As it turns out, that DLC will be coming down the line. Before Jimmy can get going on that vendetta – he’s got to be double-crossed. That, as it turns out, is the source material for The Betrayal of Jimmy DLC, available at free at launch, exclusively for the PS3 version of Mafia II.

The Betrayal of Jimmy is almost an arcade-style take on the Mafia II experience. The team took the most fun elements from the game: shooting, driving, stealing, etc in a open world, and made it a point-based romp, complete with leaderboards. It’s all about fast cars, blowing stuff up, hitting top speeds, and really taking advantage of the open city. If Mafia II is an expansive story, then The Betrayal of Jimmy is instant gratification.

Unlike in the main Mafia II storyline, you’ll rack up points for drifting, high speed driving, headshots, kill combos and more. Points pop up right on the screen, arcade style and giant, flashy icons like arrows point at targets – something you’d never see in the more authentically 1940s and 50s setting from the primary game mode.

That’s not to say it’s all run and gun – there’s some story to give the mode substance to bring it together. 2K included new cut-scenes and voice acting to keep production quality consistent from the main game.

About that story… Jimmy’s a lot different than Vito, the protagonist in the main game’s plot. While Vito is more of a Henry Hill-esque character – a good guy that gets drawn into becoming a goodfella, Jimmy’s been getting his hands dirty for a long time. With a shaved head, all-black attire, and dark shades, Jimmy’s the kind of guy who you’d cross the street to avoid.

When Jimmy gets screwed over and doesn’t know what’s going on, he starts taking on missions from different crime families to try to uncover the truth. You’ll see some new families here, but some of the characters cross over the storylines, including the main character – the city of Empire Bay.

While you can download The Betrayal of Jimmy on August 24th, the day Mafia II hits shelves, you’ll definitely wanna play through the main storyline first. There’s not a lot of exposition in this content pack; you’re immediately dropped into a gunfight where you’re outgunned and outflanked. Unlike Vito’s slow introduction to the world of organized crime in the main game, Jimmy’s already “leveled up” and spawns initially with multiple weapons. The whole city is open to you right at the start.

Now I tried to anticipate a few questions you Blog readers would come up with when we visited 2K this week to see the game in action:

• The Betrayal of Jimmy is not included on the disc – new copies of the game will contain a voucher to download it. If you pick the game up used, you’ll be able to purchase the DLC for $9.99.
• While you can unlock Trophies during The Betrayal of Jimmy (we saw one earned during our playthrough for getting significant airtime in a car), there aren’t any mission-specific Trophies for this DLC.
• The Jimmy’s Vendetta DLC will become available post-launch. No word on price.

With over 25 different missions, The Betrayal of Jimmy promises a meaty additional gameplay experience, and a nice bonus for PlayStation 3 owners looking to pick up Mafia II later this month.

PlayStation.Blog: Why go with Empire Bay instead of New York City?

Jack Scalici: It’s New York, with a little bit of influence of Chicago, with a bit of San Francisco mixed in there. But when you do New York you have to do it right, and it has to be exact, and you’ll get some psychopaths on the forums who’ll take a map of New York City, and a map of your game and point out everything that you did wrong and bad and why go through that? And also, if you’ve ever driven through New York, it’s not the most gameplay-driving-friendly city. There are a lot of one way streets, and it’s not as much fun as it could be if you were driving around doing 90 mph in a convertable blasting 1950’s rock ‘n’ roll. So you take reality, and you bend reality into what’s going to equal great gameplay.

PSB: How will Mafia II be connected to Mafia? (VesterDK) I haven’t played the first Mafia game, and I’m wondering if I jump right into the second installment, will I miss out on important story lines, controls or game play techniques? (luckyinlove777)

JC: It’s a completely new story with completely new characters. There are a couple of links to Mafia I, but you won’t really pick up on those unless you played Mafia I. Mafia I fans will have something that they’ll jump out of their seats when they get to a certain part of the game’s story, but you don’t need to know anything about Mafia I to play Mafia II. You don’t even need to know anything about the Mafia to play Mafia II.

PSB: What differentiates this game from other open world games? (skynidas) Is Mafia 2 just like GTA4? (asked on Twitter)

JC: You’ve played it, there’s nothing else out there like it. It doesn’t feel like anything else out there, does it? If some people did certain things right, and we wanted to do them right, instead of re-inventing them for no other purpose than being different, we didn’t do that; we did it right. So there will be some similarities to some other games. But in Mafia II, the core focus is on the epic Mafia story; Playing through it as this guy Vito, going through what he’s going through. It’s also staying true to what the Mafia is, you have to behave a certain way or they’re going to kill you. So rather than allowing the character to do silly things like “the old lady wants you to rescue the cat from a tree,” or whatever, you can’t do s— like that… because a wiseguy would never do something like that.

To me, the open city you can drive around is just icing on the cake. If, after killing [the target of Chapter 9 in the game], we just warped you back to the restaurant and Vito said “I did it,” that robs you of the magic of driving around in the 1940s and 1950s in Empire Bay. You’d really be hard-pressed to communicate “it’s the 40s” or “it’s the 50s” if you didn’t have this magic city to drive around in, and see the advertising, the fashions, the cars, the music.

PSB: How does the city change over time?

JC: The cars are completely different in the 50s than there were in the 40s. In the 40s you have these dull-colored, boxy people movers, some of which are fun to drive. But once you get into the 50s, you get this cherry-red convertable that just tears ass. You get up to something like 120 MPH, you can fly in those cars, it’s amazing. That’s my most favorite thing to do in the game, driving around in a convertable, listening to rock ‘n’ roll in the 50s.

PSB: Yeah, the soundtrack’s great. There’s, what, 120 tracks in the game?

JC: Over 120… Nothing defines an era like the music. Goodfellas is one of my own personal favorite movies. I thought one thing they really did amazing is, I don’t remember any kind of score. I only remember that music defined every scene. That’s how you knew where you were. You start off with “Rags to Riches” in the 50s and you end up on “Layla.” Every song that they chose was perfect, and they really set the tone for every scene.

This is something we did in Mafia. There’s a radio everywhere in Mafia II… and we scripted certain tracks to be playing on the radio when I knew you were getting into a car. So you’ll see it when you kill [that Chapter 9 dude] and you steal his car, and you start driving away and there’s a song that plays and it’s like “yes!”

PSB: Will there be some sort of customization in Mafia II? Such as clothing, weapon customization, etc. (Ar4chNova89)

JC: Well the cars can be tuned for performance, you can change the wheels, you can repair them, you can change license plate, you can paint it any color you want. That level of customization we really encourage because we want people to fall in love with their cars the way America did in the 50s.

PSB: Will this game be more of a free world type of game or will you be locked in to the storyline? (Ftwrthtx)

JC: When we looked at all of our potential sidequests we looked at them and said “which ones would a wiseguy just not do, period?” “What makes sense for a guy who wants to move up in the mob?” So we removed all this other stuff and said “OK, so this is all stuff a wiseguy would do, why isn’t it integrated with the story?” Everything he does has to be integrated into the story or has to fit with his motivation to move up, get rich, and get out. So everything that did fit, fit with the story, so we made it mandatory.

There are some little random things that happen that you can get involved in if you want. You may have seen there’s a greaser who gets into an accident with [a supporting character]’s girlfriend, and if you want to intervene, you can beat the s— out of the guy. That makes sense in the story, and it’s also an optional thing. You can just let it play out like “f— it, it’s probably her own fault.”

PSB: Will it have functionality with the Move Controller and can u just use one move or two, if so? (polo155)

JC: At this time no. Possibly in future games because I think there’s a lot of cool potential there… melee combat especially.

PSB: Will There Be any multiplayer/ co-op in the game? (Harlemz-Prodigy and others)

JC: Not currently at this time. We wanted to keep it story-based and focus on that and have that be the experience you remember. We don’t want people running around as these characters in the game world behaving as those characters never would. It just doesn’t fit with Mafia at this point in time.

PSB: Tell them thanks for the exclusive content for our system, that was really nice of them :) (Fallen_Guardian)

JC: It is really cool. We came up with the ideas of this character, Jimmy, who exists outside of the main story of Mafia II. Jimmy is just a total badass. He’s sent in by the mob to clean up the mess, like when you have a dead body or when something’s really going wrong. He’s like a combination hitman/cleaner. He’s this badass bald dude who basically does whatever the hell he wants.

The beginning of the Jimmy stuff [multiplatform DLC] is he gets out of jail and he wants to kill those people who wronged him and forced him to go to jail for them. For the PS3 [exclusive] stuff, we thought it’d be really cool to tell the story of what happened to Jimmy. How did Jimmy get here? That’s what the PS3 stuff is.

Now, as we creep closer to Mafia II’s August 24th release date, the extent of the game’s PlayStation-exclusive content is becoming clearer; this week, the Trophies for “Jimmy’s Vendetta” came to light, and it’s looking pretty extensive.

A few weeks ago, Mr. Sid Shuman had a few words with 2K Senior Producer Denby Grace about Mafia II’s gritty look and feel, its upcoming demo, and how differs from other games in the genre like GTA (hint: it’s *way* different).

Today I’ll be attending a Mafia II event where new content will be revealed, and I’ve got a few more minutes with the developers. We’ve asked our questions – now what do *you* want to know about Mafia II? Comment now, and we’ll have the answers for you on Tuesday.

I sat in on a demonstration of Spec Ops: The Line at the 2010 E3 Expo, and learned more about the game’s improvisational combat and tense atmosphere, as well as the difficult decisions you’ll face as a Delta Force squad leader.

The story finds inspiration in the film Apocalypse Now. As Delta Force Captain Martin Walker, your team ventures into the Dubai wastes to track down a distress signal from Colonel John Konrad, who went AWOL following the sandstorms. The fate of Col. Konrad and his men will be revealed as you play, but if you’ve seen Apocalypse Now, you might have some clues about the dark territory this tale will explore.

Post-apocalyptic imagery aside, sand plays a key role in The Line’s action mechanics. During the third-person shootouts, you can target barricades and barriers to unleash sand avalanches on top of nearby enemies. Enemies can also exploit the sand traps, so it will pay to keep a close eye on the treacherous, ever-shifting terrain. At times, the action will migrate into the tomb-like skyscrapers that lay beneath Dubai’s suffocating sand dunes. These scenarios are tense and atmospheric, veering closer to survival-horror territory as Cpt. Walker and his men try to piece together the bigger picture while fending off surprise attacks from squatters and survivalists who have reclaimed the ruined city.

In firefights, Cpt. Walker can issue commands (flank, advance) to his Delta Force squad mates — though the developers promise that the computer-controlled allies can easily take care of themselves if you’d rather focus on the dirty work. Combat is up close and visceral, with a large arsenal of high-powered military shotguns, rifles, and carbines at your disposal.

Other surprises abound, such as a white phosphorus attack on Cpt. Walker’s team that sets an entire city block ablaze and sends fireballs drifting lazily through the air. Your decision-making prowess will also be put to the test during the game. In one scene I saw, Cpt. Walker had to choose between interrupting the execution of an ally or holding fire in order to conceal his presence and succeed in a larger objective. Choosing between what’s “moral” and what’s “necessary” will be a reoccurring theme in Spec Ops: The Line, meaning that your gameplay decisions will have a direct outcome on the characters, relationships, and outcomes of the game. And yes, there will be multiple endings.

Spec Ops: The Line hits the PS3 in 2011 and will support multiplayer features, though specifics aren’t public yet. If you have questions about the game, ask away in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them.

E3 may have come to a close, but we couldn’t be more excited by the plethora of great games and content available for PlayStation fans. Along with PlayStation Move and a host of exclusive titles coming from our first party developers, our publishing partners were out in force taking full advantage of everything PS3 and PSP have to offer.

One of the biggest surprises at E3 was Gabe Newell from Valve’s arrival on the stage at the press conference earlier this week. He acknowledged his appreciation for the PS3 as “the most open platform of all the current generation consoles.” He went on to not only announce that Portal 2 was coming to the PlayStation 3, but also to state that it’ll be the “best version on any console.”

EA also introduced several exclusives to PS3 including the special edition version of Medal of Honor that comes with the 2002 classic Medal of Honor Frontline, which has been updated and re-mastered with HD visuals. And those of you looking forward to Dead Space 2 can pick up the premium edition, which includes Dead Space Extraction. A prequel to the original Dead Space, Dead Space Extraction will be fully Move compatible and also offer trophy support. Offering these packed-in hits like Medal of Honor Frontline and Dead Space Extraction is something only possible on PS3 because of Blu-Ray.

Fans of Assassin’s Creed can look forward to an exclusive beta of the new multiplayer campaign within Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, with the beta hitting PSN in late summer. 2K Games’ Mafia II will also feature unique content for PS3, including exclusive day-one content including missions, story and gameplay. There’s also the much-anticipated shooter from Crytek, Crysis 2, which will sport 3D-compatible graphics on the PS3.

These along with other great titles, including Kojima’s recently-released masterpiece Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and Sony Online Entertainment’s much-anticipated MMO DC Universe Online, are expanding our library of titles and offerings for gamers, and help make our family of products some of the best of the industry.

Once you’ve digested all things E3, keep an eye out in the coming weeks and months for further news and updates from our publishing partners.

So, both of these DLC offerings are multiplayer-focused. The Rapture Metro Pack contains a rank increase to 50 and, when you reach it, you’ll win the opportunity to begin anew with Rebirth mode. This resets you to Rank 1 with a Golden Bunny Mask, and a prestigious indicator next to your name to taunt lesser organisms. But wait — there’s more!

If you make it all the way to 50 again, you secure the coveted Golden Bucket, which basically tells the world that you’re so damn good you don’t have to care.

More meatily, the Rapture Metro Pack contains six new playable locations from Rapture’s history, many of them offering a distinctly different tactical focus than the original set we shipped with in BioShock 2. Design lessons from the live release of the shipping maps have been taken heavily into account with these babies.

Let me give you the nickel tour:

Pauper’s Drop: The Hooverville-like shanty which sprang up during the construction of the Atlantic Express. With long sightlines and open courtyards at the center, the Drop opens up opportunities for honest-to-gosh sniping in a way that our release maps weren’t as focused around.

Dionysus Park: The single best example of the gleaming, Utopia-in-peril setting of the BioShock Multiplayer experience, Dionysus Park is an art gallery owned by Sofia Lamb. It appeared in the BioShock 2 single player component as a filth-encrusted, recently flooded garden of goop. But here in 1959, all that pain and decay have been peeled away, and it can be enjoyed in its original, golden splendor. Territory and security control feature prominently in the park’s tactical terrain.

Fontaine Fisheries: A key location from the original BioShock, the Fisheries were home to Fontaine and his gangland allies. It’s symmetrical in nature, with the icy freezers as the center of conflict. You’ll battle through dock areas, salt ponds, and more as you make shady new friends and then gut them like fish.

Fighting McDonagh’s: This is a zoomed-in, intimate look at one of the Fisheries’ most famous locations. The Fighting McDonagh’s tavern was the favored watering hole of the city’s underclass, who took the frustration of their broken utopian dreams out on each other in sponsored boxing matches. It’s dense and highly interconnected, serving up plenty of chances for a close-range ambush.

Smuggler’s Hideout: This cavernous, once-secret location was where Fontaine’s smuggling operation docked a private submarine and moved contraband into Rapture, daring Andrew Ryan to stop the people getting what they wanted. The bulk of it favors long range skirmishing, but it has a number of back routes and semi-secret tunnels to help you sneak up on snipers and ventilate ‘em.

Siren Alley: Shaped like a big, sexy donut, Siren Alley was the red-light district in Rapture. The looping path means it’s easy to find the action, and the footbridges and overlooks allow you to snipe from higher ground. Shortcuts through the interior flophouses give you a chance to bushwhack someone whether they take the high road or the low.

The Rapture Metro Pack also challenges you to earn three new Trophies, because hey — you’re going to want something to show Rapture who’s top dog.

Finally, let’s talk about the free Kill ‘em Kindly mode. This melee-only game is all about stalking the dripping halls with a golf club and looking for prey — and then bludgeoning all & sundry to death. You might also offer a pithy quip of some kind, espousing your personal philosophy to the sub-human lump of gristle who had the temerity to face you on the field of battle. It’s entirely up to you.

It’s kind of a playable in-joke for BioShock fans. I probably don’t need to explain why.

Did I mention that it’s free? Have fun!

So today, you’ll see part one that focuses primarily on BioShock 2’s single-player campaign, including details on story development, philosophical influence, plasmids and much more. And head on back tomorrow for part two, which delves deep into the much-anticipated multiplayer mode.