Grand Theft Auto IV’s second downloadable episode, titled “The Ballad of Gay Tony”, is available on Xbox LIVE marketplace right now (complete with Sprunk Extreme Base Jumping) and will run you 1600 Microsoft Points (roughly 20 bucks).

If you get your hands on it, let us know what you think in the comments section.

Rumors sprouted earlier this week than GTA IV’s 360-exclusive downloadable content would be ready for release this November, but now the ever-churning rumor mill is telling us that it won’t be ready until January or Feburary next year.

Citing a “source close to Rockstar,” VG247 is reporting that Microsoft is “wrong” to expect anything before winter next year. Their source reportedly said:

It’ll be in January or February

Snow might be falling when we finally get our hands on any new adventures in Liberty City.

Source: VG247

At ComicCon ’08 GameTrailers had the opportunity to catch up with the voice behind Niko Bellic, Michael Hollick. Geoff Keighly prefaced one of his questions by stating that Rockstar has been very tight-lipped about the upcoming DLC, adding that no one knows what to expect. Michael responded by saying “neither do I.”

In the interview, Hollick gave the impression that he had yet to be approached by either Rockstar or Take-Two for involvement in what has been speculated to be some sort of continuation to the overarching story of GTA IV.

Pressing for information, GT TV asked “If Niko was going to be in it, you haven’t done his voice for it yet — would it be fair to say that?” Hollick confirmed that he had yet to do any voicework for the DLC, stating “it’s fair to say that.” You can see the segment in the video below at the 9:30 mark.

The GTA IV DLC has been shrouded in ambiguity since its very announcement. It’s been 4 months since the release of the game, and we haven’t heard so much as a snippet of news regarding downloadable content. The trend continues, this time courtesy of Leipzig Games Convention where Microsoft said, “In autumn there will be news from Liberty City,” followed by a mouthful of marketing mumbo jumbo.

In essence, we continue to wait.

We can also take what Hollick said and extrapolate it into a conspiracy theory of sorts. In an interview with The New York Times, the voice actor stated that he was happy with the opportunity to have worked on the Rockstar title, but went on to discuss the amount paid to him and the lack of royalties stating:

“…it’s tough, when you see Grand Theft Auto IV out there as the biggest thing going right now, when they’re making hundreds of millions of dollars, and we don’t see any of it. I don’t blame Rockstar. I blame our union for not having the agreements in place to protect the creative people who drive the sales of these games.”

Could it be that his candid response upset the Rockstar Gods? If this had been virtually any other medium, be it acting or singing, Hollick would have found himself swimming in a pool of money. Instead, he was paid $100,000 for 15 months of work. Another possibility, is that the actor was approached by Rockstar to do additional voice work, asked for a higher rate of compensation or a cut of the action on the DLC, and was told to go pound sand.

Of course, Hollick’s response to GameTrailers could have just been “Niko speak” for “no comment”. It wouldn’t be the first time that a figure has fibbed a little to maintain the cover of a top secret project.

Source: Gametrailers, CVG, The New York Times

Thailand just got an ally in its war on Grand Theft Auto: Jack Thompson.

A caricature of thriving in the face of adversity, besieged Florida lawyer and video game industry critic Thompson has given his two cents on the Thailand ban on GTA.

As reported by  GamePolitics.com, Thompson wrote in an e-mail to Take 2 heads Strauss Zelnick and Ben Feder stating:

“I warned you both that copycat killing by teens would occur upon the release of Grand Theft Auto IV. Now my prediction has come true…”

The killer, 19-year-old Polwat Chinno, was arrested after killing a cabbie with a knife, confessing that he did so to support himself. It is not known if Chinno owns a copy of GTA IV as Thompson suggests.

Thompson went on to make threats, writing:

“This is just the latest killing incident prompted by your murder simulators. I aim to make it the last.”

Source: GamePolitics

“The fact that so many middle income homes managed to find the money to buy the game (having already purchased the expensive hardware to drive it) indicates that the middle class is in no imminent danger of disappearance,” Medved wrote. “But the decision by so many consumers of every age and income group to invest countless hours of time in the dark world of Grand Theft Auto IV nonetheless demonstrates a threat to American values.”

Medved continues to relate the game to the decline of western civilization on GTA IV specifically, if not in general.

