Sightseeing in Liberty City [Matthew Johnston @ Flickr]

The farmacias and bodegas in East Holland, the Starbucks-esque cup in every hand, the prevalence of "Craplist" social interaction, even the thriving Russian community beside the boardwalk in Hove Beach where the story begins all capture that tickly feeling of home. But MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo notes that from Bohan to Schottler, there are a few things about New York that GTA IV gets wrong, and he's compiled a tongue-in-cheek list of eight key items that are, as he says, "grossly misrepresented."

1. We are not a car town: No sensible New Yorker uses a car as their primary means of transportation in the city, unless — maybe — they commute from the suburbs. Car ownership doesn't make much sense. There are never any parking spots. Parking garages are prohibitively expensive. And, most importantly, the subway is a faster, cheaper and more efficient means of transportation. We don't drive here. Niko, to be a real New Yorker, should rely on the subway. But what would he be left to grandly thieve?

True enough. Certainly, in New York, only rich commuters who live in swanky penthouses or in the outlying boroughs have cars. Rent here for the average denizen is pricey enough without the cost of gas and parking — and, that aside, I'd never even think of owning a car here just due to the crushing traffic and inconvenience.

But there are a lot of cars here nonetheless, and having been many times a pedestrian nearly clipped by some crazy speeder cornering badly, it's a fun turnabout to be behind the wheel this time. If you do happen to be in a car, people always seem to be wandering into the crosswalk at the worst of times — that, at least, is accurate.

Totilo picks more hangups: There are no dinosaurs at the Met! Times Square — er, Star Junction — should be much more congested with pedestrians, it's true. And bagels are a quintessential part of our diet, unobtainable in Liberty City.

8. We eat bagels: Have I missed something or is it not possible to eat a bagel in "Grand Theft Auto IV"'s Liberty City? Niko can eat burgers, hot dogs and go to diners. But bagels? The most famous New York City food? Never fear, visitors to our town, we have bagels that can be eaten and enjoyed, whether Liberty City acknowledges it or not. Burgers? Waste of time. You can eat them in any town.

And finally, where are Manhat— um, Algonquin's legions of tiny, tiny little doggies? It's the must-have accessory for Upper East Siders. We don't mean to quibble with such a fantastic game world, but, you know.

8 Things 'Grand Theft Auto IV' Gets Wrong About New York City, Including Bagels [MTV Multiplayer]

Tens of thousands of New Yorkers live in neighborhoods where more than half of the population's median income falls below the poverty line. Prevailing terminology calls these neighborhoods "underserved," but denizens of these communities have no problem calling it like it is: the ghetto.

These ghettos may seem like a different world to those who may have only visited places like them in video games, but the communities that live here are just as excited for Grand Theft Auto IV as everyone else — and some say the widely-anticipated title holds special meaning for them.

In many of these neighborhoods in areas of Manhattan and in parts of the Bronx and Brooklyn, higher crime rates, lower education rates and diverse cultural allegiances often create a familiar, uneasy standoff between the community and the police, where racial tensions often play a role.

These tensions recently came to a head following a long-awaited verdict in an emotional police shooting case. Plainclothes undercover police officers had fired 50 shots at a trio of unarmed young black men outside a Queens nightclub following an apparent miscommunication. One of the men, 23 year-old Sean Bell, was killed that night; his two friends had been throwing him a bachelor party at the club. Bell would have married his fiancee, the mother of his child, on the following day.

The three officers charged in the "Fifty Shots Case" Sean Bell shooting, were acquitted of all charges on April 25th, prompting an outpouring of emotion largely from the black community in New York. Attorneys for Bell's family promise a civil suit will follow the criminal acquittal, but with the verdict still fresh, community anger and anti-police sentiment, along with civil rights subtext spearheaded by Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network, boil in the streets.

Spanish Harlem, known to its residents as "El Barrio," lies just east of Harlem proper in northern Manhattan, bordering the East River. It's a largely Black and Hispanic neighborhood where, according to the most recent census data, the average household income is just under $15,000 a year. More than 13,000 people in the community live below the poverty level, and many people rely on support from social security and food stamps.

Even Spanish Harlem has a video game store, though — everyone needs a little entertainment.

The staff supervisor at the Spanish Harlem Game Express goes by the alias "Dragon," and he says he's the go-to guy within his broad network of friends for news on the latest games. For the past several weeks though, he says, his friends, neighbors and customers have only been interested in one title.

"Everywhere I go, people want to know about GTA and what they can do in the game," Dragon says. In his store, he's taped several signs in every line of sight that point out GTA IV's release date, so that people will stop coming in and asking him. Dragon also showed us "sold out" signs he made in advance, just to be prepared.

He says his customers are especially excited to play GTA in light of the Sean Bell verdict — the judge's vote in favor of the police has not found much support in Spanish Harlem, to say the least. "GTA lets them do the stuff they can't do in real life," Dragon says. "Like, 'this one's for Sean Bell,'" he adds, imitating a beat-down in mid-air.

Dragon says customers have shared plans to form gangs online, and pressed him for details about the specific types of crimes they'll be able to commit in the game. It's not that these people want to be criminals, though — "It's a ghetto thing," Dragon says. "They just want to take their anger out... people are upset right now."

In a neighborhood where fear, resentment and anger toward law enforcement may come into conflict with urging by Sharpton, the Bell family and religious authorities to keep all protests and demonstrations non-violent, it seems many people are looking to GTA IV's fantasy environment as a form of catharsis.

So has Dragon sold a lot of GTA IV? Not yet, he says. He's planning on his highest-traffic period during the coming weekend, after the 1st of May when most people's Social Security checks arrive.

Near the store's exit, the GTA IV promotional mock "Wanted" poster art has been marked with a Sharpie: "This is not real," it says in one corner, and "Just a game," in the other. Dragon says a local sheriff had been alarmed to see the realistic-looking poster in the store, and he wanted to be sure no miscommunication