A lingerie store called Spellbound is grabbing attention with live models in the wind

[urso8up]

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) -- In this town, window shopping is attracting a lot more guys than usual.

A lingerie store called Spellbound is grabbing attention with live models in the window. Some people have complained, but police say there is nothing illegal about the lingerie models.

"It's tainting the wholesome businesses down here," said Carrie Rossignol, co-owner of Video Game Exchange.

"I think it's selfish, and I think it's morally reprehensible."

Another downtown merchant likes the idea, saying the models are attracting more potential customers to the area.

"It's like a New York thing. It's urban. It's edgy," said Stacy Gervais, owner of Stacy's Hallmark Store and a founder of a downtown merchants group.

"We need a shtick -- something that we do that attracts people and gets us remembered."

Spellbound owner Felicia Stockford said she has had no trouble finding staffers. She said the young women enjoy strutting their stuff in the shop window.

[beefcake]

Good marketing idea, but they'd probably get in trouble if the outfits are too risque. They definately can't model the sheer stuff that most people buy.

[Shibby]

She was on Fox news yesterday discussing this. It was originally an idea given to her by her daughter. She didn't really take it seriously until a lady came in wanting a job. The store owner didn't have a postion for her, but said if she would like, she could be a human model in exchange for the lingire. The video game store owner complaint also entailed "It hurts my business, parents won't bring the kids by the store to buy Grand Theft Auto now". lol

[beefcake]

The video game store owner complaint also entailed "It hurts my business, parents won't bring the kids by the store to buy Grand Theft Auto now". lol

Isn't that game banned now though? He's not allowed to sell it.

[Shibby]

I don't know, that's just what was reported.

[SloppyJo]

Isn't that game banned now though? He's not allowed to sell it.

no. 18 or up to buy... so he can sell it to the parents

[cykotic]

no. 18 or up to buy... so he can sell it to the parents

Oh, I just figured since almost every store took it off the shelves, that clinton got it banned.

[SloppyJo]

Oh, I just figured since almost every store took it off the shelves, that clinton got it banned.

http://www.fradical.com/GTA_dirty_little_secret.htm

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has been caught in a whirlwind of controversy after it was revealed it contains mini sex games. But even a ratings crackdown may not be able to save the video game industry from itself. The brakes have been slammed on the racy Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, but that may not be enough to stop a chain reaction within the video game industry.

In the wake of the Grand Theft Auto debacle -- in which hidden sex scenes were found on the PC version, forcing the self-regulating Entertainment Software Rating Board to change GTA from Mature to Adults Only -- the industry, already rivaling Hollywood box office in sales, is on the defensive, saying it can and should police itself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_T...nd_Controversy

In the middle of July 2005, the ESRB, as well as various politicians including Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY), launched an investigation into the Hot Coffee mod. Initially, Rockstar released a statement that strongly suggested that the Hot Coffee content was entirely created by "hackers". However, this claim was undermined when codes were released on web forums for the PlayStation 2 Gameshark and AR Max cheating devices that demonstrated that the controversial content was, indeed, built into the console versions.

Confusing the issue is a recent version of the Hot Coffee mod which replaces the semi-nude girlfriends' textures with unclothed bitmaps that cannot be seen without the mod.

On July 20, 2005, San Andreas was rerated as "AO" (Adults Only) by the ESRB. Rockstar has halted production of all versions of San Andreas and plans to release a censored version of the game, which is intended to conform to the initial "M" rating, later this year. Due to the new AO rating, many major retail outlets, including Sears, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target and GameStop, have pulled the PC and console versions of the game from their shelves.

On July 29, 2005, as a result of the newly-discovered scenes, the OFLC revoked the game's "MA15+" classification (the highest currently available for computer games in Australia), and changed the game's status to "RC" (Refused Classification) meaning that the original version could no longer be sold in Australia. The patched version was given an "MA15+" classification on September 12, 2005.

As of July 23, 2005, however, the PEGI rating for the game has remained unchanged, although it is likely that the PEGI sexual content label will be added to the game cover. The effect on San Andreas sales is as of yet unknown, but Take Two Interactive has revised its projected financial statement for the quarter to reflect a further anticipated loss.

On August 10, 2005, Rockstar Games officially released a patch for San Andreas. Nicknamed the "Cold Coffee Patch" by some, the patch fixed many performance issues and bugs. However, the most major addition was that the patch disabled the controversial "Hot Coffee" scenes, even if the "Hot Coffee" mod was reinstalled.

The game has since been re-released with the "Hot Coffee" scenes removed (Grand Theft Auto:San Andreas 2.0), allowing the game to return to its "M" rating. However, the "Hot Coffee" mod dashed financial expectations for TakeTwo Games, which lost $28.8 million in its fiscal 3rd quarter of 2005 (May to July) partly because of the rerating; the company lost $14.4 million in the same quarter in 2004.

[Puddles]

I like the idea of live models. They should have some male models in there too.