GTA 4 fans will be happy to hear that Rockstar has unleashed the game’s latest DLC pack ‘The Ballad of Gay Tony’ onto Xbox Live for 1600 Microsoft Points. Now, I bought the first DLC pack and wasn’t very satisfied with spending the $20 but Gay Tony looks to be a lot better.

Don’t know what’s included in this new DLC pack? Head here and watch a trailer for the game.

Rockstar has recently released the above trailer showcasing Grand Theft Auto IV’s latest expansion The Ballad of Gay Tony. This trailer does an amazing job showcasing what an action packed title The Ballad of Gay Tony is going to be; jumping off motorcycles onto moving airplanes, jumping off dirt bikes and parachuting to the ground and of course cruising down the streets in an armored vehicle. What could be better?

The Ballad of Gay Tony will be out as part of Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City on October 27th, 2009.

“Chinatown Wars is a perfect match for the iPhone and iPod touch,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “We are very excited to bring this incredibly ambitious version of Liberty City, with this level of detail and immersive gameplay on Apple’s new gaming platforms.”

Just like Beaterator, there was no mention of a price but we’ll keep you updated as the story unfolds.

via toucharcade

According to the press release, the game “features thousands of loops and sounds made by both Timbaland and Rockstar, and puts the power to make professoinal-level music at your fingertips in a format that’s portable, accesible and fun.”

No price yet, but we’ll keep you posted.

via joystiq

If you didn’t know, Rockstar is gearing up to launch a GTA IV DLC retail bundle called Episodes From Liberty City that is to include both The Lost & Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony. The bundle is reportedly hitting store shelves this fall for $39.99 and will not require gamers to own the original GTA IV game.

Anyways, what you see above is the recently released official box art for the bundle for you to feast your eyes on.

As you can see, The Ballad of Gay Tony will expand on Grand Theft Auto IV’s already insanely intricate game play making for a must buy. These screen shots showcase a few new vehicles and a chrome mini UZI.

Check out the rest of the screens in the gallery, below.

via GTA4.net

While the studio didn’t release any specific info on projects, citing more details will be released in the future, they did say that their first objectives would be to work on the mobile sector, specifically Apple’s iPhone platform and move to consoles later on.

Rockstar has added to the rumors, releasing a tweet with the words “Details on 2nd episode of GTAIV downloadable content coming soon.”

E3 is a pretty good bet.

Believe it or not, Grand Theft Auto IV was released exactly 1 year ago today. You know what that means, right? An Xbox 360 bundle, duh!

Word has recently gotten out that Microsoft is prepping to launch the above pictured Xbox 360 bundle to coincide with GTA IV’s 1 year anniversary.

According to Kotaku, the bundle will feature an Xbox 360 Elite, along with GTA IV, and 2 limited edition stickers; one featuring the game’s logo and one featuring the Liberty City Swingers logo. Unfortunately Microsoft left out the first DLC episode, The Lost & Damned, bummer.

No release date or pricing has been announced but we’ll keep you posted.

The games cost 1200 Microsoft points ($15) each and offer slow-mo shooting action featuring a police officer who has a constantly constipated face.

Originally developed by Remedy Entertainment, the third entry in the series will be released this year; it is being developed for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 by Rockstar Vancouver.

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.

First up is EEDAR analyst Jesse Divinich who pegged the March sales of the game at only 200,000 units, noting that while it will be profitable for Rockstar, the numbers aren’t exactly encouraging for other publishers.

Meanwhile, analyst Michael Pachter estimated that the game has sold over twice that number.

It is not yet confirmed just how many units the game has sold. Official NPD sales numbers aren’t due till Thursday, so keep biting your nails.

This points to the likely release of the games on either Xbox Live Arcade or through the downloadable Xbox Originals program, seeing as how they were both released for the Xbox. Through this, the games can be played on a Xbox 360 using backwards compatibility.

Rockstar and Take-Two are yet to confirm the report. Max Payne 3 arrives this winter on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

The third installment in the third-person shooter series is being developed at Rockstar Vancouver (Bully) and will feature a now-retired Payne who cannot get away from the world he starred in the first two titles.

"We’re starting a new chapter of Max’s life with this game," said Sam Houser, founder of Rockstar Games. "This is Max as we’ve never seen him before, a few years older, more world-weary and cynical than ever. We experience the downward spiral of his life after the events of Max Payne 2 and witness his last chance for salvation."

A new city will be introduced in the game, as Payne left behind New York City after the events of Max Payne 2.

The game is set for release on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 this winter.

"If the title’s subsequent reviews are consistent with the initial critical response, ‘Chinatown Wars’ would be the highest rated title on the DS to date," said Cowen Group analyst Doug Creutz.

Creutz expects the game to sell about 2 million units this year.

"The highly-rated release supports our belief that Take-Two has, pound-for-pound, the highest-quality development talent in the industry," added Creutz.

This is Rockstar’s first outing on the DS. Their previous handheld games include GTA: Liberty City and Vice City Stories on the PSP.

Well, they are by no means official numbers but analyst Jesse Divnich has a hunch that the following numbers are at least predictably accurate.

Anyways, Divnich says that the GTA IV expansion, The Lost & Damned, raked in less than $3 million dollars at brick and mortar retailers while raking in up to $18 million over Xbox Live.

While these numbers are not straight from Rockstar, it makes it easy to tell that the Xbox Live method of aquiring The Lost & Damned was much more favorable than the physical counterpart.

However, if the expansion’s content had actually been released on a game disc as opposed to getting a code to download the content over Xbox Live, these numbers probably would have been a lot different.

Read (Joystiq)

If you were expected on getting your hands on Midnight Club: LA’s South Central DLC tomorrow, there’s bad news for you.

It was recently announced that the South Central pack is being pushed back a week, to the 19th, disputing it’s previously announced March 12th release date.

However, in leui of this delay Rockstar has released a video detailing a car that will be included in the pack; a 1964 Chevy Impala. Yes, it has hydraulics, Eazy-E would be proud.

Read (Kotaku)

Take Two has revealed that over 2.8 million shares will be given to top Rockstar management, which includes Rockstar co-founders Sam and Dan Houser and GTA4 producer Leslie Benzies, the total value of the stocks is $18 million.

The Rockstar team reached a deal last year that gave them stock based profit sharing, while they would remain at Rockstar until 2013.

"Take-Two released the first installment of DLC for GTA in mid-February, and we estimate that the game has been downloaded over 1 million times to date," said Patcher. "By year-end, we think that this figure will likely double, giving us greater confidence that Take-Two can achieve its full-year earnings guidance."

The expansion costs $20 and is exclusive to Xbox 360. It can be bought both offline and online, though it still has to be downloaded through Xbox Live.

Patcher additionally expects the next full release of GTA to outsell GTA 4 by up to 50 percent due to larger hardware install base.

If you had any doubts in Rockstar’s ability to develop for the Nintendo DS console, you can now lay them to rest.

In the words of our big friend Fat Joe, GTA: Chinatown Wars is going to be a mad ill, dope game.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is currently under development by Rockstar Leeds and is looking at a March 17th release date for the Nintendo DS.

Read (GamerLimit)