GTA: Episodes From Liberty City hitting PS3, PC in March

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Home #Grand Theft Auto

12:44 AM on 01.29.2010 | Samit Sarkar

92 comments

GTA: Episodes From Liberty City hitting PS3, PC in March photo

#Episodic Content #Games for Windows #Grand Theft Auto #PC #PS3 #PSN #Rockstar #top stories

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]

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85 comments | showing # 1 to 50

next 50 comments

Gestault

About effing time. The exclusivity on this one pissed me off.

WarZombie

Well, this surprised me, but at the same time it doesn't. I shouldn't be surprised to see "Exclusivity" go away, but then again, why the fuck did MS spend money for temporary exclusivity? Well, it was exclusive for a while, but still. Anyway, good for PS3 and PC owners then.

Mueti

I had almost forgotten all about the episodes which I didn't expect to hit the PC at all. I think I'm up for some more GTAIV now, so I'll be getting them once they'll be available.

HEL105

Get this, my PS3 having bretheren. Lost and the Damned was a little meh, but Gay Tony was fantastic.

Wally

I shall get this for my stepfather most likely. We have our differences (I'm the online gamer on the 360, he's the Blu Ray loving Sony fan), but I think he'd appreciated this, as only I have the GTA episodes as of now.

Either that, or I just get him GoW III for his birthday.

Doos

Like HEL105 says.. they're both good.. but Gay Tony had some of the coolest missions I've played in a GTA game. They were just... cool. :)

whormongr

I am not necessarily throwing up a pass on this but Certainly am not as interested as I once was - especially since I wiped the install data off and would need to wait through the re install before I play it again- so I would rather just play a new game- this is one of those cases where the exclusive just plain hurts the manufacturer as I prolly would have bought it when it was released for 360 if it was out on the ps3-right now I am more interested in other things like bioshock 2 and curious about AVP- haven't gotten around tou getting brutal legend yet and uncharted 2 has been sitting in the drive waiting for me to get back to it- that makes a gta expansion pretty far on the backburner

Lakai

SOLD!

VinceNotVance

I originally bought, played through and loved GTA IV for the PS3. I still own a copy, but when I heard about the DLC, I was poised to buy a 360 & another copy of GTA just to play it. Needless to say, I bought the 360 and waited enough time to get the Episodes disc for $25 new (thank you Amazon deals!).

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.

Infamy

Wasn't this game being heralded as glorified DLC when it was 360 exclusive and laughed at as just DLC and not a real exclusive by PS3 fanboys?

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.

Samit Sarkar

@x1252: The standalone disc doesn't require the GTA IV disc in order for you to play the two episodes. (Obviously, you would need the GTA IV game disc to play the episodes if you downloaded them off Xbox Live.) But as far as I know, the Episodes disc doesn't include the rest of GTA IV (i.e., the entire game with Niko) on it.

LemonSaint

This was a day one buy when it came out .. (I actually got this three months BEFORE my PS3), and honestly, I never finished it. The only time this has ever gotten play is when friends are over and we decide to see who can survive the longest with a high wanted level ... good times.

So, no, this is a pass.

idmmao

Speaking as a PC owner of the game, it's definitely, definitely too little too late. The way they released the game with awe-inspiringly poor performance even on the most ridiculously overpowered PCs, then basically said, "It's for future computers, it's not our problem" was just adding insult to injury. They slacked bigtime on PC optimization and it showed.
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.

Cadtalfryn

I might have when it was released because a lot of people were talking about it. Now I can't be bothered to care.

Thanks for saving me money and making my apathy problems worse, Microsoft.

Gestault

@x1251

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.

The Spleen

For me GTA can't get any better than Vice City - the music and Miami Vice feel made it leaps above the more recent GTA games. I played GTA 4 for about a month and just couldn't stick with it. I also can't just load it up, kill people, and enjoy it like I could with Vice City...it's not the same.

Chepelev Anton

best news in 2010 so far!!!!!!!
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.

the7k

I'll get it for the PS3... just not day one. I'll probably wait 'til I get some sorta deal, I find a pre-owned copy... or I'm just looking for a new game to fill a void.

ajaxender

I will buy them when they go in a steam sale for $7.50. Worked for the original.

SamanosukeJJ

BUYING IT DAY 1!!!

Brlito

Yup, we (EVERY GODAMNED GAMER ON THE PLANET) called this.

But really, I could give less a shit about GTAIV, it was fun, but not a keeper.

Just fucking get Volition to release more Saint's Row games :D fun co-op games with pretty cool multiplayer and crazy gameplay? Sold.

SantanaClaus89

Well I'm happy they're finally giving us these and I'll be buying them both off of PSN the day they come out.

I know its "cool" to hate on GTAIV, but I absolutely love it (single player, NOT the multiplayer) and I really wanted to play these episodes.

I'll say this though, R* better not pull this shit with the next GTA game, cause if they do I honestly won't buy it.

Brlito

Just adding: Yes I've played through the GTAIV Episodes (I have a 360 too) and liked Gay Tony, was indifferent on L&D. I really dislike the physics and all that, I want fun in my game (yes yes to each his own and all that stfu fanboys) is all.

Dylan Alford

Knew it!

ryderbackside

I'm boycotting. As a long time fan of the series, I fondly remember entering in "theshit" code in the first GTA for infinite weapons and passing the controller around the smoke-filled room, the only goal being total carnage. I got 100% in 3, VC, SA, 4, and enjoyed but didn't get 100% in VC Stories or LC Stories. I feel like Rockstar betrayed me, the longtime fan. And I know a bunch of you will say "its only business" and "sour grapes" (or whatever it is you kids say these days, probably some dumb acronym like FTW BBQ!). The one lesson I learned from this stinking betrayal is that exclusive is never exclusive, and the only other instance where I actually did bite the bullet and take the warmed-over leftovers of exclusive DLC was for Fallout 3.

