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Rockstar, Media Molecule lead 2009 Develop Awards nods
Rockstar Leeds and Rockstar North, together with LittleBigPlanet dev Media Molecule have netted an impressive eleven nominations for the 2009 Develop Industry Excellence Awards, the UK's annual prize patrol for all things excellent in the industry. The Rockstar houses pocketed six of their own for work on GTA: Chinatown Wars and GTA IV: The Lost and the Damned, including nods for visual arts, technical innovation and audio. Rockstar Leeds is also up for the award for best handheld game studio, while both are in the running for being recognized as the best in-house team. Media Molecule is up for five awards as well, including best indie studio and best new IP. The Guildford studio is also up for the technical innovation award, where it's not only up against the Rockstar folks, but the teams behind Killzone 2, PlayStation Home, Football Manager Live and Fable II. We wish all nominees the best of luck and remind them not to forget to thanks their moms should they take the stage and accept an award during the July 15 ceremony.
GTA: Chinatown Wars jacks more wallets, sells 74K in April
In its first month of release, GTA: Chinatown Wars managed to only sell 89,000 copies in the US, according to the NPD. Now that the figures for April have come in, Gamasutra reports the game has managed to sell another 74,000 copies. Mind you, we're no mathematicians (well, not all of us), but by our calculations, that means GTA: Chinatown Wars has managed to sell a total of 163,000 copies in the US so far, which is a lot lower than what most analysts predicted the game would sell in its first month. We guess that South Park bump didn't do the game much good ...
Mr. Wong's Laundromat provides online money laundering for GTA Chinatown Wars
Need any more proof that Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is the best GTA game you're not playing? Rockstar has just announced the official opening of the Mr. Wong's Laundromat browser game, which allows players to earn in-game money and unlockable costumes that can be sent to the DS cartridge.Once you've logged in to the Rockstar Social Club and linked your game to the service, you can start playing the web game, earning "up to $10,000 per day working for Mr Wong, a local Chinatown 'businessman' who's helped more than his fair share of cash trickle seamlessly and undetected through the streets of Liberty City over the years." The game itself is pretty simple -- just catch money and jewelry as it tumbles out of washing machines, and dump it into Mr. Wong's van. It's an enjoyable diversion on its own, especially with included leaderboards. But as an online supplement to the DS game, it's even more interesting! Too bad about the "If it ain't Wong, it ain't white" slogan, which is not only potentially offensive, but a near-complete ripoff of something that was already taken off the market for being offensive.
Nintendo: Don't panic, Chinatown Wars will do just fine ... probably
Nintendo isn't afraid of low sales numbers for the M-rated DS outing of the GTA series, GTA: Chinatown Wars. In fact, the company believes the game will have "long legs" -- continuing to sell for the months to come rather than the usual cycle of big launch and steady decline. Speaking with MTV Multiplayer last week, Nintendo vice president of licensing Steve Singer said, "Chinatown Wars is performing in line with AAA titles that have come to our platform like Spore [Creatures] or Lego Star Wars." And the sales numbers of those titles seem corroborate his point. Spore Creatures has sold nearly one million units worldwide at this point and Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga has moved just over two and a half million, though each title sold less than half of Chinatown's numbers in their first two weeks at retail (released March 17, the March NPD numbers only recorded the first two weeks of the games sales). We're not sure what the future holds for the critically lauded title but Singer believes "word of mouth" will help to keep GTA: Chinatown Wars steady in the future. We'll certainly see after April's NPD numbers arrive in a few weeks.
Analysts can't agree on predicted Chinatown Wars sales
As one of the few M-rated games on Nintendo's DS platform, and the only Grand Theft Auto game, you can bet that game industry insiders are keeping an eye on sales of the recently released Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. Alas, NPD numbers won't be available until later this week, so we'll have to leave it to the analysts to predict the Chinatown Wars sales trajectory. But what are we to do if, as MTV reports, even the analysts can't agree?According to MTV, Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter is predicting that the title sold a whopping 450,000 copies. Meanwhile, Jesse Divnich of EEDAR expects less than half of that figure, predicting around 200,000 copies. It's chaos out there, folks, and proof that people just don't know what to make of a high profile, M-rated game on Nintendo's cash machine. We suggest you get inside, lock the doors and board up the windows until we have official March NPD numbers to quell this storm.
