the-ballad-of-gay-tony
Latest
Grand Theft Auto 4 and 5 discounted on Xbox Live this week
Rockstar's open-world epics Grand Theft Auto 5 and Grand Theft Auto 4 are on sale as part of this week's series of exclusive deals for Xbox Live Gold members. Gold subscribers can currently pick up the digital version of GTA5 for $40.19, while GTA4 can be had for a mere $9.99. Grand Theft Auto 4's DLC episodes are also on sale this week. The Lost and Damned is up for grabs at $4.99, while The Ballad of Gay Tony is $7.99 through next Monday. Xbox One owners looking to score a deal this week can pick up Twisted Pixel's LocoCycle for $9.99 -- a permanent drop from its original asking price of $19.99. [Image: Rockstar]
Download GTA 4 for $10 on Xbox Live
Grand Theft Auto 4 is on sale for $10 for Xbox Live Gold subscribers this week. The digital copy is a 6.51 GB download, so players taking advantage of the deal may have to clear a little room on their hard drives. The game's two big pieces of DLC, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, are also discounted to 400 MSP ($5) and 800 MSP ($10), respectively. In that case, forget what we said earlier; you'll probably need 10.16 GB of space on your Xbox 360's hard drive this week.
GTA 4, Red Dead Redemption DLC discounts in XBLM's weekly deals
This week and next, Microsoft is offering savings on DLC for the Xbox 360 versions of Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead Redemption -- discounts that, if you were straining to tie them into GTA somehow, you might call "a steal." From today through July 18, you'll be able to get the RDR Undead Nightmare Collection (containing three separate DLC packs) for 1,000 Microsoft Points, down from 1,600. That deal is part of a "Zombies!" promotion also featuring Dead Rising 2: Case West (now 400 Microsoft Points) and Stubbs the Zombie (800 MSP). From July 19 through July 25, it's all GTA, with GTAIV add-ons Ballad of Gay Tony for 800 MSP, The Lost and Damned for 400, and GTA San Andreas for 800 points. See a few more items, including new Avatar items and Dance Central DLC, on Major Nelson's site.
GTA IV: Episodes from Liberty City ordered off shelves by Brazillian court over music licensing issue
A Brazilian court has apparently ordered that worldwide sales of Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes From Liberty City cease because a song in the game was used without consent. The Associated Press reports that the Third Civil Court in Barueri will fine Rockstar Games and Brazilian distributor Synergex $3,000 per day if the order isn't obeyed. The order was apparently issued on September 27 and can be appealed. The song that Rockstar allegedly did not get the rights to is called "Bota o Dedinho pro Alto." Brazilian distributor Synergex claims it had not been notified of the court's decision. You can check out the song after the break. [Thanks, Bill O.]
Xbox Live Deal of the Week: Ballad of Gay Tony for $15
If you've been waiting for an excuse to sink your felonious teeth into the Grand Theft Auto IV expansion The Ballad of Gay Tony, listen up. This week's Xbox Live Deal of the Week, you see, knocks the usual 1600 ($20) price of Gay Tony down to a more palatable 1200 ($15). Not bad for a night of virtual clubbing in Liberty City. That said, if you haven't picked up The Lost and Damned (the other GTA IV expansion) either, you can grab the full Episodes from Liberty City package for $30 from GameStop or Amazon. [Via Major Nelson] Xbox.com: Add The Ballad of Gay Tony to your Xbox 360 download queue ($15)
Take-Two CEO thinks Grand Theft Auto 4 DLC was late to the party
Fielding a question on today's quarterly investors call regarding the performance of Grand Theft Auto 4's DLC double-header and the accompanying retail bundle – The Lost and Damned, The Ballad of Gay Tony, and Episodes from Liberty City, respectively – Take-Two CEO Ben Feder admits, "Both we and Microsoft believed there was a big market for GTA 4 episodic content and some factors affected their performance." Calling the two companies' relationship "a historic, strategic partnership" – remember this? – and calling the episodes themselves "profitable contributors to the company," Feder nevertheless offered some insight into what his company could have done to make them even more profitable. "Both were released significantly after the launch of the core unit," Feder says, referring to the April 2008 launch of Grand Theft Auto 4. "And therefore weren't able to leverage GTA 4's initial marketing campaign and initial launch fervor." With The Lost and Damned coming out in February of this year, some 10 months after GTA 4's initial release, and The Ballad of Gay Tony this past October, 18 months after the initial release, we'd have to agree that timing played an issue; the GTA 4 hype machine had worn off. %Gallery-75593%
Take-Two: revenues up in Q4, down overall for the year
Take-Two warned us (and investors ... actually, mostly investors) to expect smaller revenues for the fiscal year that ended October 31, and its fiscal-year results, announced today, hold true to that portent. The company's net revenue for fiscal 2009 was $968.5 million, down from $1.5 billion. Take-Two attributes the loss to the lack of a game as strong as Grand Theft Auto IV. It wasn't all bad news, however. Net revenue in Q4 was actually up over 2008, from $323.4 million to $343.4 million. Take-Two attributes the success in this period to Borderlands, NBA 2K10, both the downloadable and disc-based releases of the Grand Theft Auto content and, yes, GTA IV, which must have experienced a resurgence when Gay Tony and Episodes from Liberty City were released.
