Confirmed: BIOSHOCK INFINITE Gets Delayed Until February 2013

Undoubtedly the most anticipated game of the year that doesn't have "Call of Duty" or "Halo" in its title will no longer be seeing the light of day in 2012. Yeah, it sucks when we have to start days with news like this since we know it's going to darken up people's fall plans. So what happened? Well, Irrational Games officially had to delay the release of Bioshock Infinite an entire 4 months.

Originally set for launch on October 13th, Infinite will now be hitting store shelves on PS3, Xbox 360, and PC sometime in February of 2013. :(

Ken Levine, the game's lead designer, had these words to say on the matter:

"When we announced the release date of BioShock Infinite in March, we felt pretty good about the timing.

Since then, we’ve come to realize that some specific tweaks and improvements will make Infinite into something even more extraordinary. Therefore, to give our talented team the time they need, we’ve decided to move the game’s release to February 26, 2013. We wanted to let our loyal (and very patient!) fans know this as soon as possible.

I won’t kid you: BioShock Infinite is a very big game, and we’re doing things that no one has ever done in a first-person shooter. We had a similar experience with the original BioShock, which was delayed several months as our original ship date drew near. Why? Because the Big Daddies weren’t the Big Daddies you’ve since come to know and love. Because Andrew Ryan’s golf club didn’t have exactly the right swing. Because Rapture needed one more coat of grimy Art Deco.

The same principle now applies to BioShock Infinite.

What does this mean for you? It means a bit more waiting, but more importantly, it means an even better BioShock Infinite. The great can be made greater, and we owe it to both ourselves and to you, our fans, to take this opportunity.

We are also going to hold off on showing BioShock Infinite at the big events of the summer, like E3 and Gamescom. That way, the next time you see our game, it will be essentially the product we intend to put in the box. Preparing for these events takes time away from development, time we’re going to use instead to get the best version of Infinite into your hands in February."

So there you have it. We will not be covering Bioshock at all at this year's E3 since Irrational won't even be attending the show, which actually is a great publicity move in order to show fans they truly care about their product rather than putting it front and center for the sake of press.

Does this delay tick you off or are you psyched that they will have more time to refine the game before release?