Rockstar just handed every Grand Theft Auto fan a reason to clear their Thursday, and I have to admit upfront that this is one of those rare weeks where Xbox gets to celebrate right alongside my side of the room.

Edge magazine traveled to Rockstar's Edinburgh development studio and came back with what PC Gamer describes as a 16-page cover story, landing in Edge #430 on sale October 29. The issue carries interviews with Rockstar's studio leadership and new exclusive imagery, wrapped in a gatefold cover built around artwork of Jason and Lucia. If you're in the UK, Edge is running a subscription deal that bundles the special edition free with 13 issues at a discount off newsstand price. Everyone else gets a free digital copy of the special issue with a new subscription, and the full feature itself goes up free for anyone to read on the same day the magazine hits shelves.

That is a studio opening its doors three weeks before launch, which tells you Rockstar feels good enough about where the game sits to let outsiders walk the halls and take notes. Companies do not do that when they are nervous.

The channel Will Mac, in a video posted alongside the Edge news, adds that review codes are reportedly going out and that one prominent account may already have hands on the game, though neither claim carries official confirmation from Rockstar or Take-Two as of this writing, so treat both as reported chatter rather than settled fact. Corroborated or not, the shape of the week is clear: Rockstar is finally letting the outside world look instead of guess, which is a different kind of confidence than a trailer drop.

The scoreboard read on this one is short and a little strange, because the biggest console story of the year does not actually split along console lines. Rockstar is not picking a side, Jason and Lucia are showing up on every storefront that matters, and for once I cannot turn this into a lead for my column alone. Xbox, enjoy it while it lasts, because this is the only week all year I am handing you a point without an asterisk attached.

Three weeks is nothing. The next real test is whether Rockstar's own game can live up to the confidence its PR just spent, and that bill comes due in November whether either console is ready for it or not.