Grand Theft Auto San Andreas is the latest video game to fall into the hands internet prirates. Rockstar, the publishers of the title are “aggressively pursuing” the pirates who leaked a copy of the latest version on the to the internet.

It's not the first game however to fall victim to piracy on the web. Even last week copies of Halo 2 on the Xbox where leaked, in August Doom 3 was leaked and late last year Half-Life 2 suffered the safe fate.

The latest in the franchise, San Andreas, is due to go on sale at the end of the month.

In a statement, Edinburgh-based Rockstar Games said a pirated version of the game had been posted to various internet sites.

"The proper authorities are investigating the theft and are continuing to investigate all possible leads to ensure there is no further dissemination of our creative content," said the company.

"Downloading, possession and distribution of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, including making the game available on the internet, is theft.

"We take the theft of our intellectual property very seriously and we are and will continue to diligently and aggressively pursue this matter."

However Rockstar said the release of the game would go ahead as planned, with San Andreas hitting the shops in the US on 26 October and three days later in Europe.

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