Written and produced by composer/artist/musician Malcolm Kirby Jr. (Brooklyn’s Finest, Cop Out, Pimp My Ride, The Love Guru) the original soundtrack album is now available at retail outlets through Sumthing Else Music Works www.sumthing.com, and for digital download at www.sumthingdigital.com, Amazon MP3, iTunes® and other digital music sites.

Set in the fictional city of Steelport, Saints Row: The Third gives players control of the Saints, an urban street gang at the height of their power. Steelport is ripe for the taking, and it’s up to you to make the city your own. Mold the skyline based on your choices, outfit your crew in classy gangster gear, dismantle the Syndicate stranglehold and make life-or-death decisions that will change Steelport, and the Saints, forever.

Composer Malcolm Kirby Jr. “I am a huge fan of both Saints Row and Saints Row 2 so when the opportunity came to score Saints Row: The Third I was ecstatic. Saints Row: The Third is such an insane game and everything is just pushing it way over the top. This type of thinking and attitude definitely influenced the diverse nature of the score/soundtrack.”

As a prolific live musician Malcolm Kirby Jr. has performed and recorded with artists such as The Campbell Brothers, Fred Wesley, Lenny Castro, Kenny Wollesen, Tommy Campbell, The Respect Sextet, Steve Gadd, John Medeski, Terrence Howard, Will Bernard and many others. In addition to performing worldwide, Malcolm Kirby Jr. has composed music for the films “Cop Out”, “The Love Guru”, “Brooklyn’s Finest”, TV shows such as “CSI”, “Numb3rs”, “Pimp My Ride”, “Medium”, “Law and Order” as well as video games.

Malcolm Kirby Jr. describes the different music styles heard in Saints Row: The Third, “Each gang has its own theme and the textural characteristics are completely different for each, ranging from menacing orchestral to gangster hip hop to heavy metal. I think the biggest challenge was coming up with themes of completely different textural styles and making them still feel related and unified in the context of the game which was also the most enjoyable aspect of scoring Saints Row: The Third. Volition and THQ have such an amazing vision for this game and it is truly an honor working with them.”

Incoming search terms:

• saints row 3 ost (229)
• saints row the third ost (137)

The free Initiation Station demo which is available now on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Steam allows players to create, share and upload their most devious character creations to the Saints Row community site, SaintsRow.com. So that when the game is released on November 18 in the UK, players can download their favorite characters from the site into the game and wreak crass destruction across the city of Steelport.

Kevin Kraff, Vice President, Global Brand, THQ had this to say:

“The characters we’ve seen are mostly ridiculous, often hilarious, and always over-the-top. And now there are a million of them,”
“With the crazed creativity we’ve seen in only one week, we can’t wait to see what’s to come. One million is just the beginning.”

Some important facts: 1.2 million people have played the Initiation Station so far. The most popular nontraditional skin colors are green, red, and silver metallic. Finally, there are 24 created characters tagged by users as “God,” representing a variety of religious backgrounds.

Below is a selection of screenshots of Saints Row The Thirds Initiation Station but you should really check it out yourself to make your own wonderful creation. You can check out some of the creations made by others in the UK here.  You can also check out The Saints Row digital magazine.

Incoming search terms:

• saints row 3 (639)
• saints row 3 character creation (31)

As a special bonus, those who pre-order Volition’s upcoming destruction-fest Red Faction: Armageddon, from GAME will be granted exclusive early access to the Saints Row Initiation Station. Players will receive an early-access code prior to the release of Saints Row: The Third.

• Play as your favorite train wreck celebrity-turned reality TV star, take aim as your least favorite overpaid prima donna professional athlete, or don a cape as Steelport’s newest superhero (or villain). 
• Save your master creations and share them with friends. Download other characters for your own use, or tweak them just the way you like. 
• Collaborate with a friend to create your own dynamic duo for co-op play. Cowboy and Indian? Dominatrix and sex slave? Tag-team wrestling partners with sordid pasts? Your twisted imagination is the limit. 

The Saints Row Initiation Station will be available free on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC in advance of the release of Saints Row: The Third.

Incoming search terms:

• saints row 3 pre order bonus (195)
• saints row 3 cape (39)

One great thing about the game is the way the story is played out for you. Plus the great use of FMV clips to add realism. There is no save option but don’t panic as its done automatically via checkpoints which become accessible once you complete a chapter and there are plenty of checkpoints to jump into so if you want to play a certain bit over again then you can. Each of the chapters are quite long so there is a lot of constant loading going on but not once throughout the whole game are you presented with a loading screen, when you are in a chapter the level loads while you play the game, in between chapters you are shown a movie clip that takes you on to the next part of the story and this can be skipped after a few seconds if you wish. I didn’t skip any scenes as I enjoyed the effort put into the clips to keep the story going.

The scenarios you are put into are varied and give you different challenges, but these aren’t a series of set placed scenarios that you get with other games they are all linked in to a well thought out story, even the early chapter’s deal with characters and scene setting.

