GTA: Chinatown Wars

[JimJim]

Exclusive to Nintendo DS, a GTA IV spin-off with WiFi support and out in our Summer.


Interested?

I am.

[FX-GTZ]

Name sounds like crap.

If its not 3D like gta 3, i wont even think of buying it, im sick of the handheld's getting the top down heli view shit.

[JONO RANDOM H3RO]

Somehow i don't think a 3d gta will work on the ds..

[buckstwits]

it'll probably just be GTA 2 with different graphics...

i did like gta2 though

[tau]

Summer here or in the north? Why can't people just say either which quarter or month instead of seasons?

[RunningMild]

The top down GTAs were good. This may be good if it is indeed top down.

I'm interested in hearing more about the Wi-Fi support...

[pecka_a]

Cool I actualy picked up a ds today (not for this game mind you)

[Nic Xtreme]

Where are the screenies? :(

[FX-GTZ]

Where are the screenies? :(

Too early atm, i think it was only just announced.

Exclusive to Nintendo DS, a GTA IV spin-off with WiFi support and out in our Summer.


Interested?

I am.

By the way, where is your damn source?

[Newell]

Where are the screenies? :(
These are all I could find:

http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/P7151078.JPG

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/c0/c1246.jpg

[Unleaded_Fuel]

This better be like 'Big Trouble in Little China'

[UKG.]

The top down GTAs were good. This may be good if it is indeed top down....

The original was a fantastic game. The genre started there and look at it now. The only other thing like that was APB on the arcade and that rocked also.

[Stevorooni]

A fully 3D GTA probably wouldn't be able to be handled by the DS, but I'm hoping they might still be bale to do a dodgy 3D and just pull the camera back a little bit to get a bit of perspective, then they wouldn't have to draw any horizons or even the top half of tall buildings!

[Quatters]

I want top down GTA like the original!

[Stevorooni]

Yeah well you're not getting it because I refuse to allow it!

[Quatters]

No matter what you do, the freedom fighters at Play Asia will help me prevail!
TAKE THAT STINKING CENSORS!

[Conky]

Nah I'd say that they'd have been better going the way of the Yakuza. Made it set in Japan.

[click here]

no, chinatown rules, i want it set in chinatown!!!

[Shorty]

Is the DS hardware not up to providing a full 3D environment like they did for the PSP?

[Lazlow]

Have you seen any 3D DS games?

Horrible.

[RunningMild]

Is the DS hardware not up to providing a full 3D environment like they did for the PSP?

Exactly.

[Mike-Towns]

China still cool, you pay later...LATER!!!

[Rambo]

Metroid Prime Hunters? That wasn't such a bad 3D game.

Just needs to be handled by the right developers.

[RunningMild]

Metroid Prime Hunters? That wasn't such a bad 3D game.

Just needs to be handled by the right developers.

Neither was Ninja Gaiden, or Phantom Hourglass, or Super Mario 64 DS...

But a 3D game with an open world on the scale of GTA? I severely doubt it. If they manage to make one I'll be extremely impressed.

[JimJim]

i want it set in chinatown!!!

I believe it is set in the chinatown area of Liberty City.

[RunningMild]

So what, 1/3rd the size of GTA3?

Maybe they could fit that onto the DS in 3D, but why bother if the world is gonna be that small?

[Shorty]

So does this mean that Chinatown Wars is more likely to be another top-down affair. Bit of a throwback but they may be able to pull it off.

[TrinityJayOne]

Is the DS hardware not up to providing a full 3D environment like they did for the PSP?
Burnout Legends[/i]"]There's not a single doubt in my mind that Criterion's Burnout series is one of the finest arcade racing franchises ever developed. In short, these games are incredibly fast, enormously furious, and over-the-top violent. Burnout is one satisfying franchise that takes racing and amplifies it to exaggerated levels. And the Nintendo DS version brings all this to a grinding halt. The development team hit a brick wall when it was commissioned out to bring the PlayStation Portable design to "the dual-screen portable that could" and just fails miserably at recreating that outrageous, energetic, adrenalized racing action on the Nintendo DS. The team at Criterion is either laughing themselves silly over this shoddy conversion, or caught dumbfounded that they allowed someone else to try their hands at their bread and butter. Either way, if you want the Burnout experience, you'd be more than doing yourself a favor by skipping this one and going for the console or PlayStation Portable renditions.

Burnout is Criterion's baby. The development studio uses this game series to show off the strengths of its in-house technology and the team's love of arcade action. So to see this all boiled down to something as bland, unappealing and unimpressive as what the Nintendo DS game ended up becoming is incredibly depressing. And yet, it's amazingly laughable at the same time simply to see horrific renditions of the Burnout experience scaled back to ridiculously basic levels that wouldn't even fly on consoles ten years ago.

Essentially, Visual Impact made the attempt to bring the technologically and visually cutting-edge experience that is Burnout onto a handheld that even Nintendo itself downplays the technical prowess of. With its past GBA efforts (which include Corvette and SSX), Visual Impact pushed the handheld hardware in a direction -- texture-mapped 3D -- that was honestly never the way the system was meant to go. So, of course, that may seem like a strength for the development team, especially when put to a task as daunting as re-creating Burnout on the DS. But alas, the game ends up looking, sounding, and feeling like a 3D GBA game: clunky, limiting, and almost completely unnecessary.

OK. The idea is to bring this fast 'n furious arcade racer to the Nintendo DS. Is it possible to get all the action, all the control, all of the complexity in the traffic patterns, all the gameplay onto this dual screen system and make it feel like it's a part of the series? Does it make sense to try, even if the development consensus is to leave the DS system to more casual and more creative games, and keep the console game ports on the hardware that can handle both the rapid gameplay as well as the polygons, textures, particles, and lighting effects?

Oh, the team does make the attempt. Slam a car into the guardrail and they'll go flying into a slow motion cutaway to show the viciousness of the hit. It sort of looks like a Burnout moment. But it's only made to mimic what Criterion did on the consoles and the PSP. The technique lacks the grace and attitude, and when the viewpoint zooms back to the player's perspective it's a gamble if the car will survive once control returns to the player. Criterion has made an art of this balance in the four renditions of Burnout, and it's clear that simply copying the effect isn't nearly enough to make it work.

That's just an example of what's wrong with this game. At its heart, this is just something made to seem like Burnout, replicating what it does without actually playing or look like Criterion's baby. Most importantly, the engine created for Burnout Legends DS just can't handle the required Burnout load. Roadways are sparse with very few innocent (but very hazardous) cars for traffic, so tracks and challenges feel incredibly empty and hollow. Races are one thing, but when you actually take this technology into another Burnout staple, Crash Mode, whatever good can come of the project comes off as pathetic and sophomoric. Look, a mode where the intention is to slam into packs of vehicular traffic is just weak when there's very little traffic to slam into. Seriously. On the console, players are rewarded with hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars of damage in a single Crash Mode. On the DS? You'll be lucky if you crack twenty thousand. You'll earn a CrashBreaker for causing as few as three cars to collide (not counting the first impact).

But the worst element of Burnout Legends DS is its sloppy attention to an actual driving model. There's zero sense of speed, even with the Burnout turbo activated. Steering the vehicle more feels like the environment's rotating around the car. And collision detection? Expect to crash into vehicles simply by touching them with almost no inertia involved. In fact, they'll be times where you'll be passing an opponent that's a good dozen feet away, and suddenly you'll find yourself smacked into an airborne, crumpled heap. Bugs are not uncommon in Burnout Legends DS, and this is only one of many that anyone with the patience of an air traffic controller will find in this horrible racer.

And we wouldn't be surprised if Electronic Arts itself didn't have a whole lot of faith in the Nintendo DS rendition, as the company didn't even bother to license popular music to accommodate the action. Instead, what we get is absolutely horrendous original pieces featuring highly compressed electric guitar and generic drum and bass.

Sometimes you just have to know when to cut your losses. And Burnout on the DS? This should have been on the cutting block the moment the development team realized that the experience couldn’t even come close. The only positive that can be said about this game: at least it runs at 60 frames per second. We’ve played some bad racing games, but Burnout Legends DS takes the cake. Really.

3.5/10
The PSP version got an 8.5 for reference.

__________________
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Hey! How would you like your very own Powdered Toast, man? PLAY-ASIA don't sell it, but do they do sell great games stuff!
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[Stevorooni]

So what, 1/3rd the size of GTA3?

Maybe they could fit that onto the DS in 3D, but why bother if the world is gonna be that small?

I assume the focus will be in Chinatown and the with the Triads, but we still get the whole city.

Maybe you play as a Triad guy who gets kicked out for some reason then builds his empire around Liberty City before returning to Chinatown, rags to riches etc/basic plotline of every GTA game.

[Newell]

It will need a definite renovation from the outdated GTA I and II; however I'm very sure they'll do this. It feels weird... GTA on the DS.

[PrattP]

Logo, anyone? It was sent to me and I didn't know what to do with it. >_>

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/6218/gtactwlogodt9.jpg

[Lazlow]

Metroid Prime Hunters? That wasn't such a bad 3D game.

Just needs to be handled by the right developers.


It was solid enough, but visually I found it bland.

[Natrak]

Logo, anyone? It was sent to me and I didn't know what to do with it. >_>

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/6218/gtactwlogodt9.jpg

Fine operation you're running there.

[Kefka]

Well, the Transformers game proved that you CAN do a semi-decent 3D open world on the DS... doesnt have the detail you'd like to see, and a GTA style game would no doubt have more complex gameplay.

Perhaps some "2.5D" perspective could work? Not a polygon-based true 3D version, and not quite a top down 2D... that's hard to pull off in a realistic looking way, though - works best with cartoony sprites.

I'm wondering how big the world will be - if it isn't big enough, it'll be more of a case of Grand Theft Moped, or Grand Theft Segway...


...Actually, Grand Theft Segway could work... :D

[VanAce]

Why not make it a very spiffy looking top down like the first 2

[Lazlow]

Because 2D doesn't sell, apparently.

[mayo]

The PSP version got an 8.5 for reference

Burnout DS port was shit therefore all 3D games on DS will be shit?
............
right...
I'm not saying Rockstar could make it work, but that was a pretty terrible argument you made there.

[TrinityJayOne]

Burnout DS port was shit therefore all 3D games on DS will be shit?
............
right...
I'm not saying Rockstar could make it work, but that was a pretty terrible argument you made there.
A 3D game on the scale of GTA? Yes.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are places where 3D could work on the system, something like Fire Emblem for example. But for a massive world being dynamically rendered, not a chance in hell, the hardware just isn't up to it. If it was, we'd be swimming in fantastic 3D games like the PSP has instead of SNES ports.