Townhall.com is the same conservative site that hosted Kevin McCullough’s similarly misinformed and poorly executed opinion on Mass Effect which garnered the attention of FOX News.

Let the rolling of the eyes begin.

Medved comes a tad late to the GTA IV auto de fe as the title has already been lambasted by the usual suspects. However, Medved’s insinuations border on the hallucinatory as he accuses GTA of America’s moral decline. In that vein GTA is also responsible for the African AIDS pandemic, global warming and the shrinking of the polar ice-caps, and political repression in China.

I can’t help but wonder where is vaunted conservatism was when he was staring at my girlfriend’s chest at the Seattle preview of Spider Man in 2002.

Source: Townhall.com

Remember the end of Reservoir Dogs when everyone is suspicious of the next guy and they all shoot each other?  Remember the scene in American History X where Edward Norton caps a bunch of dudes with his nazi wrath?  Wouldn’t it be neat to see those scenes remade in Grand Theft Auto 4?  Well, it doesn’t matter what you think because it’s been done anyways.

Some people by the names of Mentok/Burnt Toastt and Ultimate Chance/chance reborn (don’t ask ’cause I don’t know) used the in-game multiplayer to record the video while overdubbing the original movie audio.  The result is akin to any other machinima, really.  That’s why there’s a word for this type of thing.  So anyways, here it is:

Update to source: We have been contacted by the original creators of the video, who explained that Joblo lifted the piece from their YouTube page, and then watermarked it as their own. Apparently Joblo’s media player isn’t the only thing that blows. To rectify the situation, we have decided to link to the original YouTube video instead.

Source:UltimateChance (via: JoBlo.com)

This story seems highly unlikely but worth knowing nonetheless. Two jokers emailed Rockstar technical support to tell them they were having trouble with the non-existent PC version of GTA IV. Support man emails back and tells that can’t possibly be right, because GTA IV for PC is still in development. What a helpful chap.

Following a complaint about surround sound in a free version of GTA IV for PC (which once again, doesn’t exist) helpful techie Anthony said, ” The PC version of GTA IV has not even been announced for release and is still in development so is not about to be released on a website we have no knowledge of.”

Whoops.

Helpful techie Anthony didn’t reply to their probing again – he was replaced by matter-of-fact techie Richard. Read into that what you will. The question really is, would tech support know anything about game release dates? After all, tech support for games which aren’t actually on the market isn’t going to be very high in demand, is it? That was certainly techie Richard’s take.

“We are unsure when the PC version of the game will be released as we are only technical support and do not receive information on the matter. I would suggest keeping an eye on www.rockstargames.com for any information.”

Still, notice it’s “when” rather than “if”. Stay put for the obligatory denial from Rockstar.

Source: Rockstar Scammer

Another batch of idiots have broken the law and pinned videogames as their reason behind it. Awesome. Hit the jump to read all about it.

A group of teenage males went on a crime spree in Nassau County, New York, which included robbery, mugging, and destruction that resulted in thousands of dollars worth of damage.

A 17-year-old and an 18-year-old have been arrested, while the remaining three, ages 14, 15, 16, are also being charged with first-degree robbery. They’re all being charged as adults and could potentially face up to 5 years in jail.

According to Det. Sgt. Anthony Repalone, shortly after the arrest, the boys claimed that they were emulating Grand Theft Auto IV.

Is there anything I could say here that hasn’t already been said? It’s infuriating that the boys used video games as a scapegoat and it’s ridiculous that most people will refuse to see that and simply go back to claiming that “vidja games” are the root of all evil.

Source: Xboxist

So the May NPD data is out and there are few surprises. The Nintendo Wii remains king of the consoles and Grand Theft Auto IV continues to dominate the software charts. Hit the jump for a more in depth look at the numbers.

Despite Wii Fit’s tremendous success with 1M copies sold, it falls slightly behind Xbox 360 GTAIV sales, which came in at 1.10M. The Playstation 3 version of GTA moved 577K copies.

Other Wii gems include Mario Kart, which sold 854K units, compared to last month’s 1.12M, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which sold 248K units, down from 326K.

Despite the Wii’s software success, the gap between Nintendo’s console and its competitors is smaller this month than last. The 360 and PS3 saw hardware sales increase by 39K and 32K, respectively, while Nintendo only say an increase of 8K.

