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Although brand-new games had most of the focus at E3, a few previous gen all-star titles had another chance to shine on the stage at E3. The Halo: The Master Chief Collection will bring four prior Halo games to the new generation of Microsoft console gaming, including an HD anniversary treatment for Halo 2. Rockstar fans also finally received confirmation that last year's multiple game of the year award-winner Grand Theft Auto 5 will get a fresh coat of paint before being rereleased on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Understandably, some consumers who want to make sure the new versions will actually offer significant changes might be hesitant about how different games developed at the tail-end of the last console generation can actually look on the new machines. We've seen some impressive side-by-side comparisons that help justify the upgrades for Tomb Raider and The Last of Us and now, thanks to the team at Digital Foundry, we can marvel over the big changes that are coming to Grand Theft Auto 5.

The comparison video is composed of video footage from the previous-gen trailer for GTA5 and the new-gen footage the debuted at E3 last week. As promised during the announcement, the new-gen port delivers some stunning improvements to textures, effects, and the breathing organism that is Los Santos.

Development stayed hush hush for quite a while, but the team behind the PC, PS4 and Xbox One ports have been hard at work on the game since before the original game had even launched. That's given them over 12 months to fine-tune the improved GTA5 experience. The difference in quality can be seen in the detail of waves crashing, the additional animals and vehicles mixed into the environment, and the beautiful lighting effects. We know for sure that the updates include an increased traffic count, new non-playable characters, redrawn trees and other vegetation, and increased detail on water effects.

Pessimists are quick to point out that the PS4 demo is likely running on a developer's kit and that the changes may not look quite as jaw-dropping on home consoles, but it's impossible to deny that the game will look leaps and bounds better than the original. On the same note, PC gamers are likely already confident that that game will look better on their gaming rigs than on either of the new-gen consoles.

In addition to the visual draw of the PC, the game will also feature a new video editing feature on that platform for advanced movie-making. The PC listing on Steam for GTA5 claims that the game will also include new weather and damage effects. Time will tell whether or not those enhancements show up in the console ports.

Do you plan to replay GTA5 on a new platform? If so, will you play on PC, PS4, or Xbox One? Let us know in the comments.

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Grand Theft Auto 5 will release on PC, PS4, and Xbox One in Fall 2014.

Follow Denny on Twitter @The_DFC.

Source: Digital Foundry