Author: by Staff

[UPDATED: 12:00pm PST] Today's regularly updated newsbriefs include news of THQ's Saints Row added to the Xbox 360's 'Platinum Hits' line, an upcoming God of War art book signing, and casual portal Big Fish Games honored as one of the top 100 North American private technology companies. - THQ has announced that its Volition-developed sandbox action title Saints Row for the Xbox 360 has become the latest to be added to the console's 'Platinum Hits' line, first launched last fall. The game, first released nine months ago, is now available for the lower MSRP of $29.99 in North America. The title joins other recently announced Platinum Hits titles, such as Electronic Arts' Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, Burnout Revenge, and Fight Night Round 3, as well as Activision's Call of Duty 2, Tecmo's Dead or Alive 4, Ubisoft's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, 2K Sports' Top Spin 2, and Rockstar's Table Tennis. Since its release, Sants Row has enjoyed the favor of the gaming media, and currently carries an average score ranking of 82% on review aggregate website GameRankings.com. - Alhambra, California's noted art retailer and gallery Nucleus has announced that on May 12-13 it will showcase a collection of concept art created by the artists who contributed to Sony's recent PlayStation 2 hit God of War II. The show, titled simply “The Artists of God of War II,” will feature selected works featured in “The Art of the God of War” art book, and offer a book signing, as well as a chance to meet the book's 5 contributing artists, each of whom will be in attendance on opening night. The artists featured include Andy Park, Charlie Wen, Cecil Kim, Dwayne Turner, Erik San Juan, Ryan Meinerding, and Scott Seeto. Other events scheduled for the art show include prize giveaways, prize raffles, and the ability to play God of War II for free on site. More information on the event can be found on the official Nucleus website. - Big Fish Games, a website portal for casual games, today announced that it has been selected as a recipient of the Red Herring 100 award, an honor presented by Red Herring magazine, a weekly publication covering technology-based financial news, recognizing the top 100 private technology companies based in North America. According to Big Fish officials, the company was chosen by the Red Herring editorial staff from more than 800 private companies “through a careful analysis of financial data and subjective criteria, including quality of management, execution of strategy, and dedication to research and development.” Commented Paul Thelen, CEO of Big Fish Games, “This is great recognition of the contributions our employees have made to both the company and the casual games industry as a whole. We’re committed to delivering hit games that innovate and raise the bar for fun game play, and we’re extremely thrilled with this latest achievement.”