Specialist UK retailer GAME will be opening 260 stores across the country from midnight tonight to enable people to get their hands on a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV as soon as possible.
The retailer will also open all 414 stores again at 7am tomorrow morning, but is warning that only customers that have preordered the game can be guaranteed of picking up a copy on launch day.
"Everyone at GAME is working flat out to make sure customers can pick up their copy of GTA IV as fast as possible," said Tricia Brennan, GAME UK and Eire managing director in a statement.
"The release of a new GTA title is always a massive event for our customers, and we expect this to be one of the biggest selling titles of the year. GTA IV is even more exciting as, for the first time ever, a GTA title will be available on two consoles as soon as it launches.
"We know that even greater numbers of people will want a copy very quickly, and due to incredible demand the vast majority have already been preordered by our customers. We are working closely with Rockstar to make sure that subsequent deliveries arrive quickly in our stores."
Grand Theft Auto IV is seen as one of the key entertainment launches of 2008, and has so far won outstanding critical acclaim, including a perfect 10 out of 10 on Eurogamer.net.