We just got the first word on the latest Red Faction: Guerrilla DLC, the Smasher Pack, due October 1st. Included are eight new maps for the Wrecking Crew mode, and a new "Behemoth" mode that adds the giant robot walkers to the multiplayer action. Sounds cool, right? Yeah, we thought so.

What we don't understand is why Volition would accompany the announcement with this video, which features the cast of Lord of the Rings in various stages of receiving their make-up prosthetics as they make bets that involve wearing silly hats. No, that's really what it's about. It's like watching a lady-free episode of Salute Your Shorts.

The PC port of Martian liberation sim Red Faction: Guerrilla will include all downloadable content released thus far. IGN notes that the September 15th release will include Demons of the Badlands single-player campaign, which acts as a prequel to the events in the game, and the multiplayer DLC. The latter will add two exclusive maps for PC and another two that were previously only available as a console pre-order bonus.

It's a great deal for $40 -- just make sure you've constructed a system powerful enough to demolish the bad guys.

[Via Big Download]

The second of three planned DLC packs for Red Faction: Guerrilla will add more multiplayer mayhem on September 17 -- just over threeeee weeeks from now. The pack adds eight new maps and two new modes (listed after the break!), some of which are shown and discussed in the the video above.

Volition is aiming to release the Multiplayer Pack for PS3 and Xbox 360 at $7 (560). Oh, and for those who've yet to play Guerrilla, we totally recall telling you to "get your ass to Mars."

Update: THQ has ninja-switched the DLC date to Sept 17 from the 10. Don't believe us? The original date can still be heard in the video.

Okay, so Red Faction: Guerrilla is set to receive three different DLC injections. The first, Demons of the Badlands, drops tomorrow. Old hat, we know, but you may be interested in what Volition had to say about the other two packs during a recent chat with Loading Reality.

Volition specifically named "Multiplayer and Wrecking Crew" as the focus of the next two DLC releases. Sadly, the studio would not divulge any other details concerning the upcoming content, like a timetable for release and price, but you can bet we're crossing our fingers for at least some more animal weaponry.

[Thanks, Brandon T.]

In order to promote the imminent release of the "Demons of the Badlands" DLC for Red Faction Guerrilla, THQ is giving away a sweet, custom painted Xbox 360. The contest itself is pretty simple: Visit the contest page (THQ membership required) and answer an easy question about where the DLC takes place (hint: Mariner Valley). Entries will be accepted until August 31. The only catch is that the contest is only open to residents of the UK, although the entry form, for some reason, still allows users to choose the United States as their location.

So, we wish the best of luck to all of our UK readers. The rest of us will just have to stare at the pretty picture.

[Via @SAGExSDX]

Here we are, only a day after Volition detailed the upcoming patch for Red Faction: Guerrilla, and now we have an official release date for both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, August 6. It should hit the 360 at around 4am PT, while the PS3 should receive the update in the afternoon (presumably alongside the weekly PSN update).

One of the new features that the patch enables is the ability for Volition to allow double XP, and the dev is ready to kick the doors off with an extended double XP weekend. Starting tomorrow, once the patch releases, players can earn double XP until Sunday, August 9, midnight PT. With that much double XP, it'll be ostrichin' time before you know it.

Volition has announced that a patch is on the way for Red Faction Guerrilla, which will add some new features and contain some tweaks to the game as well. The biggest of the additions is a new variant of Wrecking Crew called Challenge Mode. Wrecking Crew Challenge Mode, appropriately enough, challenges players with three consecutive levels, each with different weapon and backpack settings. The ultimate goal, as usual, is to rack up as high a score as possible. Additionally, all other Wrecking Crew modes will be available for single-player games.

There are a number of other additions, like the ability to disable specific weapons and backpacks in custom games. Ore that hasn't been mined will also now show up on the mini-map, which is good news for Achievement / Trophy hunters. Finally, the patch will add support for the upcoming DLC, which is set to release next week. Head over to the official Red Faction site for the full patch notes.

Though "pleased" on the game's sell-through, THQ CEO Brian Farrell told a conference call on Tuesday, "I'd give us a B on the launch of Red Faction: Guerrilla." So, with a strong quarter – mostly driven by sales of its UFC game but also owing in part to RF:G – what did Farrell think THQ could do better for "the next iteration"? (What? You didn't think that was it, did you?). Farrell said, "We've shipped more than one million units of this title to date" and reported that "the game was a top 10 best seller in the US and UK in June" but admitted that THQ could have done a better job "creating day one demand."

"We moved the title a couple times, that doesn't help," Farrell confessed. "I'm very pleased with a lot of the strides we've made recently but that doesn't mean we can't do some things better." Sounds like a refreshingly honest assessment to us in the press and, we imagine, to the hundreds of thousands of gamers out there who picked up the game on incredibly strong word of mouth. Farrell acknowledges as much, saying, "The amount it's been dropping off, week after week, has been something that would indicate good word of mouth on the game based on the high Metacritic ratings." Sure enough, at "85" it ranks fifth for recent releases.

To make up for those ostensibly not-as-good-as-they-could've-been day one sales, THQ is looking to "drive future sales of Red Faction: Guerrilla with continued advertising support and new downloadable content," Farrell said. " We hope Red Faction has a long tail on it as we move into the holiday season." Downloadable content – which THQ has used to great effect with Saint's Row 2 – is about more than just revenue, Farrell says. "When we look at DLC, the revenue, it's not that great. It's good, but we also like the fact that it keeps the customers engaged with our games for a long period of time."

