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Of the many great lines in the classic 1985 film “The Breakfast Club,” my favorite has always been the knowing enticement delivered by Judd Nelson’s character, the delinquent John Bender: “Being bad feels pretty good, huh?”

It most certainly can, and that is why the Grand Theft Auto series is so successful, both commercially and artistically. In its ambition, fearlessness, style and production quality, it stands apart from every other game franchise.

All sorts of games are about visions of power, often accompanied by violence. But most titles are set far away from what most people would consider the real world: off in outer space, on a historical battlefield, in a mythical land of dragons and elves. A distant, fanciful realm both heightens a sense of fantasy and allows designers to avoid tough questions about social responsibility.

Most designers fear those questions. Rockstar Games, maker of Grand Theft Auto, does not. The company appears to recognize that it is not necessarily irresponsible to portray the real world’s underbelly. After all, Americans love gangsters and criminals in their entertainment. Americans even like to see the bad guys win once in a while.

Grand Theft Auto IV and its tale of the Balkan immigrant Niko Bellic were a revelation last year. This week, Rockstar is releasing the first additional episode for the title as a $19.99 download available only for the Xbox 360 via Microsoft’s Xbox Live Internet service (it is not available at retail stores).

Called “The Lost and Damned,” the new episode is set in the same dark, vibrant, often hilariously sarcastic version of the metropolitan New York area that provided the backdrop for, and was the most compelling element of, the original game. While dystopian, this vision is not nihilistic. Like the original, the new episode conveys a humor, wit, intelligence and sense of cultural satire that, although sophomoric at times, at least never takes itself too seriously.

“The Lost and Damned” suffers from a few curious and unfortunate design decisions — players often have less freedom than in the original — that will probably prompt most to return to the original game after completing the new episode’s main story. But there is no question that it is the most fully realized, thoroughly produced and substantial downloadable add-on yet released for a console game. Anyone who enjoys Grand Theft Auto IV should get it.

From a business perspective, 2009 may be shaping up as the year when downloads become a viable path to develop and release significant console games; if so, “The Lost and Damned” will be leading the way. (The new episode will probably become available for the PlayStation 3 and PCs once Rockstar’s exclusive deal with Microsoft expires, but it is unclear when that will happen.)

In “The Lost and Damned,” the player takes the role of one Johnny Klebitz, vice president of a New Jersey motorcycle gang called the Lost. Johnny has been running the gang ever since its president, Billy, went into a drug rehab program as part of a plea deal. As the episode begins, Billy is leaving the program and returning to what he considers his rightful place at the head of the pack. Naturally, Johnny and Billy have different ideas about how the gang should be run and how aggressively they should confront their archrivals, the Angels of Death.

The writing here is as streetwise and sassy as in the original game, but perhaps it is somewhat inevitable that the scope of Johnny’s story feels much smaller and less epic than Niko’s journey last year. Ultimately, this is the story of a small-time biker gang in New Jersey, little more.

In Grand Theft Auto IV, you could move into a penthouse if you liked. In “The Lost and Damned,” your only beds are some ratty mattresses in a couple of filthy, run-down buildings. In Grand Theft Auto IV you could choose the overall vibe of your lifestyle (what you drive, where you live). In “The Lost and Damned” there is no way to change the hard-core thrash metal coming from the radio in your disgusting kitchen.

That’s fine if you like hard-core thrash metal. But a vital part of the Grand Theft Auto experience has always been giving players free rein to define their own tastes and preferences. The new episode gets away from that a bit.

In terms of the actual mechanics of driving and shooting, it’s significantly easier than Grand Theft Auto IV. It often requires you to drive a motorcycle (another contrast with the original game, in which players usually could choose from a range of vehicles), and the bikes’ handling is significantly more forgiving than in the original game. So while “The Lost and Damned” includes about a third as many missions as the original, it takes significantly less than a third as long to complete. I got through the main story in about 8.5 hours (and then spent about the same amount of time exploring and completing optional shootouts and races).

For $19.99, that is a great value. Despite its occasional stumbles, “The Lost and Damned” sets a new standard for what a downloadable console add-on can achieve. Being bad still feels pretty good.

