Saints Row: The Third character creator available early with Red Faction pre-order

Spore's "Creature Creator" let you build your own freak in advance of the release of the actual game. THQ is taking a page from Maxis' book, allowing you to design your own, well, freak for Saints Row: The Third. The "Initiation Station" app for PS3, PC and Xbox 360 will allow you to design a character, share it via the official community site, and even download other users' characters to import into the game.

There's a catch. Early access to the build-a-scumbag app is tied to pre-orders of Red Faction: Armageddon. "Early purchasers" of Volition and THQ's other upcoming game get a one-week head start in the Initiation Station. The app will be available for all some time before the "holiday" release of Saints Row: The Third.