[mayo]

A 3D game on the scale of GTA? Yes.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are places where 3D could work on the system, something like Fire Emblem for example. But for a massive world being dynamically rendered, not a chance in hell, the hardware just isn't up to it. If it was, we'd be swimming in fantastic 3D games like the PSP has instead of SNES ports.

Despite the disgusting amount of horrible 3D games on the DS, the system is just as capable of 3D as the N64 was.... Any chance you've played a game called Body Harvest?
We're not swimming in fantastic 3D games for the DS because developers don't see it as being worth the effort. Which is fine by me, I play 3D games on my PC!

[Cerebral]

A 3D game on the scale of GTA? Yes.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are places where 3D could work on the system, something like Fire Emblem for example. But for a massive world being dynamically rendered, not a chance in hell, the hardware just isn't up to it. If it was, we'd be swimming in fantastic 3D games like the PSP has instead of SNES ports.
As it turns out, Fire Emblem DS is 2D. >_>

[Space_Monkey]

I can't see how this would work any way except top down

Vice City Stories was so insanely full of glitches at times it was barely playable

That and the textures took so long to load if you drove at any speed the buildings looked like coloured smudges

And that was on psp...

[Nic Xtreme]

I can't see how this would work any way except top down

Yeah, I agree. I cannot visualise it any other way - I really don't think the DS can handle that many items onscreen in 3D to render a city from a third-person view.

Should be interesting, though. There are reveals next month from magazines such as Nintendo Power, and something else that I forget.

[Stevorooni]

I'm calling it

Top down perspective, but people, cars and buildings will be 3D.

Then when you're inside buildings it'll switch to 3rd person.

Touch screen mini games for things like hot wiring cars

[punkgorilla]

Having mini games every time you steal a car seem a little excessive. Then again GTA does love its mini games and everyone loves cramming as mini games as possible on DS so it wouldn't surprise me.

[Hellion_7]

Possible first details! (http://www.kotaku.com.au/games/2008/09/19/first_grand_theft_auto_chinatown_wars_details.html )
The new issue of Nintendo Power contains first official details on Rockstar Games' youth corrupting Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, reported to be a cel-shaded, M-rated 3D journey through Liberty City with an isometric view. According to NeoGAF poster botticus, Chinatown Wars looks to adopt GTA IV's use of a cell phone for portions of the game's UI, with a PDA controlling your "email, contacts, map, music player, GPS, [and] stat-tracking." Those stats can be uploaded via Wi-Fi to the Rockstar Social Club, supposedly, to keep obsessive-compulsive track of your in-game progress.

Gameplay-wise, Chinatown Wars will feature D-pad aiming and auto targeting via the R button, as well as "tasteful" mini-games — no lap dances? The arsenal is said to include a flamethrower and chain gun, and the wanted system looks to be modified to maybe shun GTA IV's "out of sight, out of mind" mechanic for one that requires the player to "disable police cars any way possible."

- 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 autosteer
- 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 probems 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-optimised source code (hey, the people like the info, right?)
- no details yet on multiplayer/Wi-Fi features

Unfortunately, we don't have the new November issue of Nintendo Power on hand to verify these details, nor do we have scans of the magazine at the ready (because that's naughty), so we should consider this rumour for now. We'll be checking in with Rockstar to see if this is all legit while we wait with breathless anticipation for our copy of NIntendo Power to show up.

[Stevorooni]

I wonder what it means exactly by 'isometric' camera angle... because sticking to a purely isometric view would be a bitch when driving around corners. Maybe it means the camera is stuck at a particular height and angle from the player but it rotates around as needed

[etnlIcarus]

But for a massive world being dynamically rendered, not a chance in hell, the hardware just isn't up to it. If it was, we'd be swimming in fantastic 3D games like the PSP has instead of SNES ports. I'd just like to point out that Crazy Taxi on the GBA was pretty impressive, considering those hardware constraints.

[Space_Monkey]

Ha!

I was just thinking how cel shading is the logical way forward for GTA on handheld.

Looking forward to see how it looks.

[Aci6]

Exclusive to Nintendo DS, a GTA IV spin-off with WiFi support and out in our Summer.


Interested?

I am.

Interested?
Hell yeah.
Bet it will be cell-shaded, by any chance is there a link?

~A~

[RunningMild]

I think by isometric, it means that the camera will still be stuck behind the player, but raised and zoomed out. Therefore, it's halfway between top-down and behind-the-player, and tilted to the ground just enough to hide the terrible fogging. ;)

Isometric doesn't mean he has to walk diagonally all the time. :P

[Stevorooni]

I think by isometric, it means that the camera will still be stuck behind the player, but raised and zoomed out. Therefore, it's halfway between top-down and behind-the-player, and tilted to the ground just enough to hide the terrible fogging. ;)



Some magazine scans of screenshots have popped up on some websites that I'm not going to link to because scanning magazines and putting them on the internet is illegal, but what you've said is pretty much exactly what it looks like.

3D world, almost overhead view but the camera is pulled back slightly to add a little perspective. It's the best we could have hoped for on the DS and I quite like the look.

[Nic Xtreme]

Yeah, remember the "3D mode" in GTA1/2? It looks like that. Top-down view with a touch of angle to add some depth to everything ~ not too impressive, really, but as good as it is going to get on the DS. I'd like to see it all in motion, however, I have the feeling it won't look as bad.

EDIT: Oooooh I saw some more screens, and the game does look rather good! The first few I saw weren't too crash hot, but these ones look nice! (Night time shots, driving shots) Search on GoNintendo guys, the second batch! The only reason I'm not putting them here is because Stevo is scary <_<

[Kefka]

Ooh, I'm quite liking the second batch of pics... which if you were to combine http://www.nintendoeverything.com/ and ?p=3857 into single URL, you may just find.

The black lines are a bit too thick in some places for my tastes... a bit heavy on the cell shading, but if it keeps the game performing better, I'm not complaining. Much.

Am still sceptical, but it may turn out to be a solid title.


I read that the radio stations are there, but replaced with what is essentially midi stuff. Pretty predictable, really - the stations are great and everyone loves the talkback, but in the end, they take up a lot of space and would be on top of my list of things to cut in favour of more actual game.

[Stevorooni]

Everything looks like it's made out of paper! GTA: Papercraft

Also I guess seeing a sign leading to "Dukes" means that it's based on the GTA4 Liberty City and not the GTA3 version, which is good

[RunningMild]

It looks like GTA: Days of Ruin! :D

Also, did I see a minigame where you have to hide a gun in the dumpster by covering it up with rubbish? :P

[Conky]

This looks like it could be good.

When do we see it in motion?

[Nic Xtreme]

Whio knows, but you'd only buy it if it were "GTA: Daigasso edition" AMIRITE

[RunningMild]

Funny how people have wanted a new top-down GTA for a while, and now they're actually making one!

[Kefka]

Also, did I see a minigame where you have to hide a gun in the dumpster by covering it up with rubbish? :P

I thought it was the opposite - you could lift either bag of garbage for a chance to find an exciting prize. Like some kind of skeezy carnival game.

[drzaius]

the last top down GTA GBA game was pretty shit.

[Kefka]

I've moved from sceptical to cautiously optimistic on my scale of jaded game expectations, after reading these scans (http://www.rockstarwatch.net/news/575/Nintendo-Power-November-Issue-Scans-Twelve-New-Chinatown-Wars-Screens/)...

I forget what kind of reputation Nintendo Power has when it comes to accurate reporting though - are they the kind of mag to claim a game craps rainbows when really it just craps crap?

[Hellion_7]

And I've moved from cautiously optimistic to skeptical regarding the game's release down under, as it's now come to light that you can buy and sell drugs (http://www.aeropause.com/2008/09/read-a-long-with-nintendo-power-234-november-2008/) in the game.

I can hear Michael Atkinson laughing right now. :(

[Stevorooni]

I guess it's lucky the DS is region free!

[Kefka]

And I've moved from cautiously optimistic to skeptical regarding the game's release down under, as it's now come to light that you can buy and sell drugs (http://www.aeropause.com/2008/09/read-a-long-with-nintendo-power-234-november-2008/) in the game.

Actually, I'm sort of hoping it DOES get banned here - or at least cause some controversy. For a few reasons:

1) It's GTA. That's what they do.
2) It would help to shake the DS's kiddy image a little.
3) I import all my DS games anyhow.

That said, it wouldn't help sales, which in turn doesn't help the chances of sequels etc if it turns out to be a great game...

[RunningMild]

And I've moved from cautiously optimistic to skeptical regarding the game's release down under, as it's now come to light that you can buy and sell drugs (http://www.aeropause.com/2008/09/read-a-long-with-nintendo-power-234-november-2008/) in the game.

I can hear Michael Atkinson laughing right now. :(

It won't make a difference, as long as Rockstar don't wuss out like Bethesda and censor every version of the game. DS is region free after all. :p

[mayo]

2) It would help to shake the DS's kiddy image a little.


DS has a kiddy image?

[Kefka]

DS has a kiddy image?

Yes. It does.

[RunningMild]

They have? By "people" do you mean "I"? :P

No, other people have mentioned it. I didn't really care one way or the other.

[Rambo]

Have you seen the imagine series mayo?

Ha, we had the preorder box for Imagine Teacher a while back, I decided to read it and one of the captions says;

"Touch the boy to discipline him"

I lolled.

[mayo]

Have you seen the imagine series mayo?

Ha, we had the preorder box for Imagine Teacher a while back, I decided to read it and one of the captions says;

"Touch the boy to discipline him"

I lolled.

There are just as many brain train/maths/sudoku clones as there are ubisoft shovelware kids games... Yet I don't see the DS as having an 'educational' image.

If the DS had a negative 'kiddy' image it wouldn't be top of the hardware food chain.

[Aci6]

Yes. It does.

Its not as bad as it was with the introduction of some various adult or teen games.
Metroid was good at showing it could be mature and approach that genre of gamer.
Resident Evil also had some assistance in it as well as Dementia.
While the last two were classified as 'not as good as they could have been' they still have that mature content to prove to people the hand-held isn't just about kid games.

~A~

[Shorty]

If the DS had a negative 'kiddy' image it wouldn't be top of the hardware food chain.

Depends on who the image is supposedly with. Perhaps the people it has the "kiddy" image with aren't the majority of its buyers or target audience.

