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Sometimes when I’m bombing down Stillwater’s main thoroughfare in a stolen car, looking for hapless victims to bludgeon with a huge purple sex toy, I often opine about how much classier the experience would be if I had a Penthouse Pet riding shotgun with me. Okay, not really. But should I ever change my mind, the ‘Penthouse Pack’–released today for Saints Row: The Third–should fulfill that particular urge quite handily.

Saints Row: The Third — Penthouse Pack

“For the first time in your life, when you call Penthouse Pets, they’ll actually answer,” quips the official press release from developer THQ. The Penthouse Pack–which features Penthouse Pets Nikki Benz, Justine Joli, Ryan Keely, and Heather Vandeven–lets you call any one of the aforementioned ladies to fight alongside you as you battle the Syndicate. Need to give a homeless man a flying elbow drop? Your scantily-clad companions can help with that, too.

Saints Row: The Third Penthouse Pack will run you $3, and is available for download for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 (240 Microsoft Points).

Chair Entertainment’s Infinity Blade 2 is still one of the best looking games you can play on an iThing. If you haven’t played in a while, Chair has announced a new content update, coming this Thursday. Called ‘Vault of Tears,’ the update will bring a significant amount of new gameplay and goodies, and is absolutely free.

Infinity Blade 2: Vault of Tears

One of the more curious-sounding features included in the ‘Vault of Tears’ update for Infinity Blade 2 is a social one. Apparently, friends will be able to assist players of the game simply by liking and re-tweeting battle calls the player shares in-game. “Building upon the cooperative ClashMob challenges, players can now earn extra turns and invite their friends, family, and other non-Infinity Blade players to do in-game damage with the power of liking and re-tweeting battle calls — something that hasn’t been done before,” states the press release.

As far as the actual ‘Vault of Tears’ content goes, there’s actually a pretty significant amount. The update will unlock new areas in the game, and add a new Treasure Map feature that will let players discover secret items, and a ‘hidden ally.’ Those looking for loot will also be happy to note that more than fifty new pieces of gear–ranging from weapons to rings–are also being added.

Of course, Infinity Blade is really all about battling imposing-looking enemies. Expect to find new foes like the “Moss Golem, Dark Fiend, Bog Giant, and Acolyte,” inhabiting the world of Infinity Blade 2 when the free update launches later this week.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim developer Bethesda Game Studios’ parent company, ZeniMax, has secured the new trademark ‘Dragonborn’ for what could be the second major downloadable content update for the wildly-successful role-playing game.

‘Dawnguard’ was the trademark secured by Zenimax back in March, and just about a month later, we got the official announcement of the first official DLC pack for Skyrim sporting that very title, which is planned for a summer release. Of course, next to nothing else is yet known about what sort of content ‘Dawnguard’ will include.

The ‘Dragonborn’ trademark filing–reported by OXM–may follow the same path, though it’s a bit early to say for sure. In any event, it’s reasonable to expect we’ll hear more news about ‘Dawnguard’ at E3 next month before we find out much more about what the ‘Dragonborn’ trademark will be used for, if anything.

Ever since Bethesda Softworks announced that it is working on an MMORPG set in the beloved Elder Scrolls universe, fans of the solo games have been brimming with questions about what the game will actually be like when it releases. In a recent interview with The Elder Scrolls Online’s creative director Matt Firor, a number of general things about the game were discussed, ranging from learning lessons from past games in the genre, to the fact that the main story will be playable as a solo experience.

“We have a whole part of the game which is one hundred percent solo, which is the main story where the world focuses on you. You’re the hero,” Firor told GameInformer. “Everything you do is solo, and the world reacts to you that way.”

Clearly, many MMOs already allow players to play through their main story-lines by themselves. Firor’s statement could simply mean the usual, but since the Elder Scrolls games have always focused on playing a single heroic (or anti-heroic) figure, it’s at least possible he means that the series of main story quests must be played alone. Given the fact that it’s a massively multiplayer game we’re talking about, however, I’m betting you’ll be able to bring friends along.

Firor also discussed several standard MMO gameplay tropes that The Elder Scrolls Online will incorporate as well, such as party-based RAIDS, and instanced encounters.

You can check out the entire video interview here.

With Garnett absent due to being neck-deep in E3 Judges’ Week, the two Jeffs and Andrew are joined by Joystiq’s Xav de Matos to discuss a couple of big new releases from the past week, and more. Diablo III gets discussed–both in terms of the game itself and its launch-time server issues–as does Rockstar’s moody shooter, Max Payne 3. There’s also some banter about Naughty Dog’s upcoming survival-themed The Last of Us and the A Game of Thrones tie-in game, and more, before the crew brings it all home with Finishing Moves.

Weekend Confirmed Ep. 113: 05/18/2012

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Show Breakdown:

Round 1 00:00:40 — 00:27:26

Whatcha Been Playing Part 1 00:28:14— 00:54:03

Whatcha Been Playing Part 2 00:54:55 — 01:18:26

Listener Feedback/Front Page News 01:19:16 — 01:51:43

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Original music in the show by Del Rio. Get his latest Album, The Wait is Over on iTunes. Check out more, including the Super Mega Worm mix and other mash-ups on his ReverbNation page or Facebook page, and follow him on twitter delriomusic.

BioWare and Electronic Arts are planning yet another attempt to harness more new blood to populate Star Wars: The Old Republic. Starting this Thursday, May 17 at 12:01 AM CDT, the MMOs latest Weekend Pass Free Trial will be open to all those who haven’t participated in any previous trials for the game set long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away.

