While 
there’s an understandable excitement that surrounds the launch of new video game hardware, the real fun usually doesn’t start until a year or so after the systems hit store shelves.
Last year’s launch of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, if we’re being honest with ourselves, didn’t have an especially stellar lineup of games. But the story’s much different as 2014’s holiday season gets underway—and that’s good news for players.
“Grand 
Theft Auto V,” which last September set entertainment industry sales records, is speeding toward the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.
Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive Software broke the news late Monday night at Sony’s pre-E3 press conference. Although the announcement had been expected, that didn’t dampen the response from fans.
Franklin, 
Michael and Trevor — the three protagonists of Grand Theft Auto V — are a potty-mouthed bunch. But now there’s conclusive proof that they’re among the crudest characters in video game history.
Youtuber TheMediocreScot spent the last five months compiling every F-bomb from last year’s biggest release, and it’s pretty, um, “impressive”: the game drops it some 1,018 times from beginning to end.
Trevor, 
Michael and Franklin might be particularly vicious criminals in Grand Theft Auto V, but they’re heroes to the video game industry.
Grand Theft Auto helped propel the industry into positive growth for the third consecutive month in October. Software sales at brick and mortar retail stores were up 12 percent compared to the October 2012 figures, coming in at $482.5 million.
With 
the launch of Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One this month, there’s a lot of focus on next-generation games, but that shouldn’t overshadow the fact that many of the year’s best titles were made for current generation systems.
The end of a console cycle typically is a boom time for gamers as video-game developers take advantage of their knowledge of the systems and look to send them out with a final hurrah. In many cases, those same games help supplement the launch of new consoles as well.
Whether you’re buying for the person on gaming’s bleeding edge or who’s happy with the game system that’s already in their house, there are plenty of good choices.
Crime 
pays — and it pays well.
The extraordinarily strong sales of Grand Theft Auto V drove the video game industry to a spectacular September. According to The NPD Group, combined physical sales of hardware and software were up 27 per cent, with $1.07 billion in revenue versus $848 million last year. Software sales, the most closely watched figure, were up a stunning 52 percent from a year ago to $754.3 million. That number does not include digital sales through services like Steam.
Washington 
politicians take note: This is how you do a stimulus package!
As an olive branch to players who have suffered through server woes, vanishing characters and a variety of other technical hiccups marring the launch of Grand Theft Auto Online, Rockstar Games has announced plans to give players $500,000 of in-game money.
You 
might – might – actually be able to play Grand Theft Auto Online this weekend. And if you’re really lucky, you might even be able to do so right now.
Rockstar Games has issued an update for GTA V on the PlayStation 3 and says the update will be coming to the Xbox 360 “as soon as possible” today. If all goes according to plan, the fix should clear up a lot of the server issues that have been plaguing players since the online mode’s launch three days ago.
The 
most controversial video game franchise in the world is back – and it’s stealing the hearts of critics all over again.
It’s been five years since Rockstar Games last released a Grand Theft Auto game, so the expectations for Grand Theft Auto V, which stormed retail stores last night to crowded lines of eager gamers, are sky high. The last GTA game set sales records upon its release, and many expect the new game to do the same. It will also earn countless headlines for its mature subject matter — a new round of video game violence chatter will almost certainly erupt — but the real reason why everyone should be excited about GTA V is that it’s an amazing video game.
Rockstar 
Games famously keeps a tight lid on its “Grand Theft Auto” games, but there are generally three constants to each new release.
Something in the game will outrage activists. The game will make a staggering amount of money. And it will incorporate parts of pop culture that raise its coolness levels even higher among players.
In the 12 years since “Grand Theft Auto III” first hit shelves (and the game really became the industry force it is now), it has had plenty of highs and lows – and an impact on the videogame landscape that few titles can match. Here’s a look at some of its most notable moments and achievements.
Chris Morris: Journalist 