GTA5: Should Rockstar wait for the next gen?

Although Rockstar hasn't actually said that Grand Theft Auto 5 is coming out on the current crop of consoles it's pretty safe to assume it's bound for the PS3, 360 and PC.

In fact, Rockstar hasn't really given us any information on its latest open-world crime epic, almost everything we know has been painstakingly gleaned from the gameplay video shown in the initial reveal, spread through hearsay or is the predictions of those magic ball carrying analysts.

Even the release date is still a mystery. Take-Two's second quarter financial earnings report included an update on future product launch dates and provided a 'fiscal year 2013' window for many of the publisher's latest games. However, GTA5 carried a"TBA" release date and still hasn't been confirmed.

A National Alliance Capital Markets analyst has said: "We believe Rockstar Games is modelling a four to six month marketing window for their upcoming GTA V release, suggesting a summer '12 launch period."

It's difficult to admit but there were a fair few people in this office that were a little disappointed by GTA5 reveal; in part because of the not-so-surprising setting, but also because it was really hard to ignore the fact that it looked a little dated.

Perhaps 'dated' is the wrong word, but nothing about it stuck out as particularly interesting. Most of our excitement about the game was around it's very existence. A lot of that was due to our expectations, which admittedly were difficult to manage considering how absolutely jaw-dropping the GTA4 reveal was, but also because it's coming out on consoles that we've had for years now.

We're sure it's going to be great, and if San Andreas taught us anything it's that even at the tail end of a console cycle Rockstar can still put out fantastic games. But we can't help but feel like it just won't make the impact GTA4 did.

With that in mind we're throwing out one of oversized idea beach balls for you fine readers to bounce around. Here's what we're thinking: What if Rockstar holds off on GTA5 and instead releases it for the next generation of consoles?

Why? Well let's get the obvious reasons out of the way first: it would look better, be a much more ambitious game, perhaps feature interesting new mechanics based each consoles unique aspects, and most of all it would be a pretty fantastic way to kick off a new generation.

Will it happen? Almost certainly not, Rockstar isn't stupid enough to ignore the massive install based the PS3, 360 and PC.

But maybe it could pull a Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and come out for both generations, we're betting both Sony and Microsoft have shown Rockstar what they've got planned so they could put something together, right? Maybe we're just being crazy, let us know what you think in the comments below...