Looking for information on Rockstar Games? Good luck. As I write this, the company’s website is dominated by a single splash page announcing the existence of Grand Theft Auto V. No further information is included, save the news that a trailer should be released next Wednesday.

It’s been over three years since GTA IV, the franchise’s first entry on current-gen hardware. Rockstar followed it up with two DLC packs, collectively titled Episodes from Liberty City, but has since moved on to other projects: Red Dead Redemption, L.A. Noire, and the forthcoming Max Payne 3.

While it’s not surprising that Rockstar would return to their marquee franchise, it is curious that they’d announce it in the waning years of the current hardware cycle. The previous two numbered entries in the series each released in the first few years of their respective console generations, affording Rockstar the opportunity to improve its tech significantly. Rockstar’s RAGE engine has received some upgrades since GTA IV, but GTA V cannot make the type of leap its predecessors have made if it is handicapped by current hardware.

We'll hopefully have more information next week if Rockstar puts out anything more substantial than a teaser.

Source: Rockstar Games

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  • bennyg - Wednesday, October 26, 2011 - link

    ...with the new lappy, a i7-2760QM + GTX 580M, to run a horribly optimised POS port on PC like GTA4 was.
  • ol1bit - Friday, October 28, 2011 - link

    I would say in previous hardware cycles they could design a new game every few years and make money, but since this hardware cycle has lasted so long, they need to continue to make money so here we are with GTA V!
  • Wardrop - Wednesday, November 2, 2011 - link

    Ew... check out the aliasing in that trailer. It worries me because the last instalment from what I remember didn't have any anti-aliasing at all and it looks horrible for it. I'd probably rather something look like a game from 2006 but smooth as butter around the edges than what was shown in the GTA V trailer. There's a reason Pixar films look so good, and it's not just the lighting/shading. Imagine watching a Pixar film filled with aliasing... you get my point.

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