Grand Theft Auto

[Tarry]

I genuinely thought that was Tommy at first. I really hope he's the main character.

[Burke]

grandtheftauto.ign.com/articles/features/8571/Grand-Theft-Auto-V-Trailer-Analysis

The first official trailer for Grand Theft Auto V gave us just over a minute's worth of a glimpse into a game that Rockstar is calling a "bold new direction" in the GTA universe. It contains multiple scenes, some shown only very briefly. It's easy to miss many of the interesting things shown throughout, even though I’m sure you’ve watched it multiple times by now. Read below my analysis of the trailer as I dissect it down with various screenshots to go along.



The trailer starts off with a view of a couple walking alongside a Los Santos beach with their dog. Yes, a dog! For those of you who were around in 2004 after the first trailer for GTA: San Andreas was released might remember the rumors over dogs that sprung up, after some fans pointed out what appeared to be a dog on a beach in the game. Rockstar are definitely familiar with this, as they later, in response, removed an audio file from the official San Andreas website that referred to K-9 units. Is this paying homage to that? Maybe, maybe not - but it’s sure fun to see.



Here we see clearly the attention to detail in pedestrians in GTAV. Not only is more attention paid to the art, but it would seem their behaviours with one another as well. Two women run past a shirtless jogging man, and look back in intrigue. Also worth noting is a sign on the left with "Pleasure Pier” on it - the fictional name to that of the Santa Monica Pier.



A man can be seen teeing off a shot at the 8th hole of a golf course in the middle of Los Santos. Golf car parked nearby, ready to be taken for a spin. Anyone having nostalgic memories from Vice City? Whether or not one would be able to play on this golf course remains to be seen, but it may be a way for Rockstar to highlight that many side activities will be featured in the game.



What would Los Santos’ waterways be without some decent water based vehicles? Jet Ski’s are making a very welcoming return to the series, having only been in one game prior - Vice City Stories. Rockstar’s sense of humor is not missing from this game. The name on the side is the "SpeedoPhile 2000” - a clear pun.



What a scene! This is one of my favorite from the trailer. This is the first look we are having at clearly an expansive area outside of the main city. Is there anything beyond those mountains? Are they accessible? One would think it’d be a good way of cutting off the map, similar to the mountains in Red Dead Redemption - rather than just being completely surrounded by water as in previous GTA games. If there is anything accessible beyonds those mountains though, WOW!



This male character, as seen in the red convertible - is highlighted a few times in the trailer. There must be some sort of significance to him to be featured so much in the short debut trailer. It’s likely he is one of the several rumored playable characters. Kotaku’s Stephen Totillo accurately predicted the location, along with information that the game is going in a new direction whereby multiple characters will be playable throughout the game. This sounds like a good thing, in that various different characters allow for more varied types of missions. We’ll show the other highlighted character further down in the article.




The second shot of the countryside/desert in the game! A truck or jeep can be seen driving below, and if you look closely, a seaplane can be seen flying overhead. The wind turbines affirm more the modern day Southern-Californian inspired setting, if that wasn’t already plainly clear!



Here we see a glimpse of some of the mansions in the Vinewood hills. An enterable interior can be seen on the upper level. If this is just a random person’s home, what would their reaction be if you try and enter there? Should be interesting no doubt. Whether this goes as far as having a mode similar to that of San Andreas’ nightly burglary missions may be a bit wishful thinking, but at least we see there’s even more further attention to detail in the game’s art.



Of course, it wouldn’t be Los Santos without its freeways. Two districts, Downtown and "Little Seoul” can be seen on the overhead sign - the latter of which must of course be based on real-life Koreatown in Los Angeles.



Things have certainly changed in the new Los Santos. While in the 2004 version named Verona Beach, a sign here shows its name to be Vespucci Beach. The location is based on L.A.’s Venice Beach. Tying in with the Italian name, Vespucci Beach must be taken from Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci.

We can also clearly see people working out at the outdoor gym, named Muscle Sands here - which of course is based on real life Muscle Beach. Does this mean the ability for your character to go to the gym is making a comeback in GTAV? We’ll have to wait and see, but again, it just raises further questions - such as whether you’ll be able to bulk up or fatten your character ala GTA: San Andreas. "Pleasure Pier” can be seen in the distance.



