PDA: Difference between revisions

The '''[[wp:Personal Digital Assistant|Personal Digital Assistant]]''', better known as the '''PDA''', is a portable communication device first introduced in [[Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars]] as an alternative to the [[mobile phone]].  

As opposed to verbal communication, the player may use the device to communicate via e-mail with in-game characters, order weapons on the Internet (from the Ammu-Nation website), set GPS waypoints, change radio stations and trade information in drug dealing. During gameplay in the Nintendo DS version, the PDA shows the information that would have been shown on the [[HUD]] in previous games. There is a difference of the PDA on both versions of the game, that in DS, the PDA is located at the touch screen and the PSP, the PDA is a pause menu where you can read your e-mail or link to other players using WLAN. The PDA runs [[BadgerOS]]. The PDA effectively replaces the HUD and the Moblie Phone as the primary way of communication  in GTA Chinatown Wars and may replace the HUD and/or Mobile Phone in future GTA Games. The PDA in GTA Chinatown Wars is made by [[Panoramic]]

The PDA is used in-game to communicate via E-mail with ingame characters, mostly mission bosses. The E-Mails are primarily mission related. Some E-Mails start missions, some give the player instructions about their next mission, some tell the player to go to a particular area in order to start a mission, some talk about Huang Lee, some are drug related and the in-game characters and some give the player information, like the E-mails from Ammu-Nation that inform the player when they recieve a delivered weapon.

In GTA Chinatown Wars, players retain GTA IV's taxi riding system, with several changes in place. Players can no longer enter any [[Cabbie]] at will, as they can only be entered after the player hails a taxi, triggering the taxi to stop and be marked by yellow chevrons pointing where the player should walk to to automatically enter a taxi as a passenger. The player can also whistle through the Nintendo DS's microphone to hail the taxi or choose to press a button (pressing and holding the X button).

Like GTA IV, the cost of a taxi ride is dependent on the distance of the ride; the longer the ride, the costlier it is. Using the trip skip option will also double the fare.

Unlike previous Grand Theft Auto games, the Heads-Up Display (or HUD) in GTA Chinatown Wars is not located on the main screen of the gaming console. It is instead located in the PDA's main menu, which can be accessed when the game is paused.

For Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, the act of stealing an unoccupied car is significantly more complicated, with each car featuring any one of three different lock-cracking minigames that the player must successfully pass in order to finally assume control of the vehicle; If the player attempts to hijack a high grade vehicle, they have to access the PDA's hacking software and match the code of the car's immobiliser with it. Vehicles with immobilizers do not impose a time limit given the act of decoding the immobilizer may take considerably more time.  

Unlike its predecessors, GTA Chinatown Wars gives the player the ability to order weapons online via the PDA from the Ammu-Nation website.

To order weapons, the player touches the category they want and then chooses which weapon they want. Providing they have sufficient funds, the money is deducted and the weapon is put in the basket. Then, when all the weapons the player wants have been selected, touching the basket confirms the order.  

After ordering weapons, the player receives 2 emails on their PDA. The first one confirms the order, and the second one tells the player that the order has been delivered to their nearest safehouse. After this email, a white "A" appears on the radar, showing the location of the delivery. At the safehouse, a box with the Ammu-Nation logo on it appears with a blue blip above it. Walk into it and all the weapons (and armor, if ordered) are instantly equipped.  

[[Category:Communications]]

[[Category:Features in GTA Chinatown Wars]]