Were you looking forward to playing Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar's long-awaited follow-up to 2004's Red Dead Revolver, at the end of April? Well, too bad. Rockstar Games just tweeted that Redemption's release date has been pushed back several weeks, putting it at May 18 (unless you live in Europe, in which case you have to wait until May 21). On their blog, Rockstar promises that this is the final release date. For releasies. I'm pretty sure they pinky swore and everything.

Sorry guys – as you may have heard, it’s going to be just a few extra weeks of wait until the release of Red Dead Redemption on Xbox 360 and PS3.  The game’s new release date – which we promise is final! – is May 18th, 2010 (May 21st in Europe).

We at Rockstar have always prided ourselves on the uncompromising quality of our games - and will always opt to take a bit longer to polish and fine-tune a game to be as perfect as possible when we think it necessary.  With Red Dead Redemption, we felt that these extra few weeks will make a big difference in helping us deliver you an experience beyond your expectations.

Thanks for your patience.  We believe it will be worth the wait.

I can't really say I mind a three week delay if it's necessary for some last minute fine-tuning, as long as the final product is as good as Rockstar says it will be. I don't know how much can be fixed in less than a month, but hey, they don't pay me to make games (just to write snarky things about them). Besides, now you'll have more time to play Splinter Cell: Conviction--assuming that doesn't get delayed again, too.