Friday 20th...

Can't find the exact quote, but here's what they said in this interview:

“The game's been in development for two years now, with a big team. This is by far the biggest game Rockstar Leeds has ever done. I remember the conversation I had with Rockstar president Sam Houser that kicked this all off. We both felt the DS community was being starved of mature content, but no third-party publishers were making headway on the platform. We came away from that chat with a target to get something onscreen that would really change the perception of the DS and the games it's capable of making. If we thought, after the initial test phase, that it had potential, we'd back it and hope we could do what Rockstar always tries to do and create new markets.”

The game designer compares this future game with the other handheld titles in the GTA lineup, developed exclusively for the PSP, Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories. Hall goes on to say that this game, which is slated for a March release, will be bigger than the games made for the PSP, which were also developed by his studio.

“Chinatown Wars is much bigger than anything we have ever done before: more odd jobs, deeper missions, and more moments of over-the-top action. We have a huge interaction with the Rockstar Social Club, a massive narcotics trafficking game that would stand alone on its own. The list goes on and on; this thing is huge. We are very proud of all of the PSP games we have made, especially the two GTA games, but this game is far bigger.”

Look at Halo Wars. No legs on that one.

So those 15k for GTA:CW are first day sales, right?

did anyone really expect it to post big numbers? same goes for Madworld... to compare it to sega's other wii titles is an unfair comparison, given the limited appeal of this one.

Except it's on the DS.

I don't understand people complaining that his game should have been on the PSP. The PSP already has 3(?) GTA games on it, and they're pretty much exactly the same. Another iteration would have sucked. This version on the DS is a welcome change, and sets a high bar for DS games.

Oh my, GTA:SW kind of failed. Compared to GTA IV it did not sell at all with a much bigger userbase.

So 24hrs? that's clearly not enough time.

Although Vice City Stories sold twice as much as Chinatown Wars, the best selling handheld GTA title is still Liberty City Stories. Just look at how well it debuted back in the day:

"Take 2/Rockstar’s first outing of GTA on PSP ‘Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories’ debuts at No2, ahead of Konami’s ‘Pro Evolution Soccer 5’ (down from No1 to No3) and EA’s ‘FIFA 06’ (down from No2 to No4). ‘Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories’ is now the fastest selling PSP game, outselling even the first week sales of its elder PS2 brother ‘Grand Theft Auto 3’.

LTD for PSP GTA games in the UK (courtesy of Spiegel at GA):

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories 567k
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories 806k

Guys they released it on DS in hopes of establishing the franchise on the platform. Sometimes business decisions aren't so black and white. Sure they could go and release one on the PSP and get 2-3 million in sales. Or they could take a risk, release it on the DS, establish the franchise, and working the series up to more than it could ever accomplish on the PSP thx to the larger userbase. But of course its a risk but sometimes its a risk worth taking.

Did it pay off? Not a great start in the UK but we'll see how it progresses. And of course we'll wait to see how America takes too it as well in the short and long run. But I feel releasing around Pokemon Platinum in America wasn't such a great idea.

Madworld struggles while Legends of Wrestlemania opens nicely. Guess that mainstream wrestling base on PS360 is still pretty prevalent. Awesome that RE5 stays strong.