Grand Theft Auto is a franchise driven by stories, with a massive cast of characters and nearly endless replayability. But the thing that most distinguishes one Grand Theft Auto from the next is Rockstar's glorious, subversive take on each of the games' settings.

The cityscape of a Grand Theft Auto is often the game's most important character, shaping everything about the game from how you play it to the story that is told. It's the city that also becomes the backdrop for all of those amazing stories that the gamers create themselves through hours of exploration in vast, interactive settings. And as mulitplayer grows in importance, it will be the city that forms a backdrop for those secondary experiences and online romps.

There's a really good chance we'll get at least an idea of where Grand Theft Auto V takes place when Rockstar releases the first official trailer on Nov. 2. Until then we're left guessing, but there are some tantalizing clues and history that can make these guesses at least a little educated.

The Clues

All we have to work with officially is that Grand Theft Auto V logo, so let's take a look. The font is pure Grand Theft Auto with two exceptions:

The letter V, or Roman numeral five, looks an awful lot like the art style and font used on U.S. currency. See the fine lines that give that capital letter its green shade. The V could stand for a city name, or just the number five. The font and art style could point to something money related or—and this is a stretch—maybe that V stands for the five dollar bill (which contains no roman numeral V, but does have a picture of the Lincoln Memorial on the back).

The word five is spelled out over the V in this logo. Grand Theft Auto IV's official logo doesn't use a different font for the Roman numeral IV. Nor does it bother to spell out the number four across that numeral. Both of these lend a bit of credence to the notion that the V in Grand Theft Auto V has more meaning than just as a number. (Or it could just be an opportunity to repeat the currency theme.)

Past rumors have indicated the next Grand Theft Auto will be set in California. We even had a casting call to back it up. Thing is, we're not entirely sure that codename Rush project is really for a Grand Theft Auto game, it just sounds like it is.

The Cities

New York City: Every numbered Grand Theft Auto released, except the second , has been set in some form of New York City since the franchise's inception in 1997. Rockstar is based in New York City. New York City is home to Wall Street, protesting 99 Percenters, everyday turmoil and plenty of things worthy of interesting tales.
Odds: 3:1

Los Angeles, California: Early rumors set V in a fictional Los Angeles studded with FBI agents, hippies and swingers. And it wouldn't be too hard to expand the setting and include San Andreas, the game's take on California, for good measure. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas didn't get its own number, but it was one of the best games to hit the Playstation 2. Set in 1992, a lot has changes in the two decades since. Also, a two-decade later revisit to a infamous Grand Theft Auto setting does have its appeal.
Odds: V:1

Washington, D.C.: New York's not-so-close neighbor is rife with senatorial shenanigans, intrigue, a really bizarre city design and a vibrant culture. There's also nearby Baltimore, "the city of neighborhoods", television-adaptation worthy crime and amazing political corruption. D.C. and "Balmore" are both close enough to the city that never sleeps that Rockstar could maybe even shoehorn all three settings into one game. Let's not forget that the Treasury is based in D.C.
Odds: 20:1

Las Vegas: It's the city of sin. There's gambling, organized crime, celebrity, excess, a sparking city and amazing vistas. Also, V could stand for Vegas, not just the number five.
Odds: 50:1

London: The original Grand Theft Auto took place in the game's version of Miami, New York and San Francisco, but the two expansion packs sold for that wonderful top-down crime-spree romp were both set in London in the '60s. Rockstar North, the folks who actually create a bulk of what makes the Grand Theft Auto games, are based in relatively nearby Edinburgh, Scotland. Also, aren't we all getting more than a little sick of running around in fictionalized U.S. cities? They could even add other wonderful backdrops like Paris, Scotland and Frankfurt.
Odds: 100:1

Dallas, Fort Worth: OK, I admit it, there really isn't anything pointing to a Grand Theft Auto set in Texas, not even in the twin cities of Dallas and Forth Worth. But can you imagine just how amazing that would be? You could throw San Antonio, El Paso and Houston in for good measure and create a modern western that would blend the best of Red Dead Redemption with the best of Grand Theft Auto. Evidence? Well, none. But between the drug cartels on the nearby Mexican border and the popularity of shows like Breaking Bad, it's not entirely crazy talk.
Odds: 200:1

