But will it succeed?

Midnight Club: Los Angeles really doesn’t have much in the way of plot—you’re a new street racing soul who’s just hit Los Angeles—a surprisingly realistic Los Angeles– looking to make the big scores.  And to that end, you’ll…well…jam your foot down on the accelerator and occasionally turn the wheel.  Repeatedly. Over and over and over again.

I know, it’s a graphic oversimplification, but at the root that’s exactly what you’ll be doing.  Of course, since what you’re doing is kinda sorta technically criminal…you’ll be doing this in the most underground, often criminal of fashions.  You’ll be introduced to the world of illegal Los Angeles street racing by a guy named Booke, who sets up your races via officially licensed T-Mobile Sidekick cell phone.  And you’ll eventually get hooked up with a few others, including Karol, who’ll offer you use of a garage as a safehouse; Annie, one of the best drivers in Los Angeles; and Andrew, a young man with a lot more enthusiasm than good sense.

Now, that’s not where this game ends, though—Midnight Club: Los Angeles will make up for its incredibly simplistic game play (like I said, foot, accelerator, wheel turns slightly) by offering you an INCREDIBLY vast array of options.  It’s downright unsettling just how many options there are.

First, you’ll be able to, eventually, choose from a whole lineup of cars.  Muscle cars, exotic cars (including a Ford, which surprised me…the Ford GT, specifically), something called a “tuner”, which strangely included a PONTIAC, and a motorcycle.  Now, once you’ve got your base ride finally settled on, you’ll then be able to launch into a series of options.  Everything from paint and body work down to the very floor mats will be available for your selection.  No, seriously—you can CUSTOMIZE THE FLOOR MATS.

But there’s a not inconsiderable down side to the whole affair.  While you’re given a whole wide field of options—probably too many options for the kind of game you’re playing—you’re going to have to grapple with an intense initial level of difficulty.  The car you’ll start with isn’t exactly the best car.  The car I wound up with handled like a brick with wings, and trying to win those early races was pretty tough, even at the easiest levels of racing.  Traffic got uncomfortably dense in a lot of places, and all I can think is, how am I supposed to win a race when I’ve got all these Sunday drivers and commuters out at Ridiculous O’Clock at night?  It doesn’t even make SENSE, seriously.

But still—if you can’t get enough of modifying your car or motorcycle, and are desperate to take it through the streets of a shockingly realistic simulation of Los Angeles, then Midnight Club: Los Angeles is going to be EXACTLY what you’re after.  Otherwise, try a rental or take a pass.

The free expansion is temporarily an Xbox Live Gold-only download, while anyone willing to part with 800 Microsoft points ($10) can grab the Premium upgrade.

Both DLC expand the city of the racer by roughly 33%, while the premium adds more races, cars and music.

A trailer for the upcoming South Central DLC for Rockstar’s Midnight Club: Los Angeles has hit the web today.

The South Central Upgrade and Content Pack will include South Central LA, effectively increasing hte current map size by 1/3, for free.

Players will also be given the option to purchase the pack which will net them a whole slew of content from new cars, to new races and music.

This update is schedule to hit PSN and Xbox Live this month for $10 or 800 Microsoft Points, respectively.

Rockstar Games today announced that the first downloadable content for its open-world racer Midnight Club: Los Angeles will hit Xbox Live and PlayStation Network on March 10.

The content will arrive in two forms – one free, the other premium. The free download expands the map by one third, adding four new neighborhoods. The premium content will add nine new vehicles on top of the map, as well as 26 new races, 12 new battle maps, 10 new delivery missions, new body parts, new music and more.

The premium content will be priced at $9.99 on PSN and 800 points on Xbox Live.

It’s no surprise the economy isn’t exactly at it’s peak right now, and trust me I’m getting damn sick of hearing how horrible it is too. Best Buy probably doesn’t care if you’re sick of hearing it or not but who cares because they have recently introduced a new reduced price on several Xbox 360 games for a limited time.

The sale includes Halo 3, NBA 2K9, Shaun White Snowboarding, Midnight Club Los Angeles, and Tom Clancy’s EndWar all marked down from $59.99 to $39.99, not a bad deal if you ask me.

While they don’t list when the sale is going to end, chances are it won’t last forever so you better move fast!

In a slip, Microsoft had mistakenly put up a batch of free downloadable content for Midnight Club: Los Angeles on the Xbox Live Marketplace last night. While it can no longer be downloaded, those who did are advised by the company to delete the pack as “it may not work properly.”

“The Achievements won’t register and [the pack] could cause you problems with your Midnight Club: LA game saves,” reads a post on EMEA Xbox community manager Graeme Boyd’s blog.

The pack was a 1.4GB download and is said to offer the South Central area, as well as new cars, competitions, races and music. It was promised an early 2009 release.

The free South Central Upgrade Map will be roughly 1/3 the size of the original map and will add a number of landmarks, including the Exposition Park, the USC Campus, Shrine Auditorium, Crenshaw Plaza and the LA Memorial Coliseum. The premium South Central pack will add some cars, a motorcycle and SUVs along with new character competitions, races and music.

No price was specified for the premium pack. No specific release date was given either.

Midnight Club: Los Angeles

The reason for the delay was explained personally by Take-Two CEO Ben Feder to be due to marketing reasons.

Los Angeles is the next-gen entry in the long-running Midnight Club series which sees players jumping into various vehicles, including SUVs and motorcycles and race across an open-ended city.