As with all games its not 100% perfect and one thing I must mention is the ending. If, like me, you don’t have an Internet connection the story will seem to just end and leave you wanting more. The multiplayer aspect of the game is rumoured to be attracting a lot of the COD players and keeping them. With the ability to have 32 players online at once this is very attractive to some.

If you do have the chance to take it online you have 3 multiplayer modes to choose from. These are;

Ground Control, which various reports state is like a Capture the Flag mode seen in other games.

Team Deathmatch, this needs no description really it’s just you vs them.

Battle Commander is one of the more challenging modes. Yet this has been said to be the most fun and people have states it’s makes the multiplayer experience 10x better.

As the storyline seems to be very original and the singleplayer, despite the ending is very well written I’m going to give this a 7 out of 10 and definitely suggest you give this game a whirl. It is by far a great COD alternative.

I know that this review is quite short and that’s because I currently do not have Internet access so I couldn’t review the online side of the game, however you will find plenty of reviews online that do go into that aspect quite well.

Incoming search terms:

• Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA4) Complete Edition (1)
• Powered by Article Dashboard grand theft auto vice city codes (1)

Under the new agreement, THQ has the right to develop and publish interactive games based on the SpongeBob SquarePants property for the Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360 consoles, the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP handheld systems, and the Xbox LIVE for the Xbox 360 video game system, PlayStation Network and Nintendo Wii Virtual Console online gaming portals. Scheduled for release in 2011, the first game to be developed under this agreement is being designed to take advantage of the unique capabilities of Nintendo 3DS, THQ’s highly anticipated uDraw GameTablet for Wii, and Kinect for Xbox 360, no controller required.

“Over the last eight years, THQ has been creating quality gaming experiences based on everyone’s favorite animated character who lives in a pineapple under the sea,” “We are pleased to continue our long-standing relationship with Nickelodeon and excited to deliver more SpongeBob SquarePants video game offerings for the multitude of fans worldwide.”

said Martin Good, THQ Executive Vice President, Kids, Family, Casual and Global Online Services.

“THQ has consistently demonstrated the ability to seamlessly bring the world of SpongeBob SquarePants to life in the interactive space with quality titles that are memorable and engaging for gamers of all ages,” “We look forward to introducing the next SpongeBob game adventure via THQ’s innovative new platform, the uDraw GameTablet for Wii, which will bring the gaming experience to another exciting level.”

said Manuel Torres, Senior Vice President, Global Toys, Video Games & Consumer Electronics, Nickelodeon Consumer Products.

THQ has been developing video games based on SpongeBob SquarePants since 2002, and recently launched top performing titles across all genres, such as SpongeBob Boating Bash (2010) and SpongeBob Truth or Square (2009).* Global life-to-date games shipped for all published SpongeBob video game titles total more than 29 million units.

Incoming search terms:

• spongebob games (41)
• Powered by Article Dashboard space art at deviant art (4)

“I don’t think we really care whether used game buyers are upset because new game buyers get everything”, THQ’s creative director for wrestling titles told Gamasutra. “So if used game buyers are upset they don’t get the online feature set I don’t really have much sympathy for them”.

“That’s a little blunt but we hope it doesn’t disappoint people. We hope people understand that when the game’s bought used we get cheated”.

Little risky going after the consumer with this argument. Target GameStop all you want for making the industry so dependent on used game sales, but Average Joe buying the things just wants a cheaper game. Who knows, maybe – heaven forbid – he can’t afford $50-60 for a video game!

Pre-owned ‘cheats developers’ – THQ [CVG]

The service had originally offered a three-month complimentary subscription for early adopters, but this has been extended to a full year and a free game for the first 25,000 people to register.

After that, users will be required to pay a monthly subscription of $14.95 – although final plans for international pricing are yet to be revealed. Both rental and ownership plans are promised.

OnLive is no longer accepting new sign-ups ahead of its US launch on June 17.

UK, Europe and rest of world launch dates remain unnanounced, though in Britain OnLive will be available to BT broadband customers in an exclusive deal, and through other ISPs.

Even before that announcement, analysts had expressed concern that the eight years-in-development cloud gaming service may offer too small an install base to retain larger publishers’ interest. The generous new subscription offer may change that.

OnLive’s ambitious promise is that gamers will low-spec PCs and Macs will be able to play high-end titles running remotely on powerful servers, streamed to the client via high-speed internet connections.

So far, OnLive is confirmed to include a range of big-name PC games from EA, Ubisoft, 2K Games, THQ and Warner Bros. The service will also include a variety of social networking tools, comparable to Steam or Xbox Live.

Those that buy the game second hand will be asked to stump up around $5 to gain access to the Fight Camp mode, which allows up to 40 players to train together online. “This multiplayer content for UFC Undisputed 2010 will be available via a one-time code included with the game at purchase,” said the company in a statement to Destructoid. “Codes for accessing the content will be available for second-time buyers for an additional $5.”

EA Sports has already revealed plans to charge pre-owned users $10 for an Online Pass and access to multiplayer features, and French publisher Ubisoft said this week that it has a similar infrastructure already in place, and is watching EA very carefully.

THQ UK has said that it will release details of pricing in the UK and Europe within the next 24 hours.