Rockstar has posted some audio from Lazlow's new radio show in The Ballad of Gay Tony. Check it out:

(Taken from Rockstar News Wire.)

Rockstar Games has launched the official website for Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony. The site contains a page detailing all the new weapons in the game, and some never-before-seen screenshots. More pages will be added in the coming weeks.

The Ballad of Gay Tony Screenshot Gallery (9 new images)

Link: The Ballad of Gay Tony - Official Website

A new character clip from The Ballad of Gay Tony featuring the billionaire property developer Yusuf Amir has been released by Rockstar. The song used in the clip is called "Arab Money" by Busta Rhymes.

Today Rockstar are releasing a new character clip from The Ballad of Gay Tony, focusing on the billionaire property developer Yusuf Amir. The clip will be available at 1 PM EST (6 PM in the UK) on the Rockstar Video Section.

This awesome mural can be found at the corner of Canal and Greene Street, in New York City:

The wall has a history of featuring GTA IV artwork. We took this photograph of it back in February, shortly before The Lost and Damned was released, and in 2007/08 it contained various logos and designs advertising GTA IV.

Link: Rockstar News Wire

Related Link: GTA IV Mural @ Canal and Greene Street - Google Street View.

Rockstar has posted some interesting backstory about the songs used in the Gay Tony debut trailer and the "Meet Tony Prince" clip:

"Episodes from Liberty City is designed to be non-stop, over-the-top action from the instant you begin playing, so the track 'Pjanoo,' a piece of euphoric piano-led house music by top producer, Eric Prydz, was the perfect track for the debut trailer. 'Pjanoo' was a summer club anthem in 2008, reaching number two on the UK charts and epitomizes the vibe of Tony Prince’s signature club, Maisonette 9, in The Ballad of Gay Tony."

Check out the full feature @ Rockstar News Wire.

Both trailers can be watched here.

The Xbox World 360 preview that we reported on last week is now available online at GamesRadar.

We have updated our screenshot gallery with all the screenshots that appeared in the recent magazine previews.

The Ballad of Gay Tony Screenshot Gallery (15 new images)

Thanks to GamesRadar for the shots.

Rockstar has revealed that Lazlow will provide new radio content in The Ballad of Gay Tony. In Grand Theft Auto IV (vanilla) Lazlow launches a new radio station called Integrity 2.0, which gets unlocked about halfway through the game.

Link: Rockstar News Wire - Lazlow returns to the Liberty City radio dial.

Rockstar has released new footage of The Ballad of Gay Tony, in the form of a special news report by Weazel News (an in-game news programme) titled "Guns in Liberty City".

A high-definition version is available for download on Rockstar's website.

Rockstar is releasing a new video today, featuring a special news report by Weazel News called "Guns in Liberty City".

Look out for it in the afternoon (EST) and during the evening (GMT) on the Rockstar News Wire. The video will also appear on sites like GameTrailers.

UPDATE: The video will be available at 12:30 PM EST / 5:30 PM GMT.

Recently, Rockstar gave the online gaming press their first hands-on time with The Ballad of Gay Tony. Check out what they had to say:

12 new screenshots are available.

• GamesRadar
• 1UP
• GameSpot
• SPoNG
• IGN
• EuroGamer
• Kotaku
• Team Xbox
• G4TV

Nineteen new screenshots in total are contained in the previews. See all of them in our gallery.

UPDATE: Some websites also received exclusive shots: IGN 1, IGN 2, GameSpot, 1UP, Team Xbox.

Online previews of The Ballad of Gay Tony are due to be posted today at 5:30 PM GMT (12:30 PM EST) on popular gaming websites like 1up, GamePro, GameSpot, GameSpy, GamesRadar, IGN, Kotaku and Team Xbox.

Rockstar has released a teaser screenshot in anticipation of the previews:

New vehicle in The Ballad of Gay Tony: APC (Armoured Personnel Carrier)

It has been 9 months since the PC version of GTA 4 hit the market. I imagine like me many PC gamers have played it over and over again till we can do it in our sleep. So if you are looking for a "new" way to play GTA 4 then look no further than the new GTAIV Chain Game.

The chain game idea is basically a way for forum users to combine their efforts and complete GTA 4 to 100% as a group. Basically it works along the lines of doing a mission then uploading the group save, then someone else downloads that save and does a mission and uploads it again.

The GTAIV is being led by JAJ and girishb and they have done a marvellous effort setting all the infrastructure up. If this sounds like something you want to be involved in, then it is open to all GTAF members (pc only I am afraid). You can read more about the GTA IV Chain game here.

Related Link: GTA IV Chain Game

Related Link: GTA IV Chain Game Lounge

Rockstar has released a new one minute clip from The Ballad of Gay Tony, featuring "Gay" Tony Prince. The video focuses on Prince's nightclubs, Hercules and Maisonette 9. A high-def version of the video is available on Rockstar's website.

The song in the video is "Menergy" by Patrick Cowley.

The latest issue of Xbox World 360 Magazine - which went on sale today in the UK - contains an eight-page preview of The Ballad of Gay Tony. Here's a rundown on some of the new stuff mentioned:

Xbox World 360 is on sale now in the UK.

• The HUD (Heads-Up-Display) is a "Parma Violet-style pink/purple".
• The Ballad of Gay Tony should feature around 20 missions (roughly the same as The Lost and Damned).
• Missions get scored out of 100% depending on your style and efficiency. You can re-play missions at any time in order to improve your scores.
• Three nightclubs are accessible - Bahama Mamas, Hercules and Maisonette 9. Luis is tasked with managing Hercules and Maisonette 9 - the two clubs which belong to Gay Tony. Hercules was off-limits during this preview.
• The golf course in Algonquin behind Memory Lanes is open for business! A golfing minigame is available.
• New websites have been added to the in-game internet.
• A new car based on a Bentley continental Convertible is called the Super Drop Diamond.
• One of the new random character missions involves "a mental ex-girlfriend of Luis' who places a bomb in his car, leading to a race to disarm it."
• Four missions were previewed during the demo, two of which we heard about in previous previews:
  • "Dropping In..." - Tony orders Luis to team up with Bulgarin's henchman, Timur. Bulgarin wishes to acquire The Rampage, Liberty City's ice hockey team, and Luis must storm the penthouse office and get the owner to sign his business over to Bulgarin. Luis parachutes onto the roof and heads down a maintenance stairwell before being confronted by security. At this point, alarms are blaring and the sprinkler systems go off. Luis eliminates his target by shooting him through a window, and then escapes through the window with the parachute still on his back. He lands on a moving truck, which conveniently has a mattress on its trailer. If Luis had missed the truck, he would have had to face another army of security men.
  • "For the Man Who Has Everything" - This mission is done for Yusuf Amir, a billionaire property developer. Yusuf is played by Omid Djalili, as many people speculated after hearing his voice during the trailer. Yusuf wants to ship a railway carriage back to the Middle East as a gift. The first objective is to jump onto a train from the nearest overpass, which is done by tapping X at the right moment (the jump itself is automated). Luis must make his way to the front of the train, as cops shoot down at him from helicopters. Once Luis has disconnected the front carriage, Yusuf lifts the carriage from the tracks using a Skyhook chopper.
  • "Going Deep" - This mission involves silencing detectives who have evidence on Bulgarin and Timur which could see them go to jail. The plan is to rig their vehicle with a satchel bomb in an underground car park, but the cops are already onto them. Once the attackers are dead, the detectives chase Luis and Timur.
  • "Sexy Time" - Yusuf wants to acquire an attack chopper called the Buzzard. It belongs to a group of arms dealers, and is situated on a yacht. Luis has to sneak on board without security seeing him and then steal the chopper. As Luis makes his way back to Yusuf's pad, Yusuf calls and orders him to go back and destroy the yacht. Some of the gangsters escape on speedboats, so the final task is to eliminate them.

The preview also contains four new screenshots. One of the screenshots clearly shows the interior of Maisonette 9, one of Gay Tony's clubs. It is almost an exact replica of New York nightclub Bungalow 8.

If you're able to find this magazine in your area, be sure to pick it up!

This week, Rockstar invited fans to send in questions about Episodes from Liberty City / The Ballad of Gay Tony, and they have now posted answers to those questions on their blog.

I'd like to bring the following question to your attention:

"PS3 PLEASE, dont forget that Grand Theft Auto originated on the Playstation system (PS1)" - anthonycr

We hear this a lot on our forums too. Tell a lie often enough and it becomes the truth, eh? To clarify, Grand Theft Auto originated on the PC in 1997. PlayStation didn't get it until 1998.

There's also a new screenshot at the top of the blog post:

Buzzard vs. Yacht? It's safe to say the Buzzard wins.

On Tuesday, USA Today posted an exclusive first look at The Ballad of Gay Tony, and now they have an interview with Rockstar's vice president for creative development, Dan Houser.

In the interview, Dan tells us that the new episode starts about half of the way through Grand Theft Auto IV and part of the way through The Lost and Damned, and finishes near the end of GTA IV.

Dan Houser

"The game starts with an interesting revelation that I'll leave out for now, cause it's quite a good little sort of start in terms of the story cross-over stuff. But essentially, Luis is working for Tony as his bodyguard/right-hand man/the manager of his nightclub empire (and) the senior guy there, while Tony is spiraling back out of control with drugs, painkillers in particular and a little bit of cocaine. His boyfriend is a drug-dealing idiot and he's hanging around with a bunch of assorted younger cokeheads and partiers. The kind of people one finds when one spends far too long in night clubs. And consequently, they are getting more and more into debt."

- Dan Houser, Rockstar Games

Read the full interview over at USA Today, it's well worth the read.

Related Link: GTAForums Topic

Rockstar has released a title update for the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto IV, which fixes the invisibility bug and prevents cheat code exploits from being used in multiplayer games.

The update triggers automatically when you log on to Xbox LIVE.

Lets hope the PC version is next!

Link: Grand Theft Auto IV Title Update for Xbox 360

The latest issue of Australian 360 magazine contains a 4-page preview of The Ballad of Gay Tony.

"This is the Grand Theft Auto you asked for - the all-singing, all-dancing, all-exploding GTA that takes the solid foundations of Liberty City and reinvents it as a playground for the new toys Rockstar has given us."

- Australian 360

Two missions were previewed during the demo. The first mission requires Luis to jump out of a helicopter and parachute on to a building containing the offices of Liberty City's ice hockey team, the Rampage. Once Luis is inside, he must fight his way down towards his target, eliminate him by shooting him through the window, and then escape via the same window using the parachute once again.

In the second mission, Luis jumps off a bridge on to a moving train, and must make his way to the front car whilst shooting down four chasing police helicopters. Luis must then unlock the front car from the rest of the pack, and wait for his partner to lift it off the tracks using the Skyhook chopper (this part of the mission is seen during the trailer).

The magazine also confirms that the new attack chopper is called the Buzzard.

The screenshots in the preview are the same as those featured in the Spanish OXM, which we told you about yesterday.

Big thanks to specktrall for the info!

A Spanish GTA fan site has obtained a copy of the latest issue of OXM Spain. It contains a multi-page preview of The Ballad of Gay Tony, with new details and 13 new screenshots.

Here are the main new details so far (we are awaiting a full translation):

• Two new vehicles seen during the preview: SWAT tank and a Rolls Royce Phantom.
• New weapons: AA-12 combat shotgun, satchel charges.
• Among the new minigames are base jumping, club dancing, and club bodyguard (which involves ejecting troublemakers from the club).
• The Bahama Mamas exterior has been modified slightly. The stairs leading to the entrance have been removed, and there's now a fence surrounding the entrance where the queue forms.

Related Link: GTAForums Thread

Rockstar Games has released the debut trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV's upcoming expansion, The Ballad of Gay Tony. The trailer features just over 1 minute of gameplay and cutscene footage. The song is "Pjanoo" by Eric Prydz.

What did you make of the trailer? Are you looking forward to the game? Post your first impressions at GTAForums or discuss live on IRC.

For more information about The Ballad of Gay Tony check out our dedicated section, which is being constantly updated.

The Episodes from Liberty City / Ballad of Gay Tony trailer will be released in just under 2 hours. The trailer is titled "You'll Always Be the King of this Town".

The trailer will go online at 1 PM EST / 6 PM GMT. Stay tuned.

The first plot details of The Ballad of Gay Tony have emerged in an article on USA Today, along with one never-before-seen screenshot.

New screenshot showing Luis Fernando Lopez.

Here are the key details from the article:

• Gay Tony is a drug addict, and Luis needs to do him some favours in order to get him out of debt. However, "his drug problems get worse and Tony gets more and more out of control," says Rockstar's Dan Houser.
• During one mission, Luis parachutes from a helicopter onto a glass-windowed skyscraper. Inside he blasts his way to his prey a few floors below and shoots his target, who then topples out of the bullet-ridden window. Luis dives out after him, wearing a parachute that glides him to safety.
• In another mission, Luis drops on to the top of a moving subway train from a bridge and unhooks one of the cars for a maniacal high-rolling collector of one-of-a-kind artifacts. A Skyhook chopper airlifts the freed subway car away.
• Luis is torn between friends and family and his quest for power and riches. But as he climbs higher in Liberty City's social circles, he discovers that the upper crust has some issues.
• Rockstar want the game to feel more action-packed, more crazy and more ridiculous than previous GTA IV content.

Read the full article here. Thanks to PlanetGTA for the news, and remember that the new trailer comes today!