No, really? Analyst believes GTA: Chinatown Wars will move 2M in US
Get this: Cowen and Company, a bunch of folks in suits who get paid a lot of money, are predicting that gaming's best-selling franchise -- Grand Theft Auto -- is going to sell really well on the industry's best-selling platform, Nintendo DS. According to GamesIndustry.biz, the aforementioned MBAs believe GTA: Chinatown Wars will sell two million copies in the US. Only two million?Doug Creutz, an analyst at the firm, is quoted as saying, "Although the handheld platform has a younger-skewing installed base, we believe many core gamers own the DS." Hmm. We see, please continue. "The strong critical rating will likely increase the game's chances of becoming a commercial hit." So, good scores equal good sales? Not always the case.We'd like to take a moment to go as far out on the limb as Cowen and make a few crazy predictions of our own. No. 1: In 10 years, people will still need water. No. 2: Parachute pants will never come back into style. No. 3: We'll never make as much as these analysts do for our predictions.
Metareview -- Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
As of right now, according to aggregate Metacritic scores, Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is the best game on the Nintendo DS. There are currently four 100-percent review scores on the list. It looks like Rockstar may have done the right thing by treating this as a real game and not just simply outsourcing a cheap spinoff. After all, it's one of the most popular game series ever, on what is by far the most popular platform this generation. There is a bit of sales potential here. We'll include just one of the 100s here, from Eurogamer's Tom Bramwell. Eurogamer (10/10): "Those hoping for another gritty, complex narrative spine bound in the flesh of an openworld action-adventure may be disappointed by the rather more frivolous and silly antics of the Chinatown Wars cast, but even cynics should be converted by the huge, densely packed action playground we've been given instead." IGN (95/100): "Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is tried-and-true GTA design. Rockstar Leeds took nearly every aspect of the console design and jammed it into a Nintendo DS cartridge, tweaking the presentation to fit the restrictions and limitations of the Nintendo hardware." 1UP (A-): "In bringing GTA to the DS, Rockstar Leeds makes an installment that's less about exploration and more about the actual, structured game that's underneath. On the surface, it's not so different: pull up to a location, get a new mission, and do the job (be it shooting down some rival gang members, following someone to a secret spot, or just racing cars for respect). And it helps that missions in GTA games have always been generally bite-size, so it translates well to Chinatown Wars -- pick the game up, clear a few missions, then come back to it later." GameSpy (4.5/5): "When we think of GTA, we think of blockbusters built to massive specifications. Chinatown Wars proves that much of the stuff that really draws us to these games can be realized without expending millions of dollars and man-hours." %Gallery-44051%
DS Lite gets gangsta-fied for GTA: Chinatown Wars release
As part of the push to promote GTA: Chinatown Wars, the Nintendo World Store had a custom DS Lite on display for those who bothered to show up for the game's midnight release Monday night, which you can see via this flickr stream. While we'll admit that the combination of almost-black blue and fire truck red aren't the most pleasing from a visual standpoint, we definitely wouldn't mind snagging some of those awesome little GTA figurines next to it. What do you think? Yay or nay on this DS?%Gallery-25220%[Via Tiny Cartridge]
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars launch party at Nintendo World Store (plus: new trailer)
Imagine: a world of Nintendo products -- a Nintendo World if you will. New York's Nintendo HQ is playing host to yet another launch event. Although the venue may be the same, the atmosphere will stray far from the norm. The M-rated Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars deserves its own mature-themed party.DJ OhNo will be on hand providing music throughout the night in an event "all fans ages 17 and up" are invited to. The first 25 fans that purchase the game will be given a chance to get some exclusive, limited edition swag, such as GTA Kubrick sets. A limited edition customized Chinatown Wars DS Lite system will be on display, and "even more surprises" are being planned for the evening's festivities.The event takes place the evening of March 16th, from 11:59PM to 2AM. Let us know if you can make it. For those of you outside of NYC, take this new trailer (after the break) as a consolation prize.
