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Incoming Xbox Deals of the Week: Lost and Damned, Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 2
How often is the Xbox Live Deal of the Week actually exciting? Not this week, at least, but it will be this month! On August 24, Microsoft will offer something pretty tempting: Grand Theft Auto: The Lost and Damned for 1200 ($15), 5 bucks off the normal asking price for the Grand Theft Auto IV expansion. If you're the guy who bought GTA IV on 360 but hasn't picked this up yet -- and you don't want to wait for Episodes from Liberty City -- now's a great time to pick up a new set of missions to give up on halfway through the game, in favor of just doing awesome bike jumps. The announcement also reveals that a deal for Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 2 is incoming, so ... you know, don't buy it yet. Also, a Halo 3 Dashboard theme that you really don't need to buy ever.
Rockstar, Media Molecule lead 2009 Develop Awards nods
Rockstar Leeds and Rockstar North, together with LittleBigPlanet dev Media Molecule have netted an impressive eleven nominations for the 2009 Develop Industry Excellence Awards, the UK's annual prize patrol for all things excellent in the industry. The Rockstar houses pocketed six of their own for work on GTA: Chinatown Wars and GTA IV: The Lost and the Damned, including nods for visual arts, technical innovation and audio. Rockstar Leeds is also up for the award for best handheld game studio, while both are in the running for being recognized as the best in-house team. Media Molecule is up for five awards as well, including best indie studio and best new IP. The Guildford studio is also up for the technical innovation award, where it's not only up against the Rockstar folks, but the teams behind Killzone 2, PlayStation Home, Football Manager Live and Fable II. We wish all nominees the best of luck and remind them not to forget to thanks their moms should they take the stage and accept an award during the July 15 ceremony.
EEDAR: DLC to drive AAA title revenue up 10 percent by 2010
DLC can expand a game in many ways. Not only can it expand the experience offered by a title, but it can also expand your wallet, take out your money, and place it in the hands of publishers and developers. And, by 2010, EEDAR predicts that "the average AAA title should be able to earn an additional 10% in revenue by releasing additional content through digital distribution."It's not a hard pill to swallow; DLC packs such as The Lost and Damned and Call of Duty: World at War's Map Pack 1 have been selling like virtual hotcakes, and Sony has been milking LittleBigPlanet in all the appropriate ways. Also, let's not forget about Criterion Games, the company that has been adding value consistently to its Burnout Paradise game. Of course, gamers have been complaining about paid DLC just as consistently.
Analyst: Lost and Damned earned $18 million online, $3 million at retail
Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR) analyst Jesse Divnich's crystal ball predicts brick-and-mortar retail sales of GTA IV's expansion, The Lost and Damned, to be less than $3 million. He believes current global sales from customers who purchased it across Xbox Live to be around $18 million. This latest bit of analyst prognostication comes following Pachter's missive (translated from an Illuminati memo) that GTA's biker expansion could sell upwards of two million units by year's end.Although the 6-to-1 online vs. retail ratio seems dramatic, is it really surprising when The Lost and Damned was promoted as a DLC pack anyway? In this case, retail was just a middle man, as those who purchased the "game" at their local bodega received a card with a code to download the expansion. All we really know at this point is that the game is selling very well.%Gallery-37692%
Dress up in leather with Lost & Damned Avatar apparel
Microsoft has added a touch of leather to the Avatar closet, delivering biker themed clothing to celebrate the release of Grand Theft Auto IV's The Lost & Damned downloadable content.As has been the norm, all clothing is free and denoted by a yellow star in the Avatar customization application. Sadly, there is no miniature Avatar motorcycle to go with the new biker duds. Guys: Rocker Jacket, Pixie Boots, Grunge Pants, Metal Combats, Top Hat, Skull Ring, Leather Biker Gloves, Left Feather Earring, Right Feather Earring Gals: Punk Tee, Black 60's Boots, Leopard Print Leggings, Biker Jacket, Biker Gloves, Skull Wrist Band, Left Feather Earring, Right Feather Earring
Rockstar ditches Amazon, goes with iTunes for music partnership
There's a neat feature in GTA IV that allows players to identify and purchase any of the songs appearing on the various radio stations of Liberty City. It's called ZiT! and may be accessed at any time through the cellphone in-game, but the MP3 itself is delivered to the user through Rockstar's Social Club site, thanks to a partnership between Rockstar and Amazon. With the new The Lost & The Damned expansion set to hit in one week and update five of the game's radio stations, Rockstar has ended its relationship with Amazon and is instead going with Apple's iTunes Variety's Cut Scene blog reports.Apple recently killed DRM throughout iTunes -- that, plus the number of folks using the service regularly, seems to be the winning combination for Rockstar. The switch will take effect when The Lost & The Damned releases on February 17.%Gallery-37692%
3 months of Xbox Live free with Lost & Damned purchase
If you can stand to wait a few days before partaking in the cycling adventures of The Lost & Damned (stupid shipping delays), then Amazon.com might have an offer for you. They're enticing all GTAIV enthusiasts with a free three-month Xbox Live card with purchase of Lost & Damned.Your other option would be to snag the DLC from the Xbox Live Marketplace on February 17th, the instant it becomes available. For some, having to wait a minute longer to download the expansion in all its 10+ hour, Busta Rhymes music-debuting and Niko-less glory would be unthinkable.[Thanks, Sgt Barone]
Lost & Damned to add new hip-hop music, TV content and commercials
Per our conversation with Rockstar Games and information gathered from a recent Associated Press report, we've learned that Grand Theft Auto IV's The Lost & Damned downloadable content will feature new music, television programming (including a new season of Republican Space Rangers!) and radio commercials.Flexmaster Flex, along with a few other artists, will be featured in Lost & Damned. We're also told that Trevor Tamerri Smith, Jr. (aka Busta Rhymes) will exclusively debut his latest track, "Conglomerate" in the DLC. We're sure the Busta news would be more interesting if we still lived in 1996, but just go with it. All-new songs (and presumably new commercials) will be added to five of the in-game radio stations and, as with all GTA IV-featured music, players can "tag" each song for purchase through iTunes. Woo-ha!
Say hello to The Lost and Damned's Johnny
Rockstar has released a new trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV's upcoming Lost and Damned DLC, featuring who we're assuming is the lead character, Johnny Klebitz. Sporting black leather, a bald head and a grizzled face, we're guessing he gets mistaken for Left 4 Dead's Francis all the time. It might explain why he's so angry. The trailer shows off all the GTA funnery we've come to expect, including a police chase on an airplane runway. Check it out after the break.
Lost, Damned, and caught on video
Meet Billy, he's lost. Meet Malc, he's probably lost too. Possibly damned, we don't know for sure. Together, they make for one zany couple. Wonder what kind of hi-jinx they like to get into? See for yourself after break. Gallery: Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned DLC
Video: Meet Billy and Malc from GTAIV's Lost and Damned
Rockstar has released two new trailers for the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV "Lost and Damned" DLC, each showcasing one of the episode's new characters. The first, Billy Grey, is the leader of The Lost, Liberty City's notorious biker gang. A walking bad attitude with a leather jacket, let's just say he's not the kind of guy you'd want hanging around your sister. Or anyone close to you. Or yourself, for that matter. Malc, on the other hand, is a tough customer himself and looks to be a member of a different kind of biker gang. Are we sensing a conflict between these two groups?Yes. Yes, we believe we are. Check out both trailers after the break. Gallery: Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned
VGA 2008: See God of War 3, Brtal Legend, Uncharted 2 & Lost and Damned
If you missed the VGAs last night, you needn't worry, we've prepared the full virtual experience for you this morning. First, go read our liveblog of the event. Then, watch the delightful batch of trailers we've got for you after the break. Finally, imagine Jack Black is yelling at you in his underwear. You are there!Enjoy this first crop of media from Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned, God of War 3, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Brütal Legend. We'll have the rest of the media for you in a bit.
Video: First look at GTAIV's Lost and Damned
Not only did last evening's Spike Video Game Awards bring Gears of War 2 DLC news, it also brought us our first look at Grand Theft Auto IV's upcoming Lost and Damned episodic expansion. Just as promised. You can view the exclusive Lost and Damned trailer after the break and begin pondering whether 1600 Microsoft points is worth admission into a biker gang. Truth be told, you'll get some fashionable leather apparel, but the motorcycle speeds wreak havoc on the health of your hair. We're talking split ends.
GTAIV 'Lost and Damned' to debut at Spike VGAs
Spike TV must be on a television ratings mission, because they not only have secured a few game debuts for their VGA award show, but we're told that Grand Theft Auto IV's Lost and Damned episodic content will premier at the award show as well. The press release doesn't tell us much more than that, so we're not exactly sure what or how much Lost and Damned will be shown. Then again, it doesn't really matter, because our interest is piqued and we'll be tuning in on December 14th at 9:00PM eastern.%Gallery-37703%[Via Joystiq]
GTAIV 'Lost and Damned' DLC available at retail
When Microsoft and Rockstar Games initially announced their partnership to release the Grand Theft Auto IV Lost and Damned DLC to the 360, we were under the impression that it'd be exclusive to the Xbox Live Marketplace. We were wrong. There's a Gamestop.com product listing for "Grand Theft Auto IV: Lost & Damned" and the product is a redemption code card that requires Xbox Live to redeem. We're guessing that retailers will be selling Lost and Damned redemption cards in place of a retail disc to sell the DLC at a retail level. Oh, also note that Gamestop has the DLC listed to release on February 17th for $19.99.[Via Gamesindustry.biz]
GTAIV 'Lost and Damned' gets screenshoted
Hot on the heels of their announcement of Grand Theft Auto IV The Lost and Damned (the first hunk of episodic DLC), Rockstar has released four high-res screenshots for your viewing pleasure. You can view the screens in the nifty gallery below and analyze every last detail. You may notice that biker dudes are a running theme in the screenshots and it's for good reason. The DLC's main character Johnny Klebitz is part of a Liberty City biker gang. We're also informed that The Lost and Damned content will feature "new missions that offer an entirely fresh way to explore Liberty City," along with new multiplayer modes, weapons, vehicles and music. Really, how can you go wrong?%Gallery-37703%[Via Joystiq]