Miami: There's really not a lot of evidence pointing to a return to Florida. The state and almost all of its cities are prime settings for cooky, bizarre crime-laden stories, (Just ask Carl Hiaasen.) And it made for a solid outing in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Also, V could stand for Vice City. The thing is, nothing will ever beat out Miami in the '80s, so why return to the setting?
Odds: 750:1

Vancouver, Canada: Why does every Grand Theft Auto need to take place in the U.S.? Why not in one of the most "liveable" cities in the world? You don't need to set a sprawling open-world game in a violent city to make it fun. You can corrupt the city, make it violent. Also Vancouver starts with a big giant V. There is also a huge beaver mafia, which would make a worthy adversary.
Odds: 1000:1

Those are our best guesses. What are yours?

Do you have the inside scoop? Hit me up at brian@kotaku.com

The Huge Hardware Implications for Grand Theft Auto V and the Future of Video Games

In a year full of headlines about Apple, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, it's possible to think that the forces that shape the future of what we'll play and where we'll play it is now solely in the hands of the people who make plastic and metal boxes. More »

Jack Thompson, active nemesis of any video game that he believes causes real world violence, was disbarred on September 25, 2008. Website GamePolitics notes that his disbarrment kicked in Oct 25, 2008 and that, three years to the day later, we get an announcement of GTA V. Jack hates GTA.

In a year full of headlines about Apple, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, it's possible to think that the forces that shape the future of what we'll play and where we'll play it is now solely in the hands of the people who make plastic and metal boxes. Or maybe it's in the hands of the platform makers, not just the architects of the 3DS, the iPad, the Kinect, the PlayStation 3, but also people like Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, get to call the shots.

It would be easy to think that the people who "just" make video games don't have a big say anymore, that they'll just be rolled by whatever decision a company like Apple makes.

Uh-uh. The announcement today of the obvious, that Grand Theft Auto V is coming, is a reminder of the forgotten truth that game creators can be king-makers. GTA's caretakers at Rockstar Games can put crowns on heads with their new game. They can change things in a big way. All it will take is their decisions about where we'll be able to play their GTA V. If a machine can run GTA V—especially if it's a machine that wasn't expected to—a lot can change.

There are very few game machines I can rule out for GTA V. It's a safe bet that this game will be far too complex to run on a Nintendo 3DS or a Wii. Cross those two off the list. Rockstar can't crown them.

What of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3? I consider them the most probable candidates, but when the new GTA comes out is a big factor here.

Consider the timing: the trailer for GTA V hits next week. Rockstar always makes trailers that consist entirely of in-game footage, so don't expect some sort of text-only, concept-art-laden teaser trailer. That's neither their style nor the kind of the thing a company builds hype for for a week, which is what they're doing today by promising next week's trailer.

The GTA IV trailer came out in March of 2007, almost a year after that game was officially announced and, at the time, a planned seven months before an October release. The game got bumped back to April of 2008, so they were targeting about a half-year gap between a first glimpse and a playable game and had to settle for a year. That would seemingly put GTA V on track for a late 2012 release, at the latest, and therefore would make it a must for the 360 and PS3. There's is next to zero chance we're getting a PS4 or an Xbox 361/720 next year, so GTA V on the current high-def consoles is a gimme.

Let's pause a second as someone in the audience shouts about how Rockstar tends to not ship two big console games in a year. I hear them saying that Rockstar already has Max Payne 3 for March. True. When I saw Max Payne 3 last month, Rockstar people told me it was a joint effort by a bunch of Rockstar studios. That's the case for most Rockstar games; they even had many of their studios work with the non-Rockstar Team Bondi on this year's L.A. Noire. But the new Max Payne, according to what Rockstar reps told me, is being made by a combo of Rockstar Toronto, Rockstar Vancouver, Rockstar New England and Rockstar Leeds, and maybe others (plus the NYC Rockstar Eye of Sauron, of course, since they oversee everything).