Which doesn’t mean that the Wii isn’t outselling both consoles combined by 276K. Maybe smaller isn’t the right word. Let’s the gap is <i>less gargantuan.</i>

Rounding out the hardware list is the Nintendo DS with 505K units sold (last month saw 415K) and the PlayStation Portable with 211K (last month was 193K).

Source: The Sim Exchange

After concerns of online stability for the PS3 version of GTA4 were aired out online, Rockstar has formally responded with a patch that should fix what they claim are server-related issues.

Rockstar Games said:

Rockstar Games has released a GTA IV patch for Playstation 3 today that prevents Gamespy’s servers from being overloaded and therefore reduces the impact on those servers that were causing the game to stutter and lock up. We continue to monitor the performance of the game both on and offline and will provide further updates as necessary. We want to assure everyone that, together with our hardware partners, we continue to strive to give our fans the best possible interactive entertainment experiences possible. This update will ensure that everyone will experience Grand Theft Auto IV the way it was intended. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.

Maybe now we’ll be able to play a full online game of GTA4 on the PS3 before getting dropped.

Rockstar’s UK office has given a “no comment” statement to CVG regarding a rumor that GTA IV will be finding its way onto the PC platform towards the end of 2008.

As previous PC ports of the series have roughly taken six to eight months to come about, the tentative 10/30/2008 release date set by German E-retailer City Disc is certainly possible and would maximize sales leading up to the festive period.

For those who don’t speak German, the site reads: “The release date for GTA 4 for PC has not yet been confirmed by the Publisher, Take 2. The release date is not guaranteed and is open to change.”

While this is by no means an admission the PC version does not exist, the prospect will surely have many PC owners waiting on tenterhooks.

San Andreas developed a powerful online following in recent years (even boasting role-play servers– road sweepers FTW!), hopefully if GTA IV makes its way onto PC it will also support more than 16 players online for even crazier online experience.

(Thanks to Evo Gamer for the translation)

Sources: CVG

According to industry tracker VG Chartz, early sales data indicates that Grand Theft Auto IV has sold a whopping 2.5 million units in the Americas on its first day of release. This is hot on the heels of reports that the game has sold over 600,000 copies in the UK on its first day, and an estimated 1.7 million units across Europe.

Currently, the game with the most successful launch in history is Microsoft’s Halo 3, which earned about $170 million in the US during the first 24 hours of its release. However, it appears that Rockstar’s long-awaited title is poised to take the crown from Microsoft’s bestseller.

On a related note, GTA IV sales gave Microsoft the edge in the console wars, as more consumers bought the Xbox 360 version of the game than the PlayStation 3 version. A similar pattern was found in the UK, with the Xbox 360 comprising 55% of the total Day 1 sales.

Source: VGChartz, MCV.UK

As millions of gamers worldwide have already discovered, Grand Theft Auto IV is an alright game. That being said, hit the jump to read my thoughts on the subject.

With a metacritic rating somewhere between 100 and 100, and sales of the game single handedly bolstering the world economy at a blistering 80 pre-orders a minute, it’s pretty safe to say the game is successful.

I even hear Jesus has put off the second coming, originally scheduled for summer 2008, for a few years, so he can get a 100% completion rating in the game. I also hear that Jack Thompson was overheard by a secretary offering “a mean motherfucking blowjob” to Rockstar execs in exchange for a free copy of the game. If this isn’t a late Christmas miracle, it’s an early one.

So while everyone in the world keeps going back and forth to the bedroom for a fresh pair of undershorts every time they even think of the game, I think it’s time we take a break from Liberty City and really contemplate what this means for the world.

Ok, who am I kidding? No one is going to take a break from that game. The only reason I’m writing this is because I can’t play it. I don’t even particularly like the series, but when you aspire to be a professional game reviewer and every reviewer in the world is having a collective orgasm over a game, you kinda sorta maybe need to play it. Just so you don’t have that feeling that everyone is laughing hysterically at a joke you walked in too late to hear. (That’s how I feel when anyone says “The Cake is a lie.” WTF? There’s cake in Portal? I thought it was about bending physics.)

So for the other three people on the internet not playing the game, let’s have a chat. This game is big. It’s huge. It’s breaking records and blowing minds at a rate unseen since… well, Call of Duty 4 I guess. Or Halo 3. But bigger. It’s so huge, some analysts are predicting it as the biggest competitor to this summer’s movie industry.

