There is a blimp floating in the sky in many shots shown in the trailer, maybe that is pasrt of the Mile High club Thing? Also you can see a fighter jet, and a "Fertalizer Plane". Maybe the Jet is coming back with more firepower. And the other plane is part of mini-games. You can see a bike at one point, so maybe those with skateboards are back. When people are walking on the beach, you see a dog and a couple walking. Along with a surf board that may be ridable.

One of the cars it shows is a convertable with a switchable roof to it. It must take place soon after GTA IV because he says "Why did I move here?". That is a b ig possibility. Golfing may be another minigame. Or maybe the clubs can just be used as fighting objects again. Soon after the golf clip, you get to see a big bridge with a Jetski riding under it. This means there will obviously be more then one Island. You get to see an airliner which may mean there are quick ways to get around on riding or flyiing them. After the Jet ski scene, it shows you a huge landscape with mountains and forest with 3 climber/hikers looking at it. This may be another minigame. That land may be climbable and search able. From the showing of the dog earlier, there may be more animals in that forest, things like bears, racoons, wolves, deer, and moose are all possibilities. Right after that clip, you see a man in a car reving it while in a white Tank top, that may point to extreme customization.

Next they show you huge fans that are used to create energy with no civilization other tahn one car around. You then see 2 people doing yoga or just stretching, in what looks like a expensive neigborhood. You also get to see in other parts of the trailer, what looks like ghetto are or poor zones. This can mean zoning areas out like in other GTA's. After those scenes, it goes to a car on the highway with two signs, the one on the left says, "Downtown Little Seoul Ahead" and the other reades "North - Los Puerta FWY" with a highway sign on it. This means for sure, big highways connecting areas is back. Also those locations were in San Andreas, which is where this one will probably take place.

It then goes straight to a scene with a workout station on the beach. Maybe we can work out to gain strength in this game? After that scene quits, it goes to one in a poorer area with one wealthy guy walking through, possibibly you customized? Now it will get interesting, it goes to a scene with a half built building with a few cranes around the building. the building has a huge sign saying "Mile High Club" with a symbol on it that looks like sTo with a house around that. Maybe that is a big company you compete against. Also, after this scene you will start to see a Blimp in the sky whenever you get a good look at the sky. Maybe that has something big to do with the story or it is just flyablein some way. It being so high, must mean parachutes are back. It then goes to a view up close a wealthy buisness man looking at city. He could possibly be part of the story also.

Right after that, it shows a field with a plane dumping fertilizer on it while people work on it. That may be a job you can have or minigame. This looks like the rural area of the city. With agriculture and small shacks for struggeling families. Now comes the action, it shows a Pest Control car pulling up to a bank or something, and a few gues jub out holding silinced AK-47s with small masks on. This might be the opening mission or just a mini game or random mission. But maybe this also means we can have gangs again? Then goesto a white male agreesivly driving a white sports car with a front license plate with this on it, "04EAY868". If anyone knows if that means anything, tell me. This also showcases The noises cars make when driving even more. It sounds pretty fresh to me. This part of this city also shows some construction and a bright city with a few cars around.

Once it quickly cuts to the next scene, it shows a 18 wheeler truck hauling a big load through a construction area. The Semi Truck is for a company called, Up-n-Atom Burger. It sounds to me like a radioactive burgur company but whatever. You then get to see a lot of cars at an intercection. Also a lot of bums hanging out under the bridge, non of them the same! Also a pickup truck with some people in the back again points to gangs. The next clip is the same area from a different view. This also shows a few good looking cars, and the same blue car from earlier, maybe it is bringing s through some special part of town? The next clip surprising shows a lot. TO start, it shows a For Sale Sign the has a date on it. You may be able to buy these properties. In that same clip[ you see 2 trash cans, meaning trash "Tanks" trucks are back. the house also has a big hole on the left side, maybe some property is destructable? Also the power lines in the back show there are different parts of islands because the city has none. You can also see the city scape far in the background. So there is for sure more then 1 island. The adress of the house is 2405 Meaning maybe the reales date is 5/24/12? the next scene has prostitutes out saide a liquor store getting customer, they are back. The liquor stre has card symbols on it, maybe playing cards is a mini game? The next thing to came up, is a blue car speeding a a bridge getting a little air. then goes to a hobo with a sign saying, "Need money for beer". The rest I can't read. You see a shiny truck drive past him and vast city behind him more. You also see more Highway signs pointing again to more islands.

Next you see a homeless people village under a bridge with tents. And one troubled person having trouble standing. A fighter jet then flys by very fast. YES JETS! A guy gets kicked out of a club looking drunk. Alos a motorcycle is shown there. And a nighttime city. A far out few of the city shows hills and an oil thing. The blimp is shown again, in the same spot. Then it shows an intense high speed chase with cool looking police cars and a cool normal car. Then it cuts to an on foot chase with 3 cops following him and one helicoter. Then a car on fire with an abulance in the background. Yay, killing explosions. the a tall radio tower and a Commercial Airliner, new locations? Also a big sign saying "Vinewood". The main location probably, this is also high up on a hill. In the last scene, you see a private jet and the huge vast land of GTAV.