This is the second featured character in the trailer - seen in multiple scenes throughout. He’s an older fella than the other character, but chances are this is one of, or the only, playable character in the game. The voice that speaks in the trailer talks about retirement and family, more appropriately fitting perhaps with this character. Initial thoughts by some was that this looks like (and even sounds like!?) Tommy Vercetti from GTA: Vice City. Of course, there’s just one problem with that. Tommy Vercetti was born in 1951 - which would make him at least 60 years old in this trailer. As you’ll see in other screenshots, he definitely looks younger than 60.

Furthermore, Rockstar have continually said that the GTA3 trilogy and its universe of locations and characters have ended years ago, where GTAIV was a re-imagination of the GTA Universe. Once again, with GTAV, this is said to be a brand new Universe - so I find it unlikely that we'd see Tommy making an appearance here.



This would appear to be the same man. Disguising as pest control, he is about to get ready to rob a jewelry store. But he’s not alone - he brought help!



Two other characters pop out the back of the van. The one on the left looks familiar, looking similar to the other featured character from earlier. If true, it further goes to show he’s a lead character in the game - playable or not.

More screenshots of the older gentleman can be seen below:





This is definitely my other favorite scene. It really shows off the advances on the graphical side of Rockstar’s proprietary RAGE engine. The colouring definitely looks a lot better than than of GTAIV, with a new weathering system sporting in the background. San Andreas farmlands are clearly making a return, with a cropduster and all! A bit of humor as it sprays pesticides over the crops, and the workers - some likely undocumented of course. This may be a hint at the exaggerated take on this part of modern day American culture.



We only see a small glimpse of the Los Santos Docks here. New in-game brands to the GTA Series can be seen here. One a "Up-n-Atom Burger”, a microwavable burger - the other JETSAN on the containers.



Unemployment has definitely hit Los Santos hard as well. A few homeless persons can be seen gathering under a bridge. If you look closely, one of them is taking a call on his cellphone! Driving off is a type of jeep or truck, with passengers sitting on the sides. In the next screenshot, we see a similar one oncoming, while a Jeep Wrangler - or its in-game equivalent (Mesa Grande?) - drives off.





The on-going housing foreclosure crisis in America is clearly a part of this modern day Los Santos. A home has a foreclosure sign erected. Note the Futo parked in the driveway, and bicycle leaning against the home. Some hardcore GTA fans may be familiar with the number "2405”, which can be seen here as well painted on the curb. It’s been spotted before at the very end of GTA IV’s Ballad of Gay Tony credits as a plane, with the tail number 24051972, is seen taking off. Many theories surround this number, such as that it points to some sort of significance to May 24th. The most clear explanation is that it's just pointing to May 24th, 1972 - when the Rangers of Glasgow, Scotland won the Cup Winners Cup. With Rockstar North, the primary studio behind GTA being located in Scotland - it is most likely just paying tribute to that event.



It's pretty much self-explanatory about what's going on here. Again, unsure whether the car stopping is a playable character or just a random non-playable character. If the latter, it further goes to show the different levels of interaction NPCs have in the game - making the world feel more alive, a "living breathing city” as Rockstar likes to put it.



A bum is begging for money on the freeway. His sign reads, "Need money for Beer, Pot and Hookers (At least I’m not Bullshitting)”. The direction towards East Los Santos can be seen indicated on one of the signs.



I’m sure everyone was excited when they saw this fly-by of a fighter jet! What’s significant about this though is what Rockstar have previously said about the exclusion of planes in GTAIV. Their reasoning was that it wouldn’t have made much sense to have planes in a game where you would quickly reach the other side of the map. Given that GTAV not only has planes, but a super fast fighter jet, does this indicate quite a large map in the game? We hope so!



Here a person can be seen being thrown out of a nightly establishment. Fellow site staffer Jesse have pointed out that "Tequi-La-La" is a play on words for the real L.A. bar, Whiskey Go Go.



Those who have been to Los Angeles will recognize this as a familiar part of the city - oil being pumped out of the ground. We also get to see a nice view of Downtown Los Santos - and most certainly the amazing looking sky. The sun is setting in the West as you can see, and one wonders again how much lies beneath those mountains.



The motto for Los Santos police, "Obey & Survive”, can be seen on the door of a police car. The emblem can be seen to include various imagery, such as Bigfoot.



