The Highly Anticipated Grand Theft Auto V

Modest details have been released about GTA V, although the game is expected to hit stores sometime next year (around summer). Of course few concrete facts inevitably lead to an influx of rumors about many aspects of the game. One article highlighted rumors regarding the appearance of GTA V at the Video Game Awards and possibility of GTA going exclusive with the PS3. Another speculated about Walmart’s potential leak on GTA’s release date.  (The Walmart website gives gamers the ability to preorder the game and says it should ship on June 1^st of next year.)

Are hopeful gamers just grasping at straws, or is there something to Walmart’s preorder info?  Even rumors about GTA V’s main character have surfaced, with some articles wondering about the return of a GTA character to play V’s main character.  However, PlayStation 3 Magazine has put a rein on those rumors, saying that neither Niko Bellic, Vercetti, Claude, CJ, nor Catalina will be the new main character.  It’s no surprise how the rumors have flown, as it is one of the most highly anticipated games.  GTA V even appears on Google Trends as the top searched game to be released in 2012.

Action packed!

What has been released about the game?  GTA V will definitely be set in Los Santos, once again resembling the landscape of Los Angeles.  The trailer describes a romanticized version of a man’s plans for his new life in Los Santos, being a dad, retiring from his “line of work,” with the end of the trailer depicting police car/helicopter chases and a car on fire.  The only other concrete facts about the game are that the main character is divorced with two kids, and the game will integrate animals like dogs and cattle.  We are looking forward to the ability to customize cars in this new GTA.

CEO of Take-Two Interactive (parent company of Rockstar) clearly (or not so clearly) stated September 2009 that the game’s release date would not be announced in this odd quote, “We’re not going to announce it, we’re not going to announce when we are going to announce it, and we are not going to announce a strategy about announcing it or about when we are going to announce it either, or about the announcement strategy surrounding the announcement of the strategy.”  Well, you can’t say they are leading gamers on with false hope for a release date that could be postponed!  Some of the most exciting claims about the game came from the press release this fall, including GTA V is “the largest and most ambitious game Rockstar has yet created,” with founder of Rockstar, Sam Houser, saying, “Grand Theft Auto V is another radical reinvention of the Grand Theft Auto universe.”

What's his story?

I can’t tell you how many times my GTA IV glitched out when I first got it for the 360.  It was so bad, freezing every couple of minutes that I stopped playing for a long time, eventually abandoning it for Saints Row 2.  (Severely disappointing for GTA IV to have so many problems given gamer’s exceptional anticipation for the game.)  Guess there’s nothing to do but pray to the Rockstar gods that GTA V will be highly improved in the way of bugs.

KitGuru says: What are your thoughts on the new GTA?  What features would knock your socks off, and what would disappoint you if not included in GTA V?