Agreeably cantankerous virtual worlds blogger TonyW (who has now retired from active GSW service, incidentally - we'll miss him!) has been doing bizarre faux-Japanese horror things with the virtual 'Pussy Cat Dolls Lounge', a virtual environment "intended to market music and other products to teens."

Walsh, who is as cheeky as ever explains: "Modders can easily access and completely alter the graphic images that comprise the material surfaces in the world, including the sky, walls, billboards, and even the skin of user-created avatars... Given this level of freedom, I decided to mod the PCD Lounge into the sort of environment seen in the Silent Hill series of games, turning the Lounge's attendees--even the Pussy Cat Dolls themselves--into disfigured monsters. And, just for fun, I replaced all the billboards with images from Frank Fairey's Obey Giant campaign."

The results are certainly pretty scary, and Walsh notes: "If [developer] Doppleganger doesn't hide the source files in the final release of the PCD Lounge, it will be very simple for modders to create "nude" skins for the characters, as well as easily block all advertising." Of course, it's a whole load of hassle to mod stuff that most players won't go through, but in principle, it's absolutely correct. We like the Silent Hill version more than the original, though.