YNOT – Video game giant THQ seems to have realized that a significant percentage of its players also may be interested in other forms of entertainment. According to Gamasutra, THQ — the developer of popular games like Red Faction, Company of Heroes, and Homefront — has hired six Penthouse Pets including Nikki Benz as what the company is calling a “quality assurance” team.

More likely the move was aimed at generating publicity.

The Pets will provide voice talent for the latest incarnation of THQ’s Saints Row: The Third. Earlier, the company announced crossover performer Sasha Grey also will lend her voice to the game, as character Viola DeWynter. None of the casting decisions should surprise anyone, as one of the weapons in the game reportedly is a giant purple dildo.

The ladies are not the first adult entertainers to make guest appearances in THQ products. Two years ago, Tera Patrick lent her voice to Saints Row 2 and appeared on a promotional poster for the game.

The latest announcement received mixed response. Some observers applauded the game company’s open-mindedness and were willing to award coup points because THQ was able to attract some of porn’s leading ladies. No doubt the move will impress at least some fans of both adult content and video gaming.

However, other observers cautioned THQ may have made a significant blunder and is in danger of convincing fence-sitters the company is little more than a Rockstar Games wannabe. Rockstar infamously hired Jenna Jameson to voice the character Candy Suxxx in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and THQ has expended significant effort and energy to persuade players its Saints Row franchise is not a mere knockoff of GTA.

“THQ is obviously taking a page from Rockstar’s playbook with its porn patrol…,” Gamasutra noted. “Still, that’s an odd marketing decision since the company has worked hard to distinguish Saints Row as something other than a GTA clone.”

Other critics asserted hiring porn stars amounts to nothing more than cheap grandstanding that should be beneath an industry behemoth like THQ.