'Ballad' is the game GTA IV Should Have Been

From Xboxist: "'The Ballad of Gay Tony' will bring back some of the ingredients that were missing from GTA IV, a game that fans felt derailed from the spirit of the original series. This DLC is the game we should have gotten and what GTA IV should have been in the first place."

[swingingape]

Interested but not enough to buy day 1. I'll wait till they release a GOTY version with all the DLC.

[tinman_licks]

GTA IV sucked. Loved GTA 3. Was so fun playing it drunk with friends. Can't believe GTA IV was so boring. And now DLC called Gay Tony? I'll pass.

[Sarcasm]

"I'll wait till they release a GOTY version with all the DLC. "

They are releasing a standalone disc with both the DLC's for $40 and you don't even need GTA IV to run it.

Or I think that's what I heard from gametrailers.

And there's no more DLC after that. Rockstar needs to work on Agent and other titles now.

[ReservoirDog316]

It is being released on a disk called episodes from liberty city and you don't need GTA IV to run it. It's out in a couple of weeks.

On topic though, if gay tony got released instead of Niko's story I'm sure it would've been more fun. But I'm almost certain it would not be on my top 5 list. A great story is really important to me and there are few stories as powerful as Niko's.

Anyways, looking forward for episodes from liberty city. Couldn't play the L&tD since I got the PS3 of GTA IV.

[Jaces]

Woot!

Pre-ordered mine awhile back, can't wait!

[N4G king]

sorry but a DLC's is still not on the same bar with a full games

its just an xboxfan-website thats trying to hype things up

[MazzingerZ]

Yeah right, DLC is actually the real GTAIV...it's cheaper, took less development time and "only" on X360...I'll wait for the GOTY Bluray instead

[rockleex]

Or Agent. Whichever one comes first.

[jammy_70]

gta 5 will be out on ps4 and 720, so the agent i'll be 1st lol
the nxt gta needs to be more like san andreas, that was SOOOOO good!!!

[njr]

I completely agree with the title. It's all about the freedom to do literally anything that made me like GTA in the first place. GTAIV without the DLC is really... restricted. If they brought back many of the things San Andreas had (which im hoping Ballad will do), no one would hate it.

I would much rather them bring back GTA as it was less realistic. (And no phone calls from people wanting to hang out with you every moment of the day please!)

[tinman_licks]

Does anyone want to play a game called Gay Tony? Didn't think so...

[Saaking]

Just the bots.

[FiftyFourPointTwo]

Gay Tony? Whats that? Another expansion flop? All I care about is a masterpiece called Agent.

[kevinx1000]

you don't think sales > quality
...you do think name >> quality????

[-MD-]

A masterpiece called Agent that you have literally zero information about.

[N4G king]

@1.3
your name says it all

@1.4
what ??

@1.5
"that you have literally zero information about"
well i dont need to know anything about it
and still call it a masterpiece
why ?

R* always deliver
thats why

and i remember 360 fanboys hyping MGS:R with out knowing anything
about it

[AliTheBrit19]

1. Yes, Millions of people do

2. And what of it if the title says Gay? are you homophobic? is there anything wrong with being gay?

[Obama]

Can you imagine a bunch of xbots lining up and asking for a copy of Gay Tony? One copy of Gay Tony please!

[Saaking]

Yes it should, but the 360's limitation meant R* North couldn't see their vision for GTA complete. Fortunately, they'll get a chance to create their masterpiece with PS3 exclusive Agent.

[BO WALEED]

I feel sorry for those GTA IV owners who play it on PS3 .. their dying to play those DLCs but they CAN'T ^^ ...
but all what they can say is ... that DLC sux!

[Gabe EatsWell]

I feel sorry for those flamebox owners that wants to play Uncharted 2 .. their dying to play AAA PS3 exclusives but they CAN'T ^^ ...
but all what they can say is ... bu-bu-bu-but teh salezzzz!

