Continuing their trend of listening to their dedicated audience, Volition has announced a forthcoming standalone expansion for Saints Row The Third called Enter the Dominatrix that adds the most requested community feature to the game, "freaking superpowers".

No longer an April Fool’s dream, the outrageous game concept will be reality this fall. It’s really happening.

"Faster than a speeding cyber jetbike, more powerful than a roided-out Luchadore, able to leap flying aircraft carriers in a single bound... that’s the power you’ll find inside the Dominatrix. Use it for good. Use it for evil. Use it for whatever you want. As always in Saints Row, it’s up to you,” said Danny Bilson, Executive Vice President, Core Game Production, THQ Inc.

“With a franchise with more than 11 million units shipped globally, it’s incredibly gratifying to have the flexibility to give Saints Row fans the features they want most.”

No other details have emerged surrounding the new expansion, or any media, so stay tuned for more details as they become available.

THQ has unveiled details for their forthcoming stand-alone expansion for Saints Row: The Third; an expansion being somewhat of a rarity these days, let alone a stand-alone one.

For centuries, alien warlord Zinyak and his malevolent race (to be named later) have eyed Earth and its precious natural resources and females with a watchful eye. As he prepares an armada for invasion, he has only one worry: the Third Street Saints.

Now, in order to prepare his forces for domination, Zinyak captures the leader of the Saints and imprisons him in an elaborate virtual reality simulation. This simulation program looks and feels like Steelport, but it is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. Here, you are a slave. Welcome… to the Dominatrix.

Features of Enter The Dominatrix include:

• The Dominatrix Has You
  And it feels so good. Bend the Dominatrix to your will and harness an arsenal of super powers including Mind-Bending Telekinesis, Really Really High Jump, Really Really Fast Sprint, Shiny Blue Force Shield, and Shiny Blue Fireball Projectile-of-Doom.
  
• Wondrous Alien Technology
  Use Dominatrix weapons as your own, such as the Floppy Alien Tentacle Bat, the Fire-In-The-Sky Alien Abduction Ray, and the sphincter-stretching Alien Anal Probe, as well as a touch-screen telephonic device with email and map functionality. Reach out and f$%# someone.
  
• Go Three Levels Deep
  Enter the Dominatrix within the Dominatrix within the Dominatrix to recruit former Saints from the depths of your own memory to fight Zinyak. It’s all science, with just a little fiction.

Currently there's no release date or official media for the announced expansion, so stay tuned for more as it becomes available.

The nice chaps over at Green Man Gaming in the UK have remembered that tomorrow is Australia Day, and in addition to sitting around listening to the Triple J Hottest 100, barbequing, and imbibing a few quiet drinks (or quaffing many noisy ones, as the case may be), many people might also like to kick back with a new game. So they are offering 50% off on the recently released Saints Row: The Third (8.5/10 in our review).

The sale kicks off at midnight AEDT; the price dropping 50%, all the way down to AUD$19.99. If you're looking for a fun sandbox game, go buy it!

Due to some issues with the post, we got our review hands on Saints a little later than we'd have liked, but Patch Kolan did a bang-up job smashing through the game to serve up today's in-depth review.

As the anti-GTA, Saints Row has always offered players a set of toys to simply play with in an open-world environment, and with Saints Row: The Third, they've delivered on this design ethos in spades. But there's also a greater sense of design maturity here too, with The Third taking great leaps in refining its myriad systems to ensure the virtual city of Steelport is as toybox as you can get.

Click here for Patch's in-depth review.

As next week's launch of Saints Row: The Third creeps ever-closer, THQ have released the full version of the live action Professor Genki's Super Ethical Reality Climax show, created by comedy duo Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim of Tim and Eric Awesome Show fame.

For those that have not yet experienced Saint's Row's Professor Genki, he's a feline overlord with a giant head that runs an oddball Japanese-style gameshow, and his exploits have been recreated in this 12 minute live-action short.

If you like 5 step 2 star chicken and tall cat parades, don't miss this one. Watch the embed below or click here for the HD option.

Saints Row: The Third is due on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on November 15th 2011.

THQ have a long standing history with going the extra mile for PC versions of their games, and the forthcoming Saint Row: The Third is no different.

Volition has revealed the minimum and recommended PC specs as well as stipulated that the PC version is not a port, but rather a wholly built desktop game that also features a full Saints Video Record Mode that lets you record gameplay and upload your clips for the community to see.

Check out the PC specs below.