Here is all of the known Info for now!
Just a few short days after celebrating the 10th anniversary of Grand Theft Auto III, Rockstar Games has announced the next stage of evolution for their iconic crime franchise. The developers official website has been taken over by a simple, stark title Grand Theft Auto V with a tiny promise at the bottom: Trailer 11.02.11. So, for the next eight days, with no other information from the famously secretive Rockstar, well have to simply ponder the implications of the fact that the V is illustrated like a dollar bill. (Could the series be shifting focus to white collar crime? So, in this case, Grand Theft Auto refers to the decimation of the American automobile industry by the preying mantises of Wall Street? Hey, my dad would totally play that game.)
There have been assorted rumors that the next GTA would be set in Vinewood, the version of Hollywood featured prominently in GTA: San Andreas, which makes a certain amount of sense the series has always satirized Hollywood visions of criminality. When I recently talked to Dan Houser Rockstars VP of Creative and a key creative voice behind the series he kept mum about the future of the franchise, but he did make it somewhat explicit that Rockstar viewed GTA as an essentially American story, which means the occasional rumors about a foreign-metropolis sequel are probably untrue. (Sayonara, GTA: Tokyo! Do svidaniya, GTA: Moscow!)
Its not unusual for big games to be announced a long, long time before the release date, so there are plenty of other intangibles at work here. (Since theres still no official word on the long-rumored XBox 720 or the PlayStation 4, it seems like this new GTA will be a send-off for the current generation, rather than a pioneer for the next one.)
We should know more next Wednesday, so lets start the conversation: What would you like to see in the next Grand Theft Auto? A return to past locations, like Vice City or San Andreas? A new Rockstar-ized version of an American metropolis? Or would you like to see another historical game? Post-war Detroit? Depression-era D.C.? Silicon Valley in the mid-00s?

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Grand Theft Auto V preview: The Inside Story

Two helicopters swoop down over the city, zigzagging between looming skyscrapers. They are searching for a third chopper, and they find it, hovering beside an anonymous government building. Quickly, the craft glides away from its pursuers while a gunman leans out and fires back.

This is an aerial shoot-out, hundreds of feet above the densely crowded streets, a breathtaking action set-piece, befitting the most vainglorious Hollywood blockbuster. But you are in control; it's your movie. And as shots ring out, one chopper spirals out of the sky, black smoke billowing from its shattered tail. In the background, a neon pink sunset detonates across the sky.

This is Grand Theft Auto V, the latest title in a series that has dragged video games kicking and screaming onto the cultural agenda. When the first details started leaking across the web last Thursday, social media channels went into meltdown as gamers scrambled for titbits of information. Many will be talking about little else for the next three months.

Developed at Rockstar's Edinburgh studio, with input from several of the publisher's other developers around the globe, GTA V is another darkly humorous crime adventure, crammed with sleazy gangsters, corrupt politicos and dodgy cops. While GTA IV took place in Rockstar's cold, shadowy version of New York the ironically titled Liberty City the latest title heads cross-country to Los Santos, a monstrous, sprawling pastiche of Los Angeles.

Here we meet lead character Michael, an ageing bank robber who fulfils that most fecund of crime-fiction archetypes: a crook who's made good, retired to a fancy house, but now misses the excitement of the old days. In the demo Rockstar shows us, he starts out sunbathing by the pool like Ray Winstone in Sexy Beast, the city shimmering in the distance beyond his landscaped gardens. The player is able to get up and explore the bleached stucco mansion, passing the tennis court (you can play a match if you like), then bumping into Michael's bored wife as she clambers into a sports car on the front drive. "If you want to know where I am, read your credit card statement," she yells as tyres squeal. "I'm feeling lucky, I'll check the hospitals!" he calls back. And slowly but surely, his previous career begins to beckon.

The basic structure is similar to previous titles. There is a series of missions which have to be completed to tell the over-arching story, but when you're not taking part in these, you're free to explore the environment; driving the endless roads, discovering mini-games, meeting characters, and generally getting into trouble. But GTA V will also make some radical structural changes.

In the past, players would have controlled a lone character all the way through the game. Here, you have three, switching between them at will. Alongside Michael, there's Franklin, a young kid working in vehicle repo for a bunch of Armenian gangsters, and the fascinating Trevor, a psychotic career criminal with a shady military background.

These guys all have their own skills and specialities and will often attempt missions together, the player sticking with one character throughout the task, or swapping back and forth, relying on the computer to control the others.

Why the change? Why three characters? "It was partly just to do something totally new," says Dan Houser, co-founder of Rockstar and co-writer of all the Grand Theft Auto titles since GTA London. "Partly, too, it was because at that point we were deep into the work on the two DLC episodes of GTA IV, and we thought, well, the bits where all the stories crossover is kind of cool, so why don't we just do that in one game? So okay, let's just do multiple characters. With Michael we wanted this older guy who's still tough, but he's retired. That's a great way to start a game at the end. That seemed fresh.

"Franklin was the next one we came up with because we wanted a younger character, just so he could be the guy on the up, contrasting with the guy on the down one could mentor the other. And in some ways, I suppose, Franklin is most like your traditional GTA protagonist. And then out of nowhere, the idea of Trevor came to us. He is the guy who does everything awful, relentlessly! He has his own charm, but he he's a relentless maker of mischief. Not without some principles though, but totally different principles to Michael an exact opposite take on what it means to be a protagonist in a GTA world. Michael is more about ego and Trevor is more about id, I suppose".

This provides an interesting gameplay dynamic, but it is also about story. Instead of telling one tale which heightens toward a single dramatic finale, GTA V cuts between these three interlocking narratives, drawing parallels and distinctions between the men. And instead of one set-piece conclusion, the game is structured around a series of five or six mega-heists which take place throughout the game, and which other missions lead up to. The idea is to get gamers into big set-piece thrill-fests like GTA IV's Three Leaf Clover much more quickly.

Some of the artwork Rockstar has released shows the characters jumping out of a van with gas masks, overalls and machine guns, bringing to mind Michael Mann's movie Heat. Like that film, this seems to be a game about professional criminals and the weird working relationships they maintain amid the testosterone and violence.

Relationships seem key. In GTA IV, some people felt all that stuff got annoying looking after Niko's cousin Roman, taking calls from gangsters wanting to hang out, catching up with girlfriends. There's no romance this time, but the phone is back ("we've evolved it to reflect the modern world with smartphones," says Dan), although it seems the interplay between the main characters will be the focus.