What does this say about the gaming industry? Games have become mainstream in a way we never could have anticipated in the last two years, due to the Wii, World of WarCraft, Halo 3, and Guitar Hero to name a few. And GTA IV is just the latest (and certainly not the last) game to grab the world by the balls and say, “Hey. How are ya?” And by this point, the world is starting to pay attention.

So, dear readers, (all two of you, I’m assuming one of you left to buy GTA IV by now), what do you think? Has this generation of games elevated the industry? Are we in a sort of “Gaming Renaissance?” Share your thoughts, if your brain hasn’t been completely melted by overexposure to pure awesomnium (I hear that’s what the GTA disks are made of).

Tonight is the night. After so long, at the stroke of midnight, neurotic, pixel-crime loving consumers will be heard around the world as they stand outside one of the 260 GAME stores and one of the zillion GameStops that will be hosting a midnight launch for Grand Theft Auto IV.

As averse as I am to the purpose that Metacritic serves, I couldn’t help but give the GTA IV Metacritic page a once over, with unsurprising results. As of the time of writing, it was maintaining a strong 99 out of 100 universal acclaim, putting it among the highest rated of all games, making the genius BioShock take a backseat and shoving aside the cumulative quality of The Orange Box.

Is that the straw that broke the camel’s back, making you want it now?

Tell us, readers. What responsibilities will you not-so-painfully be ridding yourself of to be one of those zombie-like consumers tonight? Skipping school? Has some “thing” been going around your workplace lately? I doubt it’s a coincidence the amount of absences that will be seen internationally.

Or, like me, are you having to tough it out through the week, praying for the end of the week to arrive quickly so you can do nothing but just sit in front of your screen and soak up every bit of Liberty City?

Fill us in — something to read may make the wait shorter.

It seems that Australia is all up in arms as of late over video game ratings and Rockstar has taken this as a reason to cut some mature material from the latest Grand Theft Auto title.

The folks at Rockstar have yet to reveal exactly what was cut; they’ve only confirmed that they have indeed cut content. What’s slightly bizarre about this is that GTAIV had already been reviewed and given an MA15+ rating, which means it’s A-Ok for store shelves, just not for young’uns. It would seem that the cuts weren’t necessary at all.

Back in December, our own Patrick Steen reported on this very rating, and remarked “So can we expect a tamer GTA experience? We don’t think so.”

As much as I would love to rub in his face how wrong he was, I would’ve agreed with him. Why did they make cuts?

Source: itwire

What’s the name of this song? I like it.

Rockstar and Amazon.com have joined forces to let you buy songs from Grand Theft Auto IV through a unique in-game system. Hit the jump to read exactly how.

Using “ZiT” technology present in Liberty City, players can use their in-game mobile phones to acquire music. While playing, if you hear a song that you like, you can open up your phone (in the game; don’t go picking up your real phone!) and dial ZIT-555-0100. You’ll then receive a text message with the song and artist name, and if you’re registered at the Rockstar Games Social Club community site (which Geoff Haugan talks about here), you’ll recieve an e-mail linking you to Amazon.com, where you can purchase the track.

All of the songs that you nab in the game will be located on a custom playlist at Amazon for purchase at any time. Songs will be available for around 89 – 99 cents per track.

Source: Team Xbox

With the hype beginning to build for GTA IV’s release this summer, Microsoft decided to ramp it up another notch by giving out 500 free GTA IV branded Xbox 360s.

As well as a freshly painted Xbox 360 Elite, the lucky few who received their gift also got a briefcase containing all the accessories they could ever conceivably need for their new toy; wi-fi connector, webcam, media remote control, blu-ray drive, it’s all in there (ok, maybe there isn’t a blu-ray drive).

Sadly, you wont be seeing one of these any time soon as they are only for the chosen few. You are stuck with your far inferior, unbranded, plebby 360. I would also like to make it known that I called it first: limited edition GTA IV PS3.

Source: Complex

The much hyped and highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV will take the player around 100 hours to complete, excluding the Xbox 360’s exclusive content, according to the games developer Rockstar.

