Hold onto your pants… Rockstar Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. has finally announced the release date for Grand Theft Auto IV, the new title in the genre-defining Grand Theft Auto franchise. Developed by Rockstar North, Grand Theft Auto IV will be simultaneously available for Xbox 360 and PS3 worldwide on April 29, 2008.

“We are so excited to be releasing Grand Theft Auto IV,” said Sam Houser, Founder and Executive Producer of Rockstar Games. “We’ve pushed ourselves very hard to make something incredible and hope the game sets a new benchmark for interactive entertainment.”

In other news, it seems gamers were correct when they’d said our beloved PS3 was in some part to blame for the release delay. Jeronimo (great name huh) Barrera – VP of Production Development recently said “It’s really no surprise to anybody that the PS3 was definitely a contributing factor to [the delay].” He also stated the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions are “identical”, time will tell.