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Rockstar has confirmed that the PS4 and Xbox One versions of Grand Theft Auto V will be released this year, with the PC version slipping to early next.
Specifically, the next-gen releases will arrive on November 18th. The PC game, meanwhile, will not land until January 27th.
It’s bad news for PC gamers, who will now have to wait until post-Christmas for the game. Console gamers, however, will be delighted that rumours of a delay were misplaced, although of course it’s possible to debate whether November fits into the previously announced ‘autumn’ release window*.
Nonetheless, the enhancements across all three versions are numerous.
Increased draw distances and higher resolution are joined by new activities, weapons and vehicles as well as additional wildlife, denser traffic, improved foliage and enhanced damage and weather effects.
Radio stations will offer over 100 new songs and new DJ mixes and those who pre-order will be offered $1,000,000 of in-game cash that can be spent either in the main game or in GTA Online.
Those who upgrade from the PS3 and Xbox 360 releases will get some extras, too, including some classic GTA vehicles, a faster blimp and new activities such as Wildlife Photography. Existing GTA Online saves can be transferred – including to PC.
GTA Online gets some special love, too, with up to 30 players now supported.
There’s a trailer, too, showing off some PS4 footage:
*Very possible it seems, as it has quickly become a topic of heated debate amongst various internal and external parties since this story was published. According to Wikipedia, in the Northern Hemisphere autumn starts in September. As there are twelve months and four seasons that gives you three months to play with, depending on ‘when’ in September it kicks off. In the traditional East Asia solar term it runs from August 8th to November 7th. The Irish calendar reckons autumn runs from August to October. This piece in the Telegraph says that there are three debatable beginnings to autumn – September 1st, the autumnal equinox on September 21st or when it actually gets cold, which frustratingly varies every year. Astronomers meanwhile tend to catagorise seasons by the assorted equinoxes, meaning autumn runs until December 21st. That’s seven definitions of autumn for you, four of which leave GTA V launching in winter, two in autumn and one undecided depending on how cold it is on November 18th. So OK, it’s perfectly possible to argue it either way.
