Rockstar has announced that the two Grand Theft Auto IV episodes, billed together as Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City, will finally be released for the PlayStation 3 and PC on March 30, 2010. Grand Theft Auto: The Lost and Damned (originally released in February 2009) and Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony (originally released in October 2009) will sell for $19.99 each on the PlayStation Network and Games for Windows Live; in addition, the standalone Episodes From Liberty City disc that came out on the Xbox 360 will be available for $39.99 for PS3 and PC. The PC version will include 32-player multiplayer matches and an "advanced video editor" to make highlight reels of the carnage you wreak in Liberty City.
This has been rumored for a while, especially since a patch in November 2009 added Games for Windows Live Achievements for The Lost and Damned to the PC version of GTA IV. And earlier this month, Rockstar teased that they "promise to be very good" to PS3 owners in 2010. As someone who owns GTA IV on the PS3, I guess I should be happy -- it's always great to see more gamers get the chance to play this stuff.
But I have to wonder: Do PS3 and PC owners even care at this point? GTA IV will be almost a two-year-old game by the time the episodes come out on the PS3 and PC, and since its launch in April 2008, the open world genre has seen a significant amount of growth and evolution. Around the release of The Ballad of Gay Tony last October, I remember hearing a lot of folks talking about GTA IV as if going back to it a year and a half after the game's release made its flaws much more apparent, and much less tolerable.
I'd also love to know the percentage of people who bought GTA IV on the PS3 -- over 1 million gamers in the first five days after launch -- but have since gotten rid of their copies under the assumption that the episodic content that was promoted as exclusive to the 360 would never be coming to the PS3. I still have my copy, but I'm unsure if this late port will actually get me to pop it back into my PS3 to play the episodes, especially considering the top-tier new releases coming out seemingly every week in the first half of 2010.
So tell me, GTA IV PS3/PC version owners: Are you going to buy the episodes now that you finally have the opportunity to do so? Or is this a case of "too little, too late"?
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City Coming to PlayStation 3 and PC [Rockstar Newswire]
Contest:
12:44 AM on 01.29.2010
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Either that, or I just get him GoW III for his birthday.
I do feel that the game is dated, especially for people who've been trained on Uncharted 2 and other games, but if you love GTA IV, and more story's what you want, you should get it. The disc, at least. You can get that cheap either day of release or a couple months after when the price will enevitably go down. No need to download if you can have the same thing on a disc for cheaper.
I suspect it's albiet too late for a release on PC(games for Windows Live)/PS3 but better late than never, IMO. Microsoft made back their money spent on the individual DLC versions alone and then some, anyway.. this isn't even counting the money they made from the retail version. Good to see this game getting some love from 2 other platforms, but it'll be rather funny to see what irony the fanboys have to say.
The PC version is a MUST BUY for anyone who loves doing funny shit, even for the core game. The ability to record the hilarious shit you can do is worth it alone.
So, no, this is a pass.
Not to mention the absolute joke that multiplayer is on the PC. It's one giant mess of cheaters, with the stupidest server browser ever- you actually have to fully load the single player game, which takes a damn long time, just so you can use the ingame cell phone to browse for a multiplayer game. Which has its own loading time. So it's basically a server browser with a pointless 60 second loading time.
At this point, the only thing which wouldn't be "too little, too late" would be a grovelling apology for the insult to PC gamers that was their sloppy port job, a free patch that increases performance and reduces requirements by at least a factor of two, and a total rework of the whole multiplayer system. Anything short of that, and GTAIV will remain my biggest game purchase regret ever.
Thanks for saving me money and making my apathy problems worse, Microsoft.
Yeah, it's totally standalone, but doesn't include vanilla GTA IV. You choose either game from the main menu, and each retains its own saves. You have the full city from GTA IV plus the new areas, but none of the old main story.
Its kind of cool, there are parts where the stories in the expansions overlap with what happened in GTA IV with Nico, and its funny as hell.
wow, i am so happy! Cant believe i thought of buying xbox because of this. Now there is no game on Box that i wanna play. Somehow i've found all it's exclusives very unappealing to me.
Haven't so much as glanced at GTA IV in quite a while. This will make a good distraction for when there's a drought of newer titles I want.
So, after 3DDGH, but before Sengoku Basara 3, for me.
From what others have said, the missions are supposed to be better than in the original game and with new weapons and vehicles?
(I honestly haven't followed these at all since I assumed I'd never get to play them.)
I guess i can hate GTA4 only because it made me hate driving "old style".
You can't do any deal right, huh?
I might have picked up the DLC despite not beating the game proper, but since it's been so long since I've played it, I'll probably pass on the DLC at this point. I might get it well after the launch date, but only if I'm really bored and in the mood for it.
Sure the gunplay is really dated but tolerable. I find turning off auto-aim makes it a little more interesting and challenging.
If they get cheap enough... but even then, I only play GTAIV now when my neighbour fancy some safe indoors drunk driving :|
Wow I can pull figures out of my ass to.
Thanks for showing us that!
I never finshed GTA IV either, the expansions appeal more to me ,also, I have heard Gay Tony is funny as fook.
LatD is good, similar story-telling to GTA4. BoGT felt puerile and like much more of a score attack than a story, I am not going to go back and replay each mission for perfect grades. I think if you liked the Nico story in 4 you will like LatD, if you like fart jokes and San Andreas rocket packs, you will like BoGT.
a good game is always a good game for me, and 2 years is basically nothing, the graphics and the engine in GTAIV can easily be more awesome than the ones of some others actual games (see lights effects as a example), also, the modders are very helpulf with extend the life of the own game, there are some sick mods out there for GTAIV than im sure will let u with your jaw dropped, and now with these DLCs....... oh god i can barely believe it...it's finally here !! we wait almost 2 years for them...im so happy, now i will finally make my own vids about jhonny and luiz and their new toys, im looking foward to upgrade my PC even more for this little R* gift, hope see u guys on MP and hope u have fun with the SP, its awesome