Of course, this reduces trade-in and used game sales, he explains, but it also helps "keep that brand active with consumers." Which is precisely what they'll have to do if they want to keep sales up in the increasingly spartan (and sans Spartans) but nevertheless competitive holiday shopping season.

Dropping knowledge about its Q2 earnings for this year, THQ has revealed that UFC 2009 Undisputed and Red Faction: Guerrilla have both become multi-million dollar franchises for the publisher. With these two, along with a game based on the recent Pixar film Up, THQ enjoyed three of the top ten best-sellers for the month of June.

UFC 2009 Undisputed wrestled the competition to the ground throughout May and June, shipping a combined 2.9 million units worldwide. Red Faction: Guerrilla also fared well, shipping a combined one million units across the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms. Not only did THQ dominate the US in June, but the publisher enjoyed the top spot in the UK June charts with everyone's favorite testicle-punching simulator, UFC 2009.

THQ recently unloaded its earnings for its first fiscal quarter ending June 30, and with strong sales of UFC 2009 Undisputed and Red Faction: Guerrilla (it's all about the ostriches, baby!), the company is, uh, very much not operating like THQ. It reports that net profits climbed a whopping 77% to $243.5 million (from $137.6 million last year) and that net sales (non-GAAP) for the three months ending June 30 was $233.9 million, up 93% from $121.1 million last year.

And, again, it's all due to strong showings of Red Faction: Guerrilla and UFC 2009 Undisputed. Both titles shipped over a million units (the latter shipping almost three) and made huge profits for THQ during Q2 of this year, the company's first fiscal quarter of 2010.

This post isn't so much to let you know that Red Faction: Guerrilla is releasing on PC this September 11th (awkward, think about it) and 15th in Europe and the US, respectively. No, this little post is mostly to gush and let you know that if your PC can handle the requirements (min. 2GHz dual-core, 1GB RAM and 128MB 3D card with Shader Model 3.0 support), it's worth picking up.

The team at Volition have crafted fine summer fun that's received some well-deserved plaudits. Sure, it's got some issues -- like that "normal" is actually really hard (play on "casual" to experience the fun this title has to offer). But, overall, if this is the type of quality we can expect from the "new THQ," we're all over it.

Wake up on Mars and save the planet from an evil corporation. You're not in Total Recall -- you're playing Red Faction: Guerrilla.

If your revolutionary Martian escapades are drawing to a close, don't fret -- it looks like there's plenty more Red Faction: Guerrilla content coming out in the next few months. THQ just announced three new DLC packs for the game -- the first of which, titled Demons of the Badlands, will land on XBLM and the PlayStation Store on August 13.

Badlands is an expansion to the game's single-player campaign which features a "mission arc that takes place in an entirely new Mars landscape outside of the existing expansive world." THQ has priced the DLC at 800 or $9.99. The developer has promised further details on the August-bound DLC and the two other upcoming expansions in the next few weeks, so keep your ear to the red, dusty ground.

Danny Bilson, who is now the executive VP of Core Games at THQ following last week's shuffle, says that shutting down several studios and dismissing 550 employees was necessary to create the "new THQ." He explains to GI.biz that the surviving studios were given more money to enhance the "quality" (another buzzword around THQ lately) of the titles in development. Bilson notes Red Faction: Guerrilla was given four extra months and millions in cash, which he believes was "worth every penny" -- reviewers apparently agree.

The full interview with Bilson is quite notable for how frankly the executive discusses the prior state of the company, which lost $431 million last year. He explains that convincing executives that change was necessary wasn't difficult because THQ was in a "failure state." He also continues to drum home the point that the company is invested in focusing on the quality of its future core titles.

Sorry, we couldn't help but reference Volition's absolutely brilliant April Fools video in the headline. Anyway, the reviews for Red Faction: Guerrilla are fairly solid. The Mars liberation simulator is being recognized as good summer fun with plenty of explosions. Now, "get your ass to Mars."

• 1UP (A-): "Guerrilla isn't a terribly deep game, but as a "summer blockbuster," it works just right. It doesn't expect you to get lost in a deep, engaging sci-fi world -- you're on a mission to Mars to watch stuff explode. A deeper story might have made it more enjoyable in some respects, but it might also have killed the momentum of the demolition action."
• GamePro (5/5): "It's become a rare thing for me to actually stop playing a game to call one of my friends and gush about something amazing that happened, or how much they need to play it when it comes out, but I did this countless times while playing Guerrilla"
• GameInformer (90/100): "The single-player campaign is lengthy, and continually rewarding. Don't be surprised, however, if you shun this experience for multiplayer. ... No matter what mode you enter, Red Faction: Guerrilla delivers on its promise of destruction, and offers an experience unlike anything else out there."
• Giant Bomb (4/5): "While there are clunky bits at the fringes of Red Faction: Guerrilla that give it a handful of frustrating or disappointing moments, the core moments of the game are exciting and well-conceived."
• Edge (7/10): "Red Faction plays its hand early, letting you blow a building to pieces in the first few minutes of the game. Though the explosions scale with progress, and the act of detonation continues to be a giddy pleasure, Mars could do with a thicker atmosphere."