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Grand Theft ... Nintendo? [update 1]

MTV (yeah, really) has a great GameFile piece up right now that speculates on the upcoming battle between the Nintendo Wii and the PS3. But though the rest is interesting, we only had eyes for one little thing that Reggie Fils-Aime let slip:

"We're reaching out to every publisher, frankly every day. I'll be spending some time later today with the folks over at Take Two to see what type of support they can give our console. ... The fact is there will be M-rated content on the Wii console."

This is either the sign of the apocalypse or the red carpet down which the Wii may strut to console wars victory. Take Two Interactive is, of course, the publisher behind the impossibly popular Grand Theft Auto franchise -- a franchise that has never appeared on a Nintendo console, though GTA has surfaced on the GBA.

We'll give you a moment to consider that one. It's okay. We'll wait.

Of course, there's more to Take Two than just GTA. And it's likely that we'll see some smaller franchises on the Wii, like the Outlaw sports games. But just as we were getting used to the idea of Mature titles on a Nintendo system, now we're faced with possibilities like Bully or the aforementioned GTA series. Reggie (and right now, we love him a little) said specifically, "we want every single best-selling game to be available on Wii. Whatever that content is."

That's a big shift from some older attitudes at Nintendo, and while it may lure more devotees to the new console, is it what the fanbase wants? Games like GTA aren't always popular with the people who live and breathe Zelda and Metroid. Will all be forgiven and forgotten when we see a Wii identifier on a GTA box? Or is the franchise not cut out for Nintendo?

[Update 1: Apologies for not clarifying where we were differentiating Nintendo's consoles from handhelds; that was an oversight, and thanks for the corrections!]