While expectations for Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars's lifetime sales have brightened since NPD's April report showed little drop-off for its second month on shelves -- assuaging worries after the game moved only 89,000 copies in March, well below analyst predictions -- Majesco has taken advantage of the attention on DS game sales to point out that Gardening Mama sold nearly as much this past month as Chinatown Wars.

The New Jersey-based publisher bragged on its Twitter feed, "Mama wanted me to share with you that for the month of April, Gardening Mama was just shy of Chinatown Wars in sales! You go girl!!!"

Though one can argue that the gardening simulator released on March 31st in the U.S., so NPD's April report should be seen as the game's first month of sales, it's still an impressive feat considering Chinatown Wars' critical acclaim (Metacritic average of 94 versus Gardening Mama's 60), online buzz, $20 Best Buy sale, bigger advertising budget (Take-Two even commissioned a theme song from rappers Ghostface Killah and DOOM), and likely much bigger development budget for Rockstar Leeds and North.

Majesco did not specify how narrow the gap was between the two titles, but at least two other games separated them in April's Top 20 Software all-platform chart -- Chinatown Wars placed 18th with 74,000 units sold for the month, while Guitar Hero: Metallica (PS2) and Major League Baseball 2K9 (Xbox 360) took the 19th and 20th respectively.

On the Nintendo DS-specific Top 10 chart for April 2009, however, Gardening Mama is ranked 8th, right behind Chinatown Wars at 7th. Other than Sega's Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, the two games are the top-selling third-party DS titles for the month.

Also note that this dig at Chinatown Wars isn't Mama's first crack directed directed at competitors. Just last Friday, the series mascot aired out Science Papa's dirty laundry, indirectly chiding Activision for recruiting an obvious clone for its minigame collection. Mama accused, "[Science Papa] clearly wants a piece of the best-selling pie by associating himself with an incredibly successful, and I'll emphasize, happily married, woman."

You go girl!!!