about as often as the city’s professional sports teams have a winning season.  So, when I saw we reported that the Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars van tour was making a stop on the north side of the city, I knew I wanted to put my hands on the game and create a nice article to post here on Pwned.com.

You may remember last year’s E3, during Nintendo’s press conference, watching Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing Cammie Dunaway using the Wii Balance Board to “snowboard” in a business suit with Shaun White nearby looking like a tool.  I know I was not the only person with a raised eyebrow as Nintendo’s “big” announcement was Animal Crossing: City Folk.  Through it all, there was one interesting announcement for the core gamer.  During the Nintendo DS demonstration, it was just simply a title on the screen: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.  Still hot from their recent release of Grand Theft Auto 4, it was a great strategy to announce the new handheld title even if we did not know when it would be released.

Fast forward to yesterday where the event was to take place at a Gamestop on the northwest side of the city from 2-7PM.  Now, as much as I enjoy writing for Pwned, it sadly does not pay the bills.  It also so happens that at this time I am involved in a project that requires extra time spent at work.  Concerned all day that I might not make the event across the city, I got out of work at 5:30PM and decided I could still make the event even though I was traveling with traffic during rush hour.  The traffic was brutal, taking me an hour to go 15.7 miles.  With only 30 minutes left before the end of the event I had hoped that even just a few minutes with the game would give me enough to report back on.

I walked into a silent store.  Empty Wii boxes rolled past me like tumbleweeds.  The two gentlemen working at the time gave me a strange look as I stood there in a shirt and tie.  If this scene had a soundtrack, you would have heard a “wha-Wha-wha” like in a western before the duel at high noon.  I had to ask the shift manager where was the event being held if it isn’t in the store.  He explained to me that they had already bolted.  Apparently, they showed up late, left early and complained the whole time about their car horn needed to be fixed and how they had driven from California.  I was dumbfounded, disappointed and, after an hour in bumper-to-bumper traffic, a smidgen upset.

I did not leave empty handed, though, as I walked out with a Rockstar-emblazoned shopping bag filled with t-shirts, stickers, posters, etc.  I do want to send a big shout out to Greg and the gang at Gamestop near Northgate Mall; they treated me very well, understanding my situation and commiserating with me.  Rockstar has left the city and headed towards Virginia, so if you plan on hitting up the event in Charlottesville or Fredricksburg this weekend, please feel free to express my displeasure to them (in a non-violent manner).  The City of Cincinnati is quiet again, with only the cold comfort of another mediocre season of Reds baseball on the horizon.