Fossegrim

The PC-Version of GTA4 was an Epic Fail in terms of console port. It had the worst performance i have ever seen to this time.

RTsharpshooter

Terran Marine: "Hell, it's about time."

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.)

youngskeletor

i'll get it when i get it.

Chepelev Anton

i was forced to by quad-core cpu to play gta4..well. now i have it and it will be ok for a looooong long time, which is not so bad :) Other than that it was a fun game. At first i did not like it because if physic, but after i get the hang of it i loved it. After gta4 i tryed Saints row and old gta games..it felt like games for little kids - way to easy to drive and kinda lame.
I guess i can hate GTA4 only because it made me hate driving "old style".

Tomasz Jaro

why did ms spend all this money on exclusivity? for press and marketing. do you know how many people bought 360 instead of ps3 hearing that the biggest console franchise will be partly exclusive on one platform? each episode on xbl was bought by more than 1mln gamers and Episodes from Liberty City sold more than 1mln copies so far(should do 2mln in this gen).
that's at least 2-3 mln gamers who picked up 360 instead of ps3(possibly more considering that many were let down by the GTA4 when it hit the market and hype went down).
that's 2-3 mln gamers who will pay 50$ a year for Live.
that's 2-3 mln gamers who will buy games and dlc on your platform every year.
that's 2-3 mln gamers who won't pick ps3.
that's 2-3 mln gamers who may wait and buy your next console instead ps4.

you may think it was stupid but that's probably Microsofts best investment in software for 360.

norm9

Already have it on 360. Tend to buy strictly exclusives on it for fear of it dying if I play too many games on it.Had I only waited another couple months, it would have come out on my triple. Meh. In the end, I probably would have just skipped it if I waited any longer to buy it.

ww3pl

Microsoft.
You can't do any deal right, huh?

D Sane

Too little too late for me for sure. I played the game on PS3 religiously for about 2 months and then once I got to the last mission and couldn't beat it (mostly due to frustration about having to re-play the entire thing (including an excessively long driving sequence before a massive shoot out, leading to a chase sequence on motorcycle [which is hard enough to control in the first place, but in sand dunes? don't even try it] all culminating in a jump from the bike to a helicopter where you must shoot the bad guy before he can kill you).

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.

IV Backstab MC

@x1251 michael j fox lol you got raped by sterling

Johnny Justice

I started another play-through last year, but other games happened. I intend on getting back to it someday (maybe) and I will definitely get these.

Sure the gunplay is really dated but tolerable. I find turning off auto-aim makes it a little more interesting and challenging.

Sexualchocolate

Rockstar can suck my dick if they think i'm going to be paying for this "exclusive" bullshit....

Tomasz Jaro

Microsoft.
You can't do any deal right, huh?
that's actually the best deal any company from Big 3 did this gen. spending 50mln once and geting at least 200-250mln in pure profit every year for the rest of the generation and additional 80-100mln by selling 360s and additional copies of GTA4, expansions and Episodes from Liberty City is hardly a bad deal.

Adonai

Would having this on PS3 be enough to convince me to finish GTA IV? It really isn't half the fun GTA:SA was...

Mr Wrighty 987

Just shows you what exclusive means these days.

thejobloshow

FUCK YES! FINALLY!!!

JustLikeBuck

$20 each is a bit steep for content a year old.

If they get cheap enough... but even then, I only play GTAIV now when my neighbour fancy some safe indoors drunk driving :|

thejobloshow

Oh, come on. Don't tell me you actually thought this content was going to remain exclusive? Can games afford to be exclusive anymore? Silly.

Tomasz Jaro

x1251, stupidity much? at least 2-3mln people chose to buy 360 over ps3 because of exclusive GTA episodes.
that's 2-3mln people paying 50$ for Live EVERY FRIGGIN YEAR(100-150mln$ a year),
that's atleast 8-10 games bought by each of those 2-3mln people EVERY FRIGGIN YEAR(80-150mln$ a year) and i know some gamers who buy 20+ games on 360 alone,
that's 2-3mln people buying downloadable content from xbl and paying for netflix,
that's 2-3mln gamers who will bring other people into 360 cause they want to play with each other online,
that's about 5$ per each downloadable episode and Episodes from Liberty City,
that's 2-3mln people and their friends who will probably buy next xbox when the new generation will come,

i wouldn't be surpised if MS was getting more than 350-400mln a year from those who bought 360 because GTA4 exclusivity.

KingSigy

I didn't find the content to make GTA IV's flaws stick out. It was pretty much just playing more GTA IV, a game I greatly enjoyed. Yeah it may have been a bit overkill, but the value was insane for the price they charged ($20 for a game that is retail length is just killer).

DV2FOX

If both games have improved driving i'm sold

Gameplaya

I'm gonna pre-order this as soon as I can. I've actually been planning to buy a 360 just to play this (and the obvious exclusives as well), but this is great news seeing that I'm a big fan of the series.

zerokoolpsx

Sure I'll pick it up at a discount though. Can't wait to get back into Liberty City.

Bigmoose85

all i can say is..... ITS ABOUT FUCKING TIME

Takeshi

Better late than never! Oh who am I kidding? I didn't like the game and will not buy this.

Leon Field

@Tomasz Jaro

Wow I can pull figures out of my ass to.

Thanks for showing us that!

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