While I’ve always admired Rockstar’s habit of trying to get away with as much as they possibly can in their video games I think that they may have stepped slightly over the line with this one. The above screenshot shows evidence of a drug-dealing minigame in the upcoming Nintendo DS game GTA: China Town Wars. While it’s not on the scale of the ‘Hot Coffee‘ scandal (which I never saw as that of a big deal since sex isn’t exactly as bad as walking down the street and killing innocent people. Kids should not be playing an 18-rated game anyway) it’s no doubt still going to be pretty scandalous, especially since Rockstar is releasing the game on what’s thought to be the family friendly Nintendo DS.

Dan Houser, the boss over at Rockstar, told EDGE magazine (which I subscribe to by the way, since it’s brilliant) this:

“We wanted to have a drug-dealing mini-game in lots of the GTA games,” said Dan Houser, big boss of Rockstar. “It works well with what GTA is, with driving around the map, and it gives you another thing to think about - another layer or piece of the puzzle to keep you motivated.” - EDGE

Well, nice idea Dan but I doubt that the people already incensed over the GTA franchise will see it that way - but I think Rockstar secretly likes the publicity anyway and purposely adds more fuel to the fire. Of course, it is the parents responsibility to control what their children play and the GTA series has never been intentionally targeted at children. I myself - as a grown adult - am not too fussed about what appears in a game since, in the end, it’s real-life, you can see it in books and films plus, well, it’s just a video game.

While I believe that the DS needs more adult-orientated games parents and others may not take too kindly to these types of games ‘polluting’ what they see as a handheld largely for children (part of this is due to the developers releasing so many children’s games on the handheld which has largely swayed it’s image to the younger generation). Of course, in the end, who’s fault is it if a child get’s hold of a video game clearing not intended for them? Is it the retailers or the parents fault? Or is it the developers who made the game’s fault? I think we all know the obvious answer to that one.

I’ll have a post about the game coming up pretty soon.

GTA Chinatown Wars maintains gritty, urban edge with drug-dealing minigame - Joystiq.