“Congratulations to the team at Rockstar for their success. We look forward to getting the record back before the next GTA title,” Activision UK senior brand manager Kevin Flynn told MCV.

Is it possible? GTAV has swiftly taken over Call of Duty: Black Ops record, and is full-throttle on track to sideline FIFA13 to become the bestselling game of all time in the UK, a feat that should be easily accomplished based on the title’s current trajectory.

So, can Call of Duty regain its crown? Let’s hear your thoughts.

From Rockstar:

We are humbled and overwhelmed by the response to Grand Theft Auto V – literally overwhelmed in the case of some of our servers! We sincerely hope you’re enjoying your visit to Los Santos and we know many of you have plenty of questions about Grand Theft Auto Online. First, we thought it would be useful to provide some details of the roll out of GTA Online, and how we hope you will be involved in making the game everything it can be. • Grand Theft Auto Online is going to be something brand new for us: a fully realized and living world for multiple players that will continue to grow and take shape over time. • The ultimate shape of GTA Online will be determined as much by you, the player, as by the work we put in. What you like and don’t like, what you play and what you want will determine how the game develops and what it turns into. • Everything we do will be informed by feedback from you all – from the types of missions that roll out to all kinds of future content. • We are planning for a constant stream of new content, tweaks and updates in the weeks and months ahead. • The first couple of weeks we expect to be heavily focused on tuning the experience as it goes from internal testing to the reality of being played by tons of people in the real world so that all the usual teething problems for an online game are overcome. We hope it will all run incredibly smoothly, but please bear with us if it doesn’t, and help us fix any and all problems! • After that, we will begin releasing content updates and giving you the opportunity to make your own content.

This is vital for the ongoing success of the game. The first few months of Grand Theft Auto Online will be critical as everyone enters this dynamic new world for the first time. Plenty of issues are bound to occur. Remember this interesting character? One thing we are already aware of, and are trying to alleviate as fast as we can, is the unanticipated additional pressure on the servers due to a significantly higher number of players than we were anticipating at this point – we are working around the clock to buy and add more servers, but this increased scale is only going to make the first few days even more temperamental than such things usually are. This is part of the problem some of you have been experiencing with the iFruit App and some Social Club services – we apologize in advance for this and thank you for your patience in this area. More than ever, we need your help to report your experiences, findings, likes, loves, dislikes and hates – and we will be looking at your feedback constantly to tune the game into its optimal shape and help guide how Grand Theft Auto Online will grow and evolve past this initial period. We will be checking out how people are playing and what they are not playing or not enjoying, while also monitoring feedback via two other new Rockstar channels: • GTAOnline@rockstargames.com - This email address will be active from launch day as a place to send your input and feedback direct to us relating to the game. • GTA Online Forums at Social Club - At some point this fall after the initial release of GTA Online, we are planning to launch Social Club Forums where players can chat with one another about their online experiences as well as access a GTA Online Suggestion board to post about any suggested features, tweaks and changes you want to see.

From launch, up to 16 players can enter the world together to partake in everything from: • Open-World Crime and Chaos - Go on your own or round up your friends to explore the open world together – catch a movie, go mountain biking, hit the shooting range and much more. Want to test the law? Knock over a convenience store, take down a gang or rob an armored truck for easy cash and Reputation. • Jobs - Los Santos and Blaine County are ripe with opportunity for the ambitious and criminal minded. Take on Missions and an array of other Jobs as a lone wolf, team up with your Crew or join fellow mercenaries and degenerates to pull off a wide range of robberies and illicit activities together. • Races - Everything from classic street competition and off-road tracks to boat racing on the open ocean, or take to the skies in aerial events. Jump into the madness of a GTA Race, or try out a brand new race type, Rally, where driver and co-pilot work together to navigate treacherous courses at high speeds. • Sports - Join your friends / any random stranger for a game of tennis, a round of golf or go base jumping and more, all for cash and Reputation. • Customization - Create your character using the Character Creator – then earn some cash and spend it getting dressed for success. You can also collect and customize cars for your garage and personalize your full weapons cache. • Reputation and Cash Flow - Reputation is earned from all your online exploits in everything you do in GTA Online – and will help you rank up, providing access to new features, weapons and criminal contacts. Spend cash you’ve gained on cars, clothes, guns, properties and much more. You can either quickly accumulate cash through profitable activities like knocking over armored cars, winning street races, doing stick-ups or a host of other cash-making endeavors – or if you’re the completely instant gratification type, you can choose to buy denominations of GTA$. You will have the option to purchase GTA$ through the in-game Store. The game and its economy have been designed and balanced for the vast majority of players who will not buy extra cash. There is no in-game paywall and nothing that should disrupt the balance of the game. You don’t have to spend real money to attain the cars, guns, clothes, flash and style of a high-roller in Los Santos, but can if you wish to get them a little quicker. The economy is balanced differently from the single player economy, and cash earned in one cannot be taken over to the other. Most players will earn cash much faster Online than in Story Mode. • Growing Pains - There will be the typical growing pains for an online game, including but not limited to crashes, glitches, crazy bugs, gameplay modes and mechanics that need re-balancing and other surprises! Even in GTAV Story Mode, some of you may have seen a few odd and even amusing little glitches out there last week. This sort of thing is inevitable in a massive open-world game and there’ll surely be lots more unexpected oddities like this in the Online world next week – rest assured we’ll be monitoring and actively doing all we can to smooth such things out as they happen, but we need your help to find them, as well as your feedback to help fine tune all of the game’s systems so everything is perfectly balanced.

Here is a quick overview of a few initial things we’re working on for the first few weeks of Grand Theft Auto Online, alongside an aggressive period of tuning and finessing the game. We will give you dates for all of this content as soon as we have them – bear in mind that the order of things may well change, and we will probably add some extra stuff as well! • The Content Creator - The Content Creator will launch with tools to tailor and publish your own Deathmatches & Races. • The Beach Bum Pack - Featuring 4 new amazing beach fun vehicles, over 300 new items of incredible down tempo leisure wear and 2 new but not remotely relaxing weapons. • Capture the Flag - GTA Online’s take on the classic CTF mode including the ability to make your own using The Content Creator. • Heists - This update will introduce full-on cooperative Heist missions that will require careful planning, teamwork and sharp execution – along with the Heist Planning Board for your apartment. Just to be clear, all of these updates will be free. We’ll have more info on this and much more additional content as our plans develop through the launch period, and as we get feedback from you. Please stay tuned for further info and updates. And remember – we need your help to make this experience all it can be.

Here’s the full thing:

Pre-Order

Need for Speed: Rivals ($59.99)

Welcome to Redview County, where a street-racing rivalry between cops and racers never stops as both sides compete in an all-out war featuring the fastest cars, mods and technology in a gritty open road environment. Play as either a cop or racer, where each side of the law has its own set of high stakes challenges, rewards and consequences. Risk everything in the ultimate high stakes rivalry.

PS3 Game

Grand Theft Auto V ($59.99)

Los Santos: a sprawling sun-soaked metropolis full of self-help gurus, starlets and fading celebrities, once the envy of the Western world, now struggling to stay afloat in an era of economic uncertainty and cheap reality TV. Amidst the turmoil, three very different criminals plot their own chances of survival and success: Franklin, a street hustler looking for real opportunities and serious money Michael, a professional ex-con whose retirement is a lot less rosy than he hoped it would be and Trevor, a violent maniac driven by the chance of a cheap high and the next big score. Running out of options, the crew risks everything in a series of daring and dangerous heists that could set them up for life.

Hot Wheels World’s Best Driver ($39.99)

Gear up for the most intense challenges only Hot Wheels can deliver! Pick your team, choose your ride and go for it! Get behind the wheel of thrilling Hot Wheels vehicles while joining the elite ranks of Team Hot Wheels. Compete in dozens of unique, fast-paced, re-playable challenges all highlighting the different driving styles of Team Hot Wheels: the speed record-breaking Green Team, the show-stopping stunts of the Red Team, the high-tech precision of the Blue Team and the world record-breaking jumps of the Yellow Team. Do you have what it takes to be the World’s Best Driver?

PS Vita

Real Boxing ($9.99)

Real Boxing is a stunning boxing simulation game powered by Unreal Engine 3. Journey from amateur to pro in one of the most comprehensive handheld sporting games ever created. Real-time deformation technology portrays every bone-crunching punch and jaw-shattering uppercut – the fight is on!