[mayo]

Depends on who the image is supposedly with. Perhaps the people it has the "kiddy" image with aren't the majority of its buyers or target audience.

Well I guess those people can stick to watching UMDs on their PSPs >_>

[Nic Xtreme]

^ Imagine Teacher actually pulled in a decent review from IGN!

[Dukotoja]

are you guys forgetting all the hype about how anyone can play and the adds of middle aged men waiting for the train playing their DS, and all the adds with the mums playing brain training?

If anything I think the target audience and hence the projected theme for the DS has been for adults.

Plus with pokemon and touch screen they get the kids for free, its the adults they have to work for.

[Kefka]

There's no denying that the DS has a kiddy image - the large majority of games are marketed towards younger audiences, and most of the people you see playing a DS out and about in most cities (at least in Australia) are young. For the purpose of this discussion I'll call young "under 17".

These kinds of things are what gives the DS a kiddy image. The image has lifted slightly since there are just a lot of great games out there, mature themes or not, and a few more titles not aimed at younger markets. The edutainment (including all kinds of training games) surge has also broadened the image to include a niche of casual/adult gamers.

What I didn't say was that the DS had a negative kiddy image. I love my DS and so do plenty of people I know in their 20s and 30s. If you take offence at the fact that the DS has a kiddy image, that's your problem. I'm happy to chase the gameplay regardless. :P


Anyhow, as predicted, the drug selling minigame in GTA:CW has caused media drama... This time I'm inclined to lean towards moderation - Making the minigame so "explicit" does seem like a deliberate bit of media baiting for the sake of free press - a more subtle minigame could have been just as mature without causing such outrage.

I certainly wouldn't consider anyone who wants the game a lot more because it lets you sell drugs to be a mature gamer.

[mayo]

What I didn't say was that the DS had a negative kiddy image. I love my DS and so do plenty of people I know in their 20s and 30s. If you take offence at the fact that the DS has a kiddy image, that's your problem. I'm happy to chase the gameplay regardless. :P

When someone labels anything as being 'kiddy' it's often with negative intent, as if to insult the maturity of the user base.
I don't take offence to your view of the DS having that image, but find it pretty funny that you claim it as being 'fact'. I only see the DS as being a handheld console with no image whatsoever, and I'm guessing the majority of the general public would too.
I don't buy into the whole ipod fashion style bullshit that comes with gadgets sometimes, so I guess this whole issue has no relevance to me.
Meh, whatever.

On topic, the game is looking pretty decent. Will be good to see it in motion.

[Lazlow]

Just had a brief skim of the feature in the recent EDGE, and I can safely say I expect this game to be banned, as part of the game has you actively dealing drugs such as Weed, Heroin, Cocaine, Ecstasy and Acid.

[Natrak]

They could get away with it, but only if the OFLC's issue with real world drugs in gaming is use.

[Lazlow]

There is that perception that the DS is a child specific platform however.

That and we've had a game about spray painting banned.

[Conky]

But killing is A-OK.

Lets not even bother discussing this.

[Shorty]

I think about the most we can hope for is that there's a sudden outbreak of common sense that lasts until the game is released. And even then I'd snap it up quick because there's every chance they'll just ban it post-release like Manhunt.

[Lazlow]

But killing is A-OK.

Lets not even bother discussing this.


Well I was pretty astonished at the level of gore in Fallout 3, after the whole morphine debacle.

[AranchineD]

Don't forget about Dead Space, that got through fine even though the whole point of the game is to dismember other creatures and limbs like to fly everywhere quite often.

Although maybe these games got through fine because you don't kill humans,or in the case of Fallout 3, it's not the only thing you kill. I agree with whoever said just replace all the humans in games with aliens who look exactly like humans, the game would get through fine no matter what the hell is in them.

[RunningMild]

I think about the most we can hope for is that there's a sudden outbreak of common sense that lasts until the game is released. And even then I'd snap it up quick because there's every chance they'll just ban it post-release like Manhunt.

Or, you could just import the uncut US version and not give a stuff about whatever controversy is surrounding the Oz release of a region free game. :p

[TrinityJayOne]

Is there any actual video of this yet?

[/backslash]

Is there any actual video of this yet?
Not yet, I've youtubed it but people have mainly put the leaked screenshots together and tied it with a song. Another used Driver on GBA to try and fool people

[Newton]

I am fairly excited about this game.

Liking the cel-shading. Without having read the scans, any word on the main character?

[Stevorooni]

Triad guy has to deliver sacred sword to somewhere, family honour etc

[Newton]

Sounds like the plot of Election, but GTA. Pretty cool.

[Space_Monkey]

Honour... in hat form?

[Twisted Conspiracy]

It will certainly be interesting to find out how this turns out...

[Stevorooni]

I was reading somewhere the other day that the version of Liberty City in this game will be the same as GTA4 except it won't have Alderney. Guess they didn't have enough space but I wonder how they will explain away the missing island, will there still be bridges but they're just blocked?

It's also meant to have a big focus on dealing drugs to make money, I wonder if it will even make it to Australia... :(

[Twisted Conspiracy]

A banned DS game? That'd be a first wouldn't it...

[RunningMild]

A banned DS game? That'd be a first wouldn't it...

All of a sudden, the DS would seem cool to casual gamers. :p

[Twisted Conspiracy]

All of a sudden, the DS would seem cool to casual gamers. :p

Yeah, too right...

[TrinityJayOne]

Maybe that's Nintendo's plan all along? Dump some "screenshots" of a suprisingly mature DS game, make a few "gameplay" movies, then BAM! "Oh sorry guys, the game got RC'd in every territory, ever. THAT'S HOW HARDCORE WE ARE!!!1!" :P

[Twisted Conspiracy]

Lol, I can see it now...

[Stevorooni]

Boxart

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/2589/gtachinatownwarsboxartom5.jpg

[Kefka]

Looks shiny

[/backslash]

Has anyone seen the screenshots for this? (ie the ones that weren't simply scanned from a magazine). I browsed the latest issue of EDGE yesterday which has a gold-ish cover showing GTA Chinatown and they've got about 20-30 new screenshots

[RunningMild]

Has anyone seen the screenshots for this? (ie the ones that weren't simply scanned from a magazine). I browsed the latest issue of EDGE yesterday which has a gold-ish cover showing GTA Chinatown and they've got about 20-30 new screenshots

...

...

Well? Are they good or not? Do they show off any new gameplay elements or anything else noteworthy?

[/backslash]

...

...

Well? Are they good or not? Do they show off any new gameplay elements or anything else noteworthy?
They're quite good but I can't remember anything except from the cutscene and car gameplay as I didn't sit down and read through it. Wasn't mindblowing though, I think we have to wait to see some footage

[PrattP]

It's coming on the 20th March, for us here in Oz.

[Gameboffin]

Just had a quick look on the Rockstar FTP but alas no pics have been uploaded. The game will definitely have something to do with Chinatown, and maybe some wars or something...*imagine I posted cool pics*

[VanAce]

Release date has been set. March 20.

[PrattP]

It's coming on the 20th March, for us here in Oz.

Release date has been set. March 20.

Yep. :p

[St@ckboy]

Pretty excited for this, first game since Phantom Hourglass that I will buy for my DS.

[Twisted Conspiracy]

I can't wait, however sceptical I may be...

[Kefka]

http://www.dsfanboy.com/2009/01/09/chinatown-wars-receives-18-rating-in-uk/

Hopefully it wont get refused classification here!
But hell, like it matters - I'll be importing it anyhow.

[Twisted Conspiracy]

http://www.dsfanboy.com/2009/01/09/chinatown-wars-receives-18-rating-in-uk/

Hopefully it wont get refused classification here!
But hell, like it matters - I'll be importing it anyhow.

Like they'd get away with keeping it out of the country, it'll find a way in...

the BBFC's listing for the game reveals that the title contains 168 minutes of in-game cut-scenes. Wow!
Holy shit...

[Kefka]

I'm not sure what to make about the in game cut scene stat - the screenshots ive seen hint that the cutscenes may be comic book style - a series of unanimated cells, or basically animated ones...

Of course, if done right this can still look cool - Max Payne had some nice examples iirc...

[RunningMild]

http://www.dsfanboy.com/photos/grand-theft-auto-chinatown-wars/1112823/

Looks like this game will never be released in Australia. May I reiterate just how much I love the fact that the DS is region free? :D

[Shorty]

F.E.A.R. 2 got reclassified and passed without cuts, so a sudden outbreak of common sense is at least possible.

[Stevorooni]

I'm sure it'll be fine after the following changes

Heroin = Hero juice
Coke = Cola
Ecstasy = Hugs and Kisses
Acid = Puppy Power
Weed = Healthy Vegetables
Downers = Say No to Drugs Kids

[RunningMild]

F.E.A.R. 2 got reclassified and passed without cuts, so a sudden outbreak of common sense is at least possible.

No way man. F.E.A.R. 2 was an issue with violence, which the OFLC has generally eased up on in recent years.

Fallout 3 got banned because it showed the guy shooting up morphein, so they had to change the real-world drug names and remove the animation. Here we have a screenshot of Chinatown Wars that shows not only real-world drug names, but pictures of the actual drugs. There is absolutely no way this is getting past OFLC. They'll either have to change the names and pictures to something stupid and nonsensical (maybe he'll become a candy seller? Or perhaps the pictures will be replaced with white squares with words that say 'Unspecified object that people wanna pay big bucks for A', 'Unspecified object that people wanna pay big bucks for B', etc.), or they'll cut the game entirely (which is stupid because it's probably a great way to make money for guns and clothes and stuff- actually, that 'reward' element to drug dealing is what will piss them off the most).

Shorty, my advice to you is just give up hope of an uncut Australian release now, because you'll only be hurting yourself. Go to Play-Asia, find the US game, and pre-order it/bookmark the page.

[Shorty]

Scarface: The World is Yours had you buying and selling cocaine on the streets of Miami as a vital game mechanic and it got passed with an MA rating.

[AranchineD]

I haven't been able to watch that video yet, but does the game actually include taking the drugs, or just trading with them? Because it's really only the first that the Classification Board has a problem with.

[Space_Monkey]

With a franchise that prints money like GTA I think it would be unlikely for rockstar to neglect the entire Australian market.

I'd say it will get through cut.

Thats said I won't be buying it - importing yay!

[Shorty]

Seems like a pretty important feature to be cut, seeing as how it's going to help the player earn money and all...

[Kefka]

Yeah, thank god for region free! I'll be importing this... no neutering, and will get it quicker and probably cheaper... why wouldn't you?

