The Lost and Damned features a new main character and plot that intersects with the storyline of Grand Theft Auto IV; new missions that offer an entirely fresh way to explore Liberty City with new multiplayer modes, weapons and vehicles; and a diverse soundtrack with additional music - all with the incredible production values that are the trademarks of Grand Theft Auto.

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.

"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."

[...] 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."

Variety: On another topic, I have to ask you about the "GTA IV" downloadable content you're doing. Do you still expect that to come out this year?

DH: I'm not sure. It's going well. But we don’t know a date. We hope to be announcing that in the next few weeks. We're still figuring out a few things. We're more focused on quality than dates, always have been. But the development is going really good. It's shaping up to be something we're very proud of. That was our goal

Variety: Do you think you'll talk at all about what the DLC will be and how it will fit into "GTA IV's" story?

DH: We want to give people a rough idea so their expectations are roughly in line. We don't want them to imagine it's this enormous thing that it can never be...

Doing a big digital launch is something we've never done before. It's virgin territory, but at the same time, we feel very exposed because there's no case history. No one ever came out with major DLC for a major game like this before.

It's new territory for everybody. We're making it up a little bit as we go along. That's always fun, but it makes you nervous.

Cameras have various settings – you can either choose from a list of preset views (a side or chest shot following Niko for example) or a custom camera where you can have some form of control over the angle.

Using the ‘target’ setting you can even focus your viewpoint on any character that’s present in the area, so you can change from a close up of Niko unloading a shotgun into a cop to a bird’s eye view following said cop flying backwards.

Using multiple markers in the seek bar, you can even have a dynamic swooping camera; you just need to have two different locations and angles set, apply a Movement type and the editor automatically does the work for you.

There'll be custom match filtering for multiplayer games, though it sounds like there might be something else in the works. "At this time, all we're talking about is the custom match filtering," said Nelson. "You'll be able to create a multiplayer match with any number of specifications, and others can search for something that is just right." Players also get a built-in video editor to splice together replays, more control options and, as you might expect, better graphics.

There is a virus sweeping through Grand Theft Auto IV turning many unsuspecting players into Zombies. If you’ve seen the special Zombie-with-yellow-briefs player skin running around during Grand Theft Auto IV multiplayer, then you may already know that the virus can be contracted in any and all multiplayer modes and is spread when an unsuspecting player kills someone who has the infection (note that the infected don’t necessarily have to be wearing the Zombie skin, some show no symptoms!). The signs of infection are: access to the zombie skin and having the Achievement “Let Sleeping Rockstars Lie”. With the all-new Viral Infection feature at the Rockstar Social Club, members can now see whether they are currently infected, the number of total global infections and the number of infections in the last 24 hours. Digging deeper, Social Club members can also browse a color-coded world map tracking the spread of the infection worldwide, including breakdown for all 50 US States. Click here for the Viral Infection feature.