[BO WALEED]

lol, no man I got both Xbox and PS3.. my Xbox is daily use MP gaming, parties and news .. I played all those AAA PS3 exclusives also uncharted 2 and I use it for blue-rays sometimes!
but that sucks when you own only one console and start shooting at the other one!!!

[DaChinPin]

We all know that you have not played any of the AAA PS3 titles that you speak of...Much less Uncharted, because obviously you do not own a PS3. kids do not own PS3s and if they do, I'd understand how you haven't played any AAA games...And that's because kids have disposable income to spend with games. Or the mental capacity to fully experience games online or offline... Have a nice day though.

[rjgbyrne]

I am an xbox owner but will soon get a PS3 when the time is right, I reckon this eclusive download crap hurts gaming more than anything, why shouldn't PS3 owners play content for a game they have to experience the full game. Its silly but Rockstart should stop sitting on the fence and even offer MS the profits for it too if they paid the 50 Million.

[topdawg122]

I agree I loved Gta IV, but haven't played any of the dlc cause i gots a ps3! I hope they bring it to ps3 eventually.

[Redempteur]

Well i'm busy ..i enjoyed GTA4 ..but if rockstar takes too much time , then no ... there is just too much games for me to play in 2010 on my ps3 ..

[cheapndirty]

Gay Tony and Lost and Damned are NEVER coming to the ps3. Rockstar got its 50 million. So no chance.

Like it or not you need to own all of the consoles to experience everything.

You can get both of those as a stand alone disk that will run with out the original gta4. 36.99 on Amazon.com

Fanboys care about it being on one system only. True gamers understand that you need to own more than one console.

[HDgamer]

Only time will tell. It's 3rd party, it could be timed exclusive like Bethesda's deal.

[mrv321]

GTA IV is an example on how to make a game, unfortunatly it wasn't as fun as others in the series.

I say inFAMOUS was better than GTA, and while you may say... that's because it's an exclusive but in all fairness I am only speaking about how fun it is to mess around and not graphics.

[galgor]

aha. this article is what i was ranting about the other day. & it's true! all this stuff should've been in IV by default.

[FragMnTagM]

It has some top notch visuals, some of the best physics to ever grace a game world, and deep character development. People complain that there were no crappy mini games that were in San Andreas, so what? Does lifting weights or eating at Burger Shot really make San Andreas better? HELL NO! I do miss a few things from San Andreas, like customizing your car and riding bicycles, but that was not a huge loss for me. I have fun every single time I put GTA in my disk drive. I guess I just have an active imagination and can have fun playing the game. Playing with the physics alone is fun for me. Getting a bunch of friends together and hitting them with the chopper blades is quite fun. Parking a Heli at the end of a ramp where the blades stick over and then taking a motorcycle and jumping the ramp to hit the blades and send you flying is a blast.

I was reading a post a day or two ago about a guy who completely wrote this game off because the cars handled realistically. He stated that he could not drive fast through the game like he did in San Andreas and that he was afraid to do anything wrong because the cops would always get him. I would say spend more time with the game, as I can easily drive the cars at full speed and slide around corners and evade the cops fairly easily. If you know how a car works in real life, driving in GTA 4 will come naturally.

The only thing I can say that I truly hated about 4, was that you were always getting bugged by your friends. Other than that small little thing, the game was a masterpiece.

/Rant.

[STICKzophrenic]

Don't worry what the minority around here is saying, this game is awesome and still being on XBL's top ten (eighth last week) shows that people still love to play this game.

I haven't put the game in my 360 for a while, but that's because I've been busy with so many other games. Whenever I do play GTAIV, I always have a blast. I love Free Roam with friends...just so much fun to be had.

I can't wait to get The Ballad of Gay Tony, play the campaign, and then mess around in Free Roam with friends. Parachuting will be epic fun!

[Cherchez La Ghost]

It's called the AA-12. The world's most deadilest automatic shotgun. It was in the G.I. Joe movie.

