Grand Theft Auto V set for PS4, XBox One

Grand Theft Auto V will be released on the Playstation 4 and Xbox One in the autumn. Picture: Contributed

GRAND Theft Auto V, the flagship open world game by Scottish developers Rockstar North, is to be released on the new generation of Sony and Microsoft consoles later this year.

The critically acclaimed title will be available on Playstation 4 and Xbox One, as well as PC, in the autumn.

The Edinburgh firm has promised a spate of improvements on the original iteration of the action adventure game, which came out on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 formats last September.

There has feverish speculation in recent months about an updated version, with Rockstar North’s parent firm, Take Two, confirming earlier this year that a game was in the works for the new consoles.

The arrival of the next gen GTAV titles were confirmed in the early hours of Tuesday morning during Sony’s E3 conference in Los Angeles, accompanied by a short trailer showing off the graphical improvements on the PS4 version.

In a statement, Rockstar explained they were harnessing the increased technical power of the new consoles to ensure the definitive GTA experience.

It said: “Grand Theft Auto V will take full advantage of the power of the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC with across-the-board graphical and technical improvements to deliver a stunning new level of detail. Increased draw distances, finer texture details, denser traffic, and enhanced resolutions all work together to bring new life to the cities, towns, deserts and oceans of Rockstar North’s epic reimagining of Southern California.”

Although no definitive release date has been given, the fact the announcement was made at Sony’s conference may see some DLC released for the PS4 as exclusive for a set time.

Existing players of the game have extra reason to cheer if they are considering an upgrade. The new generation versions will accept saved progress and characters from Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The PC version, meanwhile, will feature an expanded video editor.

This year’s E3 also heralded a surprise return of one of the best-known figures in Scottish gaming, with Crackdown creator Dave Jones making an appearance during Microsoft’s conference to publicise an Xbox One version of the hit series.

The third Crackdown title is currently under development by Microsoft and Cloudgine, a new Edinburgh-based studio which promised to help “define new ground-breaking online gaming mechanics” by using rendering and processing power from the cloud. Jones, who formed DMA Design and Realtime Worlds, is the firm’s president and co-founder.

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