Play The Ballad of Gay Tony with Rockstar tonight
Before you put on some sweats, make a little popcorn and sit down for your sitcoms tonight, you may want to gear up for some The Ballad of Gay Tony multiplayer. Rockstar Games has announced it'll be holding a multiplayer session tonight from 5pm - 8pm ET, allowing prospective Liberty City hoodlums to hang out with some developers in the expansion's new multiplayer modes for a bit of two-on-two action. If you want to get involved, pack a parachute and send a request to these Gamertags: GwRockstar3 GwRockstar4 GwRockstar5 GwRockstar6 And if you fancy yourself a bit of a voyeur or can't get to your Xbox, you can still watch the action from the perspective of one of Rockstar's employees at the Social Club event page here.
Go clubbing with new GTAIV Gay Tony tees
Rockstar has unleashed some brand new Grand Theft Auto IV T-shirts, giving fans of The Ballad of Gay Tony a reason to hit the floor show off their best moves. Available for $20 each, the shirts depict the logos of two of the DLC's nightclubs, Hercules and Bahama Mamas. If you've been looking to make a super hip fashion statement ... well, you probably shouldn't be buying video game T-shirts. If, however, you're looking for some inoffensive gaming apparel -- which can be hard to find -- go ahead and take a look.
Rockstar revamps Social Club's online leaderboards and stat tracking for Gay Tony
With the release of this week's second Grand Theft Auto IV expansion The Ballad of Gay Tony, the game's developer has decided to update the online multiplayer statistics tracking in order to reflect the new multiplayer game types. The addition of "BASE Jump" to the mulitplayer as well as "new, tighter Deathmatch arenas" helped spur the leaderboard overhaul, according to the developer blog. The various new additions being made due to the DLC will even get their own section on the Rockstar Social Club, presumably for the four of you tracking your new GTAIV DLC stats after Modern Warfare 2 releases in a couple weeks.
Metareview: The Ballad of Gay Tony
The second and final "Episode from Liberty City," The Ballad of Gay Tony, has arrived. As the tale of Liberty City comes to a close, does The Ballad of Gay Tony present an exciting final act or an anti-climactic letdown? We'll let the critics at large weigh in on this one: Game Informer (93/100): "While I preferred the tight-knit story of brotherhood and betrayal in The Lost and Damned, The Ballad of Gay Tony delivers more explosive weapons, death-defying missions, and off-the-wall characters. Don't miss your chance to close out the GTA IV experience in style." IGN (92/100): "The Ballad of Gay Tony is the perfect way to close out the GTA IV saga. Finally, we know what happened to the diamonds stolen in the main story a year-and-a-half ago. Though Luis Lopez doesn't have much of a story at all (this is the ballad of his boss, after all), the supporting cast is phenomenal. There are a lot of hilarious moments and ludicrous missions that will please GTA fans. Sure, a few of the missions fall flat compared to the wild nature of others, but all-in-all this is a fine package and worth 20 bucks. " 1UP (A-): "This has been one hell of a ride. I'm going to miss seeing something new in Liberty City, as I've probably been to every available nook and cranny. I suppose I could still go hunting for those damn pigeons, but with so many other games coming out in the coming months, I don't know where I'll find the time... at least until Rockstar gives me a ticket to their next world of crime, violence, and vice." Eurogamer (80/100): "Perhaps Tony Prince does nothing to drag the series forward -- somewhat fittingly for a man with his head stuck in the eighties -- but the episode Rockstar has named in his honour is a colourful and pleasingly unpredictable adventure that gets better throughout and ends on a high." %Gallery-68537%
Latest Ballad of Gay Tony trailer showcases Luis Lopez's many exploits
Rather than offer interesting social commentary or moody atmospheric tone, the just-released Ballad of Gay Tony teaser instead teaches us that Luis Lopez is not a joking around kinda guy. He takes shots, tosses dudes off buildings – he even goes to the driving range! In case it weren't already glaringly obvious to you, the second Grand Theft Auto IV expansion will be taking itself quite a bit less seriously than the first digital release. Thankfully, the wait is nearly over and we can find out for ourselves tomorrow just how much Rockstar Games has twisted its latest opus.%Gallery-68537%
New Gay Tony in-game anime is all too familiar
Grand Theft Auto has always been heavy on satire, making exaggerated observations about the world for the sake of a few cheap yuks. It's readily apparent on the in-game radio programs, which poke fun at both extremes of political talk radio. The in-game TV programming does much the same (if you haven't, we suggest you make time to watch "Republican Space Rangers"). It looks like The Ballad of Gay Tony will continue the tradition with "Princess Robot Bubblegum," an anime parody to be featured on the in-game CNT channel. The show will serve as part of the new TV lineup in the upcoming expansion. In Rockstar's own words, "Princess Robot Bubblegum" features the hallmarks of more than a few animes: "Incomprehensible narrative, wretched dialogue and creepy, misogynistic sexuality." See it all in the trailer above.
