This new artwork illustration of Michael, Trevor and Franklin was revealed today by GameStop:

Thanks to AgroHD for the heads up.

Rockstar just updated their Facebook page with 12 brand spanking new screenshots.

Click to go to our Gallery!

Or check out Rockstar's Official Facebook page right here!

GTA Online Unveiling Soon!

The screenshots were accompanied by the following message from Rockstar:

Stay tuned for much more details and media from the game in August including the first proper unveiling of Grand Theft Auto Online.

Rockstar have today updated the cover photo on their Facebook page with a new photo that includes an Entertainment Software Rating Board (ERSB) of M for Mature (17+) for the North American version of the game.

The M rating means that the game contains Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Nudity, Mature Humor, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, and the Use of Alcohol and Drugs.

Share your thoughts on the rating over on GTAForums

Prior to the game being rated in North America, Grand Theft Auto V has now also been rated in Australia under the "R18+" rating under the Australian Government.

The "R18+" rating means that the game will include themes of Violence, Language, Drug Use, Nudity and Sex. It also seems that none of GTA V's content will be cut and it will be the same game that North America will have on September 17th. It's also interesting to make note that the speculated voice actors for GTA V have also appeared on the rating.

You can view the rating on the Australian Government's website here.

Share your thoughts on the rating over on GTAForums

Rockstar have got the painters out once again as a new mural has been spotted in Brooklyn, New York.

This time it features Trevor with the familiar mountain range in the background, possibly located in the Grapeseed area of Blaine County. It remains to be seen whether there is a similar mural in progress of Franklin or Michael.

Thanks to mrbozzedup for posting this!

Keep your eye on GTAForums for more progress pictures as we find them!

Update

It's now been found that there is also a triple mural in progress at the famous spot of the Hotel Figueroa in Los Angeles.

Rockstar has just announced that a gameplay video and preview of Grand Theft Auto Online will be coming this Thursday, August 15th.

Look for the world premiere of the official GTA Online Gameplay Video as well as coverage of first press previews here at the Newswire and at rockstargames.com/GTAOnline– this Thursday, August 15th.

Click to go to the official website!

It's finally here, the long awaited update of the official GTA V website, complete with a tour of the diverse and sunny Los Santos and Blaine County!

Rockstar's servers seem to be having some problems coping with all the fuzz, so it might not load for you at the moment. Just give it time.

There's lots of new things to discuss, so head on over to the forums!

An interview with Aaron Garbut, Rockstar North's Art Director, on the topic of GTA V has been published on BuzzFeed.

We used to call Liberty City a living, breathing world, but this is way beyond anything we've done before.

— Aaron Garbut

Read the full interview over at BuzzFeed!

Furthermore, 5 new screenshots were revealed along with the interview.

Click to view our Screenshots Gallery!

It has taken roughly a week for the job to be done but it's finally here:

Discuss this wonderful piece on GTAForums!

Here it is, the moment we've all been waiting for - GTA Online gameplay video reveal.

Check out all the new released screenshots as well!

New screenshots in our gallery!

Share your thoughts and reactions over at GTAForums!

Previews

English:

• CVG
• Gamespot

Foreign:

• JuexActu [French]
• GamePro [German]
• 3DJuegos [Spanish]

Interviews

English:

• CVG
• Gamespot

Summary:

Features:

• Players can invest in their character through customizing their appearance, improving their stats, owning customized vehicles, purchasing personal property, choosing their favourite weapons and vehicles and taking part in missions, jobs and activities.
• Players have the freedom to explore alone or with friends, work cooperatively to complete missions, band together to participate in activities and ambient events, or compete in traditional game modes.
• As progress is achieved through the world of GTA Online, players will be introduced to new characters, missions, rewards and such.
• A maximum of 16 players can be active at any one time as part of an online universe of hundreds of thousands competing to earn Reputation Points (RP), money and almost limitless material acquisition.
• As you speak into your headset, your GTA Online character will lip-sync broadly in time. When robbing a store, AI characters will react to the urgency in your voice, stuffing money more quickly in the bag.
• The Content Creator will allow players to create and share their own missions and activities via the Social Club cloud. Other players can beat your target times and scores, then rate your mission. You can even choose which creators you want to follow and curate your favourite missions.
• The Feed, a twitter-like program, appears on screen to relay all your emails, texts and messages from Social Club.
• Rockstar has no plans to sell Grand Theft Auto Online separately, and it doesn't require a code, online pass, or anything like that.
• The world of Grand Theft Auto Online will constantly grow and change as new content is added, and at some stage GTA Online will head into new locations. Access to Grand Theft Auto Online is free with every retail copy of Grand Theft Auto V and launches on October 1st.

General:

• Your ranking will be based off of shooting, driving, parachuting and flying skills.
• People can access their data through Social Club and via their iPhones or iPads.
• There is a mode called "passive mode" which means you can't shoot people and they can't shoot you.
• A "Bad Sport" stat will be given for bad behaviour such as blowing up another player's car, and if it's done persistently you will be punished.
• if your multiplayer character at Max Payne 3 had a high level, it will be carried over to GTA: Online for more bonuses that you will unlock.
• Matchmaking is based off of ranking, so it prioritizes your friends' rankings, crewmembers' rankings and even strangers so that when you need people, you know who to get.
• GTA Online tracks who your rivals are and lets you know when they've come online so you can get some revenge on them.

