Earlier this week Take-Two Interactive, publisher for Grand Theft Auto 5, confirmed what most gamers have been speculating for months now: the highly anticipated next entry in Rockstar Games' open-world crime series will be releasing in the spring of 2013. Even before Take-Two's confirmation, a piece of marketing for the game -- focused on teasing pre-orders -- teased the date, but it wasn't until Take-Two stepped in with the confirmation that things became real.

While Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick didn't have anything official to announce, he did hint as to the breadth of the content Rockstar is currently mulling over. According to Zelnick, players can expect DLC for Grand Theft Auto 5 that closely resembles the content offered for GTA 4 in terms of its quality and quantity.

"I think you can safely assume that Rockstar, as the label that led the charge in downloadable content with Grand Theft Auto 4, I think you'd have every reason to believe, purely because of the ground-breaking nature of the title itself and the multiplayer in the title, that there's going to be a lot of interesting stuff. But I'll leave that to Rockstar to announce."

For Grand Theft Auto 4, Rockstar released two pretty sizeable expansions — The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony — so it can be assumed that, at the very least, players can expect two worthwhile extensions of the main story. Moreover, we'd be interested in some DLC that incorporates some minor cosmetic and functional improvements to the proceedings, since it's almost a given that a Rockstar Pass of some sorts will be offered. Unfortunately, there isn't much to go on.

Zelnick also wouldn't elaborate any further on what "spring 2013" might be hinting towards as far as a specific month. If history is to be believed we're thinking that April or May are the most likely candidates. May has typically seen its fair share of Rockstar releases, and the earlier parts of the season are mighty crowded as it is.

In addition to some DLC talk, we have some news about pre-order bonuses for Grand Theft Auto 5 that are currently being offered in the UK. Gamers who pre-order the title have received an image viewer that showcases some of the many hot spots around Los Santos.

The images contained within the viewer are a little hard to see, but thanks to OPM UK we have some larger versions. Seems like Los Santos will have plenty of varied locales for players to explore.

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And for an even closer, and clearer, look at what Grand Theft Auto 5 will offer comes the news that a trailer should be releasing any day now. It has been rumored that Rockstar is currently circulating letters to various retailers that explain the pre-order procedures and mention the release of a second trailer. We'll post it as soon as the trailer releases.

What types of DLC would you like to see Rockstar Games offer for Grand Theft Auto 5? Any pre-order bonuses you think would be perfect for the game?

Grand Theft Auto 5 is targeting a spring 2013 release for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

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Source: OPM UK, Video Gamer