[Shorty]

Only if the release date gap is large enough to accomodate the delivery time (2 weeks delivery for a game that's coming out here a week later doesn't make sense) and if the price difference plus delivery makes it worthwhile (a $5 saving isn't exactly worth the fuss and bother). Otherwise, it's actually quicker and easier to buy local, especially now that the exchange rate isn't as favourable as it used to be.

And then there's the fact that I'm not automatically assuming the game will be banned or gimped when it comes out here. As far as we know, it hasn't even been submitted for classification yet.

[Kefka]

There's usually a fairly decent gap between US and AU dates - not so much between UK and AU maybe, but if I'm importing I don't mind US versions...

Not sure what fuss and bother you're referring to - you order online in as much time as it would take you to get dressed to go buy it in the shops, and pick it up from your letterbox. Plus you save some money. :P I'm up for that ;) But yeah, granted it isn't as much of a saving as it once was...

[RunningMild]

(2 weeks delivery for a game that's coming out here a week later doesn't make sense)

Who said it had to be 2 weeks delivery? ;)

[Shorty]

As an example. Online stores offer quicker shipping methods but they cost more, which eats into your "saving".

[RunningMild]

Looks like the game has been classified MA15+.

I'm still getting the US one, just in case they cut some things before submitting it...

[AranchineD]

They're not going to cut anything. It's not going to be cheaper. You're not going to get it before anyone else here.

[Shorty]

They're not going to cut anything. It's not going to be cheaper. You're not going to get it before anyone else here.

He's right. (http://www.kotaku.com.au/games/2009/01/gta_chinatown_wars_rated_ma15_in_australia.html#mo re) :cool:

[Stevorooni]

Yay it's making it out here, now I can look forward to this properly rather than worry about it being gimped.

[AranchineD]

http://www.ebgames.com.au/images/webmail/20090115/webmail_au_ds.jpg

SPOILER: You don't start the game with the ability to purchase weapons!

[Stevorooni]

So I assume there'll be a cheat code to unlock that crap, a cheat code that will be on the internet within 1.4 seconds of release.

[AranchineD]

Pretty much.

[RunningMild]

He's right. (http://www.kotaku.com.au/games/2009/01/gta_chinatown_wars_rated_ma15_in_australia.html#mo re) :cool:

Really? They said nothing was cut from GTAIV and then one week before release, after all the pre-orders were in, Rockstar came out and said 'oh btw, we cut a few things like this and this and this'.

Still importing.

[Stevorooni]

Really? They said nothing was cut from GTAIV and then one week before release, after all the pre-orders were in, Rockstar came out and said 'oh btw, we cut a few things like this and this and this'.

Still importing.

But then it seems that Rockstar didn't need to bother doing that because the PC version made it through unscathed so maybe they realised they wouldn't have to bother cutting anything for the DS version.

Besides how bad could hooker sex be on the DS from the far back camera viewpoint, you'd have a wobbling pixelated car. Unless they make it a touch screen mini game.

[AranchineD]

Really? They said nothing was cut from GTAIV and then one week before release, after all the pre-orders were in, Rockstar came out and said 'oh btw, we cut a few things like this and this and this'.

Still importing.

Voluntary censorship for the MA15+ rating, and all that was slightly visually censored, not even cut, was one minor activity with a hooker in your car that you don't even have to encounter in the game and doesn't offer you any real gameplay benefit. That wasn't even though it wasn't needed though as that was left in the PC version anyway, as Stevo said.

(Also, for the record the rumours about GTAIV being "censored" in Australia were appearing months before its release, far from one week, as you'd like to put it)

[Kefka]

Besides how bad could hooker sex be on the DS from the far back camera viewpoint, you'd have a wobbling pixelated car. Unless they make it a touch screen mini game.

I'd play that :D

[Shorty]

Really? They said nothing was cut from GTAIV and then one week before release, after all the pre-orders were in, Rockstar came out and said 'oh btw, we cut a few things like this and this and this'.

Still importing.

Rockstar didn't have to cut anything from GTA IV because they submitted a different version to begin with, whereas with Chinatown Wars they specifically said that this version is the same as the rest of the world.

[Lex]

Voluntary censorship for the MA15+ rating, and all that was slightly visually censored, not even cut, was one minor activity with a hooker in your car that you don't even have to encounter in the game and doesn't offer you any real gameplay benefit.

I'm pretty sure there's also more blood.

[AranchineD]

I'm pretty sure there's also more blood.

Yeah, I heard something about that too, but the appearance of blood still wasn't completely removed from the game.

[RunningMild]

Voluntary censorship for the MA15+ rating, and all that was slightly visually censored, not even cut, was one minor activity with a hooker in your car that you don't even have to encounter in the game and doesn't offer you any real gameplay benefit. That wasn't even though it wasn't needed though as that was left in the PC version anyway, as Stevo said.

One minor activity with the hooker? AFAIK, EVERY act involving sex was edited. Unless you're telling me that the US version also has a scene where you go into a girl's house and she's screaming 'Yes! Tell me more! You're so interesting!' etc.

Yes it's not an important part of the game but it's still stupid.

[Lex]

One minor activity with the hooker? AFAIK, EVERY act involving sex was edited. Unless you're telling me that the US version also has a scene where you go into a girl's house and she's screaming 'Yes! Tell me more! You're so interesting!' etc.



I have the unredited edish, has the same scene. The only differences are more prostitute options and a bit more blood, really wasn't worth importing.

[Stevorooni]

Some (http://palgn.com.au/article.php?id=13557&sid=09a90e66e0ba9e93a870486e8a15c976) previews (http://au.ds.ign.com/articles/946/946292p1.html) have popped up.

Game is sounding awesome, I love the art style and I can't wait! New screenshots too, I'd like to see some videos of it in action though.

[Jickle]

Unless you're telling me that the US version also has a scene where you go into a girl's house and she's screaming 'Yes! Tell me more! You're so interesting!' etc.

That was all intentional, it was Rockstar poking fun at themselves over the Hot Coffee scandal. Plus it was hilarious- real sex noises wouldn't have been nearly as entertaining.

[Kefka]

Haven't read the previews, but I expect they mention the stuff in this DS Fanboy (http://www.dsfanboy.com/2009/01/22/licensed-music-multiplayer-modes-in-chinatown-wars/) post...

Some details:
* Need to wreck police cars to lower wanted level
* 24-hour day/night cycle
* Licensed music, minus the vocals
* Multiplayer and online leaderboards

It's sounding pretty epic - I'll have to wait until reviews/I play it, but I'm a lot more excited than I was when it was announced... Was quite sceptical then.


Lol, gotta love this line from the PALGN preview...
"Furthermore, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is the first handheld game to have connectivity to the Internet, as you’ll be able to upload your stats to the Rockstar Social Club at any wireless hotspot."

Erm... whut?

[RunningMild]

* Need to wreck police cars to lower wanted level


I don't get it. I thought wrecking cop cars increased your wanted level!

[Stevorooni]

Lol, gotta love this line from the PALGN preview...
"Furthermore, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is the first handheld game to have connectivity to the Internet, as you’ll be able to upload your stats to the Rockstar Social Club at any wireless hotspot."

Erm... whut?


They probably mean "First GTA handheld game to have connectivity to the Internet"

[Kefka]

I don't get it. I thought wrecking cop cars increased your wanted level!

Yeah good point... I expect there's got to be some detail we're missing, otherwise I can't see how it would be possible to get over 1 star wanted rating!

They probably mean "First GTA handheld game to have connectivity to the Internet"

They must do... Didn't the PSP ones have any kind of online component?

[Jickle]

I don't get it. I thought wrecking cop cars increased your wanted level!

From what I understand, you have to wreck the cars without actually killing the cops.

[Stevorooni]

They must do... Didn't the PSP ones have any kind of online component?


Nope, only local multiplayer

[Space_Monkey]

Put down a pre-order today.

Willing to cancel it and use the money for something else if I hear there's cuts.

[RunningMild]

They must do... Didn't the PSP ones have any kind of online component?

It's the PSP. What do you think? :p

[Stevorooni]

Trailer (http://kotaku.com/5160714/the-official-gta-chinatown-wars-trailer)

There's some little gameplay snippets in there but you'll have to squint.

[Ingram]

I have fond memories of GTA1/2/London when I was a kid. I remember I use to steal the bus and drive around doing the bus route. Trying to drive safely, and making sure I stop at the bus stops to pick up and drop off passengers. It was an odd way to play the game, but I was a kid, so meh!

[Nic Xtreme]

Here's a short, hard-to-see Gameplay trailer - though this could just be an abridged version of the other one? I don't know <_<

http://gonintendo.com/?p=73997

[Stevorooni]

That video is certainly better although I hope you don't have to do the touchscreen mini game EVERY time you steal a car. Actually I'd say it's only when you steal a parked car, if you just rip someone out of a car at the traffic lights it's already running so you don't have to hotwire it!

[Nic Xtreme]

I'm surprised by how smooth it's all looking. Considering how much I don't like the new GTAs, and how much I like 1 & 2, this is looking like a potential purchase.

[Ingram]

The 2D ones definitely had a certain charm about them. Hopefully the DS version can hold a candle to them. The amount of possibilities with the touch screen mini-games is certainly promising.

[Kefka]

I too was impressed about how smooth it looks - frame rate seems solid, and the cell shading / slightly skewed perspective / lighting effects all make it look pretty cool.

It's definitely looking like it's worth a purchase. When is it released in US and AU?
If there's more than a fortnight's difference I might just import it...

[Ingram]

GTA: Chinatown Wars: The Game Mature DS Owners Have Been Waiting For!


Q&A With Gordon Hall


Rebuilding the world of Liberty City from GTA IV, from the ground up, in 3D for the DS is rather ambitious. Why was this decision made and how hard was this to pull off?

Gordon Hall: Well, we only live once, and after our experience with the 'Stories' games, we were determined to continue to push the envelope of received wisdom of what is possible on a restrictive platform. This made it a simple choice, make a world-beater or don't bother making anything. Chinatown Wars was conceived as an exercise in stunning an audience that was used to simple games. We believe that a huge percentage of mature DS gamers have been starved of the depth that console gaming offers and set out to make the experience that they deserve.

Clearly this was not an easy task; we had more than fifty guys working on the game for the better part of two years! When we embarked on the project, the intention was to faithfully recreate the entire world of Liberty City from GTA IV in 3D on the DS. As much as Alderney might have made the game's total real estate bigger, in the end, focusing all of our attention on the city itself proved to be right… Even without one of the landmasses it was clear that the game was going to be unbelievably huge – and that just felt right to us, because the first GTA on a DS had to be something truly jaw-dropping.