The back of the Police Cruiser. The "San Andreas” license plates are seen to have once again actual proper alphanumerical licensing on them - whereas with GTAIV all the vehicles had just "Liberty City” written on them.



At first I thought this is the same character featured earlier, but there appears to be some differences. His face looks a tad different, and he’s sporting some tattoos. In the next screenshot, we see that he’s being chased by police in what appears to be South Central LA - or rather, its fictional equivalent.





An accident (or is it?) on a Los Santos highway. We can see some overcast weather going on in the scene as well, definitely looking superb.



Finally the trailer ends with a private jet flying over the Vinewood hills, heading towards Downtown Los Santos, as seen in the next screenshot.



And that's it! I hope you enjoyed this analysis of the first trailer. Things are pretty vague at this point, especially on the characters seen so far - and the voice which can be heard throughout. I'm sure once we start hearing more from Rockstar about this game things will start to make more clear, and when we go back and look at this trailer again puzzles will start to fall into place.

---

Shame on me for not getting that Rangers 24th May connection.

[Tarry]

Until Rockstar say otherwise, the man in the trailer is Tommy Vercetti in my mind. The guy was a massive part of my childhood, so getting another chance to play as him would be amazing.

[Brandon]

You could have told me this was The Sims 4 tbh.

[Burke]

Lol, the San Andreas graphics look so bad by comparison now.

[Tarry]

The bit where "Tommy" turns around make me crack up.

[Burke]

Someone somehow recreated the GTA V trailer in GTA IV:



Amazing.

[jayzero42690]

Ex-Rockstar Information Leak

An Examiner article publicized a large chunk of GTA5-related rumors, stating the following:

"It has recently been brought to our attention that a poster over on the official GameSpot forums have posted a massive list of unreleased information about the future title, Grand Theft Auto V. Through a post, that has since been deleted by the forum moderators over on the GameSpot forum, along with the poster, a user by the name of Gloggle has revealed that he is a friend of an ex-RockStar employee that was fired for misconduct. Now, it seems that the ex-RockStar employee now has the intentions of leaking information on GTA V."[4]

As for the information that was listed, you can find the post as a whole below.





1. The protagonist will be one character, and one character alone. His name is (as some rumours said) Albert De Silva. He's a half hispanic man who was once part of a crime family in Vice City. He decided to settle down and have kids in Los Santos. He has one son called Kevin De Silva who is your stereotypical CoD player. He's lazy, useless and shouts racial abuse online and is really into FPS games. Kevin does admire his Dad though.

2. Multiplayer will hold 32 people on the Xbox and PS3. I wasn't told how many were able to be on the PC. Just like in RDR, players will be able to form Gangs. These gangs are not ranked through XP anymore, but via Reputation. Instead of gang hideouts, you can do jobs that range from robbing a launderette to breaking into a military base and stealing state-of-the-art weaponary. The Gang leader has much more control over his or her gang by being able to rank members of their gang and setting more specific objectives to specific members of their gang. Gangs can have their own terratory but this only applies to areas inside the city of Los Santos.

3. The map is about 5x as large as the GTA IV map and the City of Los Santos takes up just under half of this area (so it's a bit bigger than 2 GTA IV Liberty Cities). The map is (like most GTAs) seperated into three different sections.

4. Planes are flyable, they range from World War 2 fighter planes to Private Jets.

5. Cars and guns are customisable to an extent, for example, you can customise a gun to have a supressor on it and you can install nitrous into cars.

HERE'S SOME STUFF YOU MIGHT LIKE:

1. The protagonist is the "rich guy" from the GTA V debut trailer. You get to learn more about this man in the second when he talks about his troubles. You only see the protagonist twice in the trailer. First time is the side of his face and second time is when he is driving a Deceptor (Audi R8). The people robbing the jewellery store are just with the protagonist. He is driving the van ready to get away.

2. Gunfights are more realistic. When you are shooting a gun out of a window of a car, depending on how fast it's going you will have troubles aiming due to shaking cameras.

3. The game is due in May 2013. A more specific date has not been decided because the game is still needing 6 months to be fully developed. They will have a playable demo at E3.

4. Police chases are now way more than either running or driving. Depending on how wanted you are, police may bring out riot shields and flash bangs.

