Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony Coming to Xbox Live

[Hermiod]

Says Joystiq, Eurogamer and everyone else, really.

The Ballad of Gay Tony puts you in the boots of Luis Lopez, "a part-time hoodlum and full-time assistant to legendary nightclub impresario Tony Prince, aka Gay Tony". You'll have to deal with the competing loyalties of family and friends, and trying to establish who is genuine and who is fake. Rockstar promises "an overdose of guns, glitz, and grime".

"Liberty City is the most vibrant game world we've created yet. The episodic structure has allowed us to interweave stories, gameplay and atmosphere in a whole new way," said Sam Houser, Rockstar founder, to mark the announcement.

In addition, Rockstar will be releasing The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony as a retail disc entitled Grand Theft Auto: Episodes which will not require Grand Theft Auto IV to play. The Ballad of Gay Tony will be priced at 1600 points.

Oh, and just to get it out of the way, the title really does include the word "gay".

 

[Akiraprise]

I so want to buy GTA IV, but the security issues have scared me away. I don't want my PC messed up. Is it really that terrible?

 

[Hermiod]

I so want to buy GTA IV, but the security issues have scared me away. I don't want my PC messed up. Is it really that terrible?

Not sure what you mean about security issues. If you mean DRM, I don't think it's any more draconian than other PC games lately. Plus you could just buy it from Steam. It does use SecuROM for the disc based versions and I think Games for Windows Live is required for multiplayer.

It's the fact that it's not exactly the most stable of games that's the larger problem, plus the rather high system requirements.

 

[Akiraprise]

I've heard SecuRom causes some PC's to crash and will not completely uninstall from your machine when you want it to. Also the Steam version still comes with SecuRom, unfortunately.

Didn't mean to hijack your thread. I'll stop now.

 

[Hermiod]

I've heard SecuRom causes some PC's to crash and will not completely uninstall from your machine when you want it to. Also the Steam version still comes with SecuRom, unfortunately.

Didn't mean to hijack your thread. I'll stop now.

The only games I have with SecuROM are EA titles, so I am not sure. EA have since provided a SecuROM removal and deauthorisation tool.

Bringing the thread back on topic, the player character in this new DLC made several appearances in the main game and also appeared in The Lost and Damned.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

God. Dammit. When are the PS3 expansions going to come out?

 

[Phillip Culley]

In addition, Rockstar will be releasing The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony as a retail disc entitled Grand Theft Auto: Episodes which will not require Grand Theft Auto IV to play.

Hallelujah

 

[Jax]

I was going to buy Lost & Damned DLC for 360 but then I saw the price for DLC and went

However since this DLC and Lost & Damned are set to be released in the future on disc for a cheaper price $30 dollars so maybe might get a decent price in UK so I would consider buying that then since with both its like a large expansion pack.

 

[Skywalker]

Yeah, I think I'll just wait for when both expansions are released on an actual disc.

 

[firehawk12]

The Idle Thumbs podcast brought up something funny.

a) MS has banned people for using Gay in their gamertag. Now GAY TONY will be splashed all over the dashboard for the foreseeable future... maybe even a FABULOUS GAY TONY premium theme might pop up.

b) Live is a source of rampant homophobia. What will kids think about playing a game with the word GAY in it?

Good times ahead.
Sadly, I don't even remember the Gay Tony character... I remember Nico's friend and he turned out to be... well, the stereotypical effeminate gay man. I just don't know if they'll actually try this time.

 

[PKerr]

Eh, I never finished TLATD.
I didn't hate it but for some reason it didn't keep me interested enough to want to finish it.

 

[Hermiod]

The Idle Thumbs podcast brought up something funny.

a) MS has banned people for using Gay in their gamertag. Now GAY TONY will be splashed all over the dashboard for the foreseeable future... maybe even a FABULOUS GAY TONY premium theme might pop up.

b) Live is a source of rampant homophobia. What will kids think about playing a game with the word GAY in it?

Good times ahead.
Sadly, I don't even remember the Gay Tony character... I remember Nico's friend and he turned out to be... well, the stereotypical effeminate gay man. I just don't know if they'll actually try this time.

IIRC, we've never seen Tony. It's the player character, Luis Lopez, we've seen in various missions in GTAIV before.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

Xbox Live ban policies and freedom of speech

a) MS has banned people for using Gay in their gamertag.

Yes this year has had some in-the-news about it.

Microsoft admits to, defends banning Lesbian Xbox Live user
February 26, 2009
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/...to-defends-banning-lesbian-xbox-live-user.ars


"theGAYERGamer" Gets Xbox Live Ban, Microsoft Explains
May 14 2008
http://kotaku.com/390593/thegayergamer-gets-xbox-live-ban-microsoft-explains

Xbox Live "Gay" Crackdown MIGHT Be Getting A Little Out Of Hand
May 21 2008
http://kotaku.com/392304/xbox-live-gay-crackdown-might-be-getting-a-little-out-of-hand

Microsoft's XBOX Live network is private property. It may feel like a public space but it is not owned by the government nor public property and thus not required to allow freedom of speech. They can censor if they want to. You have to play by their rules if you want to play in their sandbox.

they are more concered of hate-speech of in-game players
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/pos...ets-patent-for-real-time-f-bomb-bleeping.html

Sony Playstation Network is the same way.
additional reading on Sony PlayStation Home censorship
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/pos...-free-speech-with-hate-speech.html?comments=1


and now of the virtual community Playstation Home
http://www.us.playstation.com/support/useragreements/15

 

[Cky]

Actually, it's going to be called "Grand Theft Auto: Episodes of Liberty City" .

 

[firehawk12]

Eh, I never finished TLATD.
I didn't hate it but for some reason it didn't keep me interested enough to want to finish it.

It's the same old GTA. After Saints Row 2, I find the GTA4 mechanics untenable... yet I still ground through the main game and the first expansion. Go figure.

IIRC, we've never seen Tony. It's the player character, Luis Lopez, we've seen in various missions in GTAIV before.

My understanding is that he appears in some cutscenes? I think he appears in the last expansion pack anyway.

Microsoft's XBOX Live network is private property. It may feel like a public space but it is not owned by the government nor public property and thus not required to allow freedom of speech. They can censor if they want to. You have to play by their rules if you want to play in their sandbox.

Oh I know, and let's just leave that for another discussion. The point is that now they're selling something with Gay in the title. So the message there is, "If you can make us money, we don't care!" And it's not like MS is going to ask R* North to change the game for them.

Although they should, just to drum up controversy/sales.

 

[Aragorn]

I loved playing GTA4 (even if the driving missions were awfully repetitive), but I'm not sure how I feel about DLC. If you sell the game, you're basically stuck with the DLC since you can't sell that off. Though I know I'm not getting rid of Rock Band 2 so I download songs for that all the time.