To call the “Grand Theft Auto” game a popular franchise may be a bit of an understatement. The series’ last major chapter, “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas”, sold 12 million copies for the PlayStation 2 alone and the franchise as a whole has sold over 50 million units, making it one of the most successful video game series of all time. The series’ next chapter, currently known by the placement title “Grand Theft Auto IV”, is set for release on October 16, 2007 across North America and three days later for European gamers. Speculation as to what new features will be in GTA IV, its location, storyline and who among Hollywood’s A-list will supply character voices have been running high while Rockstar Games, the developer of GTA, has kept silent – but things are about to change.

The official website for “Grand Theft Auto IV” has been updated and a countdown clock added to the page to tick away the seconds until March 29. On that day the first look at GTA IV will take place when Rockstar rolls out the trailer for the game, ending nearly two years of speculation and probably creating another wave of speculation across gamer message boards and chatrooms. Earlier this week another big announcement was made concerning additional expansion packs that will be offered exclusively to Xbox 360 owners of the game via Xbox Live, a move that undoubtedly left Sony PlayStation 3 executives gritting their teeth in frustration.