The latest episode of South Park (titled "Margaritaville") features several references to the Grand Theft Auto series:

Cartman: "Of all the times for people to decide to stop buying things, it had to be the week that Grand Theft Auto 4 comes out for Nintendo DS."

Cartman: "I had a dream last night. I was in a field, and I had Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars right next to me. But then the sky went black, and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars just melted in my hand."

Cartman: "The person you're after might be hard to get, but I can bring him to you - and all I want in return is Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for handheld Nintendo DS."

Thanks to PlanetGTA for the news.

Rockstar has released a new title update for the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV. To retrieve the update, load up your game and log on to Windows LIVE, and it should download automatically. If not, you can obtain it from here.

The features of the patch include graphical optimization; greater user control over graphic settings; and cheat protection during multiplayer. The full list of changes were announced on our forum by Rockstar Toronto.

Link: Patch 1.0.3.0 Discussion

The day is finally here! Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is officially released for the Nintendo DS. Purchase your copy from one of the following retailers:

• US

• Rockstar Warehouse
• GameStop
• Wal-Mart
• Best Buy
• Amazon

• UK

• Amazon (UK)
• Game
• Gamestation
• Play
• HMV

And remember that anyone who pre-ordered the game from GameStop will receive a special bonus including:

• $10K in Liberty City cash.
• Immediate access to the Ammunition Depot.

Also, the Chinatown Wars Official Website has been updated and you can now access the Chinatown Wars page in the Social Club.

Here's the forth Chinatown War's clip, featuring the Rampage mode, which is finally back to is all about the Grand Theft Auto series (Keep an eye on the site since we'll have more of these in the next few days):



Cheers to R* for the heads up!

IGN, EuroGamer, GamePro, CVG and 1UP have all posted reviews of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. Each review was very positive, with the game not scoring below 90% in any of the reviews.

There are new screenshots for the game included with most of the reviews.

 

• IGN (9.2/10)
• EuroGamer (10/10)
• GamePro (5/5)
• ComputerAndVideoGames (9.2/10)
• 1UP (A-)

• Update: Reviews of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars have also been posted on GameSpy, UGO and GamesRadar.

• GameSpy (4.5/5)
• UGO (A)
• GamesRadar(10/10)

Nintendo - The official magazine (issue 41, April 2009) has a “world exclusive review” on Chinatown Wars as revealed in the following thread.

The review also reveals some facts regarding the multiplayer side of the game.

- Survivor mode is the standard multiplayer death match played either over Wi-Fi with a nearby Chinatown Wars-owning pal or online. With police involved too, it gets pretty frantic.

- You can destroy all your rivals stuff, then plant a bomb in their base in the charmingly-titles gang bang multiplayer mode. It’s utterly chaotic and offers surprisingly tactical fun.

- Single race and season are the vehicle-based multiplayer modes and are both great fun with a friend. You can also turn on a death race option to bump up the weapon count and overall chaos a notch.

- Fight off wave after wave of mobsters in the defend the base co-op mode. As with all the multiplayer options, you can choose your battle ground from a variety of locales. Smart use of grenades is key.

- You can even give a friend a stash of cash or drugs over Wi-Fi. As well as that you can also send them details of your ‘favourites’ on the Liberty City map in order to guide them towards other cool stuff.

Their verdict? Pros - Enormous game map, fantastic visuals, classic GTA gameplay, quality multiplayer modes. Cons - Dangerously addictive. Vast, visually stunning and every bit as good as any other GTA. And that’s no mean feat. 94%.

Next Monday night, the Nintendo World Store will be open at midnight so all the Grand Theft Auto fans can get their copies of Chinatown Wars, plus, the first 100 to do so, will be rewarded with exclusive collectible gear including Grand Theft Auto Kubrick sets, custom DS-Lites and limited-edition Rockstar apparel.

Music will be provided by the creator of Chinatown Wars theme song, who is also a in-game DJ.

For the ones interested:

The Nintendo World Store is located at 10 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, New York, 10020. You can get there by taking the B,D,F, or V train to the 47-50th Street/Rockefeller Center station.

As we said a few days ago, there's plenty of new content being added on the official website. This time we got lots of screenshots showing boats, Huang Lee and Zhou Ming, the flamethrower and the return of rampage missions, here. R* lets you listen before hand to some Chinatown Wars tracks through their player:





Also some more screens on how to use the stylus to diffuse a bomb and new character wallpapers, and a new character added: Wade Heston.

This is a great opportunity for the GTA fans, Rockstar Games will be visiting GameStop over at 52 US cities with 3 vans over 6 weeks!

You'll get the change to play Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars before it hits the shelves on March 17th, also they will offer you limited-edition Rockstar apparel. All you need to do is check the locations and dates list and don't miss out!

A new game-play video have been added to the official GTA: Chinatown Wars website, more specifically about the dealing and delivering of drugs. It "shows you the basics on how to become a street pharmacist with the aid of Chinatown Wars' unique DS stylus-based gameplay features." You can also have a look on how the game handles and how Liberty City looks on the DS.