"You have other people you can hang out with, but the main people you choose are the other protagonists," he says, stressing that the intricacies are still being worked on. "If you're playing as Michael and you want to play a game of tennis, you can call up Franklin and ask him. You are actually getting to see the main bulk of the story and also spend time with these people off-mission that side of it gives it a vibrancy that's a lot stronger than with Roman or anyone else.

"On the emotional narrative side, it's stronger just because of the nature of the rest of the game, and on the mechanics side, hopefully we've just designed it better, we've smoothed off the rough edges of it and made it a stronger part of the game".

On the subject of Roman, there have been rumours other characters from previous games will turn up in GTA V. Dan says that no one before GTA IV will be in it the move to HD created a schism in this fictional universe, rendering CJ, Tony and co, as mythical characters from a bygone era. But will we see stories from the previous game looping into this one? "I think that might be too mannered," says Houser. "Nico had a particular kind of story and we're trying to make this different. We might allude to things from that world, but we didn't want it to feel like, well, here's the opposite of an immigration story we wanted a fresh take on what it means to be a criminal in this world of hyper-real Americana".

It looks like there will be a new approach to music too. Inspired by Rockstar's successes with Red Dead and Max Payne, missions will now be accompanied by an interactive score rather than radio play. "We though could do something interesting if we scored missions in GTA," says Houser. "Obviously we didn't want to lose radio stations, so we thought we'd do both.

"Exactly how we're going to balance between the two we're not entirely sure yet we're still trying to figure that out. But we have some very cool people doing the score, different people, who will work in the same stem-based system that we used in the other games".

You forget how important music is in this game and then you watch the GTA V demo and see Trevor leaping into a battered old truck and screaming off into the desert playing Radar Love, and it all comes back. It will be interesting to see how a score competes.

Meanwhile, there's another reason why there are three lead characters: GTA V is too geographically immense for a lone protagonist to explore. This is the largest environment Rockstar has built, big enough as many previews have pointed out already to contain the last two GTA titles as well the publisher's vast Western adventure Red Dead Redemption.

Like LA itself, Los Santos is a patchwork of neighbourhoods with a downtown area, a gang-infested southern district, and the prosperous areas in the hills. But the game world extends out into the fictitious state of San Andreas, Rockstar's interpretation of southern California. There are farmlands, deserts, villages, mountains; there is even a functioning ecosystem teeming with wildlife. Trevor lives in a stinking shack out in Blaine County, a deserted coastal region, modelled on California's Salton City. The first time we meet him, he's on the john having a noisy bowel movement; Rockstar never shies away from these sorts of details.

Importantly, the whole map is open from the start. Players can take a chopper and fly out over the hills, parachuting down onto the peak of Mount Chiliad. They can jet-ski, mountain bike, play golf, exercise. They don't have to, they just can.

The city streets are teeming with mini-tasks and money-making endeavours. During our demo, we watch Franklin driving around downtown and notice a Gruppe 6 security van pull into a petrol station we can turn that over for some quick cash, but will inevitably attract some fervent attention from the cops.

Out in the sticks, beyond the city limits, the feel is more Red Dead Redemption, with dynamic encounters amid the wilderness; Game Informer's recent feature on the game mentions hitchhikers and broken down cars; all potential traps for unwary explorers.

"Environment is important," says Houser. "Games are very geographical they present space almost better than they present time, and we try to use that, to showcase variety between different landscapes. It's this idea of a digital holiday: being able to explore spaces that don't really exist is one of the the things that's fascinating about open world games. It's not just about doing the activities we've set, there's also a sense of being there.

"If we've done a good job, the shoot-outs are fun but so is cruising through the world in a car you really like, listening to music if these elements feel somehow consistent with each other, then we're on the right path to something cool".

And, yes, the shoot-outs do look like fun. In the mission we're shown, Michael, Trevor and Franklin have been employed by a covert agency, the FIB, to swipe a prisoner from another set of government operatives. It involves piloting a helicopter to a downtown building, rappelling down a rope, smashing in through the windows, and getting back into the craft with your confused and terrified hostage.

Michael is the one doing the smash and grab, while Trevor pilots the helicopter and Franklin lurks on a nearby rooftop with a sniper rifle, picking off enemy targets. Again, you can keep swapping between them, grabbing different aspects of the action, or you can stick with one protagonist, concentrating on your own key skills. It's exciting stuff, it's what we've always loved GTA for that sense of freedom, of anarchy, in a functioning world. The sense that extraordinary things will happen.

We don't know much else about the missions yet; but Houser is keen to stress one key aspect. "We've focused on variety," he explains, "I don't think players will say, 'I'm constantly being told what to do, and I go there, I do it, I leave and I do everything in exactly the same way!' I definitely don't think that will be a problem".

And space is important, space is a big issue. Some have already questioned why GTA V needs to be so huge. But Houser bats the concerns right back. "We wanted to make a big place, as much as anything, to allow you to fly," he laughs. "A lot of the decisions, we're talking about them here on a philosophical level, but they're also practical decisions, too: we're making a game. You have to understand the medium. On an obvious level we wanted somewhere big so you can fly properly we have a lot of missions that involve flying, in helicopters or whatever, it was logical. Also, Jet skis work better around LA than they would in New York.

"We're using the environment to let us have toys we couldn't have had otherwise. And equally, we're using the story and environment to introduce missions that can be more extreme. In some ways we wanted the game to have a larger-than-life Hollywood feel; the stories we heard in LA, we wanted to capture them in the game. If the place isn't informing what we're doing, we're not using it correctly."