5. When someone reaches 4 star wanted level, there will be a radio warning on some stations.

6. Radio stations now do traffic reports that are actually correct. So if you don't know what route to take, you can check the traffic reports on your phone or the radio.

7. The in-game TV now has many more channels.

8. The underworld actually has a working economy that you can contribute too by buying and selling drugs, weapons and illegal cars in single player.

9. The protagonist can take drugs which will have some effects. But smoking weed on the streetwalk will lead to getting a one star wanted level.

10. Police cars will go after you if you're obviousely breaking the speed limit. Having high speed crashes will also damage your health.

WANTED LEVELS:

1 star - police follow you on foot and try to make an arrest. No sirens, no car chases (unless you are speeding).

2 star - police will still attempt to make an arrest. If a weapon is drawn then the police will begin opening fire. Police will use stun guns if a weapon is not drawn.

3 star - Chases begin and the police don't care how they stop you, they just want to do it.

4 star - road traps, radio stations and much more hostile police.Even when you have evaded them, they will still search for 24 in-game hours for someone matching your description.

5 star - shoot to kill, arrest only if it's made very possible. Even when you have evaded them, they will still search for 48 in-game hours for someone matching your description. Few missions become unavailable if you are wanted.

6 star - military vehicles come after you. Even when you have evaded them, they will still search for 72 in-game hours for someone matching your description. Some missions become unavailable if you are wanted.

[Burke]

The city/map is FIVE times bigger than GTA4?

I need this game and I need it now.

[Tarry]

Apr 20, 2012 19:17:22 GMT -5 @jayzero42690 said:

5. Cars and guns are customisable to an extent, for example, you can customise a gun to have a supressor on it and you can install nitrous into cars.

2. Gunfights are more realistic. When you are shooting a gun out of a window of a car, depending on how fast it's going you will have troubles aiming due to shaking cameras.

4. Police chases are now way more than either running or driving. Depending on how wanted you are, police may bring out riot shields and flash bangs.

9. The protagonist can take drugs which will have some effects. But smoking weed on the streetwalk will lead to getting a one star wanted level.

10. Police cars will go after you if you're obviousely breaking the speed limit. Having high speed crashes will also damage your health.

Saints Row & Mafia already beat GTA to these features. I'm still looking forward to it.

I hope the map really is as big they say, because that'll be awesome. May 2013 is ages away though. I'm sure it'll be worth the wait.

[Burke]

Here are two new screenshots from the insanely-anticipated Grand Theft Auto V

Rockstar released the new imagery in its latest Asked & Answered session in response to the question, "“Why don’t you give us more news [on GTA V]?”

"We are sorry if you find this frustrating," said Rockstar,"but please understand, we don’t do this because we ‘don’t care about our fans' 'don’t respect our fans’ 'hate GTA fans etc' – precisely the opposite! We do it because we want to make sure we only release 100% correct information, and because we want to keep plenty back for the actual game release so there are still lots of surprises when you play it.

"We just have not been in a position to show more of the game than the trailer and will not be for a while yet."

Below is the first image 'smuggled' out of the studio:



But the "art team said that no single shot could encapsulate the game properly, so they gave us another...", and here it is:



And that's our lot for now, though Rockstar said, "We will try and get some more screens for you soon and then another trailer when we are ready."

There was still no indication of when GTA V will be released.

[jayzero42690]

lolol at Echo Park being in the game. The bloodstain on the dock is accurate.

[jayzero42690]

Rockstar has released new screenshots taken from Grand Theft Auto V. The photos were posted on Rockstar's Newswire. They showcase various modes of transport that will be available to citizens of San Andreas.

Transport won't be limited to vehicles with engines. (That looks an awful lot like Santa Monica Pier.)


The 'Cheetah': will it be one of the fastest cars in the game?


Take to the skies in fighter jets?

Tantalisingly, the post finishes with the promise of "More to come this week..."

[Burke]

I want this game so bad.

[jayzero42690]

Three more screenshots of Grand Theft Auto V have appeared on Rockstar's Newswire. The latest album showcases the range of 'leisure' activities on offer in the game.

Go off-road on motorcross bikes.


Tennis anyone?


Will you be able to base-jump from the top of Mount Chiliad?

Unlike the screens posted earlier in the week, showcasing various modes of transport, there was no promise that more images are on their way. Is that our lot for now?

No release date has yet been announced for Grand Theft Auto V.