Chris

Following on from the cover reveal earlier, the digital version of this month's Game Informer magazine is out now. Below is our summary of the massive amount of information covered in the magazine. Characters The game will feature three protagonists which you can switch between at any time. Michael, Trevor, and Franklin Michael (heard voicing trailer 1) is a retired bank robber living a lavish lifestyle thanks to a deal with the FIB Michael has a wife, Amanda, and a teenage daughter, Tracy, and teenage son Jimmy Trevor is a friend of Michael's. He lives in a trailer in a desert region of the map. He is a war veteran and has flight experience. Each of the three characters has their own personality, motivations and skillset Each character has their own story arc When not in control of a character, they will be going about their daily business - you are free to switch between them at nearly any time you want. You can flip off people, with different types of people in different areas reacting differently "Within the story, you're going to know information about a character before they know it because you're going to know what the other people know when you play as them" No RPG style elements to character customisation, however, you can buy different clothes for each character Some familiar faces from GTA IV and EFLC will make a return, though not major ones like Niko. Gameplay Gameplay mechanics have evolved greatly since GTA IV Driving is less boat-like as in GTA IV, has more of a racing game feel to it More vehicles than any GTA game has ever had before - including BMX bikes, road bikes, dirt bikes, huge variety of cars and trucks, helicopters, planes, ATVs and jet skis Shooting and melee combat has evolved, though no specifics are given about this Trevor was shown to pick up a can of gasoline and douse vehicles etc. and set fire to it using a lighter Rappelling down buildings seems to be possible (at least in one mission shown) Map Los Santos is bigger than Red Dead Redemption, San Andreas and GTA IV combined Includes: beachfronts, wine country, large wilderness area, fully explorable Mt. Chiliad, Salton Sea region, military base, sprawling suburban hills, and bustling urban centre. The ocean is fully explorable, including being able to dive. Missions There are several multi-tiered complex missions like "Three Leaf Clover" in GTA IV Missions sometimes feature all three characters, and have a different tone depending on who you are playing as - you will sometimes be able to switch characters during a mission if you choose Random encounters make a return from GTA IV but appear in a much bigger way You will come across dynamic missions in the game. For example you may see a broken down car or a hitchiker. You can choose to stop and interact, or just completely ignore them A musical score will increase tension during missions Misc. Ammu-Nation makes a return Strip clubs, stand up comedy, internet cafes, and television shows all make a return Many additional sophisticated minigames will be featured, similar to poker in Red Dead Redemption Michael, Trevor and Franklin could have some hobbies only available to them - although most minigames will be available to all three characters. Activities include yoga, triathlons, jet skiing, base jumping, tennis and golf Dating will not make a return but you'll have some normal friends to interact with Some familiar faces from GTA IV and EFLC will make a return, though not major ones like Niko. Same universe as GTA IV There will be "loads of stuff" to spend your money on in the in-game economy, though no property The mobile phone concept makes a return, but friends won't annoy you by calling all the time! You'll be able to access the Internet with it. Census information and vehicle sales data were used as a guide to depict the game world. Screenshots We know it's a lot to take in! But you can share your thoughts in the forums.

Yeah I meant to include that quote in the original post, it's there now. 100% confirmed three protagonists in this game. Interesting stuff!

Here it is, Game Informer's cover revealed for the world exclusive GTA V preview which will be out in just a few more hours. The cover shows THREE main characters, all of which have been seen in various artwork and screenshots so far. In a few hours from posting this we'll have a full summary continually updated as we find more information from the issue. Keep checking back as we don't have an exact time for the release, but we do know it will contain a massive 18 pages worth of information! UPDATE: Game Informer have added a GTA V Hub ready for future articles on the game, currently this only features this cover reveal. Of interest is the hub's background image which features one of the protagonists. Tell us what you initial thoughts are about having three protagonists in our forums.

Look out for more online previews appearing next week. Some gaming websites are starting to inform their readers, in particular, two tweets from a pair of Dutch websites say they'll have previews up on Monday, 12th November. Both publications say they were able to see the game in New York and speak to developers. We'll have summaries from all previews we find, in English, right here on The GTA Place. Stay tuned.

A GTAForums user has discovered a new GTA V screenshot on UK magazine Short List's website, where it is being used to promote a competition to win one of the photo viewers that have recently been given out by various US retailers. This is the first we've heard of the photo viewers being available outside the US so keep an eye out for more news regarding them. The image features a character (possibly the man in the quad bike artwork) riding a jet ski.