Los Angeles. Los Santos. After the bleak, chilly despair of GTA IV this an enormous tonal shift, recalling the sun-streaked abandon of GTA: Vice City, the eighties-obsessed PlayStation 2 masterpiece that some feel is the best title in the series. And although the follow-up to that title, GTA: San Andreas, explored a little of this place, GTA V already feels like it has plunged into the decadent heart of the city like no game before it.

Driving around the intricately detailed streets, we spot tributes to landmarks like Muscle beach and the Hollywood sign, we see mime artists and weirdos patrolling the pavements, there's a guy dressed as Jesus that guy is really out there in Santa Monica, posing for photos with tourists. There are dodgy fast food joints with names like The Lucky Plucker, there are juice bars and boutiques. The sense of place is incredible; a sort of skewed, woozy take on the real thing. Los Angeles. Los Santos. The two are inextricably linked, but it is LA that the game is really thinking about.

"Since 2008, we've been going out there for for a week or two at a time with different groups from the team," says Houser. "Our researchers did an incredible job of finding us some of the strangest people retired cops, people with a knowledge of the LA underworld and we'd hang out with them ... just to see what happened. Whatever skill we have is in taking all of that stuff and amalgamating it into something that feels cohesive. There can't be any particular science to that the interpretation of the world is our skill, that's where the art is. There's enormous pleasure in wandering about in LA with people who've done crazy things".

Perhaps only a video game could capture the essence of a contemporary city in this way. Houser shies away from such hyperbole, he knows GTA V must function as a game more than anything else, but the team working on it have wider ambitions, too. I ask him if GTA means anything. "I hope so!" he laughs, "otherwise it's pointless! Without being too annoying and avoiding the question, hopefully the games say lots of different things; but I think that for us, the correct response is to turn the question around and ask, what do they mean to you?

"It's not for us to sit there and say, well, this is what it's about. We've got lots of themes we want to explore, be it about advertising, about dreams, immigration, about being an assassin and what that means some of which will work, plenty of which will probably fail. But it's not for us sit there and say that. Our statement is the game".

Baudrillard would love the version of America that Rockstar has constructed, a hyper-real theme park of violence, corruption and excitement. But you don't have to think about it. You don't have to think at all. GTA V might be about friendship or ambition or regret, but it also looks to be a game in which you can blast through the streets in a truck, boot filled with guns; a game where you can pilot a jet fighter over the Californian landscape; where you can bike down a mountain or jet ski into that fluorescent sunset.

GTA has always been about possibilities. That is why it is so exciting to see the series return, amid the indie titles it has inspired, and the Triple A titles that have grown up in its shadow. Grand Theft Auto pushes at what game worlds are, it is inarguably ambitious. Yet sometimes it just wants to blow up helicopters above the streets of downtown Los Santos. And that, in the end, is absolutely fine.
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Grand Theft Auto V: Reinventing the Open-World Rulebook

Ask any GTA fan what their favourite mission of all time is, and Three Leaf Clover is guaranteed to rank highly. The heist mission from Grand Theft Auto IV encapsulated everything that was great about the series in 15 minutes of gaming nirvana. It had everything: a bank robbery with hostages held at gunpoint; a shootout against SWAT teams on the streets of Liberty City with police helicopters circling above; and a last-ditch attempt to escape the cops by fleeing along the subway tracks on foot. It was action packed, was bursting with variety and was superbly paced. It was the perfect GTA mission.

So its hard not to feel a pang of excitement when Rockstar says that Three Leaf Clover is the inspiration for much of Grand Theft Auto V and that heists will be the games backbone. Better still, Rockstar claims each will be bigger than any heist mission its done before.

Heartbreakingly, Rockstar is not quite ready to show off the heists in Grand Theft Auto V just yet. However, the first mission unveiled is just as explosive and, more importantly, it perfectly demonstrates the dynamic between the games three protagonists.

Michael is the first to be introduced, sitting next to the pool on the terrace of his grand mansion. Hes an ex-gangster who made his money and is now working with the government under a witness protection scheme. He enjoys the finer things in life, and theres a fewer thing more luxurious than his sprawling home, with stunning vistas across the city, tennis courts and a plasma TV so big itd put most multiplex cinemas to shame. Works of art adorn the walls and expensive furniture is dotted throughout every room, but Michael's life isnt without problems. His relationship with his wife is evidently beyond repair and the only words they share when they pass in the hallway are expletives, before she barges through the front door, takes the sports car and skids off into the distance no doubt heading to the nearest mall to spend even more of Michaels money on overpriced tat.

Elsewhere in the house, one of Michaels daughters is playing a rhythm action game and barely acknowledges his presence when he walks in the room. Despite appearances, life isnt all that sweet.

Back to the demo, Michael heads over to the garage and climbs on his mountain bike to cycle to a meet-up with Trevor and Franklin. Its a brief trip along the affluent streets of Rockford Hills, one thats soundtracked by the click-clacking of a dozen water sprinklers, each soaking a perfectly-manicured lawn.

Los Santos has a very different vibe compared to Liberty City. Its more open, less claustrophobic, and it feels more relaxed even though its just as busy, if not more so. Indeed, Rockstar claims GTA V has twice the number of types of pedestrians going about their business in the game, which we hope makes for a much more vibrant environment to explore.

Even the cops are more prevalent and when we switch over to Franklin his drive through Los Santos is interrupted by the shrieking of police car sirens in the distance, shortly followed by three cop inceptors cutting through the traffic in pursuit of an unseen felon. Obviously, were all used to feeling the heat on our backs when weve broken the law in previous GTA games, but the presence of the boys in blue feels much more evident in everyday life in GTA V.