PS2 Classics

Capcom Fighting Evolution ($9.99)

Warriors from the Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, and Red Earth universes clash for dominance in this arcade-style 2D fighter.

Bundles

Urban Trial Freestyle (PS Vita & PS3) ($12.49)

Don’t miss the ultimate urban trial freestyle game for PlayStation 3 system and PS Vita system! The city is your playground! Take to the streets on your freestyle trials bike, while dodging the police and using the urban landscape to pull spectacular tricks – backflips, 360s, wallrides, ollies, and more.

PlayStation Store Highlights

One of fall’s most anticipated titles is out today — Grand Theft Auto V. Rockstar’s incredibly popular franchise features three main characters this time around, and you can explore the massive city of Los Santos with all of them. If you love driving and want to do more of it later this fall, you can also pre-order Need for Speed: Rivals today.

PS Plus members can now download both ICO and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for free, as well as peruse some of the Square Enix sale items.

If you’d like to peruse all the new items on the store at your own leisure, feel free to check out the web storefront. As always, please leave your thoughts in the comments below. You can also chat about this update in the PlayStation Community Forums.

PlayStation Plus

Learn more and purchase online or go to the PlayStation Store to activate instantly. To learn more about this week’s Plus offerings, check out this week’s PS Plus post.

Price Change

• Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch – PS3 Game (now: $19.99 original price: $54.99)
• T.A.C. Heroes: Big Red One – PS3 Game (now: $11.99 original price: $19.99)

Sales

• RockSmith – Various Songs (now: $1.99 original price: $2.99)
• Kane & Lynch: Dead Men – PS3 Game (now: $7.49 original price: $14.99)
• Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days – PS3 Game (now: $9.99 original price: $19.99)
• Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days – Various Add-Ons (now: $0.99-$1.49 original price: $1.99-$2.99)
• Sleeping Dogs – PS3 Game (now: $12.49 original price: $24.99)
• Sleeping Dogs – Various Add-Ons (now: $0.99-$3.99 original price: $1.99 -$7.99)

PS Vita Add-ons

LittleBigPlanet PS Vita Cross-buy with PS3

• Warriors of the World Costume Pack 2 ($2.99)
• Hoplite Warrior Costume ($0.99)
• Line Infantry Costume ($0.99)
• Samurai Warrior Costume ($0.99)
• Zulu Warrior ($0.99)

Pinball Arcade Cross-buy with PS3

• Pro Table Pack 16: Flight 2000 And Goin’ Nuts ($7.99)
• Table Pack 16 Pro Upgrade ($3.99, Free For Pro Season Pass)
• Table Pack 16: Flight 2000 And Goin’ Nuts ($4.99, Free For Season Pass And Pro Season Pass)

Soul Sacrifice

• Additional Pact: The Fall of the Gods (Free)

PS3 Add-ons

Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate

• School Uniform Pack ($12.99)

Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate: Core Fighters

• Ayane School Uniform ($1.99)
• Christie School Uniform ($1.99)
• Costume Catalog 02 (Free)
• Helena School Uniform ($1.99)
• Hitomi School Uniform ($1.99)
• Kasumi School Uniform ($1.99)
• Kokoro School Uniform ($1.99)
• Leifang School Uniform ($1.99)
• Lisa School Uniform ($1.99)
• Mila School Uniform ($1.99)
• Momiji School Uniform ($1.99)
• Rachel School Uniform ($1.99)
• Tina School Uniform ($1.99)

Metro: Last Light

• The Developer Pack ($3.99, Free with Season Pass)

One Piece Pirate Warriors 2

• Bundle 1 ($3.99)
• Luffy’s Film Battle Outfit ($1.99)
• Prequel Costume: Hancock (Free)
• Prequel Costume: Luffy (Free)
• Sanji’s Film Battle Outfit ($1.99)
• Zoro’s Film Battle Outfit ($1.99)

Pinball Arcade

• Pro Table Pack 16: Flight 2000 And Goin’ Nuts ($7.99)
• Table Pack 16 Pro Upgrade ($3.99, Free For Pro Season Pass)
• Table Pack 16: Flight 2000 And Goin’ Nuts ($4.99, Free For Season Pass And Pro Season Pass)

Pinballistik

• Alien Tycoon Bundle ($4.99)

