14 DAY TRIAL // In the gaming industry, some franchise have gained the status of icons, with fans around the world, eager in anticipation for anything even remotely related to their favorite games. Such is the case with Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto series, which has become a worldwide phenomenon in terms of sales and popularity
With the latest installment, GTA IV, the team really took the series to a whole new level in terms of realism and gameplay, with stunning sequences which are to leave a mark on a lot of gamers. Now, as a special treat for the players who bought the game for the Xbox 360, the first of two DLC (Downloadable Content) episodes will appear in the middle of this month. Entitled The Lost and Damned, the story of the game will shift from the Eastern European immigrant Niko Bellic to a member of Liberty City's most feared biker gang, The Lost, named Johnny Klebitz.
These new adventures promise to take the action of the game to a whole new level and will feature some very intense, as most of you might have figured out, bike races. But it will also bring new music, as, after a lot of hours spent in Liberty City, you might have learned all of tracks found on the radio stations by heart. Among the genres that will receive new tracks are rock, of course, and hip-hop.
As a testimony to the importance that this new content for GTA IV has, famous rap singer Busta Rhymes even decided to debut his latest single, entitled Conglomerate, on one of the radio stations that would appear in The Lost and Damned. This was confirmed for the Associated Press by the game's music supervisor Ivan Pavlovich.
“It kind of shows the reach of video games to influence people to buy music,” said Pavlovich. “That's why it's important for people like Busta, when they have new material. He is pushing an album in this. ... That's part of the whole thing that we do that's really important to us, is turning people on to new music.”
Last but not least, Rockstar released a new introductory video for the main character of these new adventures, Johnny Klebitz, in which he describes himself, on a background filled with races, explosions – quintessential Grand Theft Auto sequences. Look forward to the DLC hitting the Xbox Live Marketplace and GameStop stores on February 17.