With E3 having recently taken place, many gamers were hoping for a sneaky update or two regarding GTA 6, a feverishly anticipated title despite there being no details whatsoever about its release. However, as you may know, Sony decided to skip E3 – making further information about the PlayStation 5 annoyingly thin on the ground.
Which brings us back to GTA, the fate of which seems inextricably intertwined with the PS5: it’s highly unlikely that Rockstar will release the latest iteration of their flagship series on the PS4 and Xbox One, and they may even wait until the release of the next-gen consoles first to see what these new machines are capable of. That means a wait of a number of years for lovers of the series.
Indeed, Takashi Mochizuki, a technology journalist, shared via his Twitter feed a conversation had during Sony’s latest earnings conference back in April, in which it was confirmed there would be ‘no next-gen PlayStation launch over next 12 months’.
And in May, Sony’s CEO John Kodera told the Wall Street Journal that the PS5 would not be released until 2021 at the earliest. So, we know it’s coming… we just don’t know when exactly.
The rumor mill is already in overdrive as to the precise nature of GTA 6. Will it feature a traditional single-player campaign mode or will Rockstar focus solely on online gameplay? Will it be set in Vice City, San Andreas or somewhere completely new? Will Trevor, Michael or Franklin return?
Hit the Casino
There is at least some good news coming in the form of the next GTA 5 patch update, expected in late June or early July. You know the big casino in Vinewood that has had the ‘opening soon’ banner outside ever since the game was launched? The one where Trevor tends to get thrown out by security in the campaign gameplay? Well, finally, it appears as if that will become playable as of the next update.
The banner has been removed from the front doors and a number of players have reported that construction machinery has been added to the game world just in front of the building.
It remains up in the air whether this will become a static environment for players to enjoy, or casino games will become playable for free or via DLC add-ons, but players are holding onto their hats in readiness for the latest patch.
Like GTA: San Andreas, where players could enjoy slots, blackjack, roulette and poker, it seems that casino gaming is ready to launch in Los Santos. Of course, if you can’t wait that long then you can always play online slots, real money games in a ‘real world’ casino via your smartphone or tablet – unlike those set to hit Vinewood Casino, the payouts are real. Some of the best casino slots around include Hillbillies, Cash Bandits and Texan Tycoon and fans of GTA might just enjoy the animated anarchic antics of these titles, which certainly have a Rockstar vibe about them.
PS5 Set to Take Gaming to the Next Level
As if to whet the appetite – and to make up for the fact that they gave E3 the swerve and let Microsoft have the floor – Sony have been drip-feeding gamers with information about the project tentatively titled Playstation 5.
The console will feature a bespoke 8-core AMD chipset, with a GPU that has been inspired by the Radeon Navi family. For the uninitiated, that means that ray tracing – a lighting technique used in many of Hollywood’s CGI blockbusters – would be available to developers. The possibilities are enough to make the mouth water.
Other possible inclusions to note include a purpose-built SSD storage system, which will take some of the pressure off your cloud, as well as 8K TV support and 3D audio.
All of these factors combined will ensure the PS5 delivers the fastest loading times in console gaming history – outstripping those presented by the new Xbox release, Project Scarlett, according to the early specs revealed.
One of the most satisfying rumors, if true, is that the PS5 will be completely backwards compatible with the whole Playstation family, meaning that you can dust off those old copies of Tomb Raider 2 and Abe’s Odyssey and enjoy them via a rather sophisticated new vehicle. And with an amazing technological quirk, PS5 gamers will be able to play simultaneously online with PS4 players.
All of which should make GTA fanatics all the more ravenous for the next title in the franchise. For now, the latest batch of exciting updates will have to suffice.
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