GTA Online launches -- right into an 'online' roadblock

(Credit: Rockstar Games)

Grand Theft Auto Online, an online multiplayer game that allows players to form gangs and complete new heists, is having some trouble getting the gamers online.

The title, which launched on game consoles Tuesday morning, is experiencing server issues that have locked out some gamers and made it difficult for those who have gotten in to play the game. Twitter is abuzz with complaints from gamers who say they can't get into the service.

Rockstar, the game's creator, warned that this could happen. Last week, in fact, the company said that it was doing all it could to buy and access servers to accommodate what was expected to be massive demand for its online title. It said, however, the chances were good that there could be some connection issues early on, and it appears that this has come true."Well I wanted to get some GTA Online in before I had to head out to work," one Twitter user reported. "The servers didn't comply with my plan."

GTA Online's launch comes a couple of weeks after Rockstar started selling Grand Theft Auto V. That title has become the biggest entertainment release of the year, generating more than $1 billion in annual sales.

Rockstar said on Monday that it will keep gamers updated on the online version's progress through its Twitter and Facebook feeds.

Read More

GTA 5 Online gameplay video due Thursday, Rockstar says

We've already been shown what Grand Theft Auto V's single-player mode will look like, but the much-hyped multiplayer mode remains a mystery -- but not for long.

Rockstar has confirmed that a gameplay video explaining GTA Online will be published on Thursday 15 August, as well as gaming sites' first previews of the new mode.

No precise time has been given, but the last video made its grand debut at 3pm UK time, so that's a good bet for now.

The very end of the last gameplay video did deliver a tiny tease of what we can expect from the multiplayer mode, depicting a player in a swanky skyscraper apartment looking out over streets of gamers racing around in cars and helicopters, or blasting past in fighter jets.

That suggests Grand Theft Auto Online will let lots of players take part at once. Expect races and deathmatches to feature, and fingers crossed for a 100-player, game-world-wide battle royale mode, eh?

Anticipation for Grand Theft Auto V is at fever-pitch, though mystery surrounds whether the new game will be coming to the Xbox One and PS4, or whether it'll be the preserve of the soon-to-be-outdated Xbox 360 and PS3.

The game comes out on 17 September. Are you keen? And what are you hoping to see in Thursday's multiplayer-mode reveal?

Read More