As for Franklin, his method of getting to the meet-up with Michael is far more sophisticated than riding a mountain bike. Hes a repo man working for an Armenian luxury car dealership, so his car for the day is Grand Theft Autos equivalent of an Audi R8 Spyder, the 9F. Its a beast of a machine and is the first time convertible cars have been properly realised in GTA. It may not sound like much, but the moment you climb inside and the roof pops down you cannot help but smile. Sure, its a tiny detail but its things like this bring the world of GTA to life, and GTA V is bursting with such moments.

Its also here were treated to a glimpse of one of the games many dynamic events. Like the dynamic events in Red Dead Redemption, these arent side missions per se although GTAV is packed with these too, such as assassination missions but procedural moments that you either get involved with or ignore. As Franklin waits in a parking lot a Gruppe 6 security van pulls up. Its begging to be stolen, but do you strike now, dragging the driver out of the van and attempting to escape through the jam-packed streets of the city; or do you tail it and wait until find a quiet intersection where there are fewer prying eyes? Either way, successfully pull off the robbery and the cash is yours, and according to Rockstar there will be far more ways to spend your hard-earned (or hard-stolen, as the case may be) than in GTA IV.

For the purposes of this demo Franklin leaves the security truck well alone, which leaves us with Trevor, the most colourful of GTA Vs protagonists and arguably the most psychopathic lead ever to appear in the series. His introduction is one you wont forget: the cameras begins up close on his contorted face, before pulling back to reveal the complete picture Trevor, squatting on a stinking toilet in his beaten up trailer, squeezing out what can only be described as the mother of all turds.

Yanking up his trousers without wiping (his mother would be appalled), its immediately apparent this guy is a handful. Even though youre controlling him, he feels unpredictable, no more so than when were shown a couple of new touches for GTA V. Trevor, after driving along the dusty roads of Blaine County, past Mount Chiliad towering in the distance on the other side of the Alamo Sea, pulls up on the side of the road and grabs a tank of gasoline from the back of his pickup truck. He then tips the jerry can upside down and pours a trail of gas that leads to the truck. One strike of a match later and BOOM! Fire engulfs the vehicle while Trevor stands back and admires his handiwork. As the rubber from the tyres burns fiercely, thick black smoke spewing into the sky, were left wondering how many other neat touches like this there are in the game, and how players will use such freedom to create an almost limitless collection of tools of destruction. Then again, anything in Trevors hands can probably cause an awful lot of damage.

The question is, whats this guy like when youre not in control of him? By now its common knowledge that you can freely swap between Grand Theft Auto Vs three leads, and that while youre not directly controlling them the other two will happily go about their everyday business. But in Trevors case, on the evidence provided, this is one guy you want to keep on a short leash.

Switching between characters is fast and effortless. An on-screen menu displays which characters are available (one might not be, especially if youre in-mission) select one and the camera pulls out and shoots skywards to show a birds-eye view of the map, before panning to the next location and zooming back towards the ground to plant you inside the brain of your chosen character. It's very reminiscent of Call of Duty: Black Ops II's Strike Force missions, where you're also able to switch characters who have different specialities for different tasks.

Even though Michael, Trevor and Franklin lead very different lives, as the story unravels they become close. The mission were shown, which appears early in GTA V but isnt the first, opens with Michael, who arrives at the meet-up with Trevor. These two go way back, but theyve been recently reconnected through Michaels work with FIB, which is GTAs equivalent of the FBI. The pair have been drafted into to carry out a hit-and-run against another government agency and their target is being held in one of the upper floors of the IAA (read CIA) building in downtown Los Santos. This being GTA, walking up to the front door and ringing the bell is not going to get him out.

The meet-up is the first time Trevor and Franklin encounter each other face-to-face and understandably the psychotic nut-job is cautious of the new recruit. But he puts his faith in Michaels judgment after all, Michael describes Trevor as his best friend and Franklin as the son I never had, and together they make a well-rounded if somewhat unconventional team.

Back to the mission and the plan is simple: experienced pilot Trevor will fly a chopper to get Michael close to the target while Franklin provides sniper support from a nearby skyscraper.

We play out the first part of the mission as Trevor, flying the chopper with Michael riding shotgun. From above the Los Santos skyline looks nothing short of beautiful, the monolithic skyscrapers cutting dark, ominous silhouettes against the orange cloud-kissed sunset. To the east its possible to just make out Del Perro pier and beyond it the ocean, while to the west there are the rolling hills of the countryside. Far below freeways and roads snake in all directions and the pin-pricks of light reveal a city going about its business.

The short flight provides a brief glimpse of the scale of the game: Rockstar has already gone on record and said Grand Theft Auto V will be around five times bigger than its predecessor, and whats visible from the chopper is about three-and-a-half times bigger than the sprawling deserts of Red Dead Redemption.

As ever, a mini-map in the bottom-right of the screen pinpoints your objective. It also displays an artificial horizon while flying, which pitches and yaws as the chopper circles the tight cluster of buildings that makes up central Los Santos.

Theres only one building were interested in, though, and as Trevor eases the helicopter onto its roof control switches to Michael, who steps out, hooks a wire onto the building ledge and rappels down the side. The games fastidious attention to detail is immediately apparent at this point long shadows flicker across the glass building as Michael edges his way down and inside office workers go about their business, seemingly unaware that some guy in a black one-piece is looking through their window on the 30th story.

As Michael approaches the target floor the camera switches to inside the building, where a man, strapped into a chair, is being interrogated. Screams echo around the room as a torch slammed down onto the desk splinter his fingers into a bloody mess. Youve only got seconds to react, firing at the glass and crashing through the window to his aid.

Rockstar stresses the game can be played in different ways. For example, in this instance you can play purely as Michael, gunning down the four agents in the room before grabbing the hostage and bailing out of the window. Alternatively you could switch to Franklin and watch the action unfold from afar, peering through the optics on your sniper scope and lending a helping hand by picking off enemies as they pop into view. Or, as we witnessed, you can switch between the two, executing the smash and grab yourself before taking control of Franklin as Michael is winched back up to the chopper.

