Grave Gamer News & Views — gtav

Grand Theft Auto V Delayed to September

Arguably 2013’s biggest, most monstrous blockbuster of the year, the greatly anticipated GTAV has been hit with a delay.  Originally supposed to be coming out right around the corner – sometime in the Spring – Rockstar North’s crown jewel has been pushed to September 17th (upshot here is we’re privy to an exact date now).

Hoping that no one vents their frustrations into a newfound life of petty crime and wanton car theft themselves, Rockstar released a statement apologizing for the four month push.  “GTAV is a massively ambitious and complex game and it simply needs a little more polish to be of the standard we and, more importantly, you require,” the statement read.

The PS3 and Xbox 360 additions of the game have been the only versions announced to date (no regards have been made about a PC port or, unlikelier, a Wii U port).

Grand Theft Auto V (PS3/X360) - Spring 2013

Three different characters each equipped with their own skills and abilities.  A world environment bigger than Red Dead, San Andreas, GTAIV combined.  Complex, story-impacting missions.  Rockstar Games is back and they’re looking to redefine the open-world genre the only way they know how: with a shitload of style.

Just about every one of GTA’s conventions has been retooled or rethought, from weightier physics on vehicles to give them a more grounded quality to modified melee combat.  If a mechanic didn’t feel polished before, Rockstar’s obsessive eye for perfectionism has likely scrutinized the hell out of it.  And don’t expect to run through the motions; GTAV’s modernized vision of Los Santos will let you explore in ways previously barred from players like searching fully rendered underwater environments.

Grand Theft Auto is a gaming cultural phenomenon.  One of the very few brand names that quite literally sells itself.  It’d be easy for a developer to coast along on that kind of recognition with very little effort put forth.  But if not for Rockstar’s pursuit for innovation and penchant to reinvent themselves, I doubt we would have made it all the way to the Roman numeral V.  Anything less than “unprecedented” just isn’t their style.