LittleBigPlanet 2 Cross-buy with PS3 & PS Vita

• Warriors of the World Costume Pack 2 ($2.99)
• Hoplite Warrior Costume ($0.99)
• Line Infantry Costume ($0.99)
• Samurai Warrior Costume ($0.99)
• Zulu Warrior ($0.99)

LittleBigPlanet Karting Cross-buy with PS3 & PS Vita

• Warriors of the World Costume Pack 2 ($2.99)
• Hoplite Warrior Costume ($0.99)
• Line Infantry Costume ($0.99)
• Samurai Warrior Costume ($0.99)
• Zulu Warrior ($0.99)

Saints Row IV

• GAT V Pack ($2.99)
• Wild West Pack ($2.99)

PS3 Avatars

• God of War: Ascension – Kratos the Man Avatar (Free)
• God of War: Ascension – Lord of the Underworld Avatar ($0.49)
• God of War: Ascension – Lords of Olympus Avatar Bundle ($0.99)
• God of War: Ascension – Master of The Sea Avatar ($0.49)
• God of War: Ascension – Ruler of Olympus Avatar ($0.49)
• God of War: Ascension – Symbol of Ares Avatar ($0.49)
• God of War: Ascension – Symbol of Hades Avatar ($0.49)
• God of War: Ascension – Symbol of Poseidon Avatar ($0.49)
• God of War: Ascension – Symbol of Zeus Avatar ($0.49)
• God of War: Ascension – Symbols of Olympus Avatar Bundle ($0.99)
• God of War: Ascension – The God of War Avatar ($0.49)
• God of War: Ascension – The Warrior Avatar ($0.49)

PS3 Themes

• A Dynamic Fighter Theme 6 ($2.99)
• AlpineGlowOnPyramidMountain Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
• Amazing Earth: Arctic Iceberg Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
• Amazing Earth: Dynamic Underwater ($2.99)
• Beach Resort Clock Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
• Beautiful Mt Hood Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
• Destination: Greek Sunset Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
• Destination: Miami Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
• Digital Blasphemy Hidden Forces Clock Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
• Digital Blasphemy The End Clock Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
• Dynamic Undead Knight Theme ($2.99)
• Gate Keeper Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
• Rage Comics: Stay Chill Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
• Rage Comics: The Sniff Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
• Phil Wohr: Saint Kaylyn Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
• Sci Fi Bundle ($3.99)

PSP Themes

• Amazing Earth: Matterhorn ($1.49)
• Amazing Earth: Moonlight ($1.49)
• Amazing Earth: Ocean Fire ($1.49)
• Destination: Mayan Temple ($1.49)
• Destination: Miami ($1.49)
• Destination: Niagara Falls ($1.49)
• Destination: Space Needle ($1.49)
• Destination: Sphinx ($1.49)
• Destination: Thailand Sunset ($1.49)
• Destination: Times Square ($1.49)
• Destination: Tokyo ($1.49)
• Phil Wohr: Apoc Rider ($1.49)
• Phil Wohr: Lifeless Forest ($1.49)
• Phil Wohr: Research Facility ($1.49)
• Utherworlds: Fear Language ($1.49)
• Utherworlds: Reckoning Day ($1.49)

PS3 Videos

• Battlefield 4 Official Premium Video
• Battlefield 4 Official Levolution Features Video
• Destiny Vidoc 2 – Out Here In The Wild
• Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F Launch Trailer
• NHL14 – Demo Trailer
• Pinballistik Free-To-Play Trailer
• Call Of Duty: Ghosts Single Player Campaign Trailer
• Tiny Brains Trailer
• Need For Speed Rivals Undercover Cop Reveal

It’s common knowledge that the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto V has a mandatory install of 8GB from the first disc. But, Rockstar warns everyone to keep away from installing the contents of the second, “Play” disc.

“For optimal performance, we recommend not installing that disc. We will have more info on our Support Site at launch.”

Reports say this affects textures and animations, and it’d be a sin to not enjoy such a gorgeous game to the fullest. So, beware Xbox 360 users, once you get your hands on the game tomorrow. Stay tuned for our review and articles on the game.

According to Forbes, the map was leaked by a prematurely released Brady Games strategy guide of the upcoming open-world stunner from Rockstar. GTVA is set in  fictional city Los Santos, which is modelled after Los Angeles.