Having the freedom to switch between characters not only ensures you tailor the experience to your tastes, but also eliminates flat spots in the action. Youre always at the heart of whats going on, whether youre piloting a helicopter, shoving a gun in someones face at point-blank range or popping heads from a rooftop.

The closing stages of the mission are equally open and as Michael is pulled back inside the helicopter, you have three options. You can continue to play as Franklin who, when agency choppers arrive quickly on the scene, can cover his buddies by taking potshots at enemy pilots in an attempt to bring them down. Or you can switch back to Michael, whos able to open up with a machinegun as the heat closes in. Lastly you can choose Trevor, who tries to shake off his pursuers by weaving between buildings and getting the hell out of there as quickly as possible.

The reality is youll probably play around with a combination of the three, initially laying down covering fire as Franklin before switching to Trevor to change the direction of your chopper so Michael has a better angle to open up on the incoming bad guys. And thats just one way the mission couldve played out. Base-jumping returns for GTA V, so is it possible for Michael to grab the target and jump from the building, before opening a parachute and making good his escape in a car once on the ground? The truth is we dont know right now, but rest assured we cannot wait to experiment when we finally get to play more of the game.

One thing we do know is that all three characters must survive in order to succeed the mission. Additionally, Michael, Trevor and Franklin each have their own side missions open to them, as well as the side missions that are shared across all three. Rockstar wouldnt be drawn about specifics but hinted that theyll tie in with each of the characters. Will Franklin make a bit on the side by trading rare cars for cash, or will Trevor be called upon to fly stolen goods from the a pick-up point in centre of the city out into the countryside? Well have to wait and see.

Also, while Rockstar is not talking about multiplayer yet its certainly a key focus, and the three-character set-up does mean that some missions would lend themselves perfectly to co-op. Its unlikely the entire story will be playable in co-op Rockstar has said as much - but planning and eventually taking part in a huge heist alongside your best mates is something I personally hope for.

And thats whats particularly exciting about Grand Theft Auto V. From the briefest of glimpses we can already tell the city of Los Santos is a place we want to spend more time in, and getting to know Michael, Trevor and Franklin better is something we cannot wait to do. There are questions that still need answering has the combat been refined or completely overhauled, and more importantly does the inclusion of three characters means theres far more replay value or does the story always follow the same path?

One things for sure, the most exciting aspect of GTA V is not just the way it promises to shake up the open-world genre, but also the freedom and flexibility it promises. Tackling the same mission in different ways has always been a hallmark of the series carrying out chase missions in Vice City in a Hunter helicopter is one of my fondest GTA memories but its never been truer than it is here. Whats more, if pedestrian fetch quests really are a thing of the past and the promise of a consistently up-tempo yet satisfyingly deep story is deliver upon, Grand Theft Auto V could be the benchmark by which all other games not just open-world games will be judged against.

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GTA 5 DLC - 'There's going to be a lot of interesting stuff', teases Take-Two CEO

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has suggested that Rockstar has "a lot of interesting stuff" planned for Grand Theft Auto 5's DLC, but that it is "way too early" to begin discussing it because it won't be shipped until at least April.

Responding to a question regarding the potential for GTA 5's 'digital content' during Take-Two's investor call last night, Zelnick said that it was "way too early to discuss those plans, and of course those discussions will come from Rockstar in the normal course".

He continued: "I think you can safely assume that Rockstar, as the label that led the charge in downloadable content with Grand Theft Auto 4, I think you'd have every reason to believe, purely because of the ground-breaking nature of the title itself and the multiplayer in the title, that there's going to be a lot of interesting stuff. But I'll leave that to Rockstar to announce."

More information on GTA 5 will be revealed next week, although that likely won't include any of Rockstar's ongoing DLC plans.

In the same conference call, Take-Two also confirmed that GTA 5 would not be launching until at least April 2013.


The game, which was announced for release during 'spring 2013' earlier this week, "is now a fiscal year 14 [title]", the company's chief financial officer Lainie Goldstein confirmed. "We've announced that it's during spring 2013 release time period, and not in this fiscal year."

Zelnick further confirmed GTA 5's FY 2014 release date, saying: "As a result, we continue to expect to deliver revenue growth and non-GAAP profits for fiscal year 2013 even without a major new release of Grand Theft Auto, and we're positioned to generate substantial revenue and earnings growth in fiscal 2014."

He added that the game was Take-Two's most eagerly anticipated release "without question".

Take-Two's FY 14 begins on April 1, 2013, and ends March 31, 2014. Combined with the prior knowledge that GTA 5 will release during spring, expect to see the game ship during April, May or June 2013.

But why hasn't Take-Two announced a specific release date for GTA 5? Zelnick explains:

"With regard to the date for Grand Theft Auto 5, spring 2013, we make those announcements based on what we think is best to market the title, and we think that's the right way to describe it, and we're thrilled with the way that is shaping up."

DAN HOUSER - GTA 5 MAP WILL BE 'VERY BIG'

In a recent interview with Game Informer magazine, Dan Houser made it clear that Grand Theft Auto 5 will have a "very big map", while also seemingly confirming that Los Santos is the only major city in the game.

Dan Houser: I've got to be real careful here, or they will drag me through the office and whip me with barbwire. I will stick to exactly what's in the press release. It's Los Santos and the surrounding countryside - and a very big map.
While this would appear to back up Rockstar's initial press release about the game being set in Los Santos, we still can't call it 100% confirmed. The fact that Dan explained he would "stick to the press release" would appear to show he doesn't want to give anything away that Rockstar aren't ready to discuss - but that there clearly there is more to tell. Whether that is the inclusion of other cities (such as San Fierro and Las Venturas), time will tell.

