ is keeping mum on Patrick's level of involvement and releasing only bits of information in the build-up to the game's October release — but if a hidden cyber sex scene in Rockstar North's "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" spiked sales for that game several years ago, THQ is enthusiastic about having a full-fledged adult star like Patrick representing their product.
Across the cavernous convention hall, at the Vamp Productions booth, mainstream actress Tura Satana signed for fans. The actress played the role of Varla in Russ Meyer's 1965 movie "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!"
Coincidently, recent rumors have Patrick being considered for the same role in a remake of the cult classic by director Quentin Tarantino.
"When I worked for Russ Meyer's I was one of the girls that never worked in his porn stuff," Satana told XBIZ. "Back then, the violence was what was so racy. As far as I know, I'm the only woman that has killed a guy with her bare hands in a movie. It wasn't even in the script. Russ wanted me to just beat the crap out of him and leave him lying in the desert, and I said, 'Well, that leaves kind of unfinished business."
As for Patrick playing the role of Varla, Satana said that she felt there would be stiff competition for the part from mainstream actresses like Rose MacGowan or Lucy Lawless. Satana also said that she's happy that the movie, which was originally panned by critics, has had an influence on rebellious women more than 40 years later.
"The whole thing was to basically teach women that they could be sexy. They could be independent and that they could kick ass," she said. "That's what it was all about."
The presence of strong women was everywhere at Comic-con. Fan girls dressed in super heroine get-ups posed for photos with other admiring attendees.
The influence of adult models in popular culture was evident in works by pin-up artists like Olivia, who signed for fans at her booth. Artists Armando Huerta and Lorenzo Sperlonga both featured prints that had been modeled for by starlets like Patrick, Gina Lynn and Taylor Wayne, as well as several tribute drawings of ultimate naughty girl Bettie Page.
At mainstream production company Lionsgate’s booth, a commotion was caused by mainstream actresses Kim Kardashian and Carmen Electra, who were there to promote upcoming release, “Disaster Movie.”
[Interesting footnotes: Electra’s real name just happens to be Tara Patrick and Kardashian achieved notoriety with a celebrity sex tape distributed by Vivid Entertainment].
Other celebrity sightings included actor Richard Dreyfuss, who took a moment to peruse the comic books at the Carnal Comics booth, apparently before realizing that they were X-rated.
Carnal Comics owner S.S. Crompton has been exhibiting at the Con for more than ten years, and told XBIZ that he always finds a new audience for explicit comic books at the show.
“The biggest thing now is we’re getting the kind of casual fan that may have never been into a comic book store, but kind of liked science fiction movies and saw Batman and Spiderman and thought it was cool. So many people that you see at the show now are of that ilk,” Crompton told XBIZ.
“They are here to experience the wild, wacky things that are out there, from obscure comics to our porn. People discover that for the first time and they’re amazed,” he said. “A lot of people are surprised that [X-rated comic books] exist because a lot of them think that comic books are for kids. And then you get the ones that say, ‘Oh wow, these are cool,’ and then they buy a bunch.”
Crompton and adult director Steve Steele also were promoting a new DVD based on Carnal Comics’ “Demi the Demoness” series, which features three fantasy-inspired characters and their girl-on-girl vampire/demoness/witch hardcore action adventures.
Signing at the booth on Saturday was Sage Sinn, who played Vampirooni in the “Demi” DVD.
Starlet Aurora Snow, who will be the next adult model featured in a Carnal Comics signature comic book, also was there to meet-and-greet fans.
Director Steele operates SexedUpSuperHeroines.com, a softcore costume fetish site which features episodic content and characters like She-Devil [played by starlet Daisy Marie], Arachnia, Scarlet Juggernaut and several other vixens. According to Steele, even comic book nerds like to get their sexy freak on.
By 3 o’clock on Saturday, even ten feet of open real estate on the show floor seemed like a luxury, as thick crowds jostled and elbowed their way down the aisles.
Being pushed in a wheelchair and with an assistant leading the parade, perhaps one of the most legendary celebrities in the convention hall, author Ray Bradbury made slow progress as the crowds parted for him.
His 1953 novel “Fahrenheit 451” predicted advances that have become technological reality including big screen TVs and a rudimentary Bluetooth-like earpiece — as well as a society that no longer reads books, but receives all its information electronically in short, controlled sound bytes, though there was no such thing as a sound byte back in 1953.
Bradbury, who will be 88 in August, seemed unable to talk much but stopped along his route to take pictures with fans. At times, those that knew Bradbury’s honored status applauded him and he would wave in response.
But, among the younger generation of tech-savvy show attendees, several in the crowd wondered out loud who the old guy in the wheelchair was.
It might be accurate to say that those descendants of the Digital Age who didn’t recognize Bradbury have probably never read a paperbound book and won’t know about “Fahrenheit 451” until it becomes an interactive online game.