Not on the list of developers for Max Payne 3: Rockstar North, the lead development studio for the GTA games. That crew made GTA IV for spring of 2008, then toiled on the surprisingly large two additional episodes for the game, which finished coming out in October 2009 (I'm not counting the ports to PS3, because I don't think they spent much added time on them). Rockstar North then worked closely with Rockstar San Diego to bring spring 2010's Red Dead Redemption across the finish line, which gets us to the theory, that, say, 30 months after the release of RDR, in late 2012 they'd be ready with GTA V. I can live with that theory.

Alright, so we've got a 360 and PS3 version likely. That doesn't shake up anything. Let's get to the potential king-making:

Wii U: Nintendo's next console is supposed to come out some time after June 2012 and is supposed to be at least as powerful as the PS3 and 360, if not significantly more potent. Nintendo also says they are serious about working with outside game companies and removing one of the few problems the red-hot Wii had of not getting the best high-end third-party games. There'd be no better follow-through on that promise than if GTA V launches day and date on the Wii U as it does on the 360 and PS3 (actually, the superior follow-through by Nintendo would be to get the game first, but that ain't happening). If Rockstar commits to a Wii U GTA V, Nintendo loses its rep for shunning big third-party franchises and they're suddenly a player for the hardcore, red-meat gamer.

Vita: Can Sony's new handheld, hyped as a pocket-size PS3, really power a game like Grand Theft Auto V. The Vita. Man, is that what the V in GTA V really stands for? The Vita is a beast of a system, but open-world GTA games require the kind of constant data-streaming that sucks battery life and forces the kind of compromises that made the GTA's on Sony's previous handheld, the PSP, impressively open-world but necessarily more simplistic in graphical complexity than their console counterparts. The Vita's twin-stick controls justify it as an exceptional handheld gaming machine. Rockstar would be making a big statement about its place in gaming should GTA V be on it, but it's a stretch.

iPad 3: Yes, I'm serious. In a couple of weeks, we'll be able to play Grand Theft Auto III on iPad 2s. The game was made for twin-stick controllers, but Rockstar has adapted to an entirely touch-based interface. (And it works!) They've also said that game will eventually run on single-core iOS devices, presumably including iPad 1. GTA III was a PlayStation 2 game. The iPad 3, an inevitable if unannounced product from Apple, will surely be announced next year. iPads have been closing the gap on gaming portables in a hurry and are creeping into current console horsepower territory. The degree to which iPad 3 narrows that gap affects the likelihood that GTA V could come out on iOS. Add in the idea of iPads that output to TVs and you have a potential radical shift in home console options for the next Grand Theft Auto.

The PC, specifically, your browser PC gamers will lament the fact that it should be a given that GTA V will come to PC, but they should note that L.A.Noire will and Red Dead Redemption didn't. I'm not talking about a traditional PC release, though. Over the past year or two, we've seen companies like OnLive and Gaikai push the idea of streaming gaming, high-end gaming coming through your computer or mobile device, without the need of a dedicated console. The best showing of that so far have been a rafe of Gaikai demos, running streaming versions of Mass Effect 2 in Facebook and FIFA 12 playable through YouTube. If GTA V streams through your browser... if you can play it through Facebook, well, things will change. What's we need those console for again? Oh, yeah, for those of us in houses without blazingly-fast Internet.

There is one thing in common with all of the above scenarios. Rockstar doesn't need anyone. Everyone else who makes video game platforms needs Rockstar. They get to choose. Where will we be able to play GTA V? I expect any smart platform holder will be knocking on Rockstar's door to find out if there's a way they can get in on it. We're at a moment where almost anything is possible and Rockstar gets to lay the crown on whichever heads it chooses. If Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, Satoru Iwata and the rest of gamings' intentional and accidental czars aren't ringing the phone at Rockstar HQ, they're fools. Or they just don't want to be the king.

On November 2, Rockstar will release the debut trailer for the fifth main game in the Grand Theft Auto series, according to the developer's site.

With the title previously unconfirmed, the above logo is our first official glimpse of anything to do with the game, though there have been strong rumours for a while now that the title would be based in Los Santos, the series' version of Los Angeles.

