April Fools 2012 is the perfect time to see gaming pranks and expect something special for GTA V – thanks to the next Grand Theft Auto being one of the most anticipated releases over the coming months it stands to reason that either a marketing tactic by Rockstar, or a passionate gamer will take place this April Fools, so if you’re looking for GTA V news and rumors around this time then it’s best to read with skepticism.

Insomniac Games has posted a tweet that points to something hidden within Resistance 3 for April Fools day, and they will not be the only developer planning surprises that are both real and jokes. What do you think that could be, and how would it make you feel if Rockstar played a joke tomorrow?

When it comes to the subject of GTA V details and how much Rockstar should be giving us, it seems to be splitting the fans. Some gamers think it’s too early for more details on GTA V, although others state “we are due news now“. The latest rumors are pointing towards an announcement in early April or early May, and we could see a couple of magazines with major details on the next GTA. Early rumors point to American magazine Game Informer, and an unnamed Scandinavian magazine that could both feature exclusives with GTA V in the coming weeks.

It’s suggested that the reveal will be for “a sequel to a popular series“, which could point to a number of games but most notably would be GTA V. We know a few other magazines have recently covered details on the next GTA, but none of these have had new screenshots or details, so the excitement is understandable.

If you come across some GTA 5 news on April Fools day how much would you trust it? While this news could come from a YouTube video, or even a respected magazine or brand, we’ve all seen the jokes from big brand like Google before that seem extremely real but turn out to be an April Fools.

Dan Houser, co-founder of Rockstar has said that GTA 5 will feature a neat little interaction feature with Max Payne 3, in which crews formed in Max Payne 3 will be transferable to Grand Theft Auto V, so you and your friends can remain in one close gangster unit.

Specific details of the crew feature hasn’t been revealed yet, but it certainly sounds pretty exciting. Houser has said though that these crews will be formed in the Rockstar Social Club and will be available in GTA V from day one. The purpose of it according to Rockstar is to make the game ‘more accessible to the newcomer and more rewarding for the hardcore’.

We have a feeling that there won’t be too many newcomers to Grand Theft Auto V though, especially not from our point of view anyway. After playing the excellent Grand Theft Auto and GTA: London games on the PlayStation 1, it’s amazing to see how the franchise has evolved into a stunning full 3D affair, with every game released seemingly turning to gold.

While the GTA franchise may have the midas touch, the same perhaps cannot be said for Max Payne 3. The game is due out in the middle of May and we have a feeling that certain GTA incentives will be announced by pre-ordering Max Payne in order to help out with sales. Max Payne 3 will probably be good, but we can predict it won’t be as great as GTA 5 and it’s up to Rockstar to change that perception.

What are your thoughts on the crew sharing feature for both games? Will you be buying Max Payne 3 to take advantage of this, or are you waiting for other features to be announced?

You would have thought that Rockstar would be having complete control of the game and oversee its development 100%, but fresh rumors this week are suggesting that Rockstar may be getting some help in certain gameplay aspects from 2K Czech – the developers of the popular Mafia franchise.

It obviously hasn’t been confirmed by either 2K Czech or Rockstar yet, but sources have told VG247 that 2K Czech may have been assigned to the game to help out with producing animations which will be used in cut scenes and other moments in the game. Those of you who have played Mafia II will know that it is not a bad looking game at all, and actually a game which is definitely in the mold of a GTA-style game.

Having two heads is always better than one in our opinion, so we think this is a great move for Grand Theft Auto V if this turns out to be be correct. We’ve added a screenshot from Mafia II below to let you see the similarities between 2K Czech and Rockstar. We should also tell you that the source adds that Rockstar may be helping 2K Czech out in return by helping to work on Mafia III – so it’s a win win for everyone.

Unfortunately, Rockstar appears to be keeping fans waiting until announcing the next piece of information on the game. We’re guessing that this will come at E3 2012, but the next time we see the game – it has to be some gameplay finally. Let us know your thoughts on 2K Czech possibly contributing to GTA V – do you welcome this or not?

Online UK retailer Zavvi has the game listed for a November 23 release date this year, but as Now Gamer are reporting the same retailer previously has the game down for a July 2012 release time frame. Before developer Take Two predicted it would have a record fiscal year for 2013, so this would probably mean that they would need to get the game out during the busy holiday season later this year.

With Max Payne 3 release recently being pushed back to May would mean at least a few months break between the two games. November 23rd falls on a Friday this year, which is a day that many big titles are released in the UK. Meanwhile in the US this normally happens on a Tuesday so could mean a possible November 27th release.

The supposed release date falls in the month that the next Call of Duty title will be released, but analyst Jesse Divnich of EEDAR feels that a GTA 5 release during that month won’t suffer because of it. Once Rockstar has Max Payne 3 out of the door we will hopefully get more information about GTA V, which could come at June’s E3 event.

