If we are to believe
CVG's new
GTA IV magazine special (said
to be sponsored "largely by Microsoft"), the forthcoming DLC for the
360 version of the game will include a little more than shiny new car models,
new clothes and such. The DLC content is allegedly said to serve the same function
that
Vice City and
San Andreas did for
GTA III.
Certainly, a healthy amount of extrapolation went into this statement, but even
if one tenth of this is true, this might mean we'll get to see brand new cities
released as DLC, following the retail release of
GTA IV on April
29.
Suddenly, the $50 million that Microsoft paid to get exclusive rights to DLC makes
more sense. Not to mention that with that sort of financial incentive, Rockstar
could quite easily have outsourced the downloadable content work to another development
studio.
"Of course, to call games as vastly ambitious as Vice City or San Andreas
mere 'expansion packs' seems childish, but nevertheless, the downloadable
content (DLC) coming for the Xbox 360 version of IV has repositioned those
games in just this way. DLC so far has meant the odd new car, jumper of bit
of horse armour, but GTA IV is set to completely redefine the idea with expansions
that are to GTA IV what Vice City or San Andreas were GTA III. Yes, Rockstar
is clearly hinting at new downloadable cities; and the chances of them being
London, Vice City or SA again are slim to none. So that's new as in brand
new. GTA IV's Liberty City is the beginning. Think about that and be excited."
Source.
For more information on
Grand Theft Auto IV, check out our
GTA IV Hub.