Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony on the Way

Uh oh. In this age of renewed Prop. 8 outrage and rigged upsets for gay American Idol contestants, Rockstar Games has announced that the latest downloadable episode for Grand Theft Auto IV will be The Ballad of Gay Tony, which will follow “legendary nightclub impresario Tony Prince (aka 'Gay Tony')" and his dutiful thug assistant.

Actually, whatever, it sounds kind of fun. The continuing episodes have expanded the fourth incarnation of Grant Theft Auto as an experiment to gauge future potential for a release scheme that would offer interim updates to major games.

Although the new episode (due in the fall) may not mark a transformative moment for gay rights, it does rep a somewhat bold move for a brand that has shown unorthodox LGBT support in the past. For doubters, Vulture provides this clip that helpfully sums it up: