It has been seven months since Nintendo announced Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the DS at the last E3. Since that time, we have all been waiting patiently for an official trailer. Heck, the game was even playable at Comic-Con New York a little while ago, and Gamestop released a quick commercial showing a snippet of gameplay. Even after all that, no trailer was revealed.

That was until today, because the first trailer featuring actual gameplay has been released to the internets. How does it look, you might ask? Well, we recommend you be the judge of that, but to us — we’re pretty excited!

The trailer shows some driving elements and what also looks like one of the many mini-games included in the game. The one shown in the clip, demonstrates how to hot-wire a vehicle without a key. We like the idea, but we hope stuff like that doesn’t get repetitive as we continue to play through the sandbox game.

Graphically, we are impressed. The visuals look very colorful and alive, but at the same time has the gritty feel of Liberty City. We are also think the game looks to run incredibly smooth, which is important in any title.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will be available in stores on March 17, 2009.