GTA: The Ballad of *** Tony comes out(no pun intended) Oct. 29th!

Next Grand Theft Auto DLC Hits Oct. 29

Grand Theft Auto: TheBallad of Gay Tonyhits theXbox 360as a download on Oct. 29, Rockstar announced today.

The latest chunk of episodic content will also arrive on a disc along with previous DLC episode TheLost and Damnedas Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City. Episodes is also set for an Oct. 29 release date.

Rockstar tells Kotaku that disc-based Episodes will sell for $39.99.

Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony as the game's second downloadable episode will focus on the glitzy "high-end night life" of Liberty City. The second Xbox 360 exclusive episode will put players in the role of Luis Lopez, confirming previous rumors, as his part-time hoodlum duties are supplemented by full-time work for nightclub impresario Tony Gay Tony" Prince.

According to the official announcement, "players will struggle with the competing loyalties of family and friends, and with the uncertainty about who is real and who is fake in a world in which everyone has a price."

Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony is slated to release onXbox Livethis Fall for $19.99 USD or 1600 Microsoft Points.

Kotaku

October is shaping up to be pretty awesome. I can't wait for this. The Lost and The Damned was one of my gaming highlights this year. I imagine most of this will take place in Algonquin, which it sweet since I feel like I've explored it the least of all the places in Liberty City.

Looking forward to it. It should be as good as Lost and Damned.

I read some of that but why is Gay in the title of the game?

I read some of that but why is Gay in the title of the game?

darksongbird

[QUOTE="darksongbird"]

I read some of that but why is Gay in the title of the game?

SteelAttack

:lol: Common sense prevails.

Anyway I'm really looking forward to it because I've been holding off on TLaD so I can get them both together on disk.

Sounds cool.

I still need to get TL&D. From what I've heard, it's pretty amazing.

Rockstar never disappoints so this should be good. And this will be the last chapter in GTA4 (well at least in Liberty City) For GTA5 (which has already been announced and just might come next year) or what ever it called should have over the top characters voiced by famous people (it made an impression hearing Burt Renolds, Ray Liota, LT and others) in Vice City, and the customization/rpg elements of the character like San Andreas... Two things missing from GTA4. YoungSinatra25

GTA5 hasn't been announced. There is a lot of speculation, but Rockstar has said nothing about it.

Wow they are going all transexual on us.

[QUOTE="YoungSinatra25"]Rockstar never disappoints so this should be good. And this will be the last chapter in GTA4 (well at least in Liberty City) For GTA5 (which has already been announced and just might come next year) or what ever it called should have over the top characters voiced by famous people (it made an impression hearing Burt Renolds, Ray Liota, LT and others) in Vice City, and the customization/rpg elements of the character like San Andreas... Two things missing from GTA4. rragnaar

GTA5 hasn't been announced. There is a lot of speculation, but Rockstar has said nothing about it.

Go look it up before you say I'm wrong.YoungSinatra25

Here is a link to Strauss Zelnick, president of Take-Two, saying that there will be more GTA episodes before we see GTA5. The article is from about a week ago. Couple that with the fact that Rockstar North is working on The Agent, and I don't think we will see or hear anything about a new GTA game for a while.

Wow they are going all transexual on us.

I never downloaded TLaD since I lost GTA IV (I miss GTA IV), but thanks to Episode from Liberty City, I can get both this and TLaD without needing a GTA IV disc! I'm excited. Oh, and I hear if any more DLC comes from Rockstar, it will be multi platform. Just saying, althoughI can only hopethose come out on disc too.

I would say more here, but this is Rockstar and GTA. This is as close to a sure thing as anything. All they have to say is that it exists and it's a day one purchase.

I would say more here, but this is Rockstar and GTA. This is as close to a sure thing as anything. All they have to say is that it exists and it's a day one purchase.

AtomicTangerine

Hopefully the boxed edition will see a PC release by the end of the year.

Day one purchase for me as well. TL and D was so good.

No offense takin I just like debating. The articule you linked say nothing of GTA5 but does mention the possibility of more DLC. I hope not I'm actually not that fond of Liberty City and want a new local... Goggle ---- GTA 5, Modern Warfare 2, & The Apple Netbook ---- it'll bring up the IGN daily fix vid I was talking about. Also in another vid thet mentioned that the new new Xbox is already in the R&D stage. Something about blizzard and some other crap didn't care but was surprised.YoungSinatra25

The fact remains that Grand Theft Auto V hasn't been announced yet. Otherwise it'd be all over the net, not just on some IGN video. It most likely won't even be called Grand Theft Auto V. I mean, we all know it's in development, but that's all we know. Even that isn't confirmed, it's just common sense. Rockstar won't be talking or even announcing the game 2 years before its release. Agent is coming out next year. We won't be seeing a new Grand Theft Auto before 2011.