As we reported on last month, today marks the release of Rockstar Games Collection Edition 1 in North America for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The collection retails for $59.99, and features four critically acclaimed, best-selling Rockstar titles, including Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City, L.A. Noire and Midnight Club: Los Angeles Complete Edition. There is currently no word on whether or not this collection will be released in any other regions around the world, or indeed on any further collections - at least the "edition 1" part of the title implies there will be more to come in the future. Rockstar have today provided links to a number of North American retailers for users to order the collection from:

Rockstar have finally announced the release date for the second GTA V trailer! Our countdown timer is now live on the homepage. What are you hoping to see in the trailer?

Rockstar have just announced that Grand Theft Auto V is now officially available for pre-order from various websites and stores. Additionally, Rockstar have made available an extended version of the "beach weather" artwork that was revealed a few days ago. Check that out in full below. Beach Weather Rockstar have provided a list of links to British and North American retailers, noting that more international retailers will be added when they become available. Finally, Rockstar have promised an update on progress of the second trailer soon. Keep an eye on The GTA Place for all the latest updates on that, you can follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ if you aren't already.

Just a quick update to let everyone know I've moved all of our news subforums (the forums where we post GTA news in that appears on the homepage). Each news forum has been put in its respective GTA forum. So we're now posting all our GTA V news in the GTA V forum, and so on for each game in the series. Couple of reasons for doing this: More logical to keep topics related to each game all in one area, rather than having news and game discussion in separate places. The forum homepage looks a bit cluttered and possibly intimidating especially for new users. This will reduce the number of forums visible and it now should be more obvious where to find all topics for each game. In addition, the Suggestions / Help forum has been moved to the bottom of the page. This has been done to discourage new members from asking GTA help in there, and the fact it doesn't really need to appear in a prominent place. Do let us know if you have anything to say regarding these small changes. Upcoming Changes Even with these changes, the forum homepage is still looking pretty cluttered and very text heavy. I'm currently experimenting with a new layout for this page and we'll make this publicly available for testing when we're ready, your feedback will be useful. A new topic will be posted here in the announcements forum when we're ready to test that. Excitement for GTA V is getting a lot higher now and it's great to see more of you posting and commenting on all the news recently. Don't forget you can follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ if you prefer to stay up to date that way. And by the way, we'll be holding some competitions to win a copy of GTA V soon, so there are additional benefits to following us elsewhere on the web

Ahead of their exclusive review, Game Informer have posted high-res versions of a couple of the new artworks we've been seeing from in-store promotional displays. One shows the hispanic man from the trailer holding a dog called "Chop", while the other shows a female police officer arresting a lady whose wearing a Love Fist t-shirt. Love Fist were a fictional metal band that featured in Vice City for those of you who can't remember that far back! Check them out below. We've also updated our artwork page with these. Having trouble keeping up with all the news? Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ for updates!

As GTA V becomes available for pre-order in just a few days (5th November), many stores across the world have received promotional materials for the game to hand out to customers. It seems some lucky people have managed to get their hands on some a little early. The main item currently getting a lot of attention is a small photo viewer that when looked through shows various locations, in fact, in a style not too dissimilar to the Vice City postcards some of you may have seen back in 2002. Various photos are being posted by members in a GTAForums thread, here are some pictures of the images inside it. These items are supposedly being given out on a first-come first-served basis to customers who preorder the game from stores across North America (no reports yet from anything elsewhere in the world). UPDATE: Here's a couple more pictures:

Rockstar have officially announced the Spring 2013 release period for Grand Theft Auto V. A new artwork was also released. Links: Full press release | Newswire post

UK retailer GAME this morning tweeted confirmation of GTAV's Spring 2013 release date (which we posted about a few days ago) via one of its local Twitter feeds for a store in Brighton. The tweet encouraged users to pre-order GTA V and contained a photo of 3 different box art designs, two of which feature brand new artworks. The tweet has since been deleted, but of course people had already saved it. You can check out the photo of the artworks below (click for the full size image).

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), responsible for assigning ratings to video games in North America, has now rated GTA: San Andreas for the PS3. Back in June, ratings were spotted for PS3 versions of both GTA III and Vice City, since then only GTA III has been released. This rating of San Andreas practically confirms existence of the game, and one would assume that both this and Vice City will be released in the near future, with Vice City logically arriving first, possibly alongside its release for iOS and Android. Permalink to the individual certificate. For anyone who wasn't following the news, the games are being released on the PSN Store as "PS2 Classics". What this means is they are direct ports of the original PS2 versions, and thus they unfortunately don't benefit from any remastered HD graphics or the addition of any trophies. That said, this is still great news for anyone who wants to play the games again and no longer has their original PS2 copies, or for those of you who are new to the franchise and perhaps never played these truly classic games. GTA3 is available on the PSN Store right now for just $9.99. There is currently no word on release dates for either Vice City or San Andreas, but we'll let you know whenever Rockstar or Sony give us an official announcement regarding these.

A photo of a promotional poster for GTA V allegedly taken by an employee of a store in London has found its way into the hands GTA fans today. The poster features the new "Pest Control" artwork which was released the other day, as well as a brand new piece of artwork depicting a character with a dog on a chain. Please excuse the obnoxious watermark added by another fansite, we don't have the original photo at this time. Another photo with a close up of the the board shows "Pre-order now - Spring 2013", putting the release date between March and June next year. It's also worth noting that the promo only shows the Xbox 360 and PS3 logos, leading us to the unsurprising conclusion that Rockstar will once again release a PC version later on in the year. While most "leaks" are in fact not leaks and simply faked items of media or information that we don't bother posting about, this one does not appear to be fake. It does look pretty legit, and given the fact that we're expecting a lot of new info very shortly, the timing of this makes sense. One would expect to see promo pieces like this up in stores in the coming weeks, and we imagine an official announcement on release timing will be forthcoming from Rockstar themselves some time very soon. Source: GTAForums thread

You're an absolute moron.

Game Informer's editor-in-chief, Andy McNamara, has just announced the release schedule for December's Grand Theft Auto V issue on the magazine's website. In the morning of November 8 (US Central time), Game Informer will reveal the cover art and give a break down of the issue. McNamara says that the story is huge - over 18 pages in print - and full of details and screens. Following this in the afternoon (US Central time), they will release the digital edition of Game Informer to iPad, 10-inch Android devices, and PC/Mac (individual issues cost $4.99 - the app itself is free). Those of you who actually subscribe to the print issue; that will already be in the mail and should arrive to you in the weeks that follow. The magazine will be on newsstands from the 16th November. For those of you who aren't able to get hold of the magazine, don't worry, we'll have a full summary of all the new screenshots and information right here on the homepage, as soon after release as possible.

As we speculated in the months gone by, Rockstar will be releasing a 10th Anniversary Edition of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for iOS and select Android devices this fall! To celebrate, Rockstar will be releasing a series of commemorative assets including artwork and a new trailer depicting the most iconic scenes and music from the game, in addition to some highly collectible merchandise via the Rockstar Warehouse. More details on the upcoming release for iOS and Android will be available in the next few weeks. The game will bring the "full experience to mobile devices, featuring native high-resolution graphics and several enhancements unique to the iOS and Android platforms." Source: Newswire, Full press release

As a developer I'm just happy they kept the same resolution so there's no extra work needed for me to make my apps look good on the device

Sounds like you don't know about GI's history of exclusive GTA reveals... It will be fucking huge.

Rockstar have just released the first official GTA V artwork, featuring a scene from last year's debut trailer titled "Pest Control". Rockstar also promised "lots of info coming next month", some of which we know will be coming from Game Informer's exclusive preview You can grab the artwork in various sizes for your devices from the official website.

Has anybody suggested anything to Rockstar about them?

It's not ruined. Not sure how many Estonians we actually have here but if any see this they can continue whatever you're talking about. Please no one else post in English after this though, as it defeats the purpose of this subforum

Rockstar have confirmed that the rumoured Rockstar Games Collection is indeed real, and will be going on sale in North America on 6th November, for PS3 and Xbox 360. The exclusive collection will retail for $59.99 and includes Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City, L.A. Noire, and Midnight Club: Los Angeles Complete Edition. Comments by Rockstar on the newswire posting seem to confirm that the company has no plans to release this collection outside of North America, but they say to "stay tuned" regarding the possibility of other bundles. The '1' in the title of this release seems to imply there will be more to follow. There is no word on whether or not a PC version will ever be made. While many of you reading this will no doubt own one or more or perhaps all of these games already, there will be many people who still don't, so be sure to let them know of this great deal.

Game Informer's editor-in-chief Andy McNamara has just confirmed via Twitter that GTA V will be the magazine's December cover story. We imagine this issue will be out in early November. Hopefully this will satisfy the rabid collection of drooling angsty teenagers the GTA community has now become!