Overall, Sony will spend £6m trying to convince you the PS3 is worth your hard-earned cash, in a flurry of TV, cinema and viral ads that use the “sex sells” logic.

The PlayStation ads aim to turn on buyers using a hotel full of characters with unusual sexual peccadilloes.

These include a footballer getting a full-on lapdance who reveals that he can who can only orgasm on the pitch, a gameshow host who dreams of getting naked on television and a couple who shoot cops or commit crimes while getting off with each other.

"At the heart of the campaign is a mysterious hotel, which is basically the website, and all of the characters live in the hotel and you can see tiny snatches of their story " Steve Henry, executive creative director at TBWA, told The Guardian.

"The ads are all about drawing people to the site, which changes according to time of day and how many times you've visited before.”

The ads won’t carry any Sony or PlayStation 3 branding on them until March 23, using the tagline "This Is Living" instead.

Henry, who was responsible for previous innovative campaigns for Tango and Pot Noodle, also says Sony will use the net to spread the word.

The company will sell medals owned by one of the fictional characters on eBay, review the hotel on TripAdvisor.com and set up a MySpace page for wannabe glamour girl Cherry.

Henry said the ads had to be entertaining.

“Our competition isn't the Xbox ads, it's iTunes or going to the pub, and if you can't beat those options you're not in the game,” he said.