Well then episodic gaming loses. We could have had a brand new city, a brand new game by now.dvader654

I for one am happy that Rockstar is trying out something new. It's great that Rockstar North is not being shackled by Grand Theft Auto. It's great that they can make a new IP. It's great that they're exploring episodic content/expansions, Grand Theft Auto by nature is perfect for that. We have enough Nintendos and Activisions out there.

Please come to PS3! :cry:

Of course they won't make GTA V yet, we still have a variety of settings to explore. Aside from Vice City and the state of San Andreas, there's the possibility of Anywhere City (GTA 2) and London (GTA London). Plus, what about Carcer city (which was in Manhunt, and has been considered canonical within the GTA series). Lots of places before a GTA V.

Of course they won't make GTA V yet, we still have a variety of settings to explore. Aside from Vice City and the state of San Andreas, there's the possibility of Anywhere City (GTA 2) and London (GTA London). Plus, what about Carcer city (which was in Manhunt, and has been considered canonical within the GTA series). Lots of places before a GTA V.

SPYDER0416

Please come to PS3! :cry:

smithster118

PLEASE!!!! PLEASE!!!! :cry:

Rockstar was making other games outside of GTA during the PS2 era, that didnt stop three full sequels. Plus three expanions has to equal the production of a brand new GTA game, its not like this is magically saving them effort. There is no reason to celebrate this, they are cashing in on GTA, AS THEY SHOULD BE, its an excellent franchise and the quality of the series is always high. To me I would trade three GTA4 expansions for a brand new GTA game on a brand new city any day. That goes for any game, full sequels >>>>> expansions.dvader654

I was talking about Rockstar North in particular. They made a game per year from 2001-2004, but it seems that is not possible this gen. Three expansions does not equal the production of a full game. Lost and the Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony don't require the entire team, all of the assets are basically done (Liberty City), they can focus on mission design, storytelling, etc. The most time-consuming part of game development is asset creation, with the episodes the gameworld is already built. Developing a new entry in the series means going back to the drawing board and starting from scratch. Agent would not be possible if it weren't for the episodic approach. At this point I assume Rockstar North has two teams doing the Grand Theft Auto episodes and Agent with a small core team doing pre-production for the next Grand Theft Auto. Once the episodes and Agent are done, full production of the next Grand Theft Auto will commence.

Rockstar North is not being treated like Bungie and Infinity Ward - that's a huge reason for celebration.

[QUOTE="dvader654"]Rockstar was making other games outside of GTA during the PS2 era, that didnt stop three full sequels. Plus three expanions has to equal the production of a brand new GTA game, its not like this is magically saving them effort. There is no reason to celebrate this, they are cashing in on GTA, AS THEY SHOULD BE, its an excellent franchise and the quality of the series is always high. To me I would trade three GTA4 expansions for a brand new GTA game on a brand new city any day. That goes for any game, full sequels >>>>> expansions.UpInFlames

I was talking about Rockstar North in particular. They made a game per year from 2001-2004, but it seems that is not possible this gen. Three expansions does not equal the production of a full game. Lost and the Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony don't require the entire team, all of the assets are basically done (Liberty City), they can focus on mission design, storytelling, etc. The most time-consuming part of game development is asset creation, with the episodes the gameworld is already built. Developing a new entry in the series means going back to the drawing board and starting from scratch. Agent would not be possible if it weren't for the episodic approach. At this point I assume Rockstar North has two teams doing the Grand Theft Auto episodes and Agent with a small core team doing pre-production for the next Grand Theft Auto. Once the episodes and Agent are done, full production of the next Grand Theft Auto will commence.

Rockstar North is not being treated like Bungie and Infinity Ward - that's a huge reason for celebration.

Umm what exactly do you mean by how Bungie and Infinity Ward are being "treated"? They're both doing great work as far as I can tell.

Umm what exactly do you mean by how Bungie and Infinity Ward are being "treated"? They're both doing great work as far as I can tell.Archangel3371

Rockstar North's corporate overlords support the developer's desire to branch out and try different things (Manhunt, Agent). Bungie hasn't done anything but Halo for a decade and Infinity Ward has never released a game without Call of Duty in its title.

Only Grand Theft Auto could make money from a plot like that.

[QUOTE="Archangel3371"]Umm what exactly do you mean by how Bungie and Infinity Ward are being "treated"? They're both doing great work as far as I can tell.UpInFlames

Rockstar North's corporate overlords support the developer's desire to branch out and try different things (Manhunt, Agent). Bungie hasn't done anything but Halo for a decade and Infinity Ward has never released a game without Call of Duty in its title.

To be fair, Bungie is totally independent. Which actually makes it really funny that for their first game where they can do whatever they want, they choose to make more Halo...

[QUOTE="Archangel3371"]Umm what exactly do you mean by how Bungie and Infinity Ward are being "treated"? They're both doing great work as far as I can tell.UpInFlames

Rockstar North's corporate overlords support the developer's desire to branch out and try different things (Manhunt, Agent). Bungie hasn't done anything but Halo for a decade and Infinity Ward has never released a game without Call of Duty in its title.