Multiplayer:

• You can assemble a team from your friends list, or recruit according to specialist skills. As you rob a liquor store or perform a heist, the team member that does the job gets the cash and can choose how much to share.
• It's possible to spread the wealth by sharing cash, weapons and ammo among your team. In turn, they can 'defect' and try to steal your cash.
• You can pick up your phone to 'ring' friends in single player and invite them into your world. Your friends will be listed under 'Contacts' on your phone.
• Set up challenges and post it to the Social Club and players can try and beat your score, if they beat your score -- you give them cash.

Miscellaneous:

• You start GTA: Online arriving to Los Santos pennyless and you must complete a few missions first to get a feel of the online.
• There will be loads of property to buy at different prices, according to their views and location. You can use your in-house CCTV to spy on people at your front door, or take showers, surf the net, change clothes and watch the game's many TV channels.
• You can take out insurance and ring for a replacement car if yours gets destroyed.
• You can pay a personal mechanic to fix your cars automatically, or deliver them to any location.
• You can also check any vehicle's stats for speed, handling etc, before making your choice to purchase.
• You can watch real-time events such as police chases on your TV moments after you see them speed past your house.
• Your custom cars show as markers on the map and get impounded if you leave them too long. You can pay to retrieve them.
• You will be able to deposit your money into your bank account as often as you can. When another player kills you, they can snatch the wallet right from your dead body.
• You can switch between single player and online mode by selecting your multiplayer avatar from the character wheel.
• Passengers will be able to change the in-car radio, via a radio selection wheel similar to the weapons wheel.
• You will have contacts available at anytime that will provide different services on or off mission, as you rank higher you will have access to characters with new and stronger abilities. Examples of such are being hidden from the radar and setting a bounty on another player if you're being chased.
• If you steal a vehicle, you can spray and change the plates. Some vehicle customisation businesses might not be willing to do that and you may get a wanted level.
• Weasel News will pick up people that have got wanted levels.
• There is a planning room in people's apartments.
• If you are in a heist and need some help, you can invite your friends and they will be teleported to you instantly.
• The experience is seamless between transitions for free-roam and missions.
• You can call up a private security firm to bring in an airstrike, i.e. destroy street races.

A list of previously unreleased achievements for GTA V have appeared online this evening.

According to the Xbox dedicated website, there are 49 achievements, including 11 secret achievements, totalling 1000 points.

Thanks to Sam_S_Rosevelt for alerting us. As always, steer clear of clicking if you might feel spoiled!

Click here to view the full list yourself and discuss over at GTAForums!

Spanish gaming website 3DJuegos have just released an interview with R* North's Art Director, the once impossible-to-land-an-interview-with, Lezlie Benzies. The interview included some new interesting tidbits about GTA Online summarised and listed thanks to forums member Spider-Vice.

General:

• The camera will zoom out and pan away to your online character seamlessly. During the animation, a matchmaking process will be in progress.
• You can do almost anything you can do in single player in GTA Online.
• You can change weather, time of day, time you want it to rain or to be a certain weather state, radio station to be tuned at the start of the race or mission in the Content Creator.
• You can watch races and deathmatches on your apartment TV.
• There are masks to hide from the cops.
• The Online will be run on the Social Club servers, data will be stored on the cloud. There are datacenters from NY to San Diego, and more Rockstar studios.

Missions:

• Each mission requires a rank depending on difficulty and complexity. The bigger your rank, the more difficult the missions will be.
• There are around 700 missions in GTA Online. 500 will be available to play on release, as more will be added eventually.
• Missions will be ordered randomly as you play Online.

Multiplayer:

• For certain heists you might need certain weapons, vehicles or characters such as a sniper or a driver. This will also depend on the mission creator if you download the mission from the Social Club.
• Some missions are so complex they need plenty of good communication.
• There will be descriptions to help each character on its heist function.
• There is something called "team lives". If you have 4 team lives and 4 people, if everyone dies there will be 0 lives left, or if you die 4 times, the team will have 0 lives left, which means if anyone dies, it's mission failed.

The full translated interview is available at GTAForums by realtom. Make sure to check it out and discuss at the thread! Also stick around for some Community Spotlight articles highlighting the best topics and fan-made videos out soon.

ESRB have not long updated the full ratings summary on their website, giving some tidbits of information about just why GTA V received it's mature rating.

Now, these might be considered slightly spoilery as they do reveal some minor, but interesting, elements of gameplay, however, if you're concerned just check out GTA IV's rating summary to get an idea of what may be detailed.

Summary

• Players also have the ability to shoot non-adversary civilians, though this may negatively affect players' progress as a penalty system triggers a broad police search.


• Blood-splatter effects occur frequently, and the game contains rare depictions of dismemberment.


