Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Sells Poorly (Also: Contest Reminder)
April 17, 2009
This is just a friendly reminder that you have until midday Monday to enter to win Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the Nintendo DS. I'm giving away one copy of the game to a fortunate PTB reader. Apparently the game hasn't sold as well as predicted. That's really a shame because it is a solid, pocket-sized GTA adventure that manages to nail the spirit of the franchise despite its smaller stature. Some would argue that placing a notorious franchise like GTA on the largely kid-friendly DS is just inviting trouble. The sad truth is that the game was released about two years too late to capture the adult DS market. I see the DS library starting to become what the Game Boy Advance library became as it neared the end of its life cycle: over-saturated with quick kiddie cash-in games. The days of new fun games for all ages — New Super Mario Bros., Tetris DS, Mario Kart DS, etc. — are behind us now, and aside from the occasional pleasant surprise (such as Mario and Luigi 3 and The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks), I don't see that changing even with the new features/gimmicks of the DSi. Nintendo seems content to let the cartoon tie-ins and casual games dominate the DS release list, and goodness knows Chinatown Wars can't carry the whole system for the adult demographic by itself.