Microsoft could barely contain its glee at being able to confirm exclusive downloadable content for next year's Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto IV - but PS3 fans need not fear, as it seems the Sony release is also firmly in line to receive its very own dazzling additions.
According to a source close to Rockstar North, the team is working on exclusive supplemental content for both systems, which will be made available for download via Microsoft and Sony's respective online services after the game's release next year.
In case you missed it, Microsoft revealed at X06 that Xbox 360 owners will get "exclusive access to two downloadable, epic episodes of GTA IV via Xbox Live, each with hours of entirely new gameplay and available only on Xbox 360 just months after the release of the title".
We're told to expect much the same deal on PS3, except unique to the platform. Interestingly, the downloadable content, our source maintains, will take the form of brand new areas which will link into the main GTAIV game world.
"Think of the world as a large island - the new downloadable areas will be like smaller islands linking into it," the source explained. (Which is a structural analogy, rather than a suggestion that the game is set on an island, we hasten to add.)
How many additional areas or episodes Rockstar is planning is anyone's guess at this juncture, but it seems the game is at least being structured to accommodate a number of expansive new content releases in the weeks and months after release, while also satisfying platform holder - and console owner - demand for exclusive material.
Though with 'exclusive' being a somewhat elastic term these days, especially where Grand Theft Auto is concerned, we wouldn't be remotely surprised if you end up playing 'exclusive' 360 episodes on your PS3, and vice versa. One thing's for sure - there's nothing more certain to piss off the fanboys than a level playing field.
No formal response from Rockstar at the time of writing. But, as ever, don't expect official word until they're good and ready.
Grand Theft Auto IV is scheduled to release on Xbox 360 and PS3 in the US on 16th October 2007, with Europe getting hold of it just three days later.
It pisses me off... not that PS3 is also going ot be getting exclusives, but that this is probably going to happen for other games as well. Are we going to have to end up buying 2 copies of a game, one for the ps3 and one for the 360, because they are each going to get different exclusive expansions? I dont care much for GTA, but if they start doing this in other big games, im going to be very dissapointed. So far, the "exclusives" that the same games on different consoles have recieved have been very small. For instance, Soul Calibur... PS2 version had 1 extra character, the 360 had a different extra character. Etc. But what about when an expansion to a game is only on the PS3, and 360 owners get screwed, or vice versa?
IMO GTA 3 was the best. I like the mob feel but content wise, GTA:SA wins big time, I still didnt get that one to 100%, granted im like 92% and havent played it in a few months. I beat VC and 3 to 100% pretty easily, not SA. I just want a 3 type game, or even VC on a SA content scale or larger.
On topic: I highly anticiapte this game and did so for the previous of the GTA series including 2. I hope this goes back to its roots with mafia thyeme but keeps the R* crazyness. N'uff getto hustlers.
To Enderet: We can't have it all, unless you have the money to spend that is. Other than performance platfroms are trying to distinguish themselves to encourage you to buy thier system. For some wether 360 has GTA is the decideding factor to not go for the over priced PS3. Meh. I'll prolly get a PS3 because I'm more of a PS fanboy. Not a huge fan of the XBOX but you never know. $600 bucks for online play is a lot.
What we heard: At Microsoft's pre-E3 06 press conference, Xbox marketing chief Peter Moore drew audible gasps from the audience with a surprise announcement. Brandishing a mock tattoo of the Grand Theft Auto IV logo, the executive announced that the much-awaited sequel would be released "day one" on the Xbox 360.
The news marked the end of the traditional GTA release model, which saw every game from Grand Theft Auto III foward debut on the PlayStation 2 and not arrive on the PC and Xbox until at least nine months later. The delay prompted many to buy a PS2 just to play GTA III or its successors, Vice City and San Andreas. Indeed, many gamers had starting saving for a PlayStation 3, assuming that the same delay would apply.
While GTA IV debuting on 360 was news enough, Moore went one further. He announced that "Microsoft and Rockstar have entered into an exclusive deal to provide episodic content via Xbox Live Marketplace" for GTA IV. At X06, Microsoft detailed the exclusive content as "two epic episodes of GTA IV via Xbox Live, each with hours of new gameplay available only on Xbox 360 just months after [GTA IV's] release."
Now, a report has surfaced that may make the 360 GTA IV episodes not appear to be as much of a coup as they seemed. Citing a source close to GTA developer Rockstar North, Eurogamer reports that the PS3 edition of GTA IV will be getting its own episodic content in "the form of brand new areas which will link into the main GTA IV game world." According to the source, one should "think of the [GTA IV] world as a large island--the new downloadable areas will be like smaller islands linking into it."
The official story: Rockstar reps were not available for comment as of press time.
Bogus or not bogus?: With more and more AAA games jumping on the episodic content bandwagon--we're looking at you Oblivion--updating the PS3 GTA IV seems likely, especially if Rockstar is already planning a similar scheme with the 360. However, nothing's official...yet.
