By now, you've probably seen the NPD numbers and saw the lack of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, but I think there's another issue to deal with here... and that's what Rockstar should do with the GTA series now.  Vice City was the first GTA game I played (yes, a latecomer) and I really enjoyed the freedom and craziness.  GTA: San Andreas was, in my opinion, immensely better in almost every way and truly did it all.  Also, one of the greatest games ever according to Dalai.  I call it the kitchen sink approach to game design and sometimes it works, other times it doesn't.  With San Andreas, it just clicked.  But... GTAIV was a departure from the previous games in a lot of ways.  Darker, less wackiness, fewer shit to collect, drive, and buy.  Granted I love GTAIV for what it is, but I feel that San Andreas is superior.  And now that Chinatown Wars is out and the next batch of DLC is in the works, I'm wondering where GTA should go next.  Here's some things I'd like to see happen.

1. Go back to the last-gen approach to the series (main GTA game plus one or two "spinoffs" set somewhere other than Liberty City.)  Tomorrow (or next week depending on how ambitious I feel) I'll go deeper into this one.  I'd like to see another city or region being exploited.
2. Back to the past we should go.  Maybe something from the mid 1970s or late 1990s.  The present time setting is cool and all for most games and certainly needed in other genres, but GTA should mess around with other time periods again.
   
3. More everything.  I'm probably in the minority, but I love collecting shit for no good reason.  I also love having more vehicle options, more side missions, and more space.  GTAIV Liberty City is pretty large, but San Andreas was simply massive in scale... although there was a bit of filler as well.  I'd just like to see a GTA game that can keep me occupied for several months instead of a few weeks.
   
4. Make money useful again.  The concept of currency in GTAIV was just broken.  What else is there to buy other than clothes and weapons?  Safehouses were basically given to you so you just accumulate enough money to retire and live a decent live for a while.  Let's make money more useful or more difficult to make.  Hell, make it like The Sims and pimp out your bungalow with a 60" flat screen TV and some stylish rims on your Banshee.
   
5. Bring back the planes.  No planes in GTA means that the terrorists won.  Backlash will soon follow, but I think it's time to bring them back to even a fictional New York.

Yeah... get to it, Rockstar.  Call me.