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Rockstar Talks Chinatown

Joe Keiser's picture

By Joe Keiser

September 24, 2008

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“GTA can’t be softened to make it family-friendly – that’s not the game we’re making."

Those who thought that the Nintendo DS exclusivity of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars meant it would be a family-friendly take on the series can rest easy, according to Rockstar’s vice president of creative Dan Houser.

In the latest issue of Edge Magazine Houser reveals that, while the presentation of GTA: Chinatown Wars will be changed to an isometric viewpoint game populated with cel-shaded characters, the language and themes will stay true to the series proper. “No one disagreed with Sam [Houser, Rockstar president and Dan’s brother]’s very clear edict that GTA has to be an M rating,” he explained. “It can’t be softened to make it family-friendly – that’s not the game we’re making. We’ve never not done well by sticking to our guns.”

Houser added that Nintendo was on-board with the direction of the product, telling us, “Nintendo wanted us to make GTA, and we wanted to make a game on their platform. They didn’t want us to make a GTA for kids, and we weren’t interested in making a game we wouldn’t normally make.”

So how mature will the game be? The latest issue of Edge also reveals that Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will have a complete drug dealing minigame, which will allow players to peddle six types of drugs around the city. Players will make a profit by recognizing market conditions and demands based on geography and plying their wares accordingly.

For the complete story on the game, check out issue 194 of Edge.

chmodscrue's picture
On April 27th chmodscrue said:

the sounds and you have to hold it long enough to get it all
download movies

Kris Graft's picture
On September 24th Kris Graft said:


The touch screen would be great for a coke-snorting minigame. That might be slightly controversial though.

Pascal_Clarysse's picture
On September 25th Pascal_Clarysse said:

http://www.jeuxvideo.com/screenshots/images/00025/00025769_003.htm

Apparently, the minigame is about making profits out of the sales of drugs. If you look at this screenshot, the drugs seem to be named after real life prohibited substances we all have never ever used. The matter has been touched briefly in Fallout 3 recently... I am personally wondering if this screenshot is a publicity stunt, spreading it while knowing damn well you're gonna phony the names up in the final version of the game... or if they are heading for full frontal confrontation yet again. The latter is also a good publicity stunt, controversy drives sales, but the past has proven it can sometimes come with setbacks too, such as recalls and shares dropping in the stock exchange subsequently... One could counter-argue again that GTA is where it is as a super-selling franchise because the Housers never think like the typical businessmen in suits. That doesn't mean they ain't businessmen nonetheless...

Pascal_Clarysse's picture
On September 24th Pascal_Clarysse said:

Or a Cooking Mama interface... in a crystal meth lab? Big fan of Breaking Bad here, my mind couldn't help connecting the two ;)

Looking at the recent Fallout 3 problems, I doubt there is any drugs related minigame you can think of which wouldn't trigger controversy... But ain't that something Rockstar values a lot? Pushing/testing the free speech boundaries of the medium?

NickgamertagO1's picture
On September 24th NickgamertagO1 said:

Well, the DS does have a microphone, so they could have an actual snorting mini game where you put your nose to the screen then snort while sliding your nose across the touch pad, the mic will pick up the sounds and you have to hold it long enough to get it all. Great stuff. Agreed, don't think that'll make it in the game though.

Huw Jass's picture
On September 24th Huw Jass said:

I hope this results in a positive working relationship between the two companies, something which can be expanded upon in the future.

Sabrewulf's picture
On September 24th Sabrewulf said:

Thank God, i'm glad that more and more people realise that all games in development don't need to be family-friendly for the Nintendo consoles, bring on Mad World!!! :)