The Lost and The Damned: Rockstar's New School of Marketing

With the great success of the original GTA IV title, Rockstar is now seeking to expand their horizons within the game by releasing an "expansion" of sorts for IV called "The Lost and The Damned". The game takes place in the already-existing Liberty City in a time parallel to the story of Niko and his excapades. What makes this so phenomenal is the fact that this is crossing the line from "expansion" to "game" and making for an overall experience that is much richer and more diverse, while utilizing everything that Liberty City has to offer. What we see here is a conservation of development and a streamlined process of production. No longer do level designers need to toil away at a new map every time Rockstar says "New GTA. Six months until release. Go.". This, in-turn, makes for happier consumers (assuming this title will live up to the hype) because they get to see what they thought was "Niko's Liberty City" in a different light, in a new way, while also releases come in more frequently. I also think this makes for a much more eye-opening and intriguing gaming experience than the previous "one map, one story line" approach that most developers have taken thus far.

Now, before anyone gets upset and starts pointing to Operation Anchorage as the frontrunner to this concept, I must say that I agree with them. However, I feel that Operation Anchorage was a small side quest, whereas L&D will be an entire revamp of plot and story. Bethesda had the right idea, but I think Rockstar is taking it to a whole new level.

I would love to see this concept implemented in other games as well (like an alternative character in FO3 or Fable, etc.). I think that this release could spark a revolution into the realm of game content, delivery, and development.

Of course, all of this is assuming that Rockstar put the time and effort that would have been spent in level design and core game development into story and plot progression. Elsewise, my entire article is moot. With all the hype preceding the last few GTA games, I am confident that Rockstar & Take Two will deliver, as they usually do. We'll see this week when it's released on XBL for $20.