
Saints Row was the first rushed attempt at launching a Grand Theft Auto clone on the Xbox 360 last summer. But rushed as it may have been, Volition (Red Faction, The Punisher) and THQ's attempt was nevertheless a pretty successful one. The game has sold over 550,000 copies since its debut, and that's just in North America, and it received mostly favorable review scores (80+). In today's economy, it seems, that was just about enough to justify Saints Row's move onto Sony's next-gen console, in a new version confirmed by the publisher yesterday.
According to THQ's announcement, Saints Row will thus also be released on the PlayStation 3 this spring, and the publisher already praises it as being the game that will mark "the first open world online experience available through the PlayStation Network". We have no doubt about that, as long as Crackdown (the other Xbox 360 game vaguely similar to GTA) remains an exclusive title for Microsoft's console, and until GTA IV there are still around nine months left.
"In Saints Row, players begin the game as a member of the 3rd Street Saints, battling rival gangs and corrupt officials while attempting to conquer the city of Stilwater. Gamers personalize their experience through an unparalleled level of character customization and the freedom to progress through multiple storylines in any order they choose. Unique activities such as Insurance Fraud and Snatch help a player earn respect, which in turn open up missions that stretch through a vast, fully dynamic game world. Saints Row will also bring open world gaming to the PlayStation 3 system for the first time, allowing gamers to battle rival gangsters in a variety of single and multi-player modes. The game will support players online via the PlayStation Network." That being said, and the above description copy-pasted, we wish PS3 fanboys an easy waiting, and may they have the monetary means to afford a PS3 at the end of March.




