Grand Theft Auto IV getting episodic on PS3?

What we heard: At Microsoft's pre-E3 06 press conference, Xbox marketing chief Peter Moore drew audible gasps from the audience with a surprise announcement. Brandishing a mock tattoo of the Grand Theft Auto IV logo, the executive announced that the much-awaited sequel would be released "day one" on the Xbox 360.

The news marked the end of the traditional GTA release model, which saw every game from Grand Theft Auto III forward debut on the PlayStation 2 and not arrive on the PC and Xbox until at least nine months later. The delay prompted many to buy a PS2 just to play GTAIII or its successors, Vice City and San Andreas. Indeed, many gamers had started saving for a PlayStation 3, assuming that the same delay would apply.

While GTAIV's planned debut on the 360 was news enough, Moore went one further. He announced that "Microsoft and Rockstar have entered into an exclusive deal to provide episodic content via Xbox Live Marketplace" for GTAIV. At X06, Microsoft detailed the exclusive content as "two epic episodes of GTAIV via Xbox Live, each with hours of new gameplay available only on Xbox 360 just months after [GTAIV's] release."

Now, a report has surfaced that may make the 360 GTAIV episodes not appear to be as much of a coup as they seemed. Citing a source close to GTA developer Rockstar North, Eurogamer reports that the PS3 edition of GTAIV will be getting its own episodic content in "the form of brand new areas which will link into the main GTAIV game world." According to the source, one should "think of the [GTA IV] world as a large island--the new downloadable areas will be like smaller islands linking into it."

The official story: Rockstar reps were not available for comment as of press time.

Bogus or not bogus?: With more and more AAA games jumping on the episodic content bandwagon--we're looking at you Oblivion--updating the PS3 GTAIV seems likely, especially if Rockstar is already planning a similar scheme with the 360. However, nothing's official...yet.