Unfortunately, people just can't seem to hold their patience for the release of Rockstar's much-awaited and much-coveted Grand Theft Auto 4 (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3).

A couple of days after reports that the game was leaked onto the Internet and feasted upon by thousands of hungry gamers, here now comes news that retailers in the UK have actually broken the street date. The image you see above is that of GTA 4's copy with  receipt of purchase from UK retailer giant ASDA, as first circulated in the European PlayStation forum.

Duncan Cross of ASDA has released this statement:

This is an isolated incident, we had a clear message to stores not to sell early, and so any copies that have gone on sale are miniscule. We have no policy to sell before the street date, and we'll make sure this doesn't happen again.

Meanwhile, more posts are pouring in the European forums with claims that they have also purchased their copy of the game from independent stores. While we have to admit it is exciting to finally have the controversial game around, we're just as certain that not everyone will be exactly gung-ho about it.

Take Two, but whatever happened to your foolproof plan of street date security? We heard they even had retailers sign agreements that no one will break the street date. Oh, but somebody's gonna be so angry, and it's not gonna look pretty.


Buy: [GTA IV (PS3)]
Buy: [GTA IV (Xbox 360)]