Xboxist

Grand Theft Auto IV DLC Announced, Delayed

The good news is that we now have details on the upcoming downloadable content for Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV. The bad news is that rumors of a delay have proven to be true. Fans of the urban crime title won’t be able to get their episodic DLC fix before Christmas, as initially hoped. The first episode of several planned DLC updates, entitled “The Lost and the Damned” will now arrive on February 17, 2009.

While the main story focused on the travails of Eastern European immigrant Niko Bellic, the new content will feature an all new protagonist. In the Lost and the Damned, players take on the role of Johnny Klebitz, a member of Liberty City biker gang The Lost. Players will remember Johnny as a fairly nondescript NPC that turned up during the diamond heist mission sequence in the main storyline.

Dan Houser, vice president of creative development for Rockstar Games told reporters that the game would show players "a different side of Liberty City." The extra content will help to flesh out some aspects of the main storyline, and will even feature Niko as an NPC in a small supporting role.

So far, the DLC continues to be exclusive to the Xbox 360 console, which received the lion’s share of software sales for Grand Theft Auto IV. Microsoft also reportedly paid up to $50 million for exclusive rights to the downloadable content. Here’s hoping that they get their money’s worth!

We are excited to hear more about what Rockstar has planned for these episodic updates, in particular whether they will add any additional single-player challenges, modes and minigames to help prolong the fun after the additional quests are completed.

Here's Johnny! Klebitz is introduced to Niko Bellic in a mission from GTA IV.

[Source: USA Today]