The boys from Edinburgh better really bring the noise this time. GTA IV while kinda amazing for it's release window, hasn't really aged very well. The expansion packs were cool and all, but was anybody really desperate to run out and get those expansion packs right away? Most peeps I know played the main GTA IV for like 20 hours and then basically gave up on the main game, and never bothered with the expansions, regardless of how cool they looked.

Rockstar North basically created the open world genre, but other companies have come along and made even better sandboxes than GTA IV had. Red Dead Redemption from Rockstar San Diego and Fallout 3 by Bethesda Studios have shown what true open world gaming is capable of. GTA V is going to need to really up the ante in the gameplay department. Cut scenes and style can only take you so far. The open world game is no longer new, or novel. Open World games come out all the time now. Infamous 2 and Dead Island are two recent open world games that have come out. Skyrim is coming out soon. The stakes have been raised, I hope that the Howser brothers can pull a rabbit out their hat, because if they don't, they might wonder what happened to their unstoppable franchise.