Until we receive any further information however, the facts as they stand are that GTA 5 is set in Los Santos and will feature a very big map.

Grand Theft Auto 5 - Oldest Information Starting Now

Grand Theft Auto 5 (GTA 5 or GTA V) is widely expected to be the name of the new Grand Theft Auto game. Lets have a good time with this, OK guys and gals?

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Grand Theft Auto V Found in Social Club Files

With info so scarce on Grand Theft Auto V, Rockstar Games fans sift through as much dirt as they can to find a speck of gold. This time the name "Grand Theft Auto V" and "GTA V" have been found hidden away in some XML files of the official Rockstar Games Social Club:

The first XML file is here or see below if it gets changed. It involves videos:

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The second XML file is here or see below if it gets changed. This has to do with the multiplayer event schedule:

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Before you scream "typo!" note that GTA IV is also listed and for Rockstar to mess that up, it would mess up their website too. Also note the Game of the Year Edition of Red Dead Redemption is also listed in the first pic as well as L.A. Noire too. An interesting thing is that Beaterator is shown in the second pic for Multiplayer Events.

What's noticeable is that AGENT is not listed in either file, even though it is listed at the Social Club as "coming soon". That title is being developed by Rockstar North, who is the main studio in the GTA series. Perhaps development of AGENT has been pushed back to make way for Grand Theft Auto V? Maybe GTA V will indeed be announced for release after Max Payne 3?

Let us know what you think of all this in the comments below or join the chat in the GTA 5 forums! Thanks to GTANF.com for finding this!

EDIT: This has since been taken out of the coding.

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Rockstar Acknowledges GTA Fans

Rockstar is currently in full marketing mode with the recent announcement and trailer launch of Max Payne 3, due for release in March 2012.

Despite their best efforts, fans have persistently been asking about Grand Theft Auto and we're all too familiar with how they avoid such questions! However, thanks to a Max Payne 3 Q&A session on Rockstar's own Newswire, there has finally been some form of acknowledgement to the series.

"When are we going to see a new GTA????? #bestgameever" - received via Twitter
"When's the new grand theft auto coming out?" - received via Twitter

Big, big shout to all Grand Theft Auto fans worldwide who we know are anxious to hear about what's next for the franchise but we don't have any news at this time. All we can say is, right now, we're focused on our next upcoming releases which are Max Payne 3 as well as L.A. Noire for PC, Red Dead Redemption Game of the Year Edition and Max Payne for mobile devices. When and if we have anything to report regarding the Grand Theft Auto franchise, you know that we'll do so here at the Newswire or on our Twitter or Facebook.

Rockstar Newswire

Rockstar have informed us all that we're getting no news or information in the near future. The questions could easily have been avoided, so props to Rockstar for asking fans to exercise a little patience during the promotion of other games.

Take from the answer what you will. The tenth anniversary of GTA III is around the corner, so there has been speculation amongst fans that Rockstar may treat us to a surprise before the year is out. That aside, it is still looking more and more likely that 2012 will be the year we will hear more.

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Key Points from Take-Two Financial Report

Take-Two Interactive today revealed their first quarter earnings for fiscal year 2012. Of course, Grand Theft Auto V was not announced, but some interesting points for their future were raised and questioned.

Statements included that they have some unannounced titles for release during the next fiscal year that we will hear about in the "coming months". A particular statement, repeated from the last financial report, was that they expect to exceed a net income of $2 per share in fiscal year 2013 (April 2012 - March 2013).

Following the report, during a Q&A session, an attendee questioned how they expect to reach such a maximum without a GTA release that year. Strauss Zelnick, CEO of T2, evaded the question and diverted his answer to titles they have already announced for release that year such as BioShock Infinite and Borderlands 2.

To put these numbers in perspective, the last time T2 did reach such an income is during the release of Grand Theft Auto IV, in which they recorded $2.08 per share. In comparison, income reached $1.06 per share during the release of Red Dead Redemption and is projected to reach up to $0.35 for the current fiscal year, where LA Noire and Duke Nukem Forever have been their main new titles.

It is safe to say that the statement by T2 encourages shareholders to expect something big, or at least a high earner, during fiscal 2013. While we are not all accountants, the numbers are clear for us to draw out some speculation about a release date, and 2012-2013 has always been plausible amongst the community.

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GTA V unlikely until 2012 Analyst

Take-Two recently announced it was shifting its fiscal year to end on March 31 in order to better put it in line with other major game publishers. Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey issued an analyst note, which laid out some predictions for the New York-based publisher. Namely, that it will remain profitable even if the next Grand Theft Auto doesnt come out during its next fiscal year.
Hickey believes that Take-Twos 2011 fiscal year, which runs from April 1, 2011, until March 31, 2012, will feature two major game highlights: Max Payne 3 and L.A. Noire. He thinks those two games will lead a software lineupwhich may also include the long-delayed Duke Nukem Foreverthat can make the company profitable in a year without a GTA or a Red Dead game.
When GTA V does come out, likely in Take-Twos fiscal 2012 (April 2012-March 2013), Hickey believes it will be yet another blockbuster, selling upward of 16 million copies and generating over $750 million by itself. He predicts that year will also see the release of BioShock Infinite, which he estimates will sell over 4 million copies and $182 million in sales.
One major reason for the high sales expectations is the increased combined PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 installed based in the US, which he believes will be 41 million units by the end of calendar year 2010. That compares to just 14 million in April 2008, when Grand Theft Auto IV originally came out.

