So after a couple of months of silence I return with a quick couple of updates, the first of which is Grand Theft Auto: V which is now only a few days away!! After months of waiting it’s finally close enough for GAME (where my pre-order is placed) to have labeled it as ‘shipped’ even though they aren’t shipping it till Monday… but still this is your last free weekend before the start of our GTA-Cation.

Over the last couple of months we have had many many updates, too many to mention now since I should really get back to work (which you’ll find out about in the next post) but here are some of the things we know.

Customization returns, from vehicles to weapons and clothing you can customize them all. Things like silencers on weapons to rims on vehicles have all been shown in trailers, just how deep it goes is anybody’s guess until the 17th.

GTA: Online will be available on October 1st 2013, two weeks after GTA:V releases which means people who ‘’only play multiplayer games’’ might actually see what they have been missing as they are forced to play GTA on their own first. GTA:O will launch with creation tools for death matches and races with more tools available in time along with over 500 missions available which will increase as Rockstar will update and change them over time.

Music in game will be blasted at you through 15 radio stations!! Two of which will be talk stations (hopefully Lazlow will have taken over WCTR instead of being reduced to a couple of segments in San Andreas) The stations will feature over 240 licensed songs ranging from funk to rap to rock, country and even a modern pop station for good measure. On top of all that driving music there is the score by The Alchemist and Oh No, Tangerine Dream and Woody Jackson that will play during missions and when your not in a vehicle much like Red Dead Redemption’s score (Also scored by Woody Jackson).

Those are the big three I wanted to talk about. there are little things like lifeinvader.com which is Rockstars version of social media and there is the small thing of some audio tracks being leaked via the PS3 pre-load download, oh and there’s the leaked map which I won’t post here but if you want to see the map click Here (WARNING: Spoilers, You are about to see the full GTA:V Map).

On a slight side note GAME have a strange way of doing things. First time i ordered it was way back when Rockstar announced pre-orders would come with access to the Atomic Blimp so I decided if I was ordering it that far in advance I’d get the Special Edition, why not? Then in late July I had to place the order again, thanks to my bank deciding to change my debit card due to a bank split, so I decided to throw in the guide as well just because I could.
Now this being my first ever pre-order of a game and first major release ordered online, oh and first strategy guide I didn’t know anything, like when money was taken etc. so I decided to ask them. The first email I got back relating to my bank and the bank split asking if it would affect the order I received a reply that at first read looked quite abrupt and didn’t really answer anything I had asked. When I asked about when the account would be charged though the service was much better and I actually got an answer to what I asked so I’m just guessing I’d caught the previous person on a bad day.
What I want to know though is how many emails are normal to be received about a pre-order? The order only contains two items and I’ve got about 5 emails, it’s now getting daft. What’s wrong with following the Amazon format of an email to confirm the order and another to confirm payment and shipping? It’s the simple thing to do surely?

Let me know about your pre-order experiences and what you are most excited about in GTA:V. Are you taking time off work for your own GTA-Cation or are you just going to visit Los Santos in your down time? Let us know in the comments below or you can contact GSUK over on Facebook or hit us up on Twitter @GameSyncUK. Alternatively you can contact me directly by emailing me via the link below or Tweeting
@GSUKPaul (That’s right I’ve finally joined Twitter!!)

PaulM
Contact PaulM
@GSUKPaul

P.S. After spending the day checking the GTA:V site for the last 4 items in the travelogue to be activated they do it a whole 20 minutes after I finish posting so anyway, head over to the official GTA:V site to check out all the information on GTA:V straight from the Rockstar’s mouth.

And on that note I really am on my GTA-Cation, if anyone wants me get in touch in the usual ways (just added a bunch more on the freshly added ”Who Are We?” page) I’ll be taking over the GameSyncUK PSN account for my trip to Los Santos so hopefully see you all there.