Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Due Before Feb. 1

Our nation’s youth will be corrupted on the go, Grand Theft Auto-style, as early as November of this year and as late as January of 2009, according to today’s Take-Two Interactive investor call. CEO Ben Feder pegged Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the Nintendo DS as a fiscal Q1 ‘09 release, putting it in the same quarter as GTA IV’s Japanese launch date.

Feder wouldn’t confirm that the title would hit before the holidays, despite requests from callers to clarify.

If rumours are right, Chinatown Wars will hit in the same three month window — November 1 to January 31 — as GTA IV’s Xbox 360 exclusive downloadable episodes. If that GTA three-way does happen, it could make for a very happy group of shareholders. And a lot of virtual bystander corpses.