With a vast array of main missions and a host of side quests, the time it takes to fully complete the game is claimed to be on par with your average RPG. Talking to videogamer.com, a Rockstar spokesperson said that “if you’re not in a rush and you answer the phone when it rings it’ll take about 100 hours to complete.”

100 hours sounds like enough GTA IV for my liking, but don’t forget about the promised 360 episodic content and the multiplayer. Best clear your diaries for a couple of months after April 29th. Actually, just scrap your diary, your summer is over.

Source: videogamer

At this year’s Game Developers Conference, Microsoft has stated that GTA IV’s upcoming Xbox-exclusive downloadable content is scheduled to hit in fall of this year.

Not much has been said about what the DLC will include, but episodic content has been mentioned in the past.

Grand Theft Auto IV is scheduled to hit both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 on April 29th, but the DLC remains an Xbox exclusive.

According to DarkZero, “various sources across the internet” are revealing what may be the 16 songs on the Grand Theft Auto IV soundtrack. Keep in mind that Rockstar hasn’t actually confirmed any of these songs, so it could all be bogus.

The list is all over the place in terms of genre, which is good, because that’s all the more realistic. I can’t flip through my local radio stations without hearing at least two or three songs that I can’t stand.

The list is as follows:

Angel y Khris – Ven Bailalo
R Kelly – Bump N Grind
Seryoga – KingRing
The Boggs – Arm in Arm
UNKLE (feat. Josh Homme) – Restless
Gwen Stefani – Hollaback Girl
Res – They Say Vision
Raheem Devaughn – You
Junior Kickstart – The Go! Team
VHS or Beta – Burn It All Down
Humble Pie – Cocaine
Fat Joe – Shit is Real
MOP – How About Some Hardcore
MOP – Downtown Swinger
Queen – One Vision
Ne-Yo – Because of You

Via DarkZero

NaturalMotion, the animation developers behind the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV and Star Wars: Force Unleashed titles, will be giving a demonstrate the latest morpheme (advanced animation engine and powerful graphical authoring tool-chain) features at this years GDC.

The morpheme product works in tandem with the company’s endorphin and euphoria products, both based on Dynamic Motion Synthesis (DMS), which makes use of artificial intelligence and Adaptive Behaviors to simulate the human-nervous system. NaturaMotion is the first company to institute this breakthrough technology.

Ripten will be receiving a hands on demo as well as conducting an interview with the animation developers themselves. If you have any questions you would like us to ask, feel free to leave them in the form of a comment below.

With the announcement earlier this week of a release date for GTA IV, the always accurate Miami lawyer Jack Thompson has begun his annual attempt to save the young and the innocent from the murder inducing evil that is video games.

In a letter sent to Take-Two on Thursday, Thompson has threatened that he will not only frown really hard at anybody he sees playing the game, but that he will also write lots of letters to people who don’t care.

Take-Two shares have jumped approximately 12% today on this news. What the market is not factoring in, however, is the downside risk coming Take-Two’s way with the sale of this “Mature” game to kids, which is a murder simulator for violence against women, cops, and innocent bystanders…

Thompson will, in the days and weeks ahead, be contacting state and federal officials to stop the improper sales of Grand Theft Auto IV to anyone under seventeen years of age, as any such sales violate state and federal fraudulent and deceptive trade practices statutes.

Indeed, Thompson has today contacted Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, who has supported Thompson’s efforts in the past.

Going of his past record of great successes, I can’t see Take-Two being worried by any of this. If anything, I would expect them to be happy with Mr. Thompson’s interest. With the increase in controversy surrounding the game, they not only get free advertising, but also an increase in sales.

I could go on about how Mr Thompson should leave the house more often or maybe play some video games, but I’m far to busy violently running over hookers and babies in my stolen police car (which was taken from a blind policewoman collecting money to help abandoned puppies, kittens and unicorns).

Via GamePolitics

You’ve been waiting all week for it, now you’ve got it. Here’s your first look at the brand new 2-minute trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV. Click through for the video.

Animation and general “feel” are classy as always, the lighting and scale are equally amazing. It looks a tad rough around the edges, but that never stopped any GTA game from being terribly fun. Still not sure where the “Move up, ladies” part comes in. There are indeed ladies, and they’re moving in various questionable ways (including up), but the theme of the trailer seems once again to be Niko’s acclamation to his new life on American shores.

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