Grand Theft Auto V may be released in spring 2013

Little is known about next game in Rockstar's flagship franchise - Grand Theft Auto. The upcoming game, simply titled Grand Theft Auto V, has ads coming up around the world, according to a post on the NeoGAF forums. These ads give information about the pre-order for the game.

The pre-orders give the game a release window for spring in 2013, and only mentions the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 versions of the game. There is no sign of a PC or Wii U version yet. While the PC version may see a release at a later date to avoid the problems the company faced with the PC port of Grand Theft Auto IV, the Wii U is unlikely to see the game due to the company’s lack of confidence in the system.

GTA V will see a release in spring 2013

According to Gamasutra, CEO of Take-Two Interactive, Strauss Zelnick, has refrained from talking about the release of the company’s big name games, but has mentioned that the company’s sports games and family titles will be available on the platform. "We haven't announced anything," says Zelnick on the possibility of moving the company's mature titles onto the Wii U. "I'm skeptical."

Screenshots of Grand Theft Auto V were released by Rockstar back in August. Rockstar had shown ten screenshots in all. The first screenshots showed that bicycles and jets would return to the Grand Theft Auto franchise. These vehicles were not present in Grand Theft Auto IV and its expansions, The Lost and the Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, as Liberty City wasn’t big enough to warrant the presence of jets. The omission of bicycles was puzzling though, but it could be argued that bicycles didn’t go with the more serious tone of the GTA IV games.

The previous game in the series, Grand Theft Auto IV, starred Nico Bellic, a fresh off the boat immigrant in Liberty City, which was geographically based on New York. The game’s major theme was a satire of the “American Dream”, with Nico Bellic trying to run away from his past.

After GTA IV, Rockstar released two major expansion packs for the games - The Lost and the Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony. The Lost and the Damned stars a new protagonist, Johnny Klebitz, who is a member of Liberty City’s Motorcycle Club The Lost, a club which was featured in missions throughout the course of GTA IV. The Ballad of Gay Tony stars another protagonist, Luis Lopez. The game shows the more 'glamorous' side of Liberty City, with its vibrant nightlife. Rockstar later on released both the games in a single standalone box titled Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City.