By: Chella Ramanan

Rockstar Games has announced that Grand Theft Auto IV will miss its October release date. Instead, the hotly anticipated title will be coming to PS3 and 360 in spring of 2008. Rockstar North wants more time to work on the title, setting expectations for the game even higher.

The move will hit Take-Two's financial figures for 2007, a bitter blow following the issues surrounding Manhunt 2. However, Ben Feder, chief executive officer for Take-Two made light of the financial implications, "Obviously, we are very disappointed to reduce guidance after having previously reaffirmed it.

"Other than a matter of timing, the movement of Grand Theft Auto IV does not compromise Take-Two in any way. We are in sound financial condition and have a great product line up."

In an official statement, Sam Houser, founder and executive producer of Rockstar Games, added, "The new consoles are allowing us to create the Grand Theft Auto game we always dreamed about.

Every aspect of the game and its design has been completely transformed. The game is huge and is pushing the hardware platforms to their absolute limits. The top engineers from Sony and Microsoft are working closely with the team in Edinburgh right now, helping us to fully leverage the power of both platforms. As always, our goal is to surpass even the wildest expectations of the game's fans, and to create the ultimate high definition video game experience."

This will put a spanner in the spokes of many a gamer's Christmas, but 360 owners will be thanking the maker for Halo 3.