Get the chance to play the game early

Mar 3, 2009 08:18 GMT  ·  By

The Grand Theft Auto franchise has always been about breaking conventional norms, either by adopting controversial gameplay, indulging in gratuitous violence or taking promotion to new heights, as seen in the campaign for the latest iteration, Grand Theft Auto IV.

But Rockstar, the company behind it, is bent on making any GTA title one that a lot of people will notice, and will surely take any measures to ensure that gamers will buy the games. As such, for the next title in the series, the Nintendo DS exclusive GTA Chinatown Wars, the company has customized three vans that will be touring the United States and stopping in select GameStop locations.

That's right, look forward to a Chinatown Wars van to stop at a store near you where you will be able to play the game on a DS and, if you're good enough, go home with some exclusive Rockstar and GTA-branded stuff. The vans will be very easy to spot and will stop in 52 cities during a period of six weeks. Those who want to check out the list of cities and the dates they can expect the vans to stop there can do so by checking the full schedule on the Rockstar website.

GTA Chinatown Wars is one of the few titles in the franchise to appear on Nintendo platforms and tells the story of Huang Lee, who aims to avenge the murder of his father and restore the honor of his own family. To do so, he must survive in the ruthless Chinatown district by selling drugs and doing various not so legal missions for crime bosses. You can check out the first trailer of the game here.

Until the game launches, on March 17, look forward to the Chinatown Wars vans to reach a GameStop near you thanks to Rockstar.