Dancing, drinking and drugs: The nightclubs of GTA Gay Tony revealed
The Ballad of Gay Tony's Luis Lopez seems to have a pretty easy life. The main playable character of the Xbox-only GTA IV episode must simply deal with Liberty City's wealthiest clientele, ensuring their experience at Tony Prince's two nightclubs goes without a hitch. According to Rockstar PR, jobs will involve kicking out drug dealers, dealing with the paparazzi, and getting the appropriate pick-me-ups for the stars.Maisonette 9 and Hercules are two new locations added to the Gay Tony episode. In addition to work, you'll be able to partake in a variety of sidequests and minigames: a "familiar-feeling dance minigame," and a new game that takes place in the club bathroom with a girl. We're not entirely sure what that will entail ... but thinking about the franchise's legacy, we think you can figure it out.
Rockstar drops details of new multiplayer in GTA: The Ballad of Gay Tony
Click for grander imagesYou know that iconic moment in the Ballad of Gay Tony trailer when Luis jumps out of some kind of aerial vehicle? Did you ever wonder what it would look like if, instead of one guy parachuting down into Liberty City, it was eight people? Probably not. Anyway, here's a screenshot of that from Rockstar's latest release, detailing The Ballad of Gay Tony's multiplayer modes.Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch will see lots of new weapons, of course, but also new Kill Streaks and Assisted Kills, which provide cash bonuses. Free Mode gets a little freer with the addition of Buzzard helicopters, APCs, and, of course, parachutes. We can't wait to see what kind of ridiculous emergent competition comes from parachute-based combat.Check our gallery for more new multiplayer screens!%Gallery-75593%
New 'Ballad of Gay Tony' trailer's got the (action movie) look
digg_url = 'http://www.joystiq.com/2009/10/07/new-ballad-of-gay-tony-trailers-got-the-action-movie-look/'; We can look back and laugh at the funny dialogue and guys-in-underpants of previous Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony trailers, but in the latest one, things get real. It's titled "There's Always a Girl" (after a featured line of dialogue) but could more accurately be dubbed, "There's Always Jumping from Motorcycles onto Moving Jets and Tearing Through Liberty City in an Armored Personnel Carrier." Oh, it has more of Luis parachuting into Liberty City and even confronting (then riding with) members of The Lost motorcycle club -- you know, from the previous DLC, The Lost and Damned. All of this paired with Roxette's "She's Got the Look." You've got to look!
Rainbow-licious Gay Tony Tees from Rockstar
Are you excited for the release of The Ballad of Gay Tony? Would you like to display that excitement for the whole world to see? Wait ... no ... pull up your pants, we were talking about T-shirts. Rockstar is now selling T-shirts celebrating the release of the upcoming GTAIV expansion. Up for grabs are several Gay Tony logo tees -- available in white, black and pink -- as well as the Episodes from Liberty City tee and, our favorite, the Rockstar rainbow logo tee. At twenty bucks each, you can get enough for the whole family. That, or you could just save the scratch and buy the actual game. It's up to you, really.
Dance the night away with Gay Tony Achievements
Ahead of the impending release of The Ballad of Gay Tony -- as DLC or as a part of the Episodes from Liberty City retail disc -- Grand Theft Auto IV has been updated with new Achievements on Xbox.com. Ten new Achievements have been added for The Ballad of Gay Tony, totaling 250 points and bringing the grand total for GTAIV to 1500 points. Players are rewarded for various tasks in the expansion, including base jumping, cage fighting and -- Joystiq's favorite -- dancing flawlessly. Head over to Xbox 360 Achievements for the full list.
New 'Episodes from Liberty City' introduces Armando & Henrique
Good friends are hard to come by, especially on the seedy streets of Liberty City. That's why we're so glad the above trailer for Episodes from Liberty City (which features snippets from The Ballad of Gay Tony and The Lost and the Damned) emphasizes the comradery one can experience in the city's many boroughs.Don't believe us? Just ask The Ballad of Gay Tony protagonist Luis Lopez's childhood friends Armando Torres and Henrique Bardas, who have stuck with Lopez through thick and thin.
Catch a gold bar from Yusuf Amir in the new Ballad of Gay Tony trailer
It would be outright unfair to spoil any of the hilarious, minute-long trailer for upcoming GTA IV expansion The Ballad of Gay Tony that we've dropped above. We would like to highlight its introduction of Yusuf Amir, a character who seems to be on the level of Brucie in terms of sheer personality. With any luck, we'll get to hang out with Mr. Amir quite a bit while playing through The Ballad of Gay Tony when it's released on October 29. %Gallery-68537%