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Take-Two not ready to talk about a new Grand Theft Auto game

During the Kaufman Brothers, L.P. Investor Conference in New York City, Ben Feder, the CEO of Take-Two Interactive, picked up several interesting topics and made a brief comment regarding the next Grand Theft Auto game. Feder started off by pointing out that Take-Two will be profitable for the first time in nearly a decade without a major Grand Theft Auto release, adding that the publisher remains focused only creating a select number of AAA titles.
As for the next Grand Theft Auto game Feder said they are not ready to talk yet.

Unfortunately, weve said everything were going to say about Grand Theft Auto, I appreciate everyones concern and interest as to when the game is coming out, he said. Were not prepared to announce it today, but when we are, well let you know.

The huge success of Red Dead Redemption was also mentioned along with the belief that in the digital content space DLC not only extends the life of its products but also bridges gaps between releases and keeps the brand fresh in gamers mind. Luckily the upcoming title L.A. Noire was also mentioned. Feder said that L.A. Noire: has got technology and gameplay that isnt available anywhere else. So thats definitely something to keep being excited about!

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New Grand Theft Auto 5 Evidence: The Man-Boy Love Activist

A series of casting calls that were discovered earlier this month seemed to point towards a project known as 'Rush' being the code name for Grand Theft Auto 5. The pieces certainly appeared to fit, but there was no direct connection between that information and the GTA series. A newly-posted casting call for voice actors lists one of the characters as James Pedeaston, the name of a child molester from the GTA series.
The call is seeking a man in the 40-45-year-old range for the role. Pedeaston is described as "a man-boy love activist who just got released from an Indonesian prison." He was around during both Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto IV, the latter of which is where the image to the right comes from. He was a radio show host who was arrested in Indonesia, with Rockstar setting up a fake website at freejames that asked for donations to his legal fund. (The website now forwards to the official GTAIV site.)

The other four characters would fit right into the GTA universe as well, with Samantha -- "a young female obsessed with sex parties, always dreaming of being a Hollywood celebrity" -- seemingly perfect for the game's rumored Hollywood setting.

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Next GTA code-named Rush, set in LA?

Up until recently, the Grand Theft Auto franchise was publisher Take-Two Interactive's main moneymaker. Since then, Take-Two has begun to expand its top-flight portfolio with the likes of Red Dead Redemption and BioShock 2. However, the franchise that continues to command the most attention remains GTA.

Nearly three years removed from the top-rated release of GTAIV, and it's possible that the first tidbits of GTAV info have been puzzled out by Superannuation. The posts began in late February, when the Internet sleuth discovered an actor's resume with a since-deleted reference to motion-capture work on Grand Theft Auto V. This motion-capture find, he said, led him to further investigation into motion-capture casting calls for Rockstar's go-to casting studio Telsey & Company.

GTA may be returning to Los Santos.

"Among the projects listed in the casting call was an 'interactive project' called 'Rush,' which featured characters that fit with the few details I heard about GTA5; outlandish characters, weed, gangsters, & celebrities fit the profile for a contemporary LA-set GTA game," Superannuation tweeted.

The casting call in question, which commenced on December 6, sought actors to do motion capture and voice work for eight "additional principal characters" on the interactive project. The personalities have a decidedly Rockstar feel, with stock characters such as the "annoying, wise cracking, highly successful FBI agent" mixed with absurd personalities such as the "Welsh monk / cult leader / yoga teacher - 50, very lithe, very into exploring your personal tension through gripping massage."

Other characters referenced in the listing include a "weed evangelist"; a "swinger, mellow Californian divorcee" who is "ugly but comfortable with self"; and a "publicist for an actress known as America's newest sweetheartwho just so happens to love animals, orphans, drugs and sex."

Superannuation also secured a direct link between "Rush" and Rockstar Games, again courtesy of a self-promotional actor. On September 9, professional wrestler and aspiring actor Robert Esparza tweeted, "Got body scanned for my role in the video game 'Rush', coming out on Rockstar Games."

Should Rockstar choose to set GTAV on the West Coast, it wouldn't be a first for the franchise. The highly regarded GTA: San Andreas featured Los Angeles and San Francisco-inspired cities, complete with their surrounding boroughs. Of course, it wouldn't be the first time that Rockstar has returned to a locale, as GTAIV and GTAIII both took place on the mean streets of Liberty City, which bears more than a passing resemblance to New York.

Bogus or Not Bogus?: A very tentative not bogus. What seems clear, at least, is that Rockstar is prepping some project under the name "Rush" and that the project will have an eclectic cast of characters that mesh with the GTA universe. Unfortunately, Take-Two has not even announced GTAV yet, so it may be some time before the industry gets an official look at the title.

Grand Theft Auto V development 'well under way'

Saying that Rockstar Games is working on a new Grand Theft Auto game isn't exactly a bold prediction. However, sources close to the Take-Two Interactive subsidiary have confirmed to GameSpot that the next installment in the blockbuster series is "well under way" and is already having final touches such as minigames being applied to it. The sources said a 2012 release was "pretty likely," adding that the game's scale was vast.

"It's the big one," they said.


Development of the next GTA is "well under way."
Unfortunately, the sources would not divulge any further details on the project, which is already the subject of much speculation. A recent set of casting calls from a talent agency point to the game as being set in a Los Angeles-like metropolis, with a motley crew of California characters being filled for a voice-over session. Prior rumors had the game being set in the Miami clone Vice City.

As of press time, Rockstar reps did not have any comment on casting calls, the game's setting, or whether a new GTA was even in development.

Wherever the next GTA is set, it will have some big shoes to fill. Its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto IV, was a massive success for Rockstar and Take-Two. As of March 2011, the game had sold nearly 20 million copies, placing it among the top-selling games of all time. Its forebearer, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, sold more than 12 million units globally, with its domestic 9.8 million-unit haul putting it in NPD's top 10 US best sellers of the 2000s.