GETTING WET ON THE PLAYGROUND: A Digital Playground Puff Piece by Lex Sativa

...it is obvious why the interactive approach won Digital Playground a "Best Interactive DVD" award from AVN, one of the leading adult film authorities, two consecutive times.

It should be noted at the outset of this thing that I don't watch all that much porno...nay, adult film. For the most part, I find them formulaic and banal. When I do watch one on a lonely night in the Lex Sativa HQ, I tend to drift off into comatose mumbling with my cock in my hand. It isn't that I find it demoralizing or exploitative or any of that shit. On the contrary, I find the starlets delicious and the plots generally amusing in their insipid simplicity.

But as with most forms of entertainment, there is always a group or institution that comes along to ameliorate the scene and dispell any rumors of the genre floundering. Adult film producers/distributors like   Digital Playground are chief among this very tasty and top notch breed. D.P., as said company is sometimes referred to [Note: DP also stands for "double penetration"] are the minds behind such blockbuster fantasy/erotica as Forbidden Tales, Sweet 101 (a groundbreaking portrayal of unbridled teenage sexual energy) and Rush.

And it is clear by watching their films why they have grown into such a porn heavyweight. Their stars are young, vital and breathtaking; they work with gigantic budgets; and their screenwriting and directing rivals much of what has been produced in the mainstream for the past ten years or so.

As I was saying earlier, though, I don't always have the patience nor the time to watch adult film. My hours are usually divided between stirring up trouble for local politicians (This means you, Linda Distler! Remember the Lindenhurst Theater!) and indoctrinating the Junior High set in the ways of radicalism...at twenty dollars a bag.

Occasionally, I'll catch one on the Spice Channel, but even then, I rarely watch the movies in their entirety. When I do manage to catch the end it is only after I've fast-forwarded to all the "naughty bits". The rest just seems like filler.

But then I pick up Devon: Stripped (starring Devon and Ginger Lynn), a Digital Playground release, and I see adult film for what it once was and always will be: explicitly entertaining and galvanizing motion art. My mind is sent hurtling into the chasm of nostalgia and I recall a old classics like Caligula, Emanuelle, Debbie Does Dallas and Deep Throat. Now I know that the spark is still burning, still givin' us the tingle.

Stripped tells the story of an innocent who is lured into the risque world of pole dancing and private dry hump lapdance sessions by veteran Ginger Lynn Allen. The movie is gorgeous from the very first scene, a close-up on Devon's wide-eyed face. What is perhaps most satisfying about this film and other Digital Playground fare is its production values. The props, the lighting, the strip clubs, dressing rooms, bedrooms and other locations are better, in fact, than many of those in such Hollywood genre pics as Armageddon, Striptease and 8mm.

And why? Because producer/founder Joone (Island Fever) and the rest of the gang at DP are trailblazers (no, not the vehicles) and along with a roster of hardcore talent (director/star Robby D, Devon, Herschell Savage,

Tera Patrick, etc.), they aim to change the face of the adult industry and interactive adult formats. They are already well on their way. Since 1993, they have received 47 awards, 37 of which were for their dexterous marketing achievements and innovation in the field of interactive technology.

Joone, a master of the edgy and original, singlehandedly created the company's pioneering line of interactive DVDs known as the Virtual Sex series. With these selections from their carnal catalog, the viewer is able to switch camera angles, sexual positions (those of the respective performer) and even control how it all goes down. Unlike actual sex that requires an investment of some kind (taking a person out, complimenting them, listening to them when they speak, leading up to sex with foreplay), Virtual Sex enables the viewer to do whatever he/she desires. He/she can choose from any one of several modes. Do you want Jenna to strip? Okay, she's stripping with the press of a single button. Do you want skip the strip and go to the foreplay? Click the button and watch as Jill Kelly massages her hot pink clitoris. Or maybe you like to jump right in there. Well, you may not be able to literally jump right in it, but if you like, you can point your remote control arrow towards sex and get right to the most venerable part of all: multi-angle fucking. Instead of sitting through the cut-aways that no horny voyeur can stand, now you can choose whichever position you prefer (missionary? doggy?) and not have to worry about seeing anything but that hard body for the next fifteen minutes...until the scene overlaps and you have to pick another angle.

With the power of choice at the audience's disposal and a bevy of skin divas (Taylor Hayes, Julia Ann, Janine, Jenna Jameson, Asia Carrera, etc.) on hand for these individual novelty flicks, it is obvious why the interactive approach won Digital Playground a "Best Interactive DVD" award from AVN, one of the leading adult film authorities, two consecutive times.

And as if all this wasn't enough, DP host the official websites of all the big adult names, including  www.DevonXXX.com,  www.PussyMan.com, and  www.TabithaStevens.com. This isn't to make mention of their Virtual Sex toys, the most prominent being a masturbation sleeve that has been lauded as the closest one can get to actually having at it with a real pornstar!

Still not convinced? Did I mention that each Digital Playground DVD is jam-packed with tons of titillating extras, including bloopers, photo galleries of your favorite stars and oft-hilarious behind-the-scenes footage?

So if you are a sticky fingered fiend with a hankering for some serious fan-friendly au natural entertainment, you should know by now that DP is the way to go. Let's Play!