Related Sections: Downloadable Content
Grand Theft Auto IV expansion to cost $20
In yet another ballsy move Rockstar can do because they're Rockstar, the upcoming biker gang downloadable content for Grand Theft Auto IV will cost $20. In addition to this rather rude bit of news, MTV Multiplayer has a preview that consists largely of marketing blather like this:"People might say that we're milking it," [Rockstar's vice president of product development Jeronimo] Barrera said. "But we're not. This is not a mod. These are not re-skinned characters doing delivery missions. We're rethinking how you play the game."
The rethinking apparently consists of improved lighting, more "fidelity" in the character models, minigames for riding in formation with other bikers, and a menu that shows your fellow bikers' health. Barrera claims that some people will take 20 hours to finish, which would be great if the 50 hours some of us took to finish GTA4 were more consistently good. He also all but confirms that voice actor Michael Hollick won't be providing any new Nikko Bellic material, since the only missions that relate to Nikko are "repurposed from GTA IV and played from [the new protragonist's] angle". There's a more substantive preview on Eurogamer, which replaces marketing blather with lurid prose like this description of the story:Lost and Damned isn't about to ditch the intimate character drama that made GTAIV so memorable - it remains a story-driven experience, and the story is the tense, ever-ticking time bomb kind of affair.
As I've said before, it's a shame that this expansion seems to build most on what Rockstar does worst: telling stories and thinking up gameplay. If you want to enjoy some of the company's trademark world-building, it looks like your next opportunity will be the free South Central add-on for Midnight Club Los Angeles.
The downloadable expansion for Grand Theft Auto IV, which can also be purchased at retail even though you'll still have to download it, is called The Lost and Damned. It'll be released on February 17th.
By Sticky at 12:48 PM ON 01/23/09
Yes they are milking their customers at the wrong time. They should have just made it extra content and kept their loyalists happy. I am not a rockstar fan, but when THQ starting pumping multiple Company of Heroes expansions, I was outta there. Not to beat a dead horse, with the economy as bad as it is, if they just threw a bone to their patron, it migh thave paid off more in the long run.
By BDGE at 5:26 PM ON 01/23/09
Wait, I thought the narrative WAS GTA4's strong point? Even the city itself is largely considered as intsrumental to the plotline as Niko Bellic. Did all the 'mindless game' parts of Saints Row 2 really cloud your memories of the ill stuff that goes down in the McReary missions? The Playboy X/Dwayne et al. decisions? Dude...Brucey!
I'm all for this direction!
By Tom Chick at 8:18 PM ON 01/23/09
I remember all that very well, BDGE, because it had so much potential and was ultimately sacrificed on the altar of mediocre and inconsistent gameplay! I've held forth at length about my problems with the storytelling in GTA4:
http://www.quartertothree.com/inhouse/news/438/
Maybe Lost and Damned will turn out awesome, but I'd have much rather Rockstar simply built more and better gameplay variation into Liberty City rather than telling a story about a Jewish (haw haw!) biker, or whatever they're planning on doing.
By Sticky at 10:43 AM ON 01/24/09
love the :60 reviews at Quarter to Three...
By St4ticblue at 1:11 AM ON 01/25/09
Well Rockstar said the first two GTA4 expansion where going to be free. Oh well.
By unhappymatt1 at 10:46 AM ON 01/25/09
Why in the world should this content be free? Think of the logic of this. Would you tell your employer,"I'll work for free today". Of course not. Everyone wants something for free these days. Does anyone have a work ethic?
By Bagheart at 3:49 PM ON 01/25/09
Free DLC is used either as incentive to get more people buying a certain game, or to complete a game that shipped unfinished. In the case of GTAIV, it probably sold well enough that they have no need to release free DLC, and instead opted to charge people $20.
By viperphilip[ at 10:02 AM ON 01/26/09
Burnout paradise have managed to relase exp packs .....on ps3 they were free:)
so they are just milking it :(
By DUR at 2:05 PM ON 02/08/09
Bad timing people... Can't we just get a freaking freebie every so often? Do you really not have piles of money from GTA IV's continuing sales?
That's how the world works, I guess. GTA IV is one of my favorites, but this seems like a lot for an expansion.
DUR:
Bad timing people... Can't we just get a freaking freebie every so often? Do you really not have piles of money fro...More »