Looking for some designer threads for your thugs in Saints Row 2?

Well THQ hears your cries of fashion abandonment and is offering a new Unkut branded download pack for players to further customize their hooligans as the battle for supremacy of Saints Row continues. The add on also includes new tattoo options to further expand the ink options.

While GTA IV gets most of the press, I have to say I really enjoyed the low-brow humor and satire in Saints Row 2 more. The whole driving through the construction zone in a stolen waste disposal truck spraying down a developers half-built homes with feces is still one of the most fun stupid side missions I’ve ever played in a sandbox game.

The Unkut pack is now available for free on Xbox Live and Sony’s PSN store. You can find more images of the Unkut branded clothing at the Saints Row 2 community website.

This is the first time in 4 years that I’ve not been scrambling and hurrying to get things ready for my trip to E3. I wish I could say I was disappointed because there is the faint chance that this year E3 might be something more akin to a sane version of my first visit to the LA convention center in 2006.

However I can’t help wondering why E3 excites anyone anymore.

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Rockstar has revealed Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes from Liberty City. The game features episode two, The Ballad of Gay Tony, which is based on Liberty City’s glamorous and dangerous nightclub scene. Episode one, The Lost and Damned, is also packed in for a dose of biker gang action.

Episodes from Liberty City is a standalone exclusively for the Xbox 360. If you haven’t pick up GTA IV yet, $39.99 for the game and two episodes is a good deal. If you’ve got the game and already downloaded The Lost and the Damned, The Ballad of Gay Tony will be up on Xbox Live for $19.99 or 1600 MS points this fall. More details on The Ballad of Gay Tony from the press release follow the break.

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Just a minute, I’ve got to adjust my soapbox before I talk about comparing playing violent videogames with accepting torture.

As the battle over torture rages through the media, Huffington Post columnist Kari Henley has taken the opportunity to  blame the acceptance of torture by some US citizens on violent videogames and other media. She insinuates that you can’t have both videogames and morals in her post “America Doesn’t Torture… We just play Grand Theft Auto “.

“I believe if we are going to truly come to terms with abiding by moral codes against extreme acts of violence, we first have to start in our own living rooms to explore the increased levels of violence we witness on a daily basis that serves as news or entertainment. We say we “don’t f**#$ torture,” yet Grand Theft Auto is our favorite video game.”

After raging on about the depravity of popular adult television series and movies, Henley once again lashes out at mature rated videogames labeling them trainers designed to turn children into killers.

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In the past few years, games have become more and more tied to the music industry. Obviously, games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero have cemented this tie, but another publisher that is putting new bands in the spotlight is EA Sports. Each of the EA Sports titles includes a number of popular songs in the jukebox, and there are always a few in there that get some great exposure out of the deal.

This year, one of those bands is up-and coming British rockers Pint Shot Riot. Recently, we were afforded the opportunity to sit down and chat with the band, specifically bass player Baby Dave. We chatted about how they got involved with EA Games, and about what kind of gamers they are as well.

Gaming Today: To get us started, could you tell us a little bit about yourself and the other members of Pint Shot Riot?

Pint Shot Riot: We are a 4 piece British rock and roll band and we love making music and playing music together. We just try to write songs that come from the heart and mean something to us.

GT: How did you first become involved with EA Games? How do you feel about having your music placed in the Sims 3 and Fight Night? Do you feel these titles expose you to the type of people that might enjoy your music?

PSR:E.A and our publishers Artwerk were scouting U.K for some fresh artists when our name came up, we met, got on and the rest is history! We feel very happy about being in their games! Obviously, we knew all about what they do and it was awesome to be asked to be part of it. All kinds of people will be buying those games so we would hope to reach people who will like it and also some people who might not of found us otherwise.

You can find the rest of the interview after the break.

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Starting May 1st, Rockstar Games Social Club will be hosting GTA: Chinatown Wars week, and giving owners of the DS title a chance to grab a rare vehicle for in-game use. Obviously, this will only be available for a limited time, with the offer expiring at 11:59 PM May 7th.

What is this new vehicle, you may ask. Well, it’s the coveted ‘Bulletproof Hellenbach.’ Chinatown Wars has been all the rage for DS owners this year, and with the addition of a bulletproof vehicle, I feel certain that the pedestrian populations of those virtual streets are in dire peril.

Rockstar also rolled out a new lineup of downloadable papercraft models exclusively for Social Club members to print and assemble, and they’ve enhanced the popular ‘Rampage Tracker.’ I expect that if this type of promotion pans out, we’ll see a lot more online tie-ins for games, both handheld and console.

So, what do you need to do to grab your very own near-invincible set of wheels? All the detailed instructions can be found after the break.

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Game stop is offering cold hard Liberty City cash to gamers pre-ordering Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. All takers will get $10,000 in-game Liberty City cash as well as access to the entire arsenal from the start of the game.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will be hitting shelves March 17th but pre-orders have already begun. The Chinatown Wars upgrade is a GameStop exclusive offer.

After months of very little information on their upcoming DS title, GTA: Chinatown Wars, Rockstar has finally pinned down a release date for the game. It is now set to be released on March 17th in North America, followed by a March 20th release in Europe. Then we’ll get to see just how well the franchise translates over to the DS, though early previews have indicated that it actually translates over quite well. Besides which, it’s Rockstar doing a GTA game. Give me an uzi, a car, and some innocent bystanders, and my needs are met already.

Rockstar has released three new screens for the upcoming downloadable content The Lost and the Damned for Grand Theft Auto 4. In case you have been living under a rock or have just not been paying much attention, the DLC is set in Liberty City and features a new main character, Johnny Klebitz. While the plot intersects with the storyline of the game, new missions that offer a new way to explore the city along with new multiplayer modes, weapons and vehicles. They have even added addition music to the soundtrack to help freshen things up a bit.

The Lost and the Damned is expected to be released on February 17, 2009. Check back with us as more information is expected to be released between now and then.

Sorry, Nintendo. You can try and try to hype up a game as being family-friendly and do whatever you can to keep it that way, but it still only takes one wayward employee to flush all that down the toilet. Apparently, some members of the press have received copies of the new DS title, Animal Crossing: Wild World, that comes with some content already unlocked…including one very out-of-place racial slur. One of the features of the game is that you can teach characters to say certain messages to you, and it seems someone at Nintendo decided to train one of them to call the player “N—a.” So now when you talk to the adorable sheep named Baabara, she greets with phrases such as, “How are you, N—a?,” “So got any juicy gossip for me, N—a?,” and “Want to get crunk tonight and pour out a forty for our fallen homies, N—a?” (okay, so that last one was totally made up).

It should be noted that this word was only allowed to appear in the game thanks to an “N” symbol with a tilde in front of it. Nintendo has put in several checks and measures in the game to ensure certain words and phrases can’t so easily be used, not to mention the usual Friend Codes to ensure you don’t find such content appearing in your village from total strangers.

Still, could this be a sign of a new gangsta Animal Crossing on the way? I’m thinking GTA, but with cute bunnies doing drive-bys. Of course it’s either that or a surprise visit from the ACLU.