The map gives indication to the full size and scale of Los Santos, which reportedly sports a larger gameworld than Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and Grand Theft Auto IV combined.

Yes, dear Games Thirst reader, you read that right. As we learn from Chicago Radio Station WGN and Polygon, Rockstar hired real life gang members to play a part in the upcoming Grand Theft Auto V.

Striving for a fictional criminal underworld that’s as authentic as humanly possible, Rockstar dropped some voice actors in favor of “actual, real gang members” wherever possible. Contributing writer and producer “Lazlow” Jones said that thousands of hours of audio that has been recorded inside people’s houses has been collected, recording them in their everyday, getting as much reality out of it as possible.

“When we record all these ambient characters we go towards authenticity. In the game there’s these rival gangs. There’s Black gangs, Latino gangs … we recruited a guy who gets gang members, actual real gang members, like El Salvadoran gang dudes with amazing tattoos, one of which had literally gotten out of prison the day before.

We get these guys in to record the gang characters because we don’t want a goofy L.A actor who went to a fancy school trying to be a hard gang member. There’s nothing worse than that, so just go find the terrifying people and say ‘can you come in here please?’”

Lazlow said the developer offered the voice actors the ability to put their own spin onto the script:

“They look at the lines and say, ‘I wouldn’t say that,’ so we say, ‘OK, say what you would say.’ Authenticity.

There’s a lot of sessions where we would just throw the script on the floor. ‘This is is irrelevant, let’s just work on something real.’”

Lazlow, who has voiced and produced the radio sequences of the series from Grand Theft Auto III onwards, worked with Southern entertainer Jesco White.

“I flew into Memphis and drove an hour and a half south, near the Alabama border, and we burned furniture and drank moonshine and every few hours we’d go record some more. I bought fireworks, liquor and slabs of things to barbecue. It was all expensed.”

Our take: Rockstar is crazy. Like, really crazy. But I don’t mind. I smell controversy rising from this, and the whole “the video games made me do it” argument will be slowly crawling to criminals’ lips, with new ground to stand onto. But, as a seasoned gamer, and not a court judge who doesn’t know how to hold a controller, I’ve one critical question: how are video games in the wrong, when movies, books, comics, TV series, and pretty much everything else you can think of, have been doing the same thing for centuries more than video games have, but only video games pay for it? In “The Godfather” movie trilogy, real life gangsters were hired, to portray the roles with authenticity; I’ll grab some popcorn and see how Grand Theft Auto is the devil again for doing the same thing, decades later.

(For the record, I love The Godfather, and am not criticizing it.)

Gematsu listed all 21 publishers that signed a deal with Sony regarding exclusive content for Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Playstation Vita and Playstation Mobile. Some if it, we know, some, not. Quench the list:

• Activision Blizzard – Diablo III content
• Atlus
• Bethesda Games – The Elder Scrolls Online gets Playstation 4-exclusive beta
• Bluepoint Games – “Sony classic to modern systems”
• Bungie – Destiny
• Capcom – Deep Down
• Disney Interactive
• EA
• Insomniac Games
• Konami
• Level-5
• Nordic Games
• Rockstar Games
• Sanzaru Games
• Sega
• Square Enix
• Sumo Digital
• Take-Two
• Ubisoft – Watch_Dogs, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (Aveline content)
• Warner Bros. – Batman: Arkham Origins content
• Zindagi Games

Armed with 15 radio stations, two talk radio stations, 240 licensed songs and around 20 movies’ worth of soundtrack score, Grand Theft Auto V ups the ante everywhere.

Rockstar has never before amassed such a big list of songs, and it’s also the largest self-composed score, as Ivan Pavlovich, GTA V’s soundtrack supervisor, told Rolling Stone.

The soundtrack will be kicking in dynamically whenever you’re exploring the vast world of GTA V, online or offline, and not unlike Red Dead Redemption, it will allow for elements to blend into each other and mirror what your character is doing, and where.

Woody Jackson, the composer behind Red Dead Redemption, is back to compose for GTA V’s countryside of Los Santos, while German electronic band Tangerine Dream are taking care of another section, with DJ Alchemist and Oh No giving their music to another section of the world.

Pavlovich said:

“Each of these composers is used to define a character or an environment.”

This might hint at each of the three characters having their own musical background.