“This Weekend Pass Free Trial will begin on Thursday, May 17th at 12:01AM CDT / 5:01AM GMT, and end on Monday, May 21st at 2:00AM CDT / 7:00AM GMT,” notes the official announcement. Folks will be able to download the game as soon as the Weekend Pass Free Trial begins, and can register their accounts to play until “2:00AM CDT / 7:00AM GDT on Sunday, May 20th.”

The same rules apply for this free weekend as those in the past. You won’t need a credit card to participate, and will be able to experience up to the first fifteen levels for each character class in the game. If you decide to subscribe, the characters created during the trial will be available for you to continue playing. Participating players can also sample PvP Warzones and Flashpoints during the free weekend.

Considering the recent decline in players logging in (despite a stable subscriber base), and publisher EA’s statement that the MMO isn’t one of its top-five performing flagship properties, another free weekend meant to entice new players isn’t entirely surprising.

Joel and Ellie, the two unlikely heroes starring in The Last of Us, are aren’t beyond committing some justified vehicular manslaughter. In a freshly-revealed cut-scene from the action-survival title that’s in development at Naughty Dog, two things are evident: the world the protagonists find themselves in is dangerous, and the developer behind the Uncharted series hasn’t lost its chops when it comes to creating cinematics.

We’ve already touched on the game’s backstory, the fact that the game won’t utilize a regenerating health system, and that it will take place in Pittsburgh. It’s also going to contain some sort of mysterious online component, and despite its post-apocalyptic feel, is not a zombie game.

In the new trailer, we see an example of how there are other survivors in the world, but not all of them are helpful or friendly.

What’s shown in the video “is only a peek into how alone and forsaken this world has become,” notes the post on the official PlayStation Blog. “Be ready for things to get much worse,” it warns.

The hardcore military simulation ArmA 2 has seen its sales spike to five times the norm, thanks to the recently-released mod called Day Z. Why such a big jump in sales? Well, it seems that as much as folks like realistic military shooters, throwing zombies into the mix–at least according to developer Bohemia Interactive’s Marek Spanel–”creates an experience so addictive that I believe it can stand as a gaming experience on its own.”

“There’s no doubt that the thrilling Day Z mod currently drives Arma 2 Combined Operations sales on Steam,” Spanel told Kotaku in a recent interview. “Sales have increased almost fivefold from how they were before Day Z’s Alpha release!”

Bohemia Interactive will also be supporting Day Z in the next ArmA 2 update, something that the creator of the mod (known as Rocket) is sure to appreciate. “We’re more than happy to assist DayZ in any suitable way and considering the mod’s popularity we are committed to do some related work in the next Arma 2 update (1.61),” Spanel said. When asked about the extent of the support the developer would provide he noted that the zombie mod is still in a relatively early state. “DayZ was released just a few weeks ago as a tech demo/proof of concept and it’s still at Alpha status so until we know where the project intends to go it’s hard to commit to anything specifically,” he said.

With ArmA 3 already in the works, Spanel was also asked if Day Z would also be playable using the new game’s engine. Though it’s certainly a strong possibility, he estimates that Day Z support in ArmA 3 could be “one year or more from now.” “There are many aspects involved, for example the environment and different assets in Arma 3, new engine features etc.,” he said. “It’s important to understand that there is still a long way to go even after Arma 3 is out until mods are properly configured, ported and matured onto the new platform.”

Those interested in the mod can get more details (and download the alpha test) from the official Day Z website. Just remember, you’ll need a copy of ArmA 2 to play.

When developer DICE first made the push to move away from managing any Battlefield 3 servers itself–instead, making a push for community-run, Custom Servers–it caused quite a stir with the game’s dedicated community. Some folks found themselves getting booted from Custom Servers more often, or found themselves in matches with ridiculously high kill or ticket count, for example. Players on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 discovered that while the official DICE-controlled Battlefield 3 console servers were still there, they had been rented out to players as Custom Servers as well.

Publisher Electronic Arts has apparently been listening to the community’s understandably negative feedback about the issue, and has returned the official DICE-run servers to console players today.

“You should see DICE-hosted servers up today,” an EA representative told GamesBeat. “I do not have the exact percentage or number of servers, but we’ll continue to monitor this to make sure all players are having the best possible gameplay experience.”

GamesBeat also reports that they’ve verified more than 170 official DICE-controlled Battlefield 3 servers across all different game modes are now available for those playing on PlayStation 3. We haven’t verified the resurgence of DICE servers for Xbox 360 as well, but we’d expect a similar landscape, starting today.

Fancy yourself adept with level design, particularly when it comes to multiplayer? Lionhead Studios is hiring again, this time for an ‘Experienced Multiplayer Level Designer’ to “help… define the multiplayer levels and experience,” of an “ambitious new project.” If you’ve got the requisite chops, are looking for work, and are “brimming with drive and enthusiasm,” it might be worth a gander.

According to the official job listing by Microsoft, the new position’s “main responsibilities will include the design and construction of multiplayer levels, mentoring of junior designers and assisting the Lead Level Designer and other gameplay designers.”

“Extensive knowledge of Unreal” and a number of 3D modeling packages are required experience for those applying, and though the game itself isn’t being discussed specifically, “experience and passion for team objective based games, MMORPGs and other multiplayer games,” is also listed as one of the criterion for consideration. Experience with world-building tools like “Hammer, UnrealEd, Worldbuilder, Radiant, CryEngine or equivalent proprietary tools,” is also desired.

Though platforms aren’t mentioned, Lionhead’s role as a first-party Microsoft studio makes it more than likely that the title is being developed for Xbox 360, PC, or both. The studio’s last game was Fable Heroes.