Grand Theft Auto V will be the first new game in the series since 2008's Grand Theft Auto IV, which was given two expansions, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony. Grand Theft Auto IV became the highest grossing video game in 24 hours following its May 13, 2008 release. That record was later toppled by Halo 3 and then Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

This week marks the ten year anniversary of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto III.

[Thanks Damien]

These Are the Best Cities For the Next Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto is a franchise driven by stories, with a massive cast of characters and nearly endless replayability. But the thing that most distinguishes one Grand Theft Auto from the next is Rockstar's glorious, subversive take on the game's setting. More »

These Are the Best Cities For the Next Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto is a franchise driven by stories, with a massive cast of characters and nearly endless replayability. But the thing that most distinguishes one Grand Theft Auto from the next is Rockstar's glorious, subversive take on the game's setting. More »

Ten years ago today, Grand Theft Auto III released for the PlayStation 2. It became, in the words of Time "a national obsession." In the mainstream media, it has since served as the No. 1 scapegoat for the corruption of youth through violent video games.

Rightfully considered an epochal entry in video game design, the open-world, 3D Grand Theft Auto III didn't arrive as a total surprise in 2001, even to the mainstream media of the English-speaking world. The game's predecessors in the Grand Theft Auto series had attracted condemnation from politicians and social scientists for depictions, implied or otherwise, of violent acts, especially against the cops, even before the retail release of the first game back in 1997.

Grand Theft Auto III released Oct. 22, 2001. Nearly a month before was, of course, the attacks of Sept. 11. Rockstar Games' Dan Houser has admitted concessions were made to the times; still GTA III deployed to enormous commercial success and red-hot controversy.

Yet even in the jaded regard of the immediate post 9/11 times, and the jingoism and paranoia for which they are remembered today, it's amusing to consider that Grand Theft Auto III might have been mainstream television's secondary target. At the time Microsoft Flight Simulator was under fire because of its realistic depiction, not just of how to fly a 747 (turned into missiles on 9/11) but also of the New York skyline and the ability to fly aircraft into real buildings. The controversy was enough that Microsoft later removed the World Trade Center from the game.

According to a transcript search, Fox News—yes, that Fox News—didn't directly go after Grand Theft Auto until May 22, 2003, seven months after the release of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. At the time Washington state was considering a law forbidding the sale of games depicting cop-killing violence. Fox's analyst, naturally, said this shouldn't pose any Constitutional problem. A court later said otherwise.

So with all that out of the way, here is the first mainstream television mention, in the United States, that I can find of Grand Theft Auto III after its Oct. 22 release. It comes from the Saturday 'Today' Show on NBC, on Dec. 15, 2001. The host was Soledad O'Brien, and the speaker below is Dr. David Walsh from the National Institute on the Media and the Family.

You know, I do have some problem with video games where the intended purpose, you know, is to do bad things. So, for example, right now a very popular game is Grand Theft Auto 3. The purpose of the game is to perpetrate crime. You advance in the game by getting more proficient at crime. Now, that's a game, you know, that I really have a—have problem with and certainly not appropriate for children.

Grand Theft Auto III absolutely enabled many acts that cannot be discussed in polite company. Whether it condoned or instructed players in how to do them remains, to this day, the dividing line between a mainstream media that needs things to be boiled down to an easily understood intent and purpose, and artists and enthusiasts who view them in a more layered and complicated way.

What Grand Theft Auto III did not do was reward anyone for their proficiency at crime, no matter how much it is accused of doing so. Not to waste too much breath on it, but that depiction assumes the game is based on a point or advancement system tied to the perpetration of crimes, as if cops and hookers are like dots in a Pac-Man game. Many of the game's core missions can be finished without firing a shot, though their purpose may countenance criminal acts.

Killing bystanders or, yes, the prostitutes, is a sideshow, and speaking personally, I took great pride in completing Vice City and San Andreas without committing any violence toward either.

It offends me that someone would suggest my goal in playing Grand Theft Auto was to do such things. The goal of Grand Theft Auto III was then, and still is 10 years later, only to complete the game's narrative—a mature, even sordid tale, but one rated only for adult consumption, and no worse than Taxi Driver.