“[But] even though you may be triggering one score with a particular character or within a particular area in the world, you’re always hearing elements from the other composers. The first time you come into the country you’re blown away by Woody Jackson’s rock score, but within that you’re still hearing elements of Tangerine Dream, and Alchemist and Oh No. So you’re never too far away from this core sound that we’ve established for the game.”

GTA5′s full tracklisting leaked last weekend after early copies pre-loaded from the EU PlayStation Store had their encryption cracked. We won’t spoil it here, but the huge line-up is available to view elsewhere online.

Rockstar has expressed disappointment in the leaks, which reveal a lot of the cut scenes – and important plot details of GTA V. The developer has been urging gamers to be weary of the leaks, and steer clear of mediums posting them online.

Here’s Sony’s apology: “Regrettably, some people who downloaded the digital pre-order of Grand Theft Auto 5 through the PlayStation Store in Europe were able to access certain GTA5 assets,” Sony Europe exec Nick Caplin said in a statement on the EU PlayStation blog last night. “These assets were posted online.”

“We have since removed the digital pre-order file from the PlayStation Store in Europe. We sincerely apologise to Rockstar and GTA fans across the world who were exposed to the spoiler content. GTA5 is one of the most highly anticipated games of the year with a very passionate following, and we’re looking forward to a historic launch on September 17.”

“Grand Theft Auto Online is a dynamic and persistent online world for 16 players that begins by sharing gameplay features, geography and mechanics with Grand Theft Auto V, but will continue to expand and evolve after its launch with new content created by Rockstar Games and the Grand Theft Auto community.

Grand Theft Auto Online takes the fundamental Grand Theft Auto concepts of freedom, ambient activity and mission-based gameplay and makes them available to multiplayer players in an incredibly detailed and responsive online world.

In Grand Theft Auto Online, players have the freedom to explore alone or with friends, work cooperatively to complete missions, band together to participate in activities and ambient events, or compete in traditional game modes with the entire community, all with the personality and refined mechanics of Grand Theft Auto V.

Players can invest in their character through customizing their appearance, improving their stats, owning customized vehicles, purchasing personal property, and taking part in missions, jobs and activities to earn reputation and cash to open up new opportunities to rise through the criminal ranks. The world of Grand Theft Auto Online will constantly grow and change as new content is added, creating the first ever persistent and dynamic Grand Theft Auto game world.

Access to Grand Theft Auto Online is free with every retail copy of Grand Theft Auto V and launches on October 1st.”

There’s no specific reason as to why this will happen, but I can’t complain. Two full weeks to finish the story and explore the game without being distracted by the online part.

Details on Grand Theft Auto Online

• Rockstar started thinking about making Grand Theft Auto Online when they began making GTA 3
• The GTA Online demo shown to press was the PS3 version
• PS3 isn’t the lead platform, GTA 5 is the first in the series to have a parallel development
• Rockstar says “there’s very, very little difference in the development state of them both. They’re both very similar. It would be hard to tell them apart.”
• GTA Online looks like GTAV with almost no compromises, though details on cars may be streamed in slightly differently
• Rockstar is already thinking about the future “in terms of missions, new content, clothes, apartments, for the next while”. It plans to use data from players in building the future of GTA Online
• Rockstar wants a player’s online identity to exist and to be shared throughout its games, Max Payne 3′s crews is an example of this
• Rockstar wants to keep adding new things to build GTA Online into a world and has set it up with no limitations: “We could, if we wanted, simulate the entire world, different countries, whatever. Whether we do that or not… But we’ve got a bunch of old stuff that we’re toying with using.”
• Rockstar is focusing on getting the current gen version out, and will “see what happens in the future” with regards to next-gen

