Confirming speculation about the next big game from the makers of Grand Theft Auto, publisher Take Two publicly delayed L.A. Noire to the first half of 2011.
The publisher did not cite any reasons for the delay. A press release for the company's earnings stated: "The release of L.A. Noire is now expected during the first half of calendar 2011."
L.A. Noire had been slated to come out before Halloween. The long-in-development game is an ambitious detective story set in the 1940s. The game is primarily being developed by Team Bondi in Australia, overseen by Brendan McNamara, creator of the PlayStation series The Getaway. Rockstar Games is backing that development.
While the L.A. Noire release may disappoint gamers eager for the next big Rockstar release, Take Two re-affirmed plans for the coming releases of Red Dead Redemption downloadable content. That Rockstar hit, Take Two say, has "sold in" more than 6.9 million copies worldwide.
Rockstar's other big upcoming, Max Payne 3, is slated for release some time past Halloween, which is the end of the last quarter of the year for which Take Two has revealed any release dates. The game is not expected to be out until next year, given its absence from the standard hype cycle for big end-of-year games.