When we predicted a possibility of Rockstar Launching Community-Centric Site at the start of this month we didn't expect to have it both announced and written about on the same day, only 2 weeks ahead. Today Rockstar announced their Community-Centric Site, called Social Club, which will make it's first deybue in Grand Theft Auto IV. Only hours later Yahoo compiled an article coving how using the Community Site will allow you to download music which can be played on your mobile in GTA IV.

Advertised throughout Liberty City, the cheekily-named "ZiT" technology is built into the game's mobile phone interface system. As players cruise around the world listening to the in-game radio, they can at any point 'mark' a song by opening their phone and dialing the number ZIT-555-0100. Gamers will then receive a text message with the song and artist names, and if they're registered at the forthcoming Rockstar Games Social Club community site, they'll find an e-mail waiting in their inbox with a direct link to a custom playlist on Amazon.com. All songs tagged "ZiT" will be stored here, available for preview and purchase at Amazon's going rate of $.89-$.99 per track. Best of all, those MP3s are free of the Digital Rights Management (DRM) limitations imposed on files downloaded through Apple's iTunes store and thus can be imported into any computer or digital device with no constraints.

We all know Music plays a large part of the Grand Theft Auto series, as well as gaming in general. With a soundtrack boosting over 200 songs, Grand Theft Auto IV has the attention of many record executives. Rockstar aren't just offering well-knowns either, most of the music in GTA IV as well as available for purchase through ZiT is music thats either unknown or was written exclusively for GTA IV.

None of those tracks, however, are accessible outside the game, and that's where GTA IV's model really takes off. Rockstar has boldly proclaimed that GTA IV's soundtrack is "the biggest in the history of entertainment," and with over 200 tracks, we're not prone to argue. In addition to high-profile tunes from popular artists, the developers are aiming for music geeks by handpicking rare, hard-to-find songs such as Electrick Funk's 12-inch treasure "On A Journey" and Elton John's "Street Kids" off his relatively unheralded Rock of the Westies. Some artists have even contributed brand new songs written exclusively for the game, including "Vagabond (Liberty City Mix)" by the Greenskeepers and "War is Necessary" from iconic rapper Nas.

So don't be planning on illegally downloading any of the tracks, you'd be wasting your time, and at $1 max. for one song, why on earth would you both? Your internet to complete your illegal download would cost more!

Source: Yahoo! Games