Take a look.....,

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

If they give me the Frag-12 rounds on this game, This will be "MY" GOTY!!!!

[Poopface the 2nd]

It was in turok 1 back in 1997. They didnt use real guns in the game but they had an auto shotty that shot explosive shells, and it looked alot like that too.

That is an awesome shotgun.

[mmj]

So they admit GTA4 was rubbish then.

[Gwizz91]

GTA IV Was an overrated game
I was really dissapointed with it because I was expecting it to have the features ,San Andreas, had. Instead it was wack. I own this game and liked it but the game was a big letdown for me because all the things the expansion packs had already should have been in the game especially all the stuff from san andreas. GTA 4 is an OK game but was a LETDOWN for me

[Gwizz91]

Overrated
GTA IV Was an overrated game
I was really dissapointed with it because I was expecting it to have the features ,San Andreas, had. Instead it was wack. I own this game and liked it but the game was a big letdown for me because all the things the expansion packs had already should have been in the game especially all the stuff from san andreas. GTA 4 is an OK game but was a LETDOWN for me

[XDF]

And shut the F**k up. There is a reason why you see the same old people trolling is because they can't afford to play games and just troll and troll and troll.

They should name the OPEN ZONE to SONY Troll Zone.

[Saaking]

The history will obviously be long since you took 16 days out of my history and tried making it look like a lot. And no, the open zone is no long the "sony fanboy zone." If you look closely BOTH bots and PS3 fans are low on bubbles and high in disagrees. There are the same number of bots as there are Ps3 fans.

[Isaac]

I see overlaps of several hours between comments, dipsh1t, you try to make it seem like that ammount of comments happened in just one day even though it's evident that it is a more than two weeks period. FAIL

[XDF]

you said "If you look closely BOTH bots and PS3 fans are low on bubbles and high in disagrees. There are the same number of bots as there are Ps3 fans." LMFAO.

Dude, your negative comments on X360 articles are more than double of the amount of thrash talking the Xbox 360 fanboys are doing on any SOny related article.

You called Xbox fanboys "bots" while you all on the OPEN ZONE 24/7 trolling and acting like an admin BOTS every time a good Xbox 360 article is posted. It is like automatic, really..LOL

Saaking...I shall call you The Lord of the Bots from now on. What a lowlife loser you are...go take a walk in the park or play some PS3 games once in a while.

I have not heard one comment from you that make sense yet. Time to rewrite your inner Bot program to include some common sense, buddy.

bots, Flopza, gaylo, and fail are 4 words from your vocabulary that is getting really old.

[kevinx1000]

don´t forget saaking doesn´t mean what he says. he plays halo 3, fable and gears himself. got proof in my PM inbox

[Blacksand1]

I'm happy Microsoft got 50Mill for GT4 and 2 DLC Because Rockstar made a deal with Sony For three game exclusive they have Agent coming and that leave 2 games left. maybe one of them is GT5, now maybe we can see the best Rockstar like the past when they only work with Sony. Great titles like Liberty City, Vice City and the all time best that it couldn't finish San Andreas.

[XDF]

you said "now maybe we can see the best Rockstar like the past when they only work with Sony. Great titles like Liberty City, Vice City and the all time best that it couldn't finish San Andreas."

You do realized all those games you had just mention was released on the original xbox as well right? With better graphics, custom soundtracks.

And GTA4 on X360 runs at a full 720p unlike the PS3 version, you do know that right?

[Voice_of_Reason]

The best GTA this gen is on DS. Just my opinion but that game had me more hooked than GTA4

[tinman_licks]

Chinatown Wars was a real throwback to GTA's 2D heritage. Loved it. Now who wants to trade some xtc

[Johnny_Cojones]

One thing that would have greatly improved the GTA 4 experience is a settings slider for the frequency of calls you recieve from friends and girlfriends. Sometimes, I actually enjoyed hanging out with some of the friends, or taking out one of the chicks. But I hated getting calls when I was just trying to drive around and have fun. Being penalized for ignoring a friend's call when you're trying to find all the flying rats, or do the stunt jumps was f***ing irritating. I get that they were trying to increase the immersiveness, but it went overboard. My real life friends aren't nearly as needy. Maybe that's because most of them are quasi-antisocial 30 year old game nerds like me, but holy crap, Dwayne, leave me the f**k alone, you suicidal closet case.

