Rockstar Games may be reinventing the Grand Theft Auto series by offering three protagonists in the fifth installment, but the studio is sticking to the classic box art design.  Rockstar Games has revealed the box art for Grand Theft Auto V, and it’s the same multi-paneled look gamers have come to know and love.  It also features the three lead criminals: Franklin, Michael, and Trevor.  Of course, this is Grand Theft Auto.  Rockstar could put the game inside of a bear trap, and fans would still be lined-up to buy it at midnight.

Hit the jump to check out the box art, and click on the respective links to pre-order it on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.  Grand Theft Auto V will be released on September 17th.

If you’re a gamer, you might want to tell your boss you’re not coming in March 26.  That’s because thanks to an Amazon update, it’s looking like that’s the day Rockstar Games is releasing Grand Theft Auto 5.  Until today, all we knew was Q1 or Q2 2013.   While details of the game are still mostly under wraps, we previously reported:

“GTA V has three protagonists, and you can switch between them “at nearly any time.”  There’s also some unsurprising reveals like how the world of “Los Santos” (GTA V’s Los Angeles) will be bigger than Red Dead Redemption, GTA: San Andreas, and GTA IV combined.”

Hit the jump for more details on what’s sure to be the biggest game of 2013.  You can also watch the trailer here.

Rockstar Games has released the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto V.  Unsurprisingly, it’s big on atmosphere and non-existent on gameplay details, and that’s fine for an announcement trailer.  Once again, it looks like the subtext will be about The American Dream, but this time it’s from the perspective of a guy dreaming about going straight and building a good life for his family.  It’s a set-up for a fine story, but that’s not my concern with GTA V.  My concern is game design, which is where Grand Theft Auto IV fell painfully short.  I’m sure folks will rave about the multiplayer, but the single-player experience is a mess. Restarting your mission from your phone is worthless when you have to drive to your objective anyway.  Your friends are a bunch of tough guys who will get pissy if you don’t go bowling with them.  If you have the audacity to fire your gun or get into a minor traffic accident, expect to run from the cops for the next twenty minutes.  I’m sure GTA V will have a large world (this time it’s based on Los Angeles) and a deep story, but will it be fun?

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.

I love the noir genre.  It’s probably my favorite just ahead of westerns.  I love the stark cinematography, the world-weary cynicism and lost causes of the protagonists, and the pulpy accessibility of the stories with the thoughtful subtext simmering underneath.   While we’re bound to get one or two westerns a year, film noir—at least in its classic sense—seems to have disappeared.  I’ve always been puzzled by its absence because great noir doesn’t just transport us to another time, but another world.  Rockstar and Team Bondi’s L.A. Noire not only gives a modern audience a return to the genre, but actually sets them inside the world and lets them traverse a stunning recreation of 1940s Los Angeles.  However, while the aesthetic and the individual crimes scream “noir”, your rigid protagonist Cole Phelps lacks complexity, and the game leaves you wondering why another character wasn’t the lead instead.  The game also employs a questionable interrogation mode, which tries to make use of groundbreaking facial capture technology, but remains stuck in roundabout logic and a little too much guesswork.  But no game is going to let you live noir like L.A. Noire and it’s a case worth working.