Grand Theft Auto coming to Nintendo DS

There was only one real piece of news (as in something interesting that we didn't expect) at Nintendo's press conference this morning, but it was a doozy: Rockstar is making a new "Grand Theft Auto" game exclusively for the DS called "Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars."

It's the first time the uber-popular "GTA" franchise has come to a Nintendo system since 2004's "Grand Theft Auto Advance" for the Game Boy and it's a coming together many of us thought would never happen again, since the Nintendo audience tends to skew younger than Rockstar's and its consoles don't have the processing power that "GTA 4" demanded.

But there's no ignoring the massive install base of the DS, which Nintendo says will hit nearly 100 million by March. Sure, lots of kids and older players who aren't into "GTA" have a DS. But pretty much every core gamer has one as well these days. So there's no reason Rockstar make an M-rated game and target them.

Parent company Take-Two Interactive has got to be excited. It's coming off the huge "Grand Theft Auto IV" launch and has the first downloadable content promises for the end of this year. Then there's yet another piece of "GTA" content coming next winter -- and it's for a platform with a bigger install base than the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 combined. That means it's at least a year until Take-Two has to worry about not having any new "GTA" content on the immediate horizon, which will please Strauss Zelnick and his investors.

Details thus far are light, though the game is coming out this Winter. Rockstar promises it's a wholly original story in which "players will navigate their way through the streets as they uncover the truth behind an epic tale of crime and corruption within the Triad crime syndicate." Despite the DS's lack of  power compared to even the PSP, Rockstar says "Chinatown Wars" will have the same "unprecedented amount of depth" that "GTA" games are known for and will also take full advantage of the handheld console's touch screen.

Game is being developed by Rockstar Leeds, which also made the PSP spin-offs "Vice City Stories" and "Liberty City Stories."

(This story previously said "Chinatown Wars" will be the first "GTA" game ever on a Nintendo console. As a few commenters pointed out, that was wrong. That was my bad for blogging in a rush during E3 madness and not doing enough research.)