GTA IV DLC is FINALLY Coming

Xbox 360 owners have been patiently waiting for series developer Rockstar to deliver the Grand Theft Auto IV DLC they promised, only to be met with news of delays and Nintendo DS spin-offs. But finally, six months after the release of GTA IV, Rockstar has announced that the first episode of downloadable content, called “The Lost and Damned,” will be available on Xbox LIVE on Feb. 17, 2009. Rockstar also announced that there will be one more episode released, but no date was set on this installment.

Niko=Secondary Character=NOT happy.

“The Lost and Damned” will not star everyone’s favorite Eastern European immigrant, Niko Bellic, but will instead shift focus to a member of The Lost biker gang, Johnny Klebitz. While gamers may be disappointed to not be returning to Niko, the Rockstar website states that the plot “intersects with the storyline of Grand Theft Auto IV.” In an interview with 1UP.com, Rockstar Games vice president of creative development Dan Houser remained tight-lipped about any other plot details. “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… [b]ut I can say that the story will show you a different side of Liberty City.” Rockstar’s website also states that the episode’s new multiplayer modes will offer “an entirely fresh way to explore Liberty City,” so hopefully it will keep player’s attention slightly longer than the standard online play of GTA IV. The episode is estimated to cost roughly $20 dollars and will require that you have the full version of GTA IV.

Honestly, I’m a little disappointed. While Rockstar hasn’t really let us down with GTA games yet, I doubt I’m the only one looking forward to another adventure with Niko, Roman, Little Jacob and the rest. Plus, wouldn’t it have been cool if the actions you took during the main game (e.g. – killing certain characters off and letting others live) had some kind of effect on the episode’s story? This may still be possible, but I’m sure it won’t have a significant effect on gameplay. And I think we all know how cool it would be if the Liberty City zombie apocalypse rumors came true—and no, I don’t mean the lame zombie mode they added to multiplayer during Halloween.

Any of these characters look more interesting than Niko? Or zombies?

But I don’t want to sound too pessimistic, either. A new entry in the GTA lexicon is coming our way. Whether it plays the way we want it to or ends up being completely different, chances are we’ll still enjoy it.