Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime has said on more than one occasion that he would love to see Grand Theft Auto come to the Wii. But after the latest round of NPD numbers, it seems like he-- and everyone else-- may be in for a long wait, as Rockstar is probably not heavily inclined to make such a move.

Indeed, for all the complaints of a lack of hardcore or mature content on Nintendo's platforms, particularly the Wii, it seems that people just aren't willing to support them when they do come out. As reported earlier, MadWorld from SEGA only managed to move 66,000 copies, despite being well-received by critics. Fortunately, SEGA was not deterred and said they saw promise in the numbers given.

Meanwhile, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars was acclaimed by critics, and was predicted to sell as many as two million units in its first year. However, that forecast has now been reduced significantly.

The firm Cowan and Company had high hopes for the combination of the world's most popular sandbox game and most popular handheld, but have since reduced the figure to 500,000 units.

"Despite a strong critical reception, Take-Two's GTA: Chinatown Wars sold a very disappointing 89,000 units in March, well below our more recent 200-250,000 estimate and far below the 400-450,000 we thought the title might sell upon its release," wrote Doug Creutz.

Cowan suggests that the reason behind the lackluster sales is not due to the quality of the game, but that it is more indicative of the troubles faced by third-party publishers in the Nintendo marketplace.

"Take-Two exported their most valuable IP onto the most widely distributed gaming platform, and created the most highly-rated title in the history of that platform," Creutz detailed. "We knew there were some uphill challenges due to the demographics of the platform, but believed there were enough core gamers/adults owning a DS that the title could still perform very well."

"However, either the demographics are more challenging than we thought," he added, "or core gamers did not view the title as an essential purchase due to the nature of the platform."

Creutz concludes: "We believe the experiment was a worthwhile one for Take-Two, and still expect the title to be profitable (though likely marginally so). However, the disappointing first month sales reinforce our view that achieving meaningful success on Nintendo platforms remains a very difficult proposition for third party publishers."

To be honest, this paints a very bleak picture. If MadWorld and Grand Theft Auto are unable to bring people in, what chance then does something like The Conduit have?

In a case like Capcom's, the company catches a lot of heat from its fans for bringing games such as their classic Resident Evil titles, the RE Chronicles games, or Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop to the platform, rather than creating more new, full-blown traditional experiences. But when faced with numbers like these, it's not hard to see why they might be wary of a full-blown investment.

I had previously thought that the DS was a safer haven for Nintendo third-party titles than the Wii, but that perception has just been shattered, at least to some degree.

On the other hand, I have to wonder if perhaps Nintendo didn't accidentally kill GTA's chance at success with its subsequent releases of Pokemon Platinum and the DSi. It was thought that the latter would help GTA's sales and vice-versa, but perhaps this economy, while still pretty good for games, isn't good enough to support two such purchases-- or three, if you include Pokemon-- within such a close proximity.

If that's the case, then perhaps GTA's sales will build more with time, and a different picture will be painted down the road.