Video: This is how you snipe in GTA: Chinatown Wars
If the first trailer for Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars didn't supply enough in-game footage, perhaps this latest trailer will do the job.Embedded after the break is a new gameplay clip of Chinatown Wars, featuring the hacking process and the delightful act of sniping. We'll be the first to admit that having to actually assemble the sniper rifle is all kinds of awesome, though we remember the process being somewhat more challenging on our last trip to the grassy knoll.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars trailer light on gameplay
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Grand_Theft_Auto_Chinatown_Wars_trailer_light_on_gameplay'; The Chinatown Wars are about to begin. Rockstar Games' first official trailer for the upcoming DS-exclusive Grand Theft Auto game finally shows off some in-game footage ... provided you slam your face to the monitor and squint. This much-too-brief trailer gives us a very basic synopsis of the game's story, and does very little to highlight any of the game's compelling gameplay. That's a shame -- because we really do like the game.Watch the trailer, after the cut.%Gallery-44051%
NYCC 09: GTA Chinatown Wars hands-on
Grand Theft Auto's jump into the current generation of home consoles introduced a new level of depth, realism and maturity into the franchise. While Niko's story was compelling, it lacked a certain je ne sais quoi that series regulars expect. In lieu of zany over-the-top comedy, there was drama; in lieu of arcade action was a refined cover and aiming system. These changes certainly progressed the series further, but it's hard not to miss the classic action found in earlier GTA games. Chinatown Wars, Rockstar's first real foray into DS development, is the perfect opportunity to revisit the arcade trimmings of the classic PS1/2 era of the games. Chinatown Wars is, at its best, a perfect blend of old-school gameplay with modern design philosophies.The notion of old meets new is immediately apparent from the visuals. Screenshots don't do the game justice. The graphics are quite impressive, with full 3D models, an incredible amount of texture variety, and a very steady framerate. Of course it comes nowhere close to the fidelity of the PSP games, but the team at Rockstar Leeds has created a sharp, clean look that works within the limitations of the DS hardware.%Gallery-44051%
DS Daily: World mapping
Rockstar revealed a small, but really cool-sounding detail of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars' Wi-Fi play: collaborative map marking. Players can connect via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and share waypoints on one another's maps, marking mission locations, hidden items, awesome jumps, or whatever. The game even draws a path to those locations!While this may seem like a minor tweak to GTA's gameplay, it certainly streamlines the experience of finding stuff in a large city -- and it could even encourage friends to explore different areas of the city and share their discoveries. Does the inclusion of new, unexpectedly well-thought-out collaborative features like this affect what you think about Chinatown Wars? Does it make you feel like the game may be more than an attempt to shoehorn GTA into the DS?%Gallery-35102%
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars preview-splosion
In case you haven't noticed, there's been a glut of previews today for Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. Fortunately, GTAGaming.com has collated all of them and provides selected highlights. The isometric view will be joined by a steady 30 frames per second, weather effects and day / night cycles. As for the soundtrack -- a franchise staple -- there are some instrumentals of licensed songs, but nothing to write home about. It also doesn't seem to shy away from the F-bomb, according to IGN.The wanted level is handled very differently. While you still need to outrun the cops, you're now also required to send a few cops shuffling off the mortal before you'll lose a star. And yes folks, piloting a helicopter makes a very welcome return.
