Not sure if this is Gay Tony, let's take no chances...

Second and final Xbox 360-exclusive expansion will arrive two days before end of Take-Two’s fiscal year!

(Gamespot) – Two months ago, rumors of an Irish gangster-themed second expansion to Grand Theft Auto IV went up in flames with the announcement of The Ballad of Gay Tony. The game will prominently feature Anthony “Gay Tony” Prince, associate of the Ancelotti crime family in GTAIV. More specifically, it will follow his assistant, Luis Lopez, who popped up in the “Museum Piece” mission featured in both the original game and the first expansion, February’s The Lost and Damned.

Now, the second and final expansion, which concerns criminal intrigue in Liberty City’s high-end nightlife, has been definitively dated for October 29. It will be offered a la carte on Xbox Live for the price $19.99/MSP1,600 or at stores as part of the disc-based title Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City. Retailing for $39.99, the latter bundles the Ballad of Gay Tony with the Lost and Damned and, interestingly, does not require the original GTAIV to play, as the downloadable expansions do.

PS3 owners can maybe hope for a stand alone disc in the future.

Exclusive Xbox 360 download for GTA IV sets record

(Gamespot) – Given that Grand Theft Auto IV has sold more than 5.2 million copies in the US alone, there was little question that its first expansion would be a hit. Sure enough, today Microsoft declared that Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned has “eclipsed first-day revenue for all previous downloadable content on Xbox Live.” Microsoft also mentioned that the game was the “highest reviewed downloadable content ever from Rockstar Games,” although many sites declined to grade it as a full game.
 

However successful the expansion, it will need to sell quite well to recoup the amount Microsoft paid for its exclusivity. In a conference call last June, Take-Two Interactive executives said that the software giant had paid $50 million for two 360-only expansions for the open-world crime game. The second 360-exclusive expansion is due later in the year.

Reports are saying that after the release of GTA expansion pack ‘The Lost and Damned’ that the amount of blood in the game is now being censored.

So less blood? Less sprays, no pools or trails left of the carnage that you just created? Seems kind of off beat for RockStar to backtrack some of the amount of gore in the game, and I’m almost a little bit offended that they did.

See the above footage of some before and after video from a German gamer, their is definitely a marked amount of change from ‘GTAIV’ and ‘The Lost and the Damned’ DLC pack. It’s also being discussed in countless forums, and the Gamespot discussions seem to be the most currently informed.

So will we see a ‘more gore’ patch soon? Or will we have to carry on our merry murderous rampages without the splashes and spurts that we are so very used to from the GTA franchise?

I vote for a fix. How dare you moderate our late night free play mayhem.

[Source]

-Crutchboy out

The first of two down loadable packs for Grand Theft Auto IV hits Xbox Live February 17, and the reviewers over at G4 are saying it packs a good punch. From what we can dig up on this most anticipated release, it appears that you will be stepping away from Niko and taking on the role of Johnny Klebitz, biker and second-in-command of The Lost motorcycle gang from the “Blow Your Cover” mission.

What can you expect? The DLC will run you a steep $20 on Live, but if you’re fans of rampant anarchy and carnage (like us at BusyGamer) then you get just what you asked for, MORE GUNS AND EXPLOSIVES! Some hitting the list are a pipe bomb, a sawed off shotgun, a combat shotgun, a machine pistol and a grenade launcher. Heck yeah, more civilian casualties for our late night free roam sprees!

Also noted are new cut scenes, new voice work, and new banter on Liberty City’s radio stations all boasting about +20 hours of gameplay.

But you had me at pipe bomb.

[Source]

-Crutchboy out