GTA Online gameplay details

• GTA Online is a persistent online world for 16 active players, but hundreds of thousands of players (however many take part) exist in the larger universe
• It retains almost all of the core gameplay from single-player; Looting, co-op heists, deathmatches, races, gang attacks, crew vs crew playlists, sports (like tennis, BASE jumping, golf and more), plus ‘ambient’ events like armoured van robberies, crate drops, import/export car acquisition, bounties
• GTA Online looks like GTA 5, with no compromises
• Characters lip-sync “broadly” when their player speak
• Before starting heists or hold-ups, players can choose masks to disguise themselves. These can be ditched later to lose a Wanted star
• Police have a “cone of detection” which players need to stay out of
• Whoever does the job gets the cash, and can choose how to split it
• Cars can be insured and replaced
• Players complete missions and activities for Reputation Points, money and material assets
• Players can create their own missions using Creator tools
• You open up the Creator and can place all your spawn points, place some props, place cars, place planes, place anything you want around the world. It is published to the Rockstar Social Club Cloud where others can download it
• Players can pick preferred creators
• Initially players will be able to create races and deathmatches
• Rockstar will introduce new tools and content over time
• GTA Online will launch two weeks after GTA 5
• GTA Online is accessed through a fourth character slot in the selection wheel
• There may be a small download when Online is available two weeks after launch, possible a small unlock code (TBC – details to follow)
• There is a character creation system to create a multiplayer avatar, stats from the campaign will not carry over
• The world of GTA Online is set slightly before the GTA 5 story
• GTA Online will take you through some introductory missions to start with characters from the game explaining mechanics and systems
• It flows like single-player in terms of progression, but not story
• Players will be scored and ranked on individual mission types in GTA Online
• Rockstar has an “internal score” that can rank people on shooting, driving, flying, parachuting
• It will release enough data “for people to know exactly where they stand within all their skills”
• Stats and other player information will be available through Rockstar’s Social Club, it currently has no plans to release a dedicated mobile app, but you can use tablets etc to view the Social Club site
• Rockstar has implemented “good cheater management” to make sure people behave
• A “Passive mode” can be activated so players can’t shoot people, but also can’t be shot
• Carrying around lots of cash can be a risk, but players can visit the bank to deposit money and keep it safe
• Personal vehicles can’t be stolen by others as they can be locked, however they can still be damaged or blown up
• Players can be given a “Bad Sport” stat for misbehaving and if they’re too bad they will be punished
• Other players will be able to identify a player with a bad sport stat
• Cars can be bought or stolen. When stolen, players can be modified them with a custom spray jobs and plates. If they aren’t changed they may activate a wanted level if spotted by the police
• A character can be employed to repair your cars and deliver them, he won’t deal with stolen cars, however. You can phone him to drop off cars to you.
• Camera angles during driving can be manually changed, as in GTA 4
• Rockstar’s long-term vision is to let players turn their finished games into a movie. Although it says it is “doable” it’s just a dream at the moment
• You can’t share Weazel news online, you can only watch the feeds from your apartment when friends or crew members have a Wanted level
• Rockstar is still balancing the money earned from missions so it fits in with the flow of purchasing property and cars
• Investing in stock and shares is also available online, you can buy shares in a car company, target that company’s cars to have insurance replace them and the stock price will go up
• Players can form cartels but will Rockstar will assume the role of “government” to “make sure there’s nothing untoward happening”
• Press seeing GTA Online were only shown a bit of the map, ” there’s a whole other chunk of map” that wasn’t seen
• “There’s a lot of toys out there, and a lot of areas for people to use, to make their missions”
• The apartment TV airs a detective show, but Rockstar North’s president didn’t actually know what it was since the team is still adding new content into the game
• Players have access to a planning board similar to the one in single-player. It has all the maps, people, and the dots to show you where you’ve got to go
• GTA Online missions will be “simpler” than the heists in the main game at first
• Underwater gameplay isn’t going to be big part of the initial GTA Online content suite, but Rockstar will start looking at it after the initial batch of “hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of missions” are delivered
• Activities such as two-player tennis will be available in GTA Online
• Players engaging in side-activities “won’t be terrorised”, they can enjoy a tennis game without being griefed
• Using their phone, players can call characters and access services to help them complete missions. For example, two players can enlist in some AI-controlled characters to complete an eight-player mission, or call in an airstrike, or turn off blips to hide from other players.
• New characters offering new services are introduced as players progress
• Rockstar is planning “huge” things for “Crews, playlists, challenges”
• The ability to mix and match missions to create playlists is a possibility

The game is set to launch in September 17 in the US, and September 20 in Europe.

“Please note, during our Thursday’s earnings call, our investor relations team provided a list of important games that gamers are looking forward to on PC this fall, and included Grand Theft Auto V on that list,” Nvidia said in a statement after the apparent faux pas.

