saints-row-2 posts

This launch trailer promotes the recent release of Saints Row 2 for the PC. In addition to battling every gang in the city for territory and power, the Saints will have to take on the city government to show them who's boss. Just an average day in Stilwater. Saints Row 2 for the PC is available now on store shelves on via Steam.

Download HD Saints Row 2 PC Launch Trailer (100 HD)
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It looks like the technically issues that were keeping Saints Row 2 off of Steam have now been resolved and the open world action game is now available for purchase and download via Valve's download service. The relatively cheap $39.99 title from developer Volition is the first major PC game released in the US in the new year.

THQ even sent out a press release announcing the game had shipped to stores this morning (something they didn't do on Tuesday). As we reported before, Saints Row 2, both in downloadable and retail versions, uses Steam as its DRM set-up for activation purposes. The PC version will also ship in Europe on Jan. 23 and in game banning-happy Australia on Feb. 5

Publisher THQ has kept the PC release of their open world action game Saints Row 2 on the down low. The game shipped to stores today but THQ didn't even bother with its usual press release announcing that fact. However folks who wanted to purchase and download the game via Valve's Steam service are still waiting.

A post on the game's official message board has revealed that there are "some issues with the Steam client" that prevents Saints Row 2 from being made available today. The message adds, "...THQ and Valve are working on the issue and hope to have it resolved soon." However people who buy the game in stores don't need to worry. Steam will still handle the DRM activation for the game as we first reported last month. The post states, "..anyone who picks up a boxed copy today will be able to authenticate and play SR2 once installed."

[Via Shacknews]

Yesterday we started our look at the PC games of 2009 with a ton of various upcoming action and FPS titles. But there are so many of these type of games due out in the next 12 months that we had to split that preview up into two parts. This entry not only contains a number of traditional action titles but also has some fighting games and flying action game titles as well.

Check back on Monday as we will next take a look at the various strategy-RTS based games due out in the next year.

Click on the picture above to read more on the 2009 PC Game Preview: Action-FPS Titles Part 2

THQ's PC port of their open world action game Saints Row 2 is due for release in the first week of January and while the publisher hasn't given the PC version of Volition's latest game a lot of PR the game's official message boards have revealed its final system requirements.

The forums have also revealed that Saints Row 2 will use Steam for the game's DRM to authenticate the game. Volition's community manager states, " Essentially, Steam will be a verification system for the retail version. Steam will also have an offer to digitally download SR2 to a player's system if they don't want to leave the confines of their house. If you have a retail version, Steam is only going to verify that you have a real copy of the game when you are first installing and launching the game. We're trying to use a very low impact DRM here, since we've seen some of the headaches faced by other major game releases in recent months."

Check out the minimum and recommended system specs for the game after the jump:

The National Institute on Media and the Family has attacked the game industry for years and has also issued their annual "report card" on both the industry and specific games. In the past they have generated a lot of publicity for their report card by holding press conferences in Washington DC with various national lawmakers also taking part.

However, the game industry has taken huge steps in the last few years to police itself through both its ESRB ratings system and enforcement of those ratings in retail stores. So this year's report card by the NIMF is very low key with just a media announcement and no press conference or senators around. Indeed, the actual report card on the industry has the industry getting almost straight "A"s (they got a B+ for ratings enforcement). So the organization is now focusing on getting parents involved in making sure they know what games their kids are playing.

The NIMF has also issued a list of games children should avoid playing. All of these games are rated "M" for Mature so the industry has already done its job in labeling them as not appropriate for kids. They include games released for the PC platform like Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead, Dead Space, Far Cry 2, Silent Hill Homecoming and Legendary (another game, Saints Row 2, is due for release on the PC this January).

Earlier this week we reported that online retailers like Gamestop and Amazon.com had pushed back the release of the PC version of Saints Row 2 to early January 2009. While the game's publisher THQ never got back in touch with us when we asked about the open world action game's release date for the PC, a new post on the game's official message boards does now confirm the delay for the PC port.

The message board posts now states the game will ship on Jan. 5, 2009 and that the delay was because, ".. we wanted to make the highest quality game across all platforms." Apparently Saints Row 2's console developer Volition is not in charge of the PC port but, "The PC version is still being produced and tested at Volition with support from the design and programming teams as needed." The port will have everything the console versions had but there's no word on if the PC port will have extra content or support for downloadable content.

A few weeks ago we reported that Saints Row 2, the open world action game from developer Volition and publisher THQ, was going to miss being released side-by-side with the console versions. Now it appears that the game might miss a PC release for 2008 entirely.

Pre-order listings for the game on Gamestop, Amazon.com and Wal-Mart all now show a Jan. 5, 2009 release date for the PC version. These retail dates are, of course, always suspect and we have contacted THQ's PR rep for clarification. THQ has said little about the PC game's release ever since we officially confirmed with them that a PC port was indeed in the works. Hopefully the PC version will be released before the already revealed Saints Row 3 comes out.

It looks very likely that PC owners will have to wait a few more weeks before they can install Saints Row 2 on their hard drive. The open world crime action game from developer Volition and publisher THQ was originally set for release this week alongside the console version and indeed Gamestop's web site still shows an Oct. 14 launch date for the game.

However that's not the case for other retail web sites like Amazon.com, Bestbuy.com, and Walmart.com, all of whom now have either a Nov. 10 or Nov. 11 ship date. Big Download has contacted THQ to get confirmation of this new date for the PC version for for now it things look like things are leaning towards a delay in Saints Row 2's PC debut.

Ruthless gangs as diverse as the ones found in Saints Row 2 all have their squabbles, but at least they can all come together to face a foe greater than themselves: the city police.

Download HD Saints Row 2 Launch Trailer (110 MB)
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