GTA IV DLC "The Lost and Damned"

USA Today have a scoop on GTA IV's long awatied (and long delayed) episodic downloadable content titled; "Episode 1: The Lost and Damned". Little has been released about the downloadable content, which carries the title "Episode 1", which could simply there will be several episodes of downloadable content.

You play Johnny Klebitz, a member of Liberty City biker gang The Lost, who you hear mentioned on the radio and throughout several missions in GTA IV. Although not a main character Niko will make a cameo appearence or two although the game is set to show a "Different side of Libery City"

To take a quote or two from Dan Houser;

"Johnny is a very different character than Niko, with a very different background," says Dan Houser, vice president of creative development for Rockstar Games. "I can't go into too much detail on the story, because we try not to give away too much plot before the game is released. But I can say that the story will show you a different side of Liberty City."

"The story is not directly impacted by decisions you took in the main game," he says. But "tons of details and mysteries from the main story get explained, so it will add a lot of color to the main story"

Although there has been no official word on cost GamePro Media features editor Dave Rudden hope the new content will cost $15 or less, however, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter expects a $20 price and says Rockstar could sell 2 million to 3 million downloads.

To be honest I could see the content being around the $20 mark as "The Lost and Damned" should add several hours of additional gameplay.

GTA IV release date confusion?

So it's just 2 weeks until GTA IV is released on the PC. Naturally there are the usual visual enhancements, the prospect of modding, and the new replay feature to look forward to. This is all good and well but it seems that Videogamer247 claim that Rockstar are going for a December 3rd worldwide release, however, GTA4.net got in touch with a representative from Rockstar who said the game was still set for a December 2nd release in the US and a December 3rd release in the EU.

If anything changes we shall keep you posted.

Install GTA IV with New Xbox Experience

Chances are, if you are an Xbox 360 gamer, you will have downloaded the NXE update that has been filling up the blogosphere for the past few months. Asside from being able to create a funky avatar (see Mr. MattzeUK on the right) you can also install many of your games to your hard drive to allow for faster load times, and a quieter performance from your Xbox 360.

The installation takes around 10 minutes, and 6.8 GB of your hard drive. If you want to find out how to install GTA IV on our hard drive then check out the Xbox 360 section.

GTA IV Replay Editor Interface

Earlier today we posted an update from the official site to the tune of 8 new screenshots and a few videos showcasing the excepionally high quality of the videos produced by the new replay editor. Well we also have a few screenshots of the interface that you will use to create and edit these gameplay videos.

For the full set check out the GTA IV media page.

New GTA IV PC Screenshots and Video Editor Information

Rockstar have today released 8 new images and several videos that have been created using the built-in video capture and editor facility in GTA IV PC. The videos, one of which is featured below, are of an exceptionally high standard which suggests that new feature may live up to expectations.

The new screenshots show nothing new but they are offensively high-resolution, in a good way.

Click the images to view larger versions, or check out the GTA IV media page for the full list of new screenshots.

GTA IV PC coming to Steam

A few months back (Almost a year infact) we reported that GTA3, Vice City, and San Andreas were all available on Steam. (If the title didn't give it away) GTA IV PC will be coming to Steam - December 2nd (US) and December 3rd (EU).

If you are considering getting GTA IV, and are a user of Steam then head on over to the Steam GTA IV page.

GTA IV PC Box Art Rear

The rear of the GTA IV PC boxart has ben released on Tesco's website. The excusive PC content reads;

• Stunningly detailed, high resolution graphics.
• Video editor allows you to capture in-game footage to share.
• 32 person multiplayer with Custom Match feature for an optimised experience.
• Customize a radio station using your own songs with Independence FM.

Full credit for the news goes to PlanetGrandTheftAuto and GTAGaming.

Chinatown Wars, more than just... Chinatown?

Spanish Magazine Hispana is reporting that Chinatown Wars will allow players to explore the entire map featured in GTA IV (Duke, Bohan, Broker, and Algonquin) from GTA excluding only Alderney, which I found to be the least interesting of the game's boroughs (Although technically it is a seperate state).

Hispana also mentioned a few new features; players will be able to whistle into the microphone to hail cabs and the PDA, GPS and radio are all touch-screen based.

More Chinatown Wars Information

NintendoEverything has new details from the same Spanish magazine that brought us the Chinatown Wars map. They have released a short list of features that we can expect to see in Chinatown Wars;

• Camera can swivel 360 degrees
• Expect a similar GTA environment with cars roaming, peds on the sidewalks etc...
• We'll have access to the gps/radar on the touch screen and it will update your position as expected.
• We also have a PDA that will provide a detailed map and mission goals.
• As in GTAIV you'll be able to point a location on the map and the GPS will indicate the fastest, legal, way there with yellow or blue arrows.
• New important spots are added to the map when discovered, the magazine points out gas stations has one of them.
• You'll be seeing the live action on the top screen while you have in the lower screens elements like gps, pda, radio stations, access to the people on the map, or using Motolov cocktails and grenades.
• Drugs have a big importance in the game.
• Drug system can be compared to Drugwars.
• You will have to control your drug stock as you buy and sell them in different neighborhoods.
• We have access to a map that points out who needs what and for how much.
• You can catch a taxi, to order the driver to stop, whistle into the microphone.

 

Subscription-Based GTA IV?

Today at the BMO Capital Market's conference, Take-Two's Strauss Zelnick was talking about the future of Take-Two's big titles, namely GTA IV and BioShock. In an article posted by Kotaku Zelnick seems interested in episodic content whereby gamers purchase a title and then purchase additional content, for instance Xbox Live. He then went onto talk about the prospect of a subscription service but not in the "Massively Multiplayer" sense.

Although his views were not 100% clear I struggle to see the real benefits of a subscription service especially in todays climate with newly released Xbox 360 games hitting the £39.99 mark!