“This statement was made with the intent of expressing enthusiasm for the games industry in general, and was not intended to represent specific knowledge possessed by NVIDIA. NVIDIA does not have information on any possible PC version release of Grand Theft Auto or its availability. We deeply regret the error.”

From there on, we have the amazing Pokemon X/Y (3DS) on the 7th place, Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix (PS3) on the 10th place, Beyond: Two Souls (PS3) on the 11th place, and the most pre-ordered next-gen game, Watch Dogs (PS4), sits at number 12, with the most pre-ordered Xbox One game sitting at place 29 (Call of Duty: Ghosts).

Have a look at the chart below, courtesy of VGChartz.com.

Pos	Game	Weeks to Launch	Weekly Change	Total
1	Grand Theft Auto V (X360) Take-Two Interactive, Action	7	25,545	474,754
2	Grand Theft Auto V (PS3) Take-Two Interactive, Action	7	16,696	402,611
3	Call of Duty: Ghosts (X360) Activision, Shooter	14	10,971	197,690
4	Battlefield 4 (X360) Electronic Arts, Shooter	13	4,208	189,691
5	Tales of Xillia (PS3) Namco Bandai Games, Role-Playing	1	7,709	128,740
6	Call of Duty: Ghosts (PS3) Activision, Shooter	14	6,271	109,800
7	Pokémon X/Y (3DS) Nintendo, Role-Playing	10	5,858	106,467
8	Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist (X360) Ubisoft, Action	3	3,078	96,426
9	Battlefield 4 (PS3) Electronic Arts, Shooter	13	2,141	95,780
10	Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX (PS3) Square Enix, Role-Playing	6	4,911	89,159
11	Beyond: Two Souls (PS3) Sony Computer Entertainment, Adventure	10	1,654	86,214
12	Watch Dogs (PS4) Ubisoft, Action	16	20,885	79,995
13	Madden NFL 25 (X360) Electronic Arts, Sports	4	10,093	70,550
14	Battlefield 4 (PS4) Electronic Arts, Shooter	13	22,724	67,486
15	Call of Duty: Ghosts (PS4) Activision, Shooter	22	20,843	66,548
16	Pikmin 3 (WiiU) Nintendo, Strategy	1	4,241	64,880
17	Killzone: Shadow Fall (PS4) Sony Computer Entertainment, Action	22	18,083	61,266
18	Lego Marvel Super Heroes (X360) Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Action	22	4,983	59,503
19	South Park: The Stick of Truth (X360) Ubisoft, Role-Playing	22	481	59,371
20	Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (X360) Ubisoft, Action	13	3,017	56,498
21	Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist (PS3) Ubisoft, Action	3	1,418	56,225
22	Disney Infinity (Wii) Disney Interactive Studios, Action	3	16,888	54,546
23	The Last Guardian (PS3) Sony Computer Entertainment, Action	N/A	30	52,485
24	Madden NFL 25 (PS3) Electronic Arts, Sports	4	8,260	52,456
25	Saints Row IV (X360) Deep Silver, Action	3	8,211	49,713
26	Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (PS3) Square Enix, Role-Playing	4	12,481	48,143
27	Disney Infinity (X360) Disney Interactive Studios, Action	3	8,184	46,171
28	South Park: The Stick of Truth (PS3) Ubisoft, Role-Playing	22	386	45,984
29	Call of Duty: Ghosts (XOne) Activision, Shooter	22	3,059	45,749
30	Dragon’s Crown (PS3) Atlus, Role-Playing	1	9,905	45,576
31	Lego Marvel Super Heroes (PS3) Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Action	22	3,108	44,917
32	Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (PS3) Ubisoft, Action	13	2,274	40,325
33	Batman: Arkham Origins (X360) Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Action	12	4,640	38,461
34	Batman: Arkham Origins (PS3) Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Action	12	3,800	37,081
35	Prey 2 (X360) Bethesda Softworks, Shooter	22	29	34,600
36	Destiny (X360) Activision, Action	N/A	459	33,647
37	The Bureau: XCOM Declassified (X360) Take-Two Interactive, Shooter	3	1,018	31,674
38	Rayman Legends (WiiU) Ubisoft, Platform	5	507	31,334
39	Saints Row IV (PS3) Deep Silver, Action	3	4,967	30,117
40	Battlefield 4 (XOne) Electronic Arts, Shooter	13	1,932	29,390

Source: VGChartz