From USA Today via NeoGAF:

The upcoming episode of the video game Grand Theft Auto IV looks to be a wild one.
GTA IV, which was released in April for the Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3, focused on former Eastern European soldier Niko Bellic and his escalating life of crime in the boroughs of Liberty City. This new episode, available Feb. 17 via download exclusively for those who own the Xbox 360 version (no price yet), stars Johnny Klebitz, a member of Liberty City biker gang The Lost.

"Johnny is a very different character than Niko, with a very different background," says Dan Houser, vice president of creative development for Rockstar Games. "I can't go into too much detail on the story, because we try not to give away too much plot before the game is released. But I can say that the story will show you a different side of Liberty City."

The episode, titled The Lost and Damned, requires players to have the full version of the Mature-rated GTA IV (ages 17 and older) and an Xbox Live membership to download. It's likely to carry an M rating, too. (Parents can use the Xbox 360's parental controls to prevent children from accessing inappropriate content.)

GTA IV is the top video game this year; nearly two-thirds of the 5 million copies sold have been for Xbox 360, according to The NPD Group.

In the original game, Niko crossed paths with The Lost several times. This time, Niko has only a bit part, Houser says. "The story is not directly impacted by decisions you took in the main game," he says. But "tons of details and mysteries from the main story get explained, so it will add a lot of color to the main story."

Rockstar Games has been fine-tuning its explorable 3-D virtual worlds since launching its first "sandbox" game with Grand Theft Auto III in 2001.

The new game will let you download more sandbox time. "We feel like we've only scratched the surface in terms of the depth and detail in" GTA IV's mythical Liberty City, says Houser.

Previous games have used downloads to add "new stages, weapons and costumes," says GamePro Media features editor Dave Rudden, "but GTA IV's content will reportedly add hours of gameplay."

Rudden hopes the episode costs $15 or less, but Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter expects a $20 price and says Rockstar could sell 2 million to 3 million downloads. "I see episodic content as a natural progression of the quality of downloadable content."

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/...a-damned_N.htm

i expect pachter to be wrong with his estimates

Very interesting,this could be one of the most significant and massive downloable contents for any game to this day,depending on the added gaming hours,it looks like this downloable content is really a card under Microsoft's sleeve,and this news are just in time for the holiday's sales.

How Sony could take this new? This added value for 360's version cannot be taken so lightly.

As far as my understanding is, it launches day and date with Killzone 2 in the west.

Sneaky, Sneaky!

It will be interseting to see how this add on (with a larger install base) competes with a full title with great previews on a smaller install base

That's the largest two cars and an extra mission that I've ever heard of!

is it?

Isn't it just more missions in the existing geopmetrical boundaries as the first game?

So in a sense wouldn't something physical, (no matter how small) be representative of something bigger than just missions of the biker gang?

my question is, if a new aircraft carrier, cars, or airplanes were launched along with this extra gameplay, then, wouldn't that to be something to be impressed with

Looks like a smart move from Microsoft,trying to steal some hype at Sony,Killzone 2 is on fire right now (before someone pwn me,among FPS fans&PS3 owners).

February is looking intense fro gaming,even Street Fighter 4 releases that same week!!!

exactly what most were expecting. (except for a few people overhyping it saying it will be a whole new city AKA "the complete experience")

and ill say this when i first heard of the DLC "For a 50mil dollar loan it better be something more than a few extra missions"

WTH???

I'll check a minute ago and SFIV will get launched at February 17 too!!

>_>