The amount of coding necessary to make the game work was obviously going to be correspondingly massive, more than 900,000 lines in fact. However, it's not the amount of code that makes a great gaming experience, but the way it's deployed, and in this project there's absolutely no bloat.

For the coding team, the challenge was to make the world live and to trim every ounce of fat from the game. It's a superhuman feat of optimization. As a tiny example, follow a pedestrian around for a few minutes: he'll follow a daily routine, going to the corner store for a newspaper and a scratch card, maybe stopping to buy a hotdog before going back to pick up his car and drive home, or back to the office. It's detailing like this that makes the world live.

At the end of the day though, the biggest restriction we had to contend with was home made. Even before we wrote one line of code we had laid in stone that the game MUST run at 30 frames per second. For the type of action we were aiming for I honestly thought that I was setting my guys up for a near impossible test. Sure enough, many times through the dev cycle, we dropped to 20 or 15fps. At these times you would hear the odd murmur of 'we can't throw that much around screen,' or 'we need fewer attackers on this mission' - we never once backed down or compromised though.

What we did do many, many times is go over the code, hand optimising every line we could. The amount of raw machine code in this game is just unheard of nowadays. We were busy throwing away page after page of traditional code in favour of the machine's raw assembly language. Sure, this massively added to the development schedule of this project, but at the same time it created a game that I feel could not have been created anywhere else on the planet. Sam (Houser, President of Rockstar Games) had given me the remit of creating a DS game that would rival Nintendo's own best offerings, and he wasn't about to let any ticking clocks get in the way of our success.


How closely did you work with Rockstar North on the project? How much will we recognize right away from our tour of Liberty City in GTA IV?

Hall: We always work closely with Rockstar North whenever we have worked on GTA and this game has been no exception! Players will see this for themselves when they visit our Liberty City.


When a lot of people saw the first screenshots of this game, many were thinking that this was another 'top-down' GTA akin to GTA 1 and 2. While we see now that the world is truly 3D, can you elaborate more on why the camera is in the air?

Hall: When I was a wee kid, Father Christmas brought me a cops and robbers slot car set. I remember vividly the times I would play with it at night, in my darkened bedroom. All the cars had working headlights, and the cops had flashing lights on the roofs. From my bed it just looked so amazing, living, really vital and cool - that image stuck with me. So, when Sam and I discussed putting a huge team behind building an epic DS GTA game, this image came back to me. The overhead camera would enable us to spend the polygon budget the DS has on cool game play visuals, not far away cityscapes, and we could optimize geometry for viewing from the high angle, but in no way was this the soft option. A lot of the things we had applied to the Stories games had to be rethought: the way the vehicles behaved, the way the player controlled, how intelligently the camera functioned… even the basic scripting had to be re-evaluated to make the new perspective work with all of the action that will be happening on-screen at once.

But it was indisputably the right decision. When you play the game it's like looking into a tiny, yet incredibly massive and perfectly formed world. The player is a god, and the entire world is theirs for the taking. The DS was made for this game – playing it took me back to being a kid again, with all of that wonder re-lived.


The DS isn't the most powerful system out there, and GTA is one of the most ambitious game designs on the market. Were there any aspects to the console game that the DS and its limited cartridge medium just couldn't handle?

Hall: There was nothing that it couldn't handle, but the limitations did change the way we looked at things. For example, we could have spoken audio, but it didn't seem right for the DS. Not so much because of the cartridge space, but more so the fact you will be playing this game on public transport and the speakers aren't the loudest on the DS. Instead we went for an approach more akin to that of a graphic novel. This simple animated comic-book style allowed the brilliantly witty dialogue to speak for itself as we still have the same talent behind the writing that we've had for all of our games.


What more can you tell us about making use of the touch screen in this game? We've seen the PDA interface a bit already, but what was the thinking behind using this type of device as far as the emails and GPS go? How about the other touch screen elements?

Hall: The wireless PDA seemed like a natural fit - the player (and Huang) would need a device to keep track of everything, and the touch screen allowed us to make something really slick and useable that brought all of the various menus and a lot of the HUD together. Receiving a deal tip-off email, then clicking the hotlink that takes you to the GPS and plots a route to specific locations feels right, and is the sort of thing you'd expect to get on a modern wireless device. The other touch screen elements came from wanting to show more detail in the world than we could get from the standard camera. Even in a big console title, generally when the character is doing something, you just see their back while they play an animation. It seemed much nicer to let the player get in really close, and let them perform the task themselves. This let us makes sure that all touch screen elements were always fun and contextual, and never took away from the core GTA experience. No one ever wanted to have a virtual steering wheel on the bottom screen or anything of that sort, this had to feel instantly familiar to anyone who's ever played GTA before.


Were there any design ideas so crazy and beyond the scope of the Nintendo DS that you just couldn't get it in?

Hall: To be blunt, no. The game was designed to be a world-beating DS game in its own right, not a port of GTA IV, so all the design ideas were tailored from their inception for the platform; and besides, Rockstar Leeds has never been dictated to by the hardware. When we come up with a great idea we work out how it can be done, not if it can be done. Some of the missions (Slaying with Fire - where you throw molotovs onto Happiness Island from a helicopter) seemed like they might cause problems, but during the implementation we always found a way to get them in. GTA: Chinatown Wars should be beyond the scope of the Nintendo DS – but here it is!


Source: http://au.ds.ign.com/articles/957/957177p2.html

o443kgaHzpk

[RunningMild]

If only all developers approached the DS in the way that Rockstar did. :p

Now I have no doubt that this will be handheld GOTY. Bring it on!

[Nic Xtreme]

If only all developers approached the DS in the way that Rockstar did. :p

Now I have no doubt that this will be handheld GOTY. Bring it on!

:mad: Don't you forget that Perfect Prosecutor and Rhythm Heaven are coming out this year!

...

:mad:

[TrinityJayOne]

Judging by that video, I may just be eating my hat come March 17th.

[Kefka]

<the Q&A and trailer>

Thanks for that, it's looking more and more awesome every moment.
Cant wait!

[RunningMild]

:mad: Don't you forget that Perfect Prosecutor and Rhythm Heaven are coming out this year!

...

:mad:

This'll be better. :p

[PrattP]

This is looking quite awesome! ^__^

Will be awesome to give it a go soon.

[Kefka]

This'll be better. :p

As incomparable as those games are in a sense of which is "better", GTA will definitely have wider appeal and receive more mainstream attention, putting it much higher up the ladder for GotY comps.

[Ingram]

Cars, Combat, and Missions in Chinatown Wars


How would you compare the action in Chinatown Wars vs. GTA 1 and 2? What about GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas? And GTA IV?
With Chinatown Wars we wanted to bring something very new to the GTA series, whilst being proudly aware of its lineage. The early top down games were all about delivering concentrated arcade action and the new perspective given to the series after III clearly gave a literal three-dimensionality to the games complemented by increased narrative and gameplay depth. With GTA IV, we had this massively re-imagined world of Liberty City and the way we interacted with its inhabitants via modern technology. Chinatown Wars takes aspects of all of the various iterations of the series and blends it with the fresh, exciting gameplay possibilities that the DS platform offers.

Since Chinatown Wars was conceived as a broadly more arcade-feeling game, deciding to ramp up the mayhem to the levels of I and II - and beyond - was a no-brainer. In fact most of the early development was spent making bigger and bigger explosions, throwing cars and peds around and generally seeing how far we could push the action. Unquestionably this paid off - CTW is wildly kinetic - something that no screenshot can ever do justice to.

http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/958/958668/grand-theft-auto-chinatown-wars-20090303101755061_640w.jpghttp://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/958/958668/grand-theft-auto-chinatown-wars-20090303101757124_640w.jpg

Can you talk a little bit more about the rampage missions in GTA: Chinatown Wars?
We were enormously excited to bring the rampages back, since they're a great thing for a handheld GTA - little slices of instant manic action. But at the same time, we recognised that they'd been in a lot of GTA games, and we needed to change the formula a little to keep them fresh and interesting to players. When they trigger a rampage, the player has 90 seconds to cause as much damage as possible. You're not restricted to using just one gun any more, but you're given a weapon and you'll earn bonuses for using it. We've also put bonus multipliers in to reward quick action.

All of the side missions are now scored in medals - you get a bronze for scraping past the target score, silver for doing better, and gold for blowing it out of the water - and the rampages feed into this too. You only need to get bronze to count as having passed a rampage, but the gold medal scores are there for bragging rights.

http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/958/958668/grand-theft-auto-chinatown-wars-20090303101758717_640w.jpghttp://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/958/958668/grand-theft-auto-chinatown-wars-20090303101800264_640w.jpg

What kind of thinking went into making all of the weapons in the game? Was there anything that was and wasn't going to work on the DS? What can you tell us about the combat?
Fun, fun, fun. We wanted massive explosions and lots of gratifying feedback happening in front of you, it's great to be able to destroy lots of stuff onscreen! Again, it's all in the details, peds on fire need to look right, they are thrown backwards when shot or affected by explosions. One cool thing I can think of that came out of this was when a ped was being thrown back by an explosion and I then shot them with a shot gun that totally changed their direction they were flying. The chain saw is most excellent as well, you get to see guts flying everywhere! The range of weapons was defined quite early in terms of their iconic status and gameplay value. For instance, a fire extinguisher is of limited use, but a flamethrower - untold fun.

Once we had a core range of weapons, they had to be balanced perfectly - nothing ruins a game quicker than an over-powerful weapon taking all the challenge out of it. We also introduced thrown weapons as a secondary attack, so you can be in the middle of a gun fight and throw a molotov using the touch screen without breaking the action to switch away from your gun. We think it works really well. It ended up being this little crazy world of visceral madness and mayhem - fantastic.

http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/958/958668/grand-theft-auto-chinatown-wars-20090303101801983_640w.jpghttp://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/958/958668/grand-theft-auto-chinatown-wars-20090303101803639_640w.jpg

There seem to be a lot of cars and vehicles in the game, and they seem to all handle a bit differently along with their own damage modelling. How hard was this to pull off?
Vehicle variety has always been at the heart of the GTA experience. There are over 100 different vehicles in the game - most of which have multiple paintjobs; again, this was an early decision - we wanted all the aspects of the world to be as varied as possible and seeing carbon copies of cars rolling down the street was simply unacceptable. GTA fans would expect every vehicle to handle differently, and we try very hard not to disappoint GTA fans.

It wasn't an easy thing to pull off either, if you look at the cars, there is detailing that you would expect to see on a 'console' version - fenders, grilles, working tail lights and indicators - even smashable headlights. The damage system is very comprehensive, you can break all the major hinges on doors and bonnets (hoods), pop out all the lights, and if you like, you might end up with a car that even a wreckers yard would turn away. Details like this make the game fun to play for a long time.

As for the handling dynamics, we had a full time team on this from beginning to very near the end consisting at its core of a very clever physics coder and our driving supreme designer. Everyone had a hand in making these vehicles feel sweet as a nut, but these guys were there day in day out ensuring the pay off would be massive.

http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/957/957179/grand-theft-auto-chinatown-wars-20090225015409441_640w.jpghttp://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/957/957179/grand-theft-auto-chinatown-wars-20090225015414503_640w.jpg

About the vehicles in the game. Some GTA fans are pretty fond of hidden street races, stunt jumps, and vehicular maneuvers. How much of that will be included in the game and how will it all work?
Yup. All there. Once you've gone to the trouble of putting physics and unique vehicle handling in your game, you want to give the players something cool to do with it. Again though, there's the common theme of rethinking it for the perspective, such as making unique stunt locations be identifiable to the player by placing a recognisable object to aim for. Originally, stunt jumps had always been flagged by an arrangement of objects which suggested a jump, but this only worked with the low GTA camera. The all-new stunt jumps are more DS-friendly, again, we can't mention how they're flagged - it would spoil the surprise, but the pay-offs are just as satisfying as any previous incarnation.

http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/957/957179/grand-theft-auto-chinatown-wars-20090225015416128_640w.jpghttp://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/957/957179/grand-theft-auto-chinatown-wars-20090225015417519_640w.jpg

The police chases work much differently here in Chinatown Wars. Can you elaborate more as why that is and what kind of thinking went into it?

We really wanted the police chases to be high action, and whenever we think of great cop chase movies, they revolve around the guy being chased outsmarting the cops, forcing mistakes on them, and getting them to crash. Think of a cop chase movie, and you can probably bring to mind the "sad cop siren" noise - these things were the references we were aiming for.

From the moment that the system was integrated it was a winner. The mechanic of actually disabling cop cars and actively engaging them rather than hiding from them was hilarious and bought into many of the movie moments upon which the GTA series draws. Leaping over a jump and watching the pursuing black-and-whites smash into walls, flip over and crash into buildings was so funny that it couldn't be wrong. Effectively the thinking behind it was if it made us laugh out loud - it worked.

Finally one extra addition we all loved once it was installed was the arcade-like bail and destroy feature. Arm yourself with a powerful handgun and bail out of a car at very high speed and Huang will automatically target the fuel tank of the car you've just exited. Just open up on it and Bingo! - it's exploding and barrel rolling down the road at any target you choose. It's an epic way to start a fight.

Source: IGN (http://au.ds.ign.com/articles/958/958678p1.html)

------------------------------------------------------------------

There is one or two more Q&A's I had to cut because of the posting limit here, so go to the link if you want the rest.

I'd post another post with the final 2 questions but I'd probably get told off...

The hype machine is building, thanks to these Q&A's. Can't wait!

[Stevorooni]

I can't wait for this!

[AyatollaofRocknRolla]

Wow! The game looks pretty awesome in motion. Definite Buy.

[Stevorooni]

I like how I pretty much guessed how they'd make this game before we even had any real information.

A fully 3D GTA probably wouldn't be able to be handled by the DS, but I'm hoping they might still be able to do a dodgy 3D and just pull the camera back a little bit to get a bit of perspective, then they wouldn't have to draw any horizons or even the top half of tall buildings!

I'm calling it

Top down perspective, but people, cars and buildings will be 3D.

Then when you're inside buildings it'll switch to 3rd person. - INCORRECT!

Touch screen mini games for things like hot wiring cars

I wonder what it means exactly by 'isometric' camera angle... because sticking to a purely isometric view would be a bitch when driving around corners. Maybe it means the camera is stuck at a particular height and angle from the player but it rotates around as needed


2 weeks to go

[Ingram]

Rockstar Leeds comments on how existing console elements made the move to the Nintendo DS.

We heard a thing or two already about the scale of money in this game, can you tell us how it's going to be different from previous GTA's?

Gordon Hall: We made a conscious decision to keep the amount of money that you earn from missions as low as possible, part of which is a way of exploring Huang's character a bit more. Huang, as we have already revealed, is somewhat of the spoiled rich kid type. He's been a Triad under his father who was the one of their leaders in Hong Kong before being killed – and Huang has spent most of his life enjoying the spoils of being on top like going to clubs, bars, and spending all of his money on women. Now that he's lost his father's source of income and he's exploring the streets of Liberty City under the orders of his Uncle, he's going to actually have to earn his way around town. No more having everything handed to him on a golden plate. If he wants new wheels, new guns, or new places to stay - he's going to have to earn it, as most everything that Huang will be buying will also be coming with a relatively higher price tag than we're used to seeing in GTA.

http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/961/961279/grand-theft-auto-chinatown-wars-20090310063910686.jpg

How many different ways will there be to make money in the game? What kind of odd jobs will be making a return from the previous GTA's?

Hall: There are a lot of methods of earning cash in CTW, and pretty much every side activity has the opportunity for a monetary reward. We to mentioned to you previously that all of the Rampage missions are back, but they'll also be dishing out cash with every tier of Bronze, Sliver, and Gold medals earned. Beyond that, the service vehicles are all present, - but we've added slight twists to make them feel different from before, like using the fire engine to disperse protestors outside the Bank of Liberty. Players will also be hopping into taxi cabs and taking fares; finding an Ambulance to save helpless pedestrians hurt throughout the city; stealing police cruisers and taking down criminals in vigilante missions - all of that classic GTA gameplay is back, and here for players to discover.

Another thing we have going on here is the inclusion of van hijacking. Throughout the game, the Triads will eventually see the vans of rival gangs traveling throughout the city. Once you get a hold of them, you can rush them back to your own hideout and find what they've been smuggling. Cut into the sides of their doors and, with any luck, you'll be able to find the contraband hidden within. By contraband, we do of course mean that you'll often find drugs, which play a huge role in the in-game economy of Chinatown Wars. Of course, that's not the only way you'll be coming across narcotics in the game, since ultimately the one thing players should always know is that on the streets of Liberty City, drugs equal money.

http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/961/961279/grand-theft-auto-chinatown-wars-20090310063908952.jpg

About the drug dealing aspect of the game- Can you tell us what inspired you to include something of this scale in Chinatown Wars?

Hall: We've always tried to include a kind of side game in Grand Theft Auto. GTA IV had the aspect of keeping your friends happy, and dating. VCS had developing a crime network. The drug dealing was something that just seemed to fit the criminal element in a modern-day city, with Huang making money for his Uncle, but not in a very public way. What stands out with the drug dealing aspect of CTW is the fact it could be a stand alone game in its own right. It's wide and deep in its scale. I often find myself just playing this aspect of the game for hours on end before getting back to the meat of the story missions.

http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/946/946290/grand-theft-auto-chinatown-wars-20090120092757104_640w.jpg

Can you tell us about any of the other criminal factions in the game? How deeply involved will they be as far as these in-game economics go?

Hall: This goes deeper into the concept of Chinatown Wars' Liberty City being a living, breathing city. Two of the things that we think a lot of people had in mind when we first announced this game with it being called 'Chinatown Wars', were this: that it might primarily be set in the Chinatown area, and that it might only involve the Triad organization. This couldn't be further from the truth. Once you get rolling with your first mission that shows you a bit about the in-game economy, you gain access to your trade information on your PDA. There you can pull up your Turf Map and actually get a glimpse of what puts these ideas to rest.

There are nine different criminal organizations throughout the game, all scattered throughout the entirety of the four boroughs of Liberty City. The Midtown Gangsters, the Spanish Lords, the Angels of Death and more. All of these criminal organizations populate Liberty City and all of them have their own primary drug supplies and demands. For instance, the Russian Mafia, located in Hove Beach, might be dealing ecstasy on the cheap, but if they prefer to purchase coke, you can sell it there in search of a bigger profit than with another group in a different area. Playing each gang's preferences off against each other city-wide is where the budding Liberty City criminal can earn big bucks.

http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/946/946288/grand-theft-auto-chinatown-wars-20090120093945900_640w.jpg

How about the drug busts and security cameras? How much depth do they add to this in-game economy?

Hall: The drug busts don't directly affect the economy, though they will affect how you approach a deal. You will generally not get too much heat from being a small time dealer, so it's worth your while to only do low value deals. But if you have a lot of product to move, and the dealer is offering a good price, are you willing to risk the cops getting involved? During development I eventually found myself approaching every deal with an eye for a fast getaway, because if the cops bust you, you'll lose all of the gear you're carrying. That's why we decided to have the stashbox kept inside the safehouse so that players can store all of their goods so as not to have it confiscated when busted.

As for the cameras, most everyone who's played GTA before might be familiar with what we've done with things like the hidden packages or say the 'flying rats' that were scattered throughout GTA IV. Ultimately, these were for our most hardcore players, and beyond anything, finding all 100 of these items mainly played into getting a 100% status in the game. For Chinatown Wars, we've actually taken action and decided to have the signature '100 item' element factor directly into the gameplay itself.

Throughout the city, you'll find 100 LCPD security cameras keeping watch over several areas in the game. These actually do have a direct effect on the pricing of drugs in each area of the game. For example, if you're about to buy some ecstasy from the Mob in Little Italy, you'll be able to get it for a cheaper price if you take out any surrounding security cameras in the area. The reason is, if there's less risk of getting busted in the area, more dealers will be willing to sell near there. Thus, the prices will have to come down. This works the opposite way as well. If Huang wants to sell and fetch a higher price, best to leave the camera in the area up. This adds on an infinite number of ways to strategically take out all 100 cameras in the city in the order the player chooses. If you find a hot spot to sell, and you want to leave the camera up, just mark it on map in the GPS and take it out later! There's really just an insane amount of depth here that players are free to dive into.


What kinds of things can we do with all of this cash once we make it? Will I be able to sell and trade things with friends?

Hall: There's going to be plenty of things to blow your hard earned cash on once you start making it. Guns from Ammu-nation, for one thing, can be delivered straight to your door. These won't be cheap. Many will set you back in the four and five figure range and above, and once they're gone, they're gone until you buy them again! Plus you'll have several safe houses you can buy throughout the city. While you can save from your PDA at any point in the game, you'll still want to have a place to stash your goods close by at all times in case you get busted. There will be an auto merchant in the game as well. As you progress, you'll be able to buy rare vehicles from him directly that you can store at any of your safe houses. Some will be exceptionally fast, others might just pack a little firepower.

To answer your question though, yes. You will be able to trade money, weapons, and commodities with friends via local connection and online. Eventually, you might even be able to set yourself up amongst your circle of fellow players. Exchange friend codes and you might want to be the go-to guy for all of the weapons in the game. Ammunation selling a flamethrower for $6,000? Maybe you'll want to sell it for $5,000 and undercut their price to your friends. The possibilities are limitless here, and as far as trading goes, we have a ton of ways that we'll be allowing players to share their massive single player experience with others!

http://au.ds.ign.com/articles/961/961279p1.html
---

Anyone still interested in this game?

[Shorty]

More like "is there anyone that's still not interested in the game?", amirite? :cool:

[Natrak]

Yeah, it's looking fantastic.

[Shorty]

If there's one game that can get me playing my DS again, it's this.

[Ingram]

New, kickass trailer:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/46649.html

[Stevorooni]

There's another one on there for putting together a sniper rifle and other touchscreen hijinks

Game is looking fantastic, 1 week to go!

[Kefka]

Oooh, with some sneaky dealing you can pick this up locally for $16!

JB Hi-Fi is having a trade in deal (http://www.jbhifi.com.au/games/trade-in/) until March 20 - Trade in 2 DS games, get GTA:CTW. There are no DS games in the trade-in deal exclusion list, they just need to be two different games.

GAME is having a clearance sale, with the following DS titles at these prices:
* Geometry Wars: Galaxies - $8
* The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - $8
* Teenage Zombies - $19
* Lunar Knights - $19
* Undercover: Dual Motives - $19
* Neves - $19
* Need for Speed: Carbon - $19
* Kira Kira Pop Princess - $19

So grab a copy of Geometry Wars (or two, if you don't have it already) and The Mummy for a total of $16, then go trade them in at JB! :D

This info gleefully yoinked from Economical Gamer (http://www.ecogamer.com/content/view/1297/6/).

[/backslash]

Shit, I should buy some crappy games from GAME, then use that for my DS trade :D Hopefully they've got some $8 copies left

[Grubdog]

The trade-in deal is great, after seeing that I actually read up on the game and it sounds absolutely amazing. I was burned by buying GTA2 on GBC a long time ago, one of the worst games ever made, so I had low expectations for this, but it looks like actual effort was put into it. Lots of great features but more importantly it looks fun to play in the vids.

[Twisted Conspiracy]

I was burned by buying GTA2 on GBC a long time ago, one of the worst games ever made...

ARGH! That game is so bloody dismal it's not even funny (unless you have a very unique sense of humour:p)! I'm glad it wasn't the first GTA I played, would've scarred me for life.

EDIT: Maybe...

[Lex]

so far this is a lot cooler than I was expecting. some nice graphics for a ds game.

[Grubdog]

Has anyone heard anything about our version being censored? It seems to have some pretty heavy themes so i'm hoping it's all in tact and they can overlook it because it's on DS.

[RunningMild]

ARGH! That game is so bloody dismal it's not even funny (unless you have a very unique sense of humour:p)! I'm glad it wasn't the first GTA I played, would've scarred me for life.

EDIT: Maybe...

I used to have Grand Theft Auto on the GBC. One of the glitchiest games I've ever played in my life. Some missions had glitches which meant you could get the right vehicle, park in the right spot, and the next part of the mission wouldn't even be triggered!

[Shorty]

According to Rockstar, we'll be getting the same version (http://au.gamespot.com/news/6203268.html) as the rest of the world.

[Twisted Conspiracy]

I used to have Grand Theft Auto on the GBC. One of the glitchiest games I've ever played in my life. Some missions had glitches which meant you could get the right vehicle, park in the right spot, and the next part of the mission wouldn't even be triggered!

I gave up before I got to the missions. :p

[Grubdog]

On the topic of GTA GBCs shitness, here's a song I ripped from the game a while ago. Sound familiar? http://www.sendspace.com/file/ukara3
According to Rockstar, we'll be getting the same version (http://au.gamespot.com/news/6203268.html) as the rest of the world.
Yay!

[JONO RANDOM H3RO]

It seems that this is already available on the interwebs for those who wish to 'acquire' it early. I for one have and it's quite good so far, though character movement seems strange with the d-pad.

Oh and piracy is wrong (* ahem*) ( I'll probably still buy this just to support decent mature ds games)

[Dukotoja]

Oooh, with some sneaky dealing you can pick this up locally for $16!

JB Hi-Fi is having a trade in deal (http://www.jbhifi.com.au/games/trade-in/) until March 20 - Trade in 2 DS games, get GTA:CTW. There are no DS games in the trade-in deal exclusion list, they just need to be two different games.

GAME is having a clearance sale, with the following DS titles at these prices:
* Geometry Wars: Galaxies - $8
* The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - $8
* Teenage Zombies - $19
* Lunar Knights - $19
* Undercover: Dual Motives - $19
* Neves - $19
* Need for Speed: Carbon - $19
* Kira Kira Pop Princess - $19

So grab a copy of Geometry Wars (or two, if you don't have it already) and The Mummy for a total of $16, then go trade them in at JB! :D

This info gleefully yoinked from Economical Gamer (http://www.ecogamer.com/content/view/1297/6/).


went to a game store in the inner city of sydney today as i was hoping to pick up two $8 games to trade. but alas they where either all out or never had any. i guess it would still be worth getting a couple of $19 games but i dont really have that much money :(

good tip tho

[Natrak]

I've barely touched it so far, but it's looking pretty impressive. Cop chases are pretty cool. >________>

[/backslash]

>>It seems that this is already available on the interwebs for those who wish to 'acquire' it early<<
Also did the same just because I'm curious & impatient >_> I'm sure I'll end up buying it though since its my kind of game

Played the game for about an hour thus far and the interface is pretty sweet, the music is also awesome (love classical chinese, the intro handles it nicely). Things involving the touch screen includes the PDA, wiring a car and smashing a car window repeatedly to get it open (it was submerged in water). You can save your game either safehouse or when you're not on a mission.

In the safehouse there's no tv unfortunately, its presented as one pre-rendered screen too so you touch the couch to save, touch the door to exit, touch the laptop to check your emails or touch the magnetic board to see your mission progress with characters & various stuff (badges, rockstar magnets, strip girl pamphlets, sports team flag. What's cool is that there's even little fridge magnets with letters on them so you can spell whatever you want :D

The graphics are really sweet too with a cel-shaded look, sure its nothing like a PSP game but Rockstar have handled it better than anyone else could. Moving with the d-pad is a bit clumsy for driving/running around, its where an analogue stick would come in handy.

Also I really would like a 3rd person view, in the 3D yet 2D representation I never feel the urge to drive fast since I can't see oncoming traffic very well until it appears. Things like just getting off the wanted list and then crashing into another police car is annoying but its handled like Burnout Takedown so all you have to do is crash them into the nearest wall/car to 'take them down'

This is perhaps Rockstar's finest & fresh GTA in years :) GTAIV was a bore for me but Chinatown Wars oozes with style. Really would love some voice acting though, didn't realise how much I'd miss it

Also looking forward to the DSi, really would appreciate a bigger screen for this

[Rambo]

Finally, another person willing to purchase a DSi.

What's the Wifi like anyway? I haven't had the chance to run it out yet.

[/backslash]

What's the Wifi like anyway? I haven't had the chance to run it out yet.
On the game? Haven't tried it yet actually, I don't have a wifi dongle anyway so I don't think it'd even work

[Natrak]

I've only driven around Broker so far, but I'm really impressed with how much of the city is recognisable from GTA IV. I was even down near Firefly island, realised I was in Beach Gate and decided to go and check if the Turismo that was always parked in one of the driveways in GTA IV was there...sure enough, it was! Very cool.

[/backslash]

Oh, so its a replica from GTAIV? I haven't recognised anything. Probably because everything's topdown & I never fully memorised anything since it mostly looked the same to me

[Shorty]

Yeah, CW is set in IV's Liberty City, not GTA3's.

[Lex]

dammit, I keep getting to the bit after the girl trains you in combat and the takes you on a mission, and as soon as we start walking it says I attacked her and I failed the mission, this happening to anyone else?

couldn't be the copy protection, as I thought that only affected saves, and mine's fixed anyway.

[/backslash]

dammit, I keep getting to the bit after the girl trains you in combat and the takes you on a mission, and as soon as we start walking it says I attacked her and I failed the mission, this happening to anyone else?

couldn't be the copy protection, as I thought that only affected saves, and mine's fixed anyway.
That happened to me when I tried it first where it said I attacked her but I was nowhere near her. Just hold the 'R' button and then press 'A' but don't look in her general direction. Also make sure you're close to the dummy

I just got busted by the police, forgot auto-save was on and they took away my money & weapons :( Trying to takedown the police is actually surprisingly hard unless you've got a decent amount of speed or can see options

[JONO RANDOM H3RO]

dammit, I keep getting to the bit after the girl trains you in combat and the takes you on a mission, and as soon as we start walking it says I attacked her and I failed the mission, this happening to anyone else?

couldn't be the copy protection, as I thought that only affected saves, and mine's fixed anyway.

This happened to me the first time , but the second time i tried the mission it worked fine. I also had a freeze at one time but i reloaded and again it was fine.

[Shorty]

Un1EUORbKSI

[Kefka]

went to a game store in the inner city of sydney today as i was hoping to pick up two $8 games to trade. but alas they where either all out or never had any. i guess it would still be worth getting a couple of $19 games but i dont really have that much money :(

good tip tho


I managed to grab 2 copies of the Mummy game (eww) for $8 each and a copy of Lunar Knights for $19... I've got a copy of Super Princess Peach [1] that I'm happy to trade in, so that nets me 2 copies of GTA:CTW for $35 :D - $17.50 each.

(A friend wants a copy too)

I confirmed with JB Hi-Fi that there are currently no DS games on the trade-in exclusion list, and that the deal is on from the 20th (when the game is released) to the end of the month.

I would recommend getting in early though - if too many people take advantage of this tip and they get a ton of Geometry Wars / Mummy trade-ins, they may update the exclusion list.

[1] A gift. It was a decent platformer, but not something I can see myself going back to.

[Lex]

not sure about the dialogue in this game. apart from the embarrassing use of drug terminology, it's all-round pretty painful, and I'm not really a fan of the characters so far.

still, the game itself is hella fun, and you can still pull off some crazy shit without an awesome physics engine.

[Natrak]

Yeah, I'm not feeling the story/characters so far, but the game is an absolute blast.

[Stevorooni]

This is being sold today. Picked mine up at JB for $49

[Kefka]

This is being sold today. Picked mine up at JB for $49

woo! will try pick it up tomorrow

[Shorty]

I got my copy at EB. Their head office had obviously screwed up the allocation of the pre-order bonuses and more than one store just in my area (including the one where I bought it) didn't get enough to cover the preorders. At least they pricematched it.

[TrinityJayOne]

Oh, so its a replica from GTAIV? I haven't recognised anything. Probably because everything's topdown & I never fully memorised anything since it mostly looked the same to me
It's not a street-for-street replica, but a lot of it is recognisable. I think one of the main differences is that there doesn't appear to be any curved roads.

Anyhoo, I played it for a short while and it didn't really grab me. All the cars I drove felt the same, didn't drift at all and turned on a dime regardless of speed. Sure GTA1 was the same, but expectations have come a long way since then. It looks great I'll give it that, but for me that's where the positives end.

[PrattP]

Got my copy of this today, can't wait to get into it!

Also got a sweet chopstick stylus! (Was that a pre-order bonus?)

http://www.psxgames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/chopstick.jpg
(not my pic)

[/backslash]

I heard that the chopstick stylus makes the game even harder to play :p (at least that's what they said on Kotaku)

[RunningMild]

Anyhoo, I played it for a short while and it didn't really grab me. All the cars I drove felt the same, didn't drift at all and turned on a dime regardless of speed. Sure GTA1 was the same, but expectations have come a long way since then. It looks great I'll give it that, but for me that's where the positives end.

Even in GTA1 the cars drifted. That thing about cars turning on a dime at full speed gives me some horrifying flashbacks of GTA on GBC... :eek:

[PrattP]

I heard that the chopstick stylus makes the game even harder to play :p (at least that's what they said on Kotaku)

Yeah I read that from the place I got the pic from. Whatever, it's still cool. :p

Was it a preorder bonus?

[Gameboffin]

My haul:

http://www.pixelhunt.com.au/phpnews/images/Chinatown.jpg

[/backslash]

Is that a Rockstar fridge magnet?! >_>

[PrattP]

Nup, they're pretty sweet little stickers. :)

[BB2K]

Got this, loving it :D

[Shorty]

I know, I spent about about an hour just on the drug trading minigame. :p

[Natrak]

The drug trading minigame is addictive.

[Filthy Old Drunk]

Yeah, drug trading is damn awesome. Nothing worse than having buttload of drugs and having the coppers chase you though, ha.

[Shorty]

The drug trading minigame is addictive.

Put it this way - Kenny introduces it to you and says "make 5 grand so we can buy a share in this apartment". I had to stop myself at about a hundred grand. :p

[Filthy Old Drunk]

Oh ****, just got ambushed by some floozies! I thought it was a drug dealer 'cause I needed some heroin fast.

[Stevorooni]

Only had a quick play through so far, getting used to everything, cruising around town. I like how there's no islands locked off, I immediately went to the helicopter pads down the bottom of the Algonquin but there were no helicopters. I also jumped into a boat and went looking for Alderney just to see if they'd tease us with a location we can't get to but it's gone! I thought they might have had a storyline reason for it missing where maybe the bridges and tunnels had been blown up but there's nothing to indicate there ever was another island.

I was on the bus this morning playing this and some of the bus noises were setting off the taxi whistling thing!

[Filthy Old Drunk]

Just did the rockin' limo side bit. It was funny to begin with, but soon got old.

[Stevorooni]

Does this game have hookers you can pick up? I can't tell, every pedestrian looks the same. Imagine the touchscreen mini game!

[Shorty]

I've been doing some reading on the drug minigame and the way to make mad cash with it is to use the email tips (the yellow coded ones). There are two kinds - Buy tips are where a dealer's selling a drug below market rate and Sell tips are where a dealer's buying a drug above market rate. Grab as much as you can when there's a Buy tip and stash it in your apartment. Later you can then sell that stash to another dealer on a Sell tip to make big profits. Additionally, there's a limit on how much product is available on a Buy tip but there's no limit on how much product you can sell to a dealer on a Sell tip, so don't be afraid to buy from normal dealers to supplement your own stash. You'll still make a healthy profit.

I quite comfortably racked up $140,000 this way, which made me feel a lot better about missing out on the EB preorder bonus.

[Natrak]

You'll also generally make a good profit from sell tips just by checking your pda's drug turf (I think that's what it's called) section and buying the drug you want to sell from dealers who have said drug as their primary supply.

ie. Received a tip-off from someone who's buying weed? Buy it from the Jamaicans.

[Shorty]

Yeah, if you have a bunch of product from a Buy tip and you can't wait until the next Sell tip, you can still sell to the usual channels and still make a good profit. Either way, it's a decent way to make money in the game.

[Natrak]

On a side note, I hijacked a drug van just before, got it back to a safehouse and only got something like 4 bags of weed from it. Disappointing, I just assumed drug vans would contain heaps of product.

[Shorty]

I know. Doesn't seem like much for the effort it takes to steal one. At least it's pure profit.

[Filthy Old Drunk]

Anyone seen those purple swirling lines? Know what they do?

[Natrak]

Yeah, I've noticed them about the place. I have absolutely no idea what they are.

[PrattP]

I lolled when I hit this dude and he yelled "I'm still a virgin!" Haha I miss that humour.

I almost feel like the game doesn't belong on the DS, it feels too 'dirty'. Also, no Dr. Kawashima? It's not a DS game then. :P

[Kefka]

Grabbed 2 copies (i for a friend) with JB Hi-Fis trade-in deal, using trade-bait from Game's clearance sale as described earlier... no problems at all, even though one game was a European copy :D

Only played the first 5 mins, but am going to go play it more now! :D

[Ingram]

That's strange Kefka, why are there AUS/EUR versions around? My GF got this today from JB, Aus printed case and manual, but the cart is EUR, and it has some weird German above the title.

[Stevorooni]

My cart has some german looking thingy above the title too

[PrattP]

As does mine. "Keine Jugendfreigabe".

At first I thought it must have had something to do with the game. :p

[Filthy Old Drunk]

Yeah, I've noticed them about the place. I have absolutely no idea what they are.

Apparently they are possible locations for the Guardian Lions (the extra missions you get when you finish the game and sign up to the Rockstar Social Club)

[RunningMild]

As does mine. "Keine Jugendfreigabe".

At first I thought it must have had something to do with the game. :p

AFAIK, keine means 'no' in an adjective sense, ie. 'No desire' or 'no entry'.

According to freetranslation.com, 'Jugendfreigabe' means 'Youth releases'. I suppose it's saying that the game is for mature audiences then (no kids allowed!). :p

[PrattP]

Wow good translatin'. Stay away Euro kiddies!

[Dukotoja]

damn my internet bills! looks like i'll have to trade in a couple of my own ds games to get this :(

[Nic Xtreme]

This game is freaking brilliant and completely addictive, and I usually have a strong dislike for GTA games!

[Filthy Old Drunk]

Hmm, just got busted by the cops with 46 grand. Leave the cop station with 200 bucks. That's ****ed. I dunno if it was a glitch or something because I've been busted before and they only took a few hundred.

[PrattP]

****ing bent cops!

[BB2K]

I just got busted, and I had 40 bags of Heroin! And someone tipped me off about a buyer! Oh, woe is me :p

[Filthy Old Drunk]

Haha, I just got done again with 50 downers and some 'college' kids were gonna spend big on them. The stupid thing was that the cop ran into ME and there were a few cars directly in front of me effectively blocking any chance of escape. I tried to flee on foot, but he grabbed me just before I could get out. Bastard :P

The safehouses are really good to buy if you're into the drug dealing aspect of this game. I've scored myself plenty of dough by buying low, stashing at nearest safehouse, then retrieving when a tip comes in.

(Oh, I got 43k of my 46 back. Reset FTW!)

[/backslash]

I took auto-save off just in case I got gipped by the police. Really need to play this more, I've only completed about 3 missions

[Kefka]

I've kept autosave on just to make the game more of a "challenge mode" - I've paid the price though, with my balance currently at something like $500 :P It was at about 20k before... Have purchased another safehouse at least.

Getting busted just after buying up is a real pain, but the drug busts are awesome fun - the police chase is so much more exciting when you know you stand to lose what you just spent all your money on.

Also, the whole "peeling out" thing is awesome - I love waiting until a few cops are running up to bust me, then setting them all alight as I zoom away.


Does anyone else wail on the purple triad members outside the first safehouse just to stock up on SMG ammo?

[RunningMild]

I just got busted, and I had 40 bags of Heroin! And someone tipped me off about a buyer! Oh, woe is me :p

We're taking this to the 'evidence locker'. You can whatever's left at the end of the day!

[Filthy Old Drunk]

Also, the whole "peeling out" thing is awesome - I love waiting until a few cops are running up to bust me, then setting them all alight as I zoom away.

This is made even better when you steal one of the cop cars they've just gotten out of. :D

I bought fifty bags of weed on the cheap to sell high (he was about 4000m away), and it was a drug bust. The first escape vehicle was the go-kart I arrived it. It was pretty fun having a cop chase driving a go-kart.

The storyline, although pretty boring, is entertaining to go through if only for the tasks. I've enjoyed every one (my favourite so far is the one where you have to round up some new goons :P)

[Stevorooni]

I'm finding some of the dialogue in the cutscenes hilarious

[Nic Xtreme]

I'm finding some of the dialogue in the cutscenes hilarious

Yep, me too! Sure, I can see why most places have criticised the game for lack of depth in its characters, but I can't help but crack up in some spots - and I've played for about 2 hours so far! The dude you get the first jobs from just pumps out the one-liners!

[Kefka]

The storyline, although pretty boring, is entertaining to go through if only for the tasks. I've enjoyed every one (my favourite so far is the one where you have to round up some new goons :P)

My fav mission so far has been Pimp His Ride, where you pinch a street racer's car and "modify" it before returning it... Returning it after you've made your modifications was hilarious - I kept veering into cop cars :P

Yeah, the characters are pretty shallow and the writing isn't superb, but it is entertaining and you can see they didn't want to make it all serious and deep. If anything, it reminds me of the mission givers in GTA 1 & 2 :D