Continue reading »]]> * Game of the Year:

Grand Theft Auto IV (winner)
Gears of War 2
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Fallout 3
LittleBigPlanet

* Studio of the Year:

Media Molecule (winner)
Rockstar North
Harmonix
Bethesda Game Studios

* Best Shooter:

Gears of War 2 (winner)
Left 4 Dead
Resistance 2
Far Cry 2

* Best RPG:

Fallout 3 (winner)
The World Ends With You
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
Fable II

* Best Individual Sports Game:

Shaun White Snowboarding (winner)
Skate It
Wii Fit
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09

* Best Handheld Game:

Professor Layton and the Curious Village (winner)
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
Patapon
God of War: Chains of Olympus

* Best Graphics:

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (winner)
LittleBigPlanet
Gears of War 2
Fallout 3

* Best Game Based on a Movie or TV Show:

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (winner)
Naruto: The Broken Bond
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Quantum of Solace

* Best Music Game:

Rock Band 2 (winner)
SingStar
Wii Music
Guitar Hero World Tour

* Best Driving Game:

Burnout Paradise (winner)
Mario Kart Wii
Midnight Club: Los Angeles
PURE

* Best Action Adventure Game:

Grand Theft Auto IV (winner)
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Mirror’s Edge
Dead Space

* Best Soundtrack:

Rock Band 2 (winner)
Guitar Hero World Tour
Grand Theft Auto IV
LittleBigPlanet

* Best Xbox 360 Game:

Gears of War 2 (winner)
Fallout 3
Grand Theft Auto IV
Fable II

* Best Wii Game:

Boom Blox (winner)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
No More Heroes
Wii Fit

* Best PS3 Game:

LittleBigPlanet (winner)
Grand Theft Auto IV
Resistance 2
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

* Best PC Game:

Left 4 Dead (winner)
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
Crysis Warhead
Spore

* Best Original Score:

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (winner)
LittleBigPlanet
Spore
Fallout 3

* Best Multiplayer Game:

Left 4 Dead (winner)
Call of Duty: World at War
Resistance 2
Gears of War 2

* Best Independent game:

World of Goo (winner)
PixelJunk Eden
Braid
Audiosurf

* Best Fighting Game:

Soulcalibur IV (winner)
Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe

* Best Male Voice:

Michael Hollick as Niko Bellic in Grand Theft Auto IV (winner)
Stephen Fry as “The Narrator” in LittleBigPlanet
David Hayter as “Old Snake” in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Jason Zumwalt as “Roman Bellic” in Grand Theft Auto IV

* Best Female Voice:

Debi Mae West as Meryl Silverburgh in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (winner)
Keeley Hawes as “Lara Croft” in Tomb Raider: Underworld
Paula Tiso as “Silvia Christel” in No More Heroes
Nathalie Cox as “Juno Eclipse” in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

* Big Name in the Game Male:

Kiefer Sutherland as Sgt. Roebuck in Call of Duty: World at War (winner)
Liam Neeson as “Father” in Fallout 3
Ricky Gervais as “Himself” in Grand Theft Auto IV
Daniel Craig as “James Bond” in Quantum of Solace

* Big Name in the Game Female:

Jenny McCarthy as Special Agent Tanya Adams in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (winner)
Dame Judi Dench as “M” in Quantum of Solace
Eliza Dushku as “Shaundi” from Saints Row 2
Liv Tyler as “Betty Ross” in The Incredible Hulk

* Best Team Sports Game:

NHL 09
Fifa Soccer 09
NBA 2K9
Madden NFL 09

Spike Video Game Awards – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Continue reading »]]> Rockstar has sent out official word today that it will release Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars on the Nintendo DS on March 17 and March 20 in North America and Europe, respectively. The project is being developed by Rockstar Leeds in conjunction with Rockstar North.

“Rockstar Leeds have once again created a game that far exceeds our standard for deep and innovative entertainment,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “We are incredibly excited to share this enormous and uncompromising Grand Theft Auto experience with DS fans.”

Edge Magazine commented, “How does Rockstar follow Grand Theft Auto IV? By rebuilding Liberty City from the ground up on DS and not compromising its vision one iota.”

Nintendo Power added, “…it’s undeniable that Chinatown Wars is doing something no other DS game has come close to: creating that living, breathing world the Grand Theft Auto games are known for.”

Stay tuned for more details as and when they arrive.

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Continue reading »]]> Good things come to those who wait, but we’re getting more than a little impatient for any news on the first bits of downloadable content for Grand Theft Auto IV. Long talked about and promised in “autumn” of this year at one point, we’ve been eager to see anything about it this year, let alone play it. Now, at long last, after we’ve finished our sojourn in Liberty City months ago, comes something concrete on the 360 only DLC, with a worldwide release on February 17 next year.

Featuring a whole new set of characters, the new story, subtitled “The Lost and Damned,” seems completely unrelated to Niko and company. The story is based around Johnny Klebitz and his biker gang, the Lost, which existed in the periphery of the main game.

Still taking place in ye olde Liberty City, it looks like you and the guys go around causing mayhem and getting stuff done. On top of that, you get to ride around on bikes. Not a bad deal all around, though we normally preferred driving cars to get places as Niko, which isn’t out of the question, but why dress as a biker if you’re not going to bike?

Rockstar has been tight lipped as usual, so all we really have to go on is guess work, the video, screens and whatever small bits of info we can pry out of them. All the rest is in the haze until we get it right after Valentine’s Day. We leave you with the rest of the images (or head here to view our entire GTA IV gallery) to tide you over while you stare at the calendar.