In an interview with Nintendo Power (via Nintendo Everything) focusing on DS title Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Houser said that “a lot of interesting challenges” offered by the handheld drew his team to the platform.
“It didn’t feel natural to us, I guess,” Houser said of Nintendo’s Wii home console. “It really was that the DS felt like it had a lot of interesting challenges that would be totally different from what we’d done in the past.
“The stylus and the chance to use minigames in that way was really interesting and exciting to us, and we thought we could integrate seamlessly between those two modes. And it would be the chance to make something really good on a handheld with our handheld-focused team. That was really why we went that way.
Houser added, “We haven’t really done any concrete, major thinking about the Wii, one way or another. They’re sort of separate issues.”
Earlier this month Take-Two CEO Ben Feder refused to rule out the possibility of a Grand Theft Auto game appearing on Wii.
“We have spent an enormous amount of time and effort working with Nintendo, developing that partnership,” he said. “GTA: Chinatown Wars is certainly an important step in continuing to develop that relationship. So without commenting specifically on whether GTA is coming to the Wii or not, I will say that Nintendo and Take-Two work very, very well together. We intend to continue to grow that relationship.”
Announced at this year’s E3 Media and Business Summit, GTA: Chinatown Wars is on track for a winter release, although it hasn’t been confirmed whether or not it will release prior to the holiday season.