 Hudson is trying to break back into the u.s. industry, and it's really about damn time. It's quite past due, actually, but perhaps the backing from Konami, combined with their presence in the Wii virtual console has given them a leg-up. They've got a features section of their website now, with a number of articles that largely seem to have a men's magazine tone, for some reason. They've got an E3 wrap in there, which links to just about everything but the interview I did with John Lee for gamasutra.
What I actually want to talk about though, is the booth babes. You may not know this, but Hudson had a bit of an interesting tactic for E3. They hired a group of models, all of whom would be available at any time for Hudson's partners, and certain editors-in-chief of important publications. Those involved were able to choose a girl based on pictures sent via mail. I'm told that most refused. Now, this is a rather common practice in japan, though it's not really out in the open. In japan, businesses will hire escorts for their big clients, if ever they do business deals in a club or something similar - you've probably seen it in movies. Then the clients can negotiate with those escorts afterwards, with the obvious intentions. But here, the official word is that the girls weren't supposed to be escorts, or arm candy, so much as kind of personal assistants - get you coffee, translate where necessary, things like that. Still, one can't help but make the mental connection. I told a Hudson rep they should've given me one, so I could set her free in the wild - though domesticated models probably wouldn't fare too well back in their natural habitat. Maybe I'll get one next year.
Of course, they wouldn't send me the list of girls and their photos, but I'm pretty sure their features page has led me right to it. I can't confirm that these are the gals - they could just be booth babes, but given the small size of Hudson's booth (they had a pod in the mobile pavilion), I think it's a pretty sure bet. Here they are, complete with mini interviews and personal data: Music Plus TV hostess Yoi Tanabe, horror film actress Sharon Senina, eastwest magazine hopeful Chyna Chuu, and PhD student Theia Monera. And if you look here, you can see some of them, plus some of the others that didn't have mini features, in their Hudson garb.
I just want to mention that I love Hudson to death. Just look at this and this. Let's hope they can take a joke, and don't proceed to the legal step, as has happened with certain other companies in times of old.
Update: I was recently contacted by Chyna, one of the girls in question. Apparently, they weren't told by Hudson about the solicitation aspect, though we've doubly confirmed that communication was sent out to that effect. As we suggested earlier, the girls just wound up running errands and hanging out on the show floor. Here's what Chyna had to say: "We weren't assigned to anyone specifically. On the day of, Hudson said that we were going to play it by ear. What me and the other girls
ended up doing was buying coffee, buying lunch, being on call, and then
I sat in on two meetings." Sounds like they aborted the girl-choosing tactic at the last minute. Ah, what tangled webs we weave.
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