Minimum

• OS: Windows XP
  
• Processor: 2GHz Dual Core Processor (Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon X2) or higher
  
• Memory: 2GB System RAM or more
  
• Graphics: 320MB Video RAM GPU w/ Shader Model 3.0 support
  
• NVIDIA GeForce 8800 series or better
  
• ATI Radeon HD3800 series or better
  
• DirectX: 9.0c
  
• Hard Drive: 10GB
  
• Sound: 100 per cent DirectX 9.0C compliant sound card or equivalent onboard sound


Recommended

• OS: Microsoft Windows 7
  
• Processor: Any Quad Core Processor (Intel Core i5 or AMD Phenom II X4) or 3.0+ Dual Core CPU
  
• Memory: 4GB System RAM or more
  
• Graphics: 1GB Video RAM GPU w/ Shader Model 4.0 support
  
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 400 series or better
  
• ATI Radeon HD5000 series or better
  
• DirectX: DirectX 11
  
• Hard Drive: 10 GB
  
• Sound: 100 per cent DirectX 9.0C compliant sound card or equivalent onboard sound

Saints Row: The Third is due out this November 18 on all three major platforms.

THQ have released a new trailer for their hotly anticipated over-the-top open world action game, Saints Row The Third, having a bit of a poke at their biggest holiday season competitors Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

The video, titled "Shock and Awesome" borrows some of the hallmark stylings from the promotional material of Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 but with content like bondage-bridled pimps pulling chariots, fursuiters with RPGs and spandex-clad jetbikers it clearly sets a different tone.

This distinction was emphasised in our recent interview with Volition Lead Designer Scott Phillips, who when asked about the very competitive holiday season has the following to say:

"Looking at everybody else that’s out in November, obviously there’s a lot of huge games," he told us. "But I think everyone can also see that a lot of those games are basically the same as they were last year, and the year before and the year before. And I think that we are something that’s brand new; totally different."

"We’re not trying to teach you a lesson or make you cry, we want you to just laugh and have a blast the whole time," he added. Click here for that complete interview.

You can watch the new trailer embedded below or click here for the HD option.

Saints Row The Third is due on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on November 15th 2011.

In a recent video interview with AusGamers, Saints Row: The Third Lead Designer, Scott Phillips, shrugged off any concerns about launching their open-world over-the-top sandbox spoof alongside other November heavy-hitters, calling many of them out for not changing their spots and remaining largely unchanged.

"Looking at everybody else that’s out in November, obviously there’s a lot of huge games," he told us. "But I think everyone can also see that a lot of those games are basically the same as they were last year, and the year before and the year before. And I think that we are something that’s brand new; totally different."

"We’re not trying to teach you a lesson or make you cry, we want you to just laugh and have a blast the whole time," he added.

The full video interview and transcript talks about balancing "guilty pleasure gaming" with a bit of maturity as well as touches on social features such as sharing player-generated screenshots and videos. Oh, and sex.

Click here for the full interview feature.

A new trailer for Saints Row: The Third introduces a new type of criminal gang - the Deckers:

The Deckers… elite cybercriminals… hackers… unrelenting online gamers. Their next target: the Third Street Saints. Upon arriving in Steelport, the Saints find their bank accounts wiped out by a Deckers cyber-attack. For the Saints, there’s only one thing left to do: hack into the Deckers user-net, engage in their own brand of cyberbullying, and shut down the Deckers’ network… permanently. But in this world, Deckers mastermind Matt Miller is a virtual god, capable of altering physics, setting firewalls, and unleashing his own deadly, maxed-out avatar. Are you ready to f*** s*** up in virtual reality?

Check it out below or download the HD version now.

At Comic-Con which is taking place in San Diego this week, THQ and Volition finally lifted the lid on some of the top-tier voice-talent they've brought in for Saints Row: The Third and it's - if anything - diverse. It also speaks volumes of the game's overall comedic and light tone, which we like.

Actress Sasha Grey (The Girlfriend Experience, Entourage) takes on the role of Viola DeWynter, who along with her twin sister Kiki, are the masterminds of the Syndicate’s financial empire. Through Viola and Kiki’s savvy, if not ruthless business sense, the Syndicate’s profits have increased ten-fold in Steelport.

Legendary professional wrestler Hulk Hogan steps into the role of Angel De LaMuerte, a legendary professional wrestler. Betrayed by his former tag-team partner Killbane, now the merciless leader of the Luchadores street gang, Angel teams with the Saints to take over Steelport, and exact his own brand of violent revenge.

Daniel Dae Kim (Saints Row 2, Lost, Hawaii Five-0) reprises his role as Johnny Gat, chief lieutenant of the Third Street Saints and your right-hand in Saints Row®: The Third™. Now an international celebrity, Gat is the epitome of high-class crime as he licenses his likeness to Saints clothing lines, Saints energy drinks, and even the classiest ride in Steelport, the Johnny Gat-mobile.

Sasha Grey is a pretty awesome addition, given the *ahem* body *cough* of her work, and of course, you can't move past the Hulkster.

We have a few character renders of their respective roles you can check out by clicking here. Saints Row: The Third releases this Holiday Season on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.