It has to be remembered though that just because a retailer has a game listed with a date it doesn’t mean it is accurate. The retailer could just be guessing to get publicity and to increase preorders for the game. Take Two’s 2013 fiscal year covers September 2012 through to March 2013, so a November 2012 release date is feasible if the company expects to have a record year.

Do you think a November GTA 5 release is realistic?

Previously the company had promised we would be hearing some information about the game this month, but now this doesn’t look the case. According to Now Gamer the company has said there will be more details of GTA 5 after they have released Max Payne 3.

Since the trailer was first teased last year any solid information about the title has been pretty much non-existent. Now Rockstar has said that will change “in a few months time”. The company was taking part in a question and answer session about Max Payne 3, but mentioned GTA 5.

They first thanked gamers for their response to the debut of the Grand Theft Auto V trailer, and confirmed they realize that there are many questions that fans want answered about the game, which include news about the GTA 5 release date among other things.

Rockstar continued by saying that they are currently working hard on the game and are looking forward to “show and tell you more as development progresses”. They said that in a few months time the game will be talked about a lot more and “please hang tight until then and thank you all for your patience and support”.

It seems like that Rockstar is looking to get Max Payne 3 launched and out of the way before GTA V comes along and takes the spotlight away from the game. Recently there were hints that Grand Theft Auto V could be released during Take Two’s 2013 fiscal year.

Take Two boss, Strauss Zelnick, was recently talking during the company’s financial call, and according to a report on CVG he said the game “is making great process”. Unfortunately he didn’t go into more details about the game except that the game will “continue Rockstar’s incredible track record of delighting fans”.

Meanwhile a report over at MCV is saying that Take Two believes its 2013 fiscal year will be its best ever, which some believe means that Grand Theft Auto V could release at Christmas this year. The company did report a drop in profits for the third quarter of its financial year that ended on December 31st, but is certain that its next financial year that begins on April 1st, and ends on March 31st 2013 will be much better.

During its 2013 financial year the company has a number of big game releases on the cards, which includes the likes of Max Payne 3 this May, Spec Ops: The Line and XCOM: Enemy Unknown during the fall, and BioShock Infinite later in the year. Also during that timeframe of the 2013 fiscal year are Borderlands 2 and another XCOM title.

Which then brings us to GTA 5 the next title in the massive 100 million franchise, and even though its release date is still listed as TBC. Take Two’s confidence of a strong financial year means the game must surely be arriving during it, and given the stronger demand for games during the Christmas period a release then makes perfect sense.

Would you like to see GTA 5 next Christmas?

Take-Two seems to like the month of May as two years ago the Red Dead Redemption release during that month saw some big sales. According to GameInformer in only a few weeks the game had shifted five million copies, and by the end of August had reached the eleven million mark, and meant that games can do well even when not released during the holiday season.

With Max Payne 3 being delayed to May means Take-Two is likely to report a loss for the fiscal year of 2012. It also may mean the company doesn’t have a lot of room for the release of GTA 5 this year. But Mike Hickey analyst at National Alliance Capital Markets believes the game could still see a release this year.

Hickey said it is highly unlikely that Rockstar Games will release both GTA 5 and Max Payne 3 during May. The analyst now expects GTA 5 to launch in the second half of the company’s 2013 fiscal year that covers September 2012 to March 2013.

Meanwhile Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities believes the game will go up against this year’s big holiday releases, and feels the game “would benefit from giving Call of Duty some breathing room.”

Despite this Take-Two does like to release its big games in May, and could still mean the game being released next year. Do you hope GTA 5 releases this year?

In 2011 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was the biggest seller, in-fact it has shattered sales records. Despite the fact it arrived in early November, it out sold many titles which arrived much earlier in the year, but EEDAR’s Jesse Divnich doesn’t think that this will be the case in 2012.

If you head over to IndustryGamers you can see that Divnich still believes that 2012′s Call of Duty release will still be huge, in fact he even suggests that it could perhaps outsell MW3, but he thinks that GTA V will win the “photo finish race” – do you agree?

We can’t wait to see whether his prediction turns out to be true, but for now we will look into the Call of Duty release cycle, since 2004 Activision has released a Call of Duty title every year, but is this starting to grate on gamers? Pretty much every reputable game critic out there had Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as the winner of this year’s game of the year accolade and now we are hearing predictions suggesting that GTA V could outsell CoD 9 in 2012 – would the next Call of Duty game be a lot better if it was under development for an additional year? That’s a certainty in our opinion, but once a franchise has been established it is far more likely that consumers will accept a lackluster release and that in our opinion needs to change.

When Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (CoD 4) arrived in 2007 it really put the Call of Duty franchise on the map and each subsequent release has sold millions of copies, but if you ask any gamer what their favorite game has been in each year since 2007 we very much doubt that any of these CoD games will get a mention – the worrying thing is that this doesn’t really matter as long as game sales and DLC purchases are high Activision will be happy – but surely this won’t last forever, will it?

This article does mention the Call of Duty franchise quite a lot, but ultimately we want to hear whether you think annual releases for certain franchises are too frequent, we think that the best thing for a franchise’s longevity is to not rush out titles and to ensure that each release is as good as it can possibly be. Grand Theft Auto, Elder Scrolls, Gran Turismo and The Legend of Zelda are just a few examples of franchises where the phrase “quality has a quantity of its own” really means something, Activision milked the Tony Hawks and Guitar Hero franchises too much and that’s what ultimately led to them announcing no skateboarding or music titles in 2011 – perhaps these franchises will come back stronger than ever, we will have to wait and see.

We do think that sports titles really do suit annual releases, one example of this is FIFA. Each year there are new players, new teams in certain leagues and re-calculated player attributes depending on the player’s form, not to mention kit changes, new stadiums, footballs, changes in a player’s appearance and much more – sure EA could roll out title updates to change such things but it is a lot of work and the fact it fits in perfectly with a new football season in our opinion warrants a new title.

Today we would love to hear your opinion on the matters raised in this article, do you think that annual releases are too frequent and games like Skyrim and GTA V give you way more for your money? Let us know in the comments section below.

These days game developers can make lots of extra income by releasing add-ons for games, however the last Grand Theft Auto game, GTA IV, only featured two add-ons, we really think that in this day and age consumers will want more – do you?

A lot has changed since GTA IV arrived back in 2008, this was evident last year when Rockstar released Red Dead Redemption and saw great success with the DLC which was rolled-out over Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network, especially when the Undead Nightmare pack was unleashed. To this day this is regarded as one of, if not the best-ever game add-on of all time (IGN scored it 10/10) – perhaps a similar zombiefied pack could hit GTA V.

It is not just the Undead Nightmare pack which sold well, Outlaws to the End, Legends and Killers, Liars and Cheats, the Free Roam Pack, the The Hunting and Trading pack and the Myths and Mavericks Bonus Pack were all popular, and here’s why. Not only did these add-ons bring more missions to the game, but also we got new multiplayer game modes, multiplayer characters, challenges, locations, weapons, outfits and much more.

Now let’s compare that to what GTA IV’s add-ons brought to the game. The Ballad of Gay Tony and The Lost and Damned add-ons were both pretty popular, however these were just new side-quests and incomparable to RDR.

In our opinion people will love to see Red Dead Redemption-like DLC for GTA V, this could unlock stupidly powerful new weapons, fast vehicles, more multiplayer modes and much more. Perhaps Rockstar could finish things off with the GTA V Undead Nightmare where hordes of flesh-eating zombies attack you from every direction.

Do you think GTA V needs RDR-like DLC?

We have embedded the video at the bottom of the post, it introduces you to the game’s main character and suggests that he is a family man. We don’t get get to see him properly, therefore we can’t yet confirm whether he is a Hispanic man named Adrian (which is what the spoilers suggested yesterday). It suggests that he is trying to lead a normal life, but for some reason he is led astray.

Here is a rough idea of what is said by the game’s main character during the video:

Why did I move here? I guess it was the weather, or the…. I don’t know, that thing, that magic you see it in the movies. I wanted to retire from what I was doin from that, that line of work, be a good guy for once a family man. So I bought a big house, came here put my feet up and thought I would be a dad like all the other dads, my kids, would be like the kids on tv, we’d play ball and sit in the sun. But you know how it is….

After this dialogue you finally see some action and the dark side of the town, such as a weapon-clad trio jump out of a van in jumpsuits and gas masks about to enter a building, some prostitutes advertising themselves, a police chase, someone getting kicked out of a club, a burnt out car and a helicopter chasing a criminal.

In the video we get to see lots of different forms of transportation, such as a golf cart, jet ski, light aircraft, helicopter, motorbike and plenty of cars vans and trucks etc – at the end we see a familiar sign which confirms where the game is set (see below), check it out:

Yes that’s right the Vinewood sign makes an appearance, this Hollywood-like sign proves that the game is set in the same surroundings as GTA San Andreas, we are sure lots of you will be happy to hear this.

We have to say that the visuals shown in the trailer show a massive jump compared to previous GTA games, that said the use of bright colors etc (see below) suggests that Rockstar aren’t going for a more realistic look like what L.A. Noire offered. We must remind you that this is just a trailer and until we see gameplay we can’t really comment on graphics.

Check out the trailer for yourself below, did you spot anything significant that we missed? Are you impressed? Let us know in the comments section below the video.