Preview 5 LIKELY CANDIDATES FOR ROCKSTAR'S NEXT-GEN GAME REVEAL

5 LIKELY CANDIDATES FOR ROCKSTAR'S NEXT-GEN GAME REVEAL

Ever the tease, Rockstar Games' publisher Take-Two has revealed the GTA developer is working on an unannounced game for 'new-gen' consoles, planned for release sometime this fiscal year (that's before April 2015).

It didn't provide an indication of what the game would be, whether it will represent an existing franchise or a new IP, but even so it was enough info to grip the CVG community into a fever of speculation, with impassioned fans declaring their hopes and dreams for the new project.

Rockstar is, after all, the steward of some of the biggest franchises in all entertainment, with a gargantuan fanbase who routinely queue around the block for the opportunity to play its latest blockbuster.

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A new-look GTA V
The last time we heard any official discussion on a GTA 5 PC release Take-Two CEO Karl Slatoff said "there's really nothing for us to say about that".





Despite Rockstar and Take-Two's silence, fans haven't given up hope or quietened down (a GTA 5 PC petition has reached over 650,000 signatures). And nor should they, Grand Theft Auto 5 is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed video games of all time, so it of course makes perfect sense to expand the game's reach even further by porting it onto Windows and Mac.

But, considering the similarities in hardware architecture between PC, Xbox One and PS4, an all-new GTA V release could be seen as the plan with the most potential. Upgraded visuals, like with Tomb Raider Definitive Edition and The Last of Us PS4, would be customary for this next-gen re-release.

Grand Theft Auto 4 launched first on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but a PC version hit the market seven months later. If we follow a similar time frame, this would put GTA 5's potential PC release around late spring or early summer 2014.

Is it actually going to happen? We think it's inevitable. In October 2011, responding to requests for a Red Dead Redemption release on PC, and questions about Rockstar's commitment to the platform, a studio representative indicated the PC is still an important part of its business.

"We hope that with the announcement that LA Noire is coming to PC this fall, and the knowledge that our next big game Max Payne 3 will have a PC release (plus that we've released both Grand Theft Auto IV and the Episodes from Liberty City for PC), we can finally put to rest any misconceptions that we've abandoned the PC platform," the rep said.

"All we can say is that whenever it is viable (technically, developmentally and business-wise) for us to release a game for PC (or any other particular platform) - we will and we usually do".

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Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption was a marvel. It took a setting too rarely turned to in games - the sprawling, unspoiled plains of the old Wild West - and crafted one of the finest open-world experiences around it.




Cowboys are undeniably cool. They fight with revolvers, smoke cigars, wrangle horses, hunt on horseback, don't talk as much, always look dapper, and stare through a permanent squinty-eyed frown to show they mean business. Red Dead Redemption might not have been perfect, but we think Rockstar delivered on the fantasy of role-playing Clint Eastwood's most iconic characters.

It's been four years since Redemption's release, and Rockstar hasn't once officially acknowledged the possibility of a sequel. Yet that has hardly stopped fans calling for a new journey across the American frontier.

In July 2013 Take-Two chief executive Strauss Zelnick referred to Red Dead Redemption as one of the publisher's "permanent" franchises, suggesting that a follow-up to 2010's game is certainly not off the table.

With the Red Dead franchise accumulating more than 13 million sales. surely it's only a matter of time before a new-gen instalment arrives.

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Bully 2
That 8-year-old Bully continues to compare favourably to modern sandbox games is testament to the love poured into it by Rockstar. If the studio's new-gen project offers half as much variety, life and sheer fun as the 2006 adventure, then we could be returning to something special indeed.




With that headline-grabbing "Bully" title, many mainstream media outlets decided that (without having seen the finished code) this was a game about being rewarded for punching children in the face. In fact, it's more about helping the downtrodden members of Bullworth Academy and uniting all the school's various factions. Then again, it wasn't exactly impossible to push helpless kids down the stairs and boot them between the legs.

The playground sandbox holds a special place in the hearts of both gamers and its creators, with Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser stating in September 2013 that he's determined to one day make a sequel to Bully.

Speaking to Polygon, Houser said there were "a lot of directions" Rockstar could take with another game in the series, but that any sequel wouldn't star an adult version of protagonist Jimmy Hopkins cast in the Grand Theft Auto character mould.

"I never saw him as being that level of degenerate," Houser said. "I saw him as a bad teen, because he comes from a tough home, who could go either direction. He's not going to be a carjacker.

"He's too white collar for that already. He's at a Fecal Leaking private school, but he's going to end up being really happy because he's at the worst bit of his life, or being a sort of messed up white collar doofus. He was an unpleasant soul, but he had a heart."

Take-Two renewed its trademark for Bully in November 2013.

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LA Noire 2
We, like many, thought L.A Noire was an engrossing and visually pioneering whodunnit that managed to meet its high expectations. Killer dialogue, a brilliantly realised atmosphere, a city full of character and that famous face-capture technology made it a must-see for thriller fanatics - even if it wasn't perfect.




Sadly, the revelations about its development didn't put its creators at Team Bondi in the most flattering light. After failing to secure another game project, the Sydney based studio was placed into administration and liquidated in 2011.

However, despite its original creators now dispersed across the industry, Rockstar hasn't ruled out the possibility of one day creating a sequel to the detective game. Asked in 2012 about the future of the franchise, the company said:

"While there won't be any more DLC or additional content for the current release of L.A. Noire (we're all too busy working on Max Payne 3, GTAV and other games to come), don't count out the possibility of a new game in the L.A. Noire franchise in the future. We simply have not decided anything," it said.

"We don't always rush to make sequels, but that does not mean we won't get to them eventually - see Max and Red Dead for evidence of that - we have so many games we want to make and the issue is always one of bandwidth and timing."

Rockstar parent Take-Two has credited LA Noire in multiple investor calls since its release, most recently calling the franchise in 2013 "an important franchise for this company".

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Agent
We know hardly anything about Rockstar's Agent. That title shot, the one with a gun in the 'G', has been knocking around for some time now but, like an interrogator trying to break Rambo, all we've got is a name.




Little has been heard about Agent since its E3 2009 announcement, although Take-Two confirmed in May 2011 that the game was still in development.

Since then, former Sony America chief executive Jack Tretton cast doubts over whether Agent was still a PS3 exclusive and what appeared to be the first Agent screenshots surfaced online courtesy of an environment artist thought to be working on the project.

In August 2012, Take-Two chief executive Strauss Zelnick was asked about the status of the game, to which he simply replied: "We haven't announced anything about that title."

Rockstar founder Sam Houser said at the time of Agent's 2009 announcement: "We have always enjoyed making action games, and with Agent we are making what we believe will be the ultimate action game. Agent is a game we have wanted to make for a long time. The team in Edinburgh is doing an amazing job combining intense action, atmosphere and story in a great period setting to create something that feels quite unique. We cannot wait for people to experience this game."



Source: CVG