GTA: Chinatown Wars receives '18' rating from BBFC
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars has passed the British Board of Film Classification with an "18" rating, which is equivalent to the ESRB's "Mature" rating. According to Edge, the DS title -- the first ever to receive an 18 rating by the BBFC -- passed with "no cuts made."Apparently it was a very clear edict from Rockstar's Sam Houser to developers that the game receive an M rating and maintain the franchise's adult tone. The game has yet to receive ratings from the United States' ESRB or Australia's conservative OFLC.[Via Edge]
Size matters: Chinatown Wars bigger than GTA on PSP
If you dream of INCREASED SIZE and LONGER SATISFACTION, there's only one place to turn for your portable Grand Theft Auto thrills: and it's not the PSP. Rockstar Leeds president Gordon Hall has told Nintendo Power that Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will be "far bigger" than any of the GTA games on the Sony handheld, despite that platform's extra grunt. Which is ideal, really, because Grand Theft Auto titles are all about playing in giant, sprawling cityscapes. Hall also believes the narcotics trafficking game could "stand alone on its own," and promises "more odd jobs, deeper missions, and more moments of over-the-top action" than anything seen in other handheld entries in the franchise. Contrary to any fears that the DS would see a reduced GTA, Rockstar appears to be stretching hardware boundaries ... again. %Gallery-35102%
This just in: GTA: Chinatown Wars to sell lots
The release of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars on March 17 is probably going to be A Big Deal™. As the coming together of the world's current favorite console and one of the most mega franchises out there, it's an event that threatens the very fabric of the space-time continuum should see a silly number of DS carts snapped up.But how many? Take-Two will reveal its own expectations in its fiscal 2008 earnings report tomorrow, but for now analyst Mike Hickey of Janco Partners is calling five million copies sold between March 17 and October. That's a zany figure, but this is GTA and the DS we're talking about here: loopy numbers are nothing new.%Gallery-35102%
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars coming March 17
We know it's hard to think about any other holiday with the holidays just around the corner, but there's a big new reason to look forward to St. Patrick's Day. Next year you'll spend March 17 ditching the green beer and big crowds at your local pseudo-Irish pub and snuggling in with Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. Our friends in Europe will able to pick the game up three days later on March 20. ... Hey, why are you crying? Oh! Well, we were just kidding about the green beer, pumpkin, of course you'll have time for both! Punish your thumbs, then punish your liver, that's what we always say.
GTA: Chinatown Wars to feature entire Liberty City
Spanish magazine Hispana has published a new preview of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars in which it discloses that the gameplay won't be limited to, well, Chinatown. In fact, the mag states that the full areas of Duke, Bohan, Broker, and Algonquin from GTA IV will be part of the handheld title's game world, although Alderney (New Jersey in "real life") won't.The magazine also offers a few more nifty details, such as the ability to whistle (or, we're guessing, yell irately) into the DS microphone to hail cabs, and that the PDA, GPS, and radio are all touch-screen based. On the topic of selling drugs, Hispana reports that It will be a "good way to make money in the game." Oh lordy. [Via Nintendo Everything]
GTA: Chinatown Wars has large map, obligatory microphone gimmick
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will feature around three-quarters of the Liberty City map seen in Grand Theft Auto IV. That's according to a preview in Spanish magazine MarcaPlayer, which stated that Broker, Bohan, Dukes, and Algonquin (all of which are highlighted in yellow above) will be playable, with only Alderney missing. GTA IV's map might not be the biggest in the series, but this is further evidence that Rockstar is squeezing every last drop of juice from the DS.Also bound and gagged in the trunk of MarcaPlayer's preview were a few new details. While the action plays out on the top screen, the touchscreen lets you control your PDA (which contains the map and mission goals), GPS (on which you can mark destinations to find the shortest legal route), and radio.As you explore the city (with the help of a camera that can be swiveled 360 degrees), new landmarks and venues you discover are marked down on your map, and you'll see lots of nice little touches, such as trains that pass over the city. You'll also be able to whistle into the microphone to hail a cab; they just couldn't resist, could they? And now we wait!%Gallery-35102%