Yeah, so what. Bungie wanted to be independant again and Microsoft let them and they decided to keep working on Halo. Maybe that's what they enjoy to do. Infinity Ward seems to be enjoying working on Call of Duty and also seem to take great pride in their work. These are things that have a massive audience who obviously want to see more from these franchises. Do you actually have facts that they are getting treated poorly?

I guess Id need to play the real GTA IV game before I could really get excited about this.

And your thread title made me lol.

[QUOTE="Archangel3371"]Umm what exactly do you mean by how Bungie and Infinity Ward are being "treated"? They're both doing great work as far as I can tell.UpInFlames

Rockstar North's corporate overlords support the developer's desire to branch out and try different things (Manhunt, Agent). Bungie hasn't done anything but Halo for a decade and Infinity Ward has never released a game without Call of Duty in its title.

Yeah, Bungie's been chained to Halo forever, but now they are independent and once they finish Reach, theyare going to release an original game.

"After Reach that's it for us," Bungie's Lars Bakken told IGN. "We're already working on a new IP that we can't talk about yet, I don't know when we'll be talking about it - when we're ready I suppose."

Halo fans needn't worry though, MS will continue to milk the franchise.

Future Halo games will be overseen by the recently revealed 343 Industries, which is headed up by former Bungie employee Frank O'Connor.

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/100/1007095p1.html

Yeah, so what. Bungie wanted to be independant again and Microsoft let them and they decided to keep working on Halo. Maybe that's what they enjoy to do. Infinity Ward seems to be enjoying working on Call of Duty and also seem to take great pride in their work. These are things that have a massive audience who obviously want to see more from these franchises. Do you actually have facts that they are getting treated poorly?Archangel3371

Well, either they're being used to churn out sequels to successful games or they have no ambition to try something new. I like to think that most developers are very creative people who enjoy challenging themselves, but what you said has actually made me think about that. Maybe Bungie and Infinity Ward simply lack the ambition, creativity and courage to step away from their respective cash cows. Afterall, Bungie has announced two games following their seperation from Microsoft and they both have Halo in their title. As for Infinity Ward, I completely lost faith in them to improve on the ancient gameplay in Call of Duty, nevermind try something different altogether.

Then I look at Rockstar North, a studio behind a series that's more successful in every way possible (quality, sales, critical reception, innovation, influence, etc.) than either Halo and Call of Duty - and these people want to make something different. And on top of that, they should be the last of the three studios having such a desire because each Grand Theft Auto is radically different from the last whereas Halo has seen only incremental improvement to the formula and Call of Duty literally hasn't moved an inch since 2003.

I guess you're right. Bungie and Infinity Ward aren't being treated poorly by their owners. Rockstar North is simply a cut above in every way imaginable.

Yeah, Bungie's been chained to Halo forever, but now they are independent and once they finish Reach, theyare going to release an original game.

"After Reach that's it for us," Bungie's Lars Bakken told IGN. "We're already working on a new IP that we can't talk about yet, I don't know when we'll be talking about it - when we're ready I suppose."CarnageHeart

Yeah, but they haven't even landed a publishing deal for that game and I read the other day that it most likely won't be released during this generation of consoles. I'm not holding my breath.

[QUOTE="Archangel3371"]Yeah, so what. Bungie wanted to be independant again and Microsoft let them and they decided to keep working on Halo. Maybe that's what they enjoy to do. Infinity Ward seems to be enjoying working on Call of Duty and also seem to take great pride in their work. These are things that have a massive audience who obviously want to see more from these franchises. Do you actually have facts that they are getting treated poorly?UpInFlames

Well, either they're being used to churn out sequels to successful games or they have no ambition to try something new. I like to think that most developers are very creative people who enjoy challenging themselves, but what you said has actually made me think about that. Maybe Bungie and Infinity Ward simply lack the ambition, creativity and courage to step away from their respective cash cows. Afterall, Bungie has announced two games following their seperation from Microsoft and they both have Halo in their title. As for Infinity Ward, I completely lost faith in them to improve on the ancient gameplay in Call of Duty, nevermind try something different altogether.

Then I look at Rockstar North, a studio behind a series that's more successful in every way possible (quality, sales, critical reception, innovation, influence, etc.) than either Halo and Call of Duty - and these people want to make something different. And on top of that, they should be the last of the three studios having such a desire because each Grand Theft Auto is radically different from the last whereas Halo has seen only incremental improvement to the formula and Call of Duty literally hasn't moved an inch since 2003.

I guess you're right. Bungie and Infinity Ward aren't being treated poorly by their owners. Rockstar North is simply a cut above in every way imaginable.

Well just because they continue to work on one franchise doesn't necessarily mean they lack creativity, ambition, and or courage either. They probably enjoy working in that particular universe and continually want to push it forward and see how they can continue to make it better both critically and comercially which is exactly what both development teams have done with they're respective franchises to great success. Always doing something different does not equate to always doing something good.