Rockstar have officially announced the Spring 2013 release period for Grand Theft Auto V. A new artwork was also released.

Today, we're proud to announce that Grand Theft Auto V is expected to launch worldwide spring 2013 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Developed by series creator Rockstar North, Grand Theft Auto V takes place in a re-imagined, present-day Southern California in the largest and most thriving game-world we have ever created set in the sprawling city of Los Santos and for miles beyond – from the tops of the mountains to the depths of the ocean.

Starting next week November 5, 2012, Grand Theft Auto V will become available for pre-order everywhere and fans can expect a host of new information to become available in November.

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.

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 .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

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 .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!

Building on the success of the groundbreaking Grand Theft Auto III in 2001, the release of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on October 29, 2002 pushed the open world game series deeper into popular culture with a vibrant over-the-top take on Miami, a stunning celebrity voice cast and a loving, satirical look at the cultural excesses of the ‘80s.

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

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.

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 .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.