Over the summer during E3, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars was announced for the Nintendo DS. Now, it has an official release date.

Rockstar Games announced the release date for Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, the latest entry into the genre-defining Grand Theft Auto series. Developed by Rockstar Leeds, in conjunction with series creators Rockstar North, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will be available for the Nintendo DS™ on March 17 and 20, 2009 in North America and Europe, respectively.

Buy Chinatown Wars at Amazon.com

Here’s what we found on about the story line

The story will revolve around Chinese and Korean gangsters. Player will assume the role of Huang Lee age 25, a member of the Triads, who must deliver his recently-assassinated father’s Yu Jian, a supposed family heirloom and sword, to his uncle Wu Lee. Huang is ambushed along the way, and he must not only recover the sword, but avenge his father’s death in the process.

Screenshots of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars put to “Werewolves in London” by Warren Zevon (you may notice that Kid Rock sampled this song for “All Summer Long“)

More details on Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

– Cel-shaded graphics/polygons – black borders

– traditional GTA game: open world, story, sandbox genre

– rated Mature

– Isometric camera angle

– touch-screen controls for minigames, menu navigation

– user interface is a PDA

– finger-sized icons

– missions focus on shorter objectives, arcade style

– shooting: aim with control pad, press R for auto target

– slight autosteering

– if a mission is failed, you can return to the action sequence

– some weapons mentioned: chain gun, flamethrower

– a good portion of the city is modeled after Liberty City, but features different routes than the console games

– no worries about load times

– there will be pedestrians, other cars on screen

– Wanted system – objective is to disable police cars any way possible

– real-time weather effects, 24-hour day/night cycle

– radio stations feature more instrumental music than vocal

– upload stats Rockstar Social Club website through Wi-Fi, no other online play/multiplayer aspects discussed