Valve just opened up pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto IV on Steam, and to sweeten the deal everyone who orders before launch will get a free copy of Vice City to play right now.

The game price varies depending on where you live (between US$39.99 and $49.99 + tax) and it will be available in the first week of December.

The first screenshots of Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned have been released today. It's the same game engine as before, so don't expect any graphical enhancements, but these images show off the biker gang (and emphasis on motorbiking) that takes centre stage in the DLC.




Rockstar also released the logo for the content:

Rockstar Games officially announced GTA IV's downloadable content (The Lost and Damned) today. Included in the press release was word that it's not just an additional story that's included:

The Lost and Damned features a new main character and plot that intersects with the storyline of Grand Theft Auto IV; new missions that offer an entirely fresh way to explore Liberty City with new multiplayer modes, weapons and vehicles; and a diverse soundtrack with additional music

Look for the content on February 17th, exclusively on Xbox Live. Microsoft paid Rockstar $25m for this episode, meaning that there is probably more chance of giant pigs flying around your neighbourhood than this appearing on PlayStation Network.

American newspaper USA Today has just recently published an article spilling the details of the upcoming Xbox 360 downloadable content for GTA IV PC.

According to the article, the DLC will be available for download in the Xbox Marketplace on February 17, 2009. The episode, titled "The Lost and Damned" will revolved around Johnny Klebitz, a member of the Liberty City biker gang The Lost who you meet a couple times in GTA IV's singleplayer game (Elizabeta has you overlook a drug deal with him, and Ray has him accompany you on the diamond deal). Houser had this to add about the DLC's features and story:
Although a price has not yet been confirmed, it is expected to be between $15 and $20. We'll be covering any new details as they emerge.

Big thanks to Skillet for the news!

Rockstar Games just updated the Official GTA IV website with information about the PC version. Included in the update was the revelation of Social Club TV - the destination where your movie clips edited with the PC version will end up.

A couple of new screenshots (featured below), images of the in-game video editor in action, and four samples of the kind of video you can create using the video editor are included. It's looking very impressive and it certainly should make all of those stunt videos much easier to produce.


View all GTA IV PC screenshots »
The game launches for PC at the beginning of December and it includes full Games for Windows Live functionality. You will need quite a beefy PC to run it though - a dual core processor is the minimum, along with at least a GeForce 7900 or Radeon X1900.

The PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV will be following the recent trend of Rockstar Games productions being made available via digital download through Steam. Although a price is not yet published on the game's Steam page, the release date is set the same as its in-store release (December 2 in North America and December 3 in Europe).

The Steam page also includes eight new screenshots from the PC version, which we have added to our GTA IV PC screenshot gallery:

Over at Nintendo Everything they have translated an article from a Spanish Magazine which features some old and new information regarding GTA: Chinatown Wars:

UK mega-retailer Tesco have posted an image of the back of the PC version of GTA IV's box today. The image doesn't reveal much, partly due to its tiny size and compressed nature, but I did pick out one interesting piece of text in the image:

"Initial activation requires internet connection"

It seems like you won't be able to play ANY of GTA IV unless you have your computer hooked up to the internet. This is becoming a common anti-piracy measure in PC games, but unlike the recently released Spore the boxart confirms that you will be able to install GTA IV an "unlimited" number of times.

Microsoft and Rockstar announced some time ago that the PC version of GTA IV would be part of the Games for Windows LIVE lineup, but it emerged today that the game will include a full set of achievements which can be added to your gamerscore.

While the achievements are the same ones as appeared on Xbox 360, they are part of a different set, meaning that you could score double for each one if you own both the 360 and PC versions of the game.

Check out the full achievement list over at Xbox.com (requires sign in).

Before even receiving a set release date, GTA: Chinatown Wars, the upcoming GTA installment for the Nintendo DS, has joined the ranks of GTA IV PC and Xbox 360 downloadable content as delayed.

At a press conference today, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick confirmed GTA IV DLC's delay rumors stating that it may arrive as late as Spring 2009. Zelnick also stated that Chinatown Wars isn't scheduled to be released in the first quarter of the 2009 fiscal year (January 2009) as initially expected, but will arrive within Q2 2009, which ends in April.

via GTA-Xtreme