Top Story: New Grand Theft Auto on the way?

04.03.2011
A bit of Internet investigation has uncovered the rumor that Grand Theft Auto V may well be on the way. This evidence -- and its subsequent retraction -- is your Top Story this morning.

Two pieces of evidence came to light earlier that point to the possible existence of Grand Theft Auto V. Firstly, a number of suspicious-sounding domains have been registered. Secondly, a stuntman's resume listed Grand Theft Auto V as one of the projects he had worked on. Since the details were reported, however, great pains appear to have been taken to cover up the evidence in question.

When the story originally broke, it was reported that the domain names CashForDeadDreams.com, SixFigureTemps.Com, LifeInvader.Com, StopPayingYourMortgage.Net and HammersteinFaust.com had been registered by either Take-Two or Rockstar. Checking the WHOIS records for these domains now reveals the domains to be registered under the name Network Solutions. The company in question specializes in protecting the privacy of domain name registrants by providing alternate contact details to the otherwise-public WHOIS database. In other words, someone has been covering their tracks.

These domains may not sound particularly special in their own right, but believe they are examples of the spoof companies typically found in Grand Theft Auto's world. The existence of parody websites for these fake companies would be consistent with previous viral marketing campaigns for other entries in the Grand Theft Auto series.

Further weight to the theory that GTA V exists was found in the form of , which listed GTA V as a project in which he had performed as a motion-capture stuntman. When about this yesterday, he claimed it was a typo and has updated the document since then. However, lists plenty of video game stunt work, including the upcoming LA Noire, but Grand Theft Auto IV is conspicuous by its absence.

The hasty changes to both the domain registration information and Mulvey's resume suggest that there is something to hide. Whether it is really Grand Theft Auto V or simply Take-Two running a lucrative domain-parking scheme for disreputable-sounding businesses remains to be seen for sure.