That aside, I LOVED almost everything else about the game. Did it take some getting used to after playing the other games in the series? Yes, but if you have an attention span that exceeds that of a gnat's it wasn't an issue.

Am I surprised that It got the backlash it did? No. I run a video store, & I have met plenty of illiterate retards that prefer The Fast & The Furious to Taxi Driver, or don't have the patience to sit through a masterpiece like The Godfather 2, or Heat.

We live in a time where the average person thinks reading is boring, & that character development is "gey".

Hating on GTA 4 because you don't own a 360 is just ridiculous, too.

I own a PS3 AND a 360, AND I play a lot of PC games. I am a gamer. I don't d**k ride a particular company, because I'd be missing out on something great by excluding ANY current gaming platform completely.

Would GTA 4 have been a better game as a PS3 exclusive? It's definitely a possibility. There is no denying how powerful the system is, & the extra space that blu-ray grants is awesome.

But more content equals more development time.

Look how long the DLC was delayed!

Games that run on the same engine, in the same city, with a handful of new locations, character models, & slightly tweaked gameplay mechanics.

It STILL took Rockstar a year and a half to get both out.

A giant, beautiful, polished open world game like some of you think GTA 4 would have been as a PS3 exclusive would probably STILL be in development right now, & cost 2-3 times as much to develop.

During this time, what budget is Rockstar supposed to operate on?

And when the game released, how would they make a healthy profit after excluding the XBOX 360's user base?

It's not just about a system's capability, it's about resources.

[Blacksand1]

1.Yes but before they was on Xbox, they was on PS2 first. The same way, Microsoft doing Sony the games come out first on one then a year late it come to the other. But when it come to PS3 and 360 you can fit more on Blu-ray (1 disc)then you can on HD (3-9 disc)GT4 was dail down and wasn't long like San Andreas that why I said it. I was just thanking yall for the $50mill for the 3 game deal for Sony.

2.Yes your right but look at the Sony install base now and at $299 all it going to do is grow. Thanks to people like PS2,Wii and even you and 360 people who have both console make up some of Sony install base. That is go for gaming yall not fanboys like single consoles owners if the Xbox didn't have problems I would have one too.

[Johnny_Cojones]

Every system has issues, man. I worked for a couple of years at an independently owned video game store franchise, & the situation was reversed. We CONSTANTLY got calls asking if we fixed PS2s, because of disc read error problems. Xbox problems were much less frequent, & Gamecubes were built like Tonka trucks.

Personally, I have never had an issue with any Xbox 360 I've owned, & I had a day 1 launch unit. I have upgraded to an elite, & then a red elite, because it's my nature to upgrade.

The 360 undoubtedly had a design error earlier on, but I think this was made worse by idiots who kept their video game systems in cramped, dusty, places with poor air flow.

My current 360 is quiet, & totally reliable. If you're really unbiased, & only haven't owned one yet because of hardware issues, now is the time to purchase one.

Mass Effect 1 & 2, GTA 4 DLC, Left 4 Dead 1 & 2, Gears of War 1 & 2, Halo 3 & Halo ODST, Alan Wake, Crackdown 1 & 2, etc should be plenty of incentive to get one.

[FragMnTagM]

When I first bought my PS2, the day it launched, my very first game that I played said disc read error. Straight out of box it didn't work correctly. I went through like 5 PS2's through its lifetime. I only had one XBOX from its launch date. This console generation I have went through 2 360s and still have my original PS3 and a PS3 slim. Sh!t happens, but I don't hate either console for it failing. I am a gamer and like playing games. So when my PS2 broke, I bought a new one or used the warranty, and the same thing went with my 360. It is nothing new, electronics break.