• In one sequence, players are directed to use various instruments and means to extract information from a character.


• The game includes depictions of sexual material/activity: implied fellatio and masturbation; various sex acts that the player's character procures from a prostitute while no nudity is depicted in these sequences, various sexual moaning sounds can be heard. Nudity is present, however, primarily in two settings: a topless lap dance in a strip club and a location that includes male cult members with exposed genitalia in a non-sexual context.


• TV programs and radio ads contain instances of mature humor: myriad sex jokes; depictions of raw sewage and feces on a worker's body; a brief instance of necrophilia


• Some sequences within the larger game allow players to use narcotics (e.g., smoking from a bong, lighting a marijuana joint); cocaine use is also depicted. Players' character can, at various times, consume alcohol and drive while under the influence.


• The words f**k, c**t and n***er can be heard in the dialogue (we'll let your imaginiation decide what the words are.)

Rockstar Games have confirmed this evening that GTA V will be available as a day 1 digital download on the Playstation Network.

According to the Newswire post, you can pre-order now in North and Latin America, with European pre-orders open from this Friday.

As with the physical copies, pre-ordering will also give you the Atomic Blimp vehicle in-game. For an added bonus, there's an exclusive, free, PS3 theme available to download as well as 75% off vouncher for any Rockstar title.

Rockstar staff also commented within the Newswire to acknowledge why Xbox is missing. It's said that the Xbox Live Games on Demand service doesn't allow for pre-ordering or day 1 downloads, but it will be made available as soon as "permitted by Microsoft".

What do you think to the news? Will you be buying a physical copy or is digital for you? Share your thoughts on GTAForums

Thanks to Audiophile for keeping on top of the digital news!

That's right. Rockstar Games are teaming up with West Coast Customs (from MTV's Pimp My Ride) to create the ultimate dream sports car - The Bravado Banshee Twin Turbo GT. R*'s giving you the chance to win the ride! So stay tuned for more information.

Share your thoughts over at GTAForums!

Update:

A pic of the Bravado Banshee has surfaced the internet. It's not certainly known whether the vehicle is complete or not.

Rockstar updated the official website with three new panels: Local Artisans, Exclusive Country Clubs and Serenity & Wellness. Go check it out!

Furthermore, 8 new screenshots were added. We've also added them to our gallery.

Click to view our Screenshots Gallery!

Share your thoughts over at GTAForums!

R* have announced via their website's Newswire comments section that GTAV has officially gone gold. The game is currently being prepared for release on September 17th.

On other news, Sony has taken down pre-loading access to GTAV as they issued an apology for all the GTA fans due to the recent leaks. There hasn't been any statement regarding a date for the access [to the assets] to be restored at this time.

Share your thoughts at GTAForums.

Rockstar Games has revealed new details about the Grand Theft Auto V Special and Collector's editions. The editions provide the following enhancements and accessories:

Additional Weapons - the .50 Caliber Pistol and the Bullpup Shotgun are available at Ammu-Nation, complete with unique customization options, skins and attachments.

Bonus Outfits, Tattoos and More - The main characters receive a 20% discount on clothes and tattoos, as well as one new outfit each, one article of clothing (shirt, hoodie and jacket) each, a special haircut, facial hair look and tattoo.

New bonus outfits for each character

Custom Characters for GTA Online (Collector's Edition Only) - Defining your parent's heritage and then customizing your character's daily activites will determine the appearance and skill-set of your online character. In the Collector's Edition, Niko Bellic (from GTA IV), Claude and Misty (from GTA III) are available to use as parent options within the character creation system.

Special Ablity Boost - In GTA V, The main characters each have a special ability which may be activated when the Special Ability bar fills up. In the Special and Collector's editions, the bar fills up 25% faster.

Stunt Plane Trials - Five new stunt plane challenges, which involve navigating through checkpoints.

Unique Vehicles and Garage Property (Collector's Edition only) - An exclusive garage to store custom vehicles, that includes the CarbonRS sports bike and the Hotknife - an open frame 1930s style hotrod. In GTA Online your garage and the high-end Khamelion electric car, which is specific to GTA Online, are both purchased through in-game websites accessed through your Online character's cell phone.

Link:Rockstar News Wire - More Details from Special and Collector's Editions

The "official" trailer for Grand Theft Auto V is comingthis Thursday, August 29th.

Rockstar have promised that the exact time of its release will be announced beforehand.

Are you excited for the brand new trailer? Share your thoughts on GTAForums!

Update:

The trailer will debut at 11AM EST at the Newswire and the GTAV site, alongside a TV debut on Sunday during AMC's Breaking Bad. We made a countdown timer if you ever need to know how much time is left till the trailer is out!

R* have just introduced their new Social Club Crew Hierarchies system for GTAV and GTA Online. The first of many Social Club features to be announced allows leaders to assign special ranks to their crew members from the base tier Muscle, Representitive, Lieutenants and up to the highest rank - Commissioners.

Crew Hierarchy

Make sure to check out their Newswire for the details behind each tier and assigning them, and GTAForums to discuss your thoughts on the new system!