Grand Theft Auto Online PS3 12 GB Offline

While pushing digital retail on top of digital-only expansionary content, console manufacturers are proving to be quite short-sighted. On our own PlayStation 4s and Xbox Ones, both systems less than a year old, we're already having hard drive capacity issues with the growing size of modern triple-A releases and required large downloads and installs.

For consumers of previous generation consoles that came with inexplicably small hard drives, like the Xbox 360 Arcade edition and the 12gb PS3s, that problem is even worse if you own one and want to play the most popular titles. Rockstar Games confirmed today that PS3 players of Grand Theft Auto V can no longer play its Grand Theft Auto Online multiplayer mode after the latest update. The hard drive is simpl not big enough.

So, buying the more affordable $199 console that launche one year ago with its not-very-useful tiny hard drive will require a hard drive upgrade in order to keep playing. Playing single player however to enjoy GTA V's campaign is still possible if you disconnect from the PlayStation Network to avoid the updates.

Unfortunately, in the digital era of interactive entertainment, hardware and bandwidth limitations prevent things like Cloud gaming from actually working as intended and being fully embraced by the gaming community at large. It sure does make one reminisce on the simple days of plugging a plastic cartridge into the top of your Nintendo or SEGA console and all the content coming included. No DLC, no connection issues, no microtransactions, no forced "always-online," etc.

For now, PS3 owners needing more storage have one option: The Officially Licensed 500 GB HDD Kit (available at select retailers!).

If you would like to expand your storage space for your PlayStation®3 system, you may purchase the Officially Licensed 500 GB HDD Kit* upgrade. No need to modify your PS3 system— The upgrade kit provides everything you need to just plug in the hard disk drive and game on.

For more info on how to upgrade your console, head here. In other GTA V news, there's some cool military-themed DLC on the way, including a VTOL.

Follow Rob on Twitter @rob_keyes.

Source: Rockstar