In Nintendo Power's first look at Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the DS last week they said that the game would feature "tasteful" mini-games. However, tasteful doesn't mean "family-friendly", and Rockstar aren't going to turn the series into a child's toy just because the DS is classed as a "family-friendly" console. Dan Houser discussed this with Edge Magazine recently, and said that Sam Houser made it clear to everyone that GTA: Chinatown Wars was to remain at an M-rated level, just like all past and present GTA games, he added...

“It can’t be softened to make it family-friendly – that’s not the game we’re making. We’ve never not done well by sticking to our guns.”

The media has already, within only a few short hours, gotten wind of this and has been eating it up. As always, Grand Theft Auto doesn't need much money spent on advertising, it receives enough from some of the confused news sources that only see the negative side to a story about the series. Needless to say, Rockstar has hardly any need to worry, hell even Nintendo was in approval of the series staying the way it is, as Dan continues...

“Nintendo wanted us to make GTA, and we wanted to make a game on their platform. They didn’t want us to make a GTA for kids, and we weren’t interested in making a game we wouldn’t normally make.”

So how mature is the game? Well Rockstar have finally implement a feature that they have been wanting to place in a GTA game for years, drug dealing. Ever since Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, it has been evident that drug dealing was something Rockstar have worked on for their games, only to be abandoned at the last minute, most likely to do with media uproar and game ratings.

The drug dealing mini-game will allow the you to peddle six types of drugs around the city. You will be able to make a profile from this, and there is some brains involved, the profit you make will depend on market conditions which will be based on the area you deal and the amount of service this area receives from you regularly.

It will be terrific to finally see this over-waited, over-abandoned and over-requested feature finally implemented into a Grand Theft Auto game. There will be more information in Edge Magazine this month, so we'll keep an eye out for it and let you know what additional information is revealed.

Update: Thanks to T3 we now have two screens of the mini-game being played, and we can also tell you that the six drug types you can deal are:

• Heroin
• Coke
• Ecstasy
• Acid
• Weed
• and; Downers

Source: Edge-Online

Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser talked with Nintendo Power about the new GTA game being on the DS and not the Wii. Many people, including myself, are waiting out for GTA Wii, after seeing what Rockstar can do on the Wii with Bully. Months of speculation has arisen on the issue, and with Chinatown Wars coming to the DS, it was one more step in the right direction. As the relationship between for Rockstar and Nintendo becomes stronger, we can't rule out a GTA Wii just yet.

Mr. Houser had this to say on the topic at a sit-down with Nintendo Power:

It didn’t feel natural to us, I guess. It really was that the DS felt like it had a lot of interesting challenges that would be totally different from what we’d done in the past. The stylus and the chance to use minigames in that way was really interesting and exciting to us, and we thought we could integrate seamlessly between those two modes. And it would be the chance to make something really good on a handheld with our handheld-focused team. That was really why we went that way. We haven’t really done any concrete, major thinking about the Wii, one way or another. They’re sort of separate issues.

Fingers crossed! We'll keep you up-to-date on any progress on the matter.

Thanks to Nintendo Everything for the information.

Thanks to spyker3292 over at Mac Rumors, we now have all four pages from the November issue of Nintendo Power! All information posted yesterday is available in more detail in the scans, there are also some screenshots and photos as well as information that was skipped over previously:

Nintendo Everything posted twelve screenshots of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars also, they are taken from the above scans.

Thanks Macrumors & Nintendo Everything

Thanks to Nintendo Everything, we now have twelve new screenshots of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.

Source: Nintendo Everything

As we reported earlier, Nintendo Power got a chance to sit down and play Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. Thanks to the good folks over at Gamekyo, we now have the first screens and artwork of Chinatown Wars!

  Screenshots:

Artwork:

Source: Gamekyo

Nintendo Power recently got a chance to sit down and play Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, as we reported earlier this month. They published some details of the game in this month's issue of the magazine. We currently don't have a scan of the magazine, however thanks to botticus over at NeoGAF, we do have the information revealed by the magazine:

• True GTA game - sandbox gameplay, open-world environment, gritty crime narrative.
• M-rating
• Isometric camera angle
• Cel-shaded polygons w/ black borders
• Good touch-screen implementation - "tasteful" minigames, streamlining interface
• UI based on a PDA - hub for email, contacts, map, music player, GPS, stat-tracking
• Stats uploaded to Rockstar Social Club website via Wi-Fi
• Finger-sized icons
• Missions designed for shorter periods of play, arcade quality
• Aiming with control pad, auto targeting with R button
• Subtle auto steer
• If you fail a mission, you can jump back to the action sequence
• Chain gun, flamethrower
• Good portion of Liberty City is modeled in the game (different routes than console games)
• No problems with load times, draw-in or frame rate
• Lots of pedestrians, cars, etc. on screen
• Wanted System - objective is to disable police cars any way possible
• Real-time weather effects, 24-hour day/night cycle
• Lots of radio stations to listen to (more instrumentals than vocals)
• 800,000 lines of hand-optimized source code
• No details yet on multiplayer/Wi-Fi features

If your wondering what an isometric camera angle is, it's the same camera angle used in Rockstar Leed's port of Max Payne to the GameBoy Advance:

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will be hitting your DS sometime this winter.

UPDATE: The screenshots that were in the magazine, have now been posted.

Source: NeoGAF

Next month Nintendo Power Magazine is going to do a special exclusive feature on GTA: CTW.

So stick around

Source: http://www.gta-xtreme.de

Next months Nintendo Power magazine will host an exclusive look at GTA Chinatown Wars, it is rumored to have some detailed information and screenshots. We'll be sure to update you when the magazine hits shelves in the coming weeks.

Thanks GTA-Xtreme.de (English version)

UGO has recently posted a story revealing some details of Chinatown Wars. It seems Rockstar conducted a survey among gamers asking if they liked certain ideas. In the survey, it was revealed that the game was actually Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.

16. Please grade each of the following game features on how interesting they’d be for a Nintendo DS game.

-OPEN WORLD: It takes place within an open, real world environment. You will have the freedom to navigate a massive map, explore a world with changing weather and traffic patterns, smart Police and pedestrian AI, and choose different missions to play at any given point in time.

-MATURE STORYLINE: This is the story of an outsider navigating the criminal underworld of a major city. You play as a young gang soldier involved in the internal power struggle for control of his gang.

-AD HOC MULTIPLAYER: With wi-fi connectivity, players can play each other head to head in four different game modes, including a race (seven different race maps, can race with all the game vehicles), and play co-op modes.

-LENGTH OF GAMEPLAY: 70+ missions, 20+ hours of straight gameplay—with significant replayability on top of those 20+ hours.

-STYLUS BASED MINI GAMES: Missions include a wide variety of contextual mini-games, such as assembling a sniper rifle to complete an assassination mission, and smashing locks and hotwiring cars to steal them.

-REPLAYABLE MISSIONS: A feature that allows you to jump to any completed mission from a convenient menu and play them again.

Not convinced that it's Chinatown Wars? According to question #18, it is.

18. The title of this new game is called Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, by Rockstar Games. Now how interested are you in buying the game?

Now this could be some kind of hoax. However, if it is real, Rockstar Leeds certainly has done an awesome job and I really cannot wait to get my hands on this game!

Source: UGO

Well, who was expecting this?

Just announced at Nintendo's E3 2008 press conference is GTA: Chinatown Wars. Details are hard to find at the moment but we do know the game is coming to the Nintendo DS this winter. It is being developed by Rockstar Leeds in conjunction with Rockstar North. You can view the press release below. I think it's time I invested in a Nintendo DS...

 Press Release:

Rockstar Games Announces Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the Nintendo DS™

The newest entry in the Grand Theft Auto series for Nintendo's handheld system this winter

NEW YORK—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Rockstar Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), is proud to announce Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. Developed by Rockstar Leeds in conjunction with series creators Rockstar North, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will be available on the Nintendo DS™ in North America and Europe this winter.

"This is a game that will deliver a rich, fast-paced and intense 'Grand Theft Auto' experience that will be truly unique to Nintendo's handheld platform," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. "Rockstar Leeds, along with the team at Rockstar North, has built upon a decade of progressive design on Grand Theft Auto, and has created something fundamentally fresh and immersive."

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is an entirely original entry into the critically acclaimed Grand Theft Auto series, and brings a new level of interactivity to its sprawling open environments. With the use of the DS touch screen, players will navigate their way through the streets as they uncover the truth behind an epic tale of crime and corruption within the Triad crime syndicate, delivering the unprecedented amount of depth that has become a true trademark of the franchise.

For more information about Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, visit: http://www.rockstargames.com/chinatownwars

Official Website: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars