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.