God Bless Rockstar, if they weren’t happy with players having to stare at a certain mayors meat and two berries, we can all be sure their intentions are clear with new downloadable content for Grand Theft Auto 4 named Ballad of Gay Tony. Adding a much needed sense of glitz and glamour to Liberty city the player character is Luis Lopez, lackey hoodlum turned personal assistant to the infamous nightclub celebrity and  entrepreneur, Tony Prince aka Gay Tony (who is pictured left). Having only appeared in two missions previously, one in the original campaign and a further appearance in The Lost and Damned, it seems as though the vast majority of the missions will be entirely new and based on a lengthy new single player story line, just like previous DLC.

Mr Prince, sans glitz.

Not many details are out in the ether at the moment, but we can be sure that this new episode in the GTA universe will feature prominently at this years E3 and maybe even a trailer appearance much like the Lost and Damned at this year’ s Video Game Awards. To me video games have always lacked homosexual characters in anything other than offensive camp stereotypes, it will be interesting to see how the team at Rockstar North approach this contentious subject. Not always the most sensitive bunch admittedly but recently GTA games have represented an emotional gravitas in story telling which lean more towards authenticity than rampant wish fulfilment. Characters that become memorable in their actions and words, not through their sensationalist behaviour but through subtlety and social observation which makes them that much easier to identify with.

To many gamers Lost and Damned surpassed any expectations they ever had regarding downloadable content and for some it even was better than the story of Niko in the story of the original game. Perhaps most importantly Rockstar and publisher Take Two have recognised that some players were apprehensive to spend so much money on a downloadable asset, so this expansion will be released simultaneously on both Xbox live and in retail on a disc. One could argue that this is a backward step for the on-line distribution scene, but as an individual who worked in retail during the Lost and Damned marketing blitz on release many gamers couldn’t get their head around the distribution model. Grand Theft Auto has always straddled the line between the most hardcore of players and the casual, the most numerous of which are in the latter. Whether Lost and Damned will be seen in a store near you in the near future is still to be decided, or at least confirmed. But for the time being it will be interesting to see how this like-able chap named Tony will perform at all good retailers.

Update: Just recieved an email from Rockstar PR, both Lost and Damned and Ballad of Gay Tony will hit UK stores this autumn. They each will be priced as 1600 points on xbox live or £16.99 respectively.

May remind you of Vice City, that makes us happy.