I would definitely get a 360 and pick up on some good games you missed Blacksand1.

[pixelsword]

Isn't the open zone for fanboy comments?

Confusing.

[OutforJustice]

GTA 4 and Lost and the Damned were both excellent but Ballad of Gay Tony looks terrible.

First off, out of all the subplots/secondary characters they could have used: Packie and his Brothers, Dwayne, etc. they choose to make the main character some generic mexican thug who sounds like a bad Scarface impersonator. Then, they have you working for a flamboyant, gay nightclub owner. Do these choices completely baffle anybody else or am I the only one?

The new guns may look good, but the story and the characters seem laughable at best. (Just look at the Yusef Amir trailer) Ballad is clearly the least serious, least legitimate story in all of Liberty City.

[hankmoody]

First off, the main character is Dominican, not Mexican. Funny how so many people on this site think Mexicans are the only Hispanics around. And so what if you're working for a gay guy? Not only do you sound homophobic, you sound ignorant.

[hankmoody]

I really don't get why people were so let down (according to this article anyway) by this game. It was really well written and had great voice acting. True, it wasn't as big as San Andreas was but I think in scaling it back, they were able to focus on and refine what made the series so good in the first place. And regarding multiplayer, it surprises me that an online GTA game such as GTA4 didn't make the splash that I thought it would. Playing it on XBLive, I saw things happen in the game that just left me in disbelief. Plenty of moments that were of the "once in a lifetime" variety. "Gay Tony" will bring back the multiplayer for a bit but I don't expect people to stay for too long, not with COD:MW2 around the corner.

[TheDesperado]

First they play up GTA4 because they "secured" a former Sony exclusive, but when they realise it was an average game, they try to play up their temporary exclusives. Once it's out on PS3, they'll say: "Maybe R* can put the GTA4/Ballad/L&D behind them with GTAV, a former Sony exclusive series, coming to 360 this fall!"

[Software_Lover]

GTA came out on pc and ps1. GTA 2 came out on Dreamcast and ps1 and pc. GTA 3 came out on ps2 and pc, then xbox. Same with Vice City and San Andreas. Never Sony exclusive.

[AliTheBrit19]

BOGT Has loads of new features added :D

Cannot wait to pick up GTA: Episodes From Liberty City, an AAA Exclusive for the 360 :) go cry some more droids.

[SuperSaiyaJinX]

The only thing i'm upset about gta 4 compared with the other games in the series is it's art direction and it's comic relief. The other games in the series where cartoony looking and didn't have realistic physics it was made like that purposely and those were the elements of a gta game so this is the first time gta actually try's to be more reallistic compared to (gta 3 vice city and san andreas) those games weren't trying to be realistc because if they were every one would be prasing mafia, driv3r, scareface, and true crimes (1-2) compare them to (Grand Theft Auto 3 = True Crimes Steets of New York = mafia) and (Grand Theft Auto 3 Vice City = Scareface) those games had better physics and graphics and yet nobody {not even critics} paid attention to them as much. I think gta 4 has lost it's over the top dark comic realif that were present in the other gta's it would've been a better art direction if they mad it look like (mad world) but with a dark over tone of color something like sin city but with a little more color. It should've been more violent and gory with over top and exaggerated action like the last action hero meets the godfather if you've seen the scene with arnold playing hamlet you'll know what i'm taking about. Grand theft auto 4 could've of been a really good game that diserves a Straight (10) but instead we got true crimes streets of newyork 2.

[Headshot81]

they said the samething about lost and damned dlc. We might get nothing different aside a few tweaks on this game, purchase with caution. I would wait for some gameplay footage because if you already have GTAIV, you pretty much have all of them.

[XAversionX]

sorry, no tank = not adding all the fun back into GTA.

[foreverflame]

The game that droids will never experience on there worthless console