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.

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!

30% of Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 owners have purchased GTA IV

Although many people felt a little let down by GTA IV the game was still a huge success, such to the extend that 32% of Playstation 3 and 28% of Xbox 360 owners have it in their collection. The figures came straight from the horses mouth (Strauss Zelnick) at the BMO Capital Markets Conference where details about Chinatown Wars and the GTA IV DLC were also dished out.

As well as these sales figures some other interesting statistics were released.

Average Publisher Title Review Score (2007 - 2008)

Publisher	Avg. Review
Take Two	76%
Electronic Arts	73%
THQ	66%
Ubisoft	66%
Activision	63%

Publisher US Market Share (2002 - 2007)

Publisher	Market Share
Electronic Arts	20%
Activision / Vivendi	13%
Take-Two	7%
THQ	6%
Ubisoft	5%

Chinatown Wars Expected Feb - April, GTA IV DLC end of Jan

Take-Two's Strauss Zelnick (Speaking at the BMO Capital Market Conference) supplied proposed release dates for both Chinatown Wars and the ever delayed GTA IV DLC.

Chinatown Wars is expected sometime between February and April 09 pushing the release into Take-Two second fiscal quarter, whereas the long-awaited GTA IV DLC is expected in late January.

GTA IV nominated in Video Game Awards 2008

Spike TV has just announced the names for the 2008 VGAs (Video Game Awards). Unsurprisingly GTA IV has been nominated for several awards. You can see the awards relevants to GTA IV below. If you want to see the other nominations then head on over to Kotaku.

Game of the Year

• Grand Theft Auto IV
• LittleBigPlanet
• Fallout 3
• Metal Gear Solid 4
• Gears of War 2

Studio of the Year

• Media Molecule
• Rockstar North
• Harmonix
• Bethesda Game Studios

Best Action Adventure Game

• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Dead Space
• Mirror's Edge
• Metal Gear Solid 4

Best Soundtrack

• LittleBigPlanet
• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Rock Band 2
• Guitar Hero World Tour

Best Xbox 360 Game

• Fable II
• Gears of War 2
• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Fallout 3

Best PS3 Game

• Metal Gear Solid 4
• Resistance 2
• LittleBigPlanet
• Grant Theft Auto IV

Best Performance by a Human Male

• Michael Hollick as Niko Bellic in GTA IV
• David Hayter as Old Snake in MGS 4
• Stephen Fry as The Narrator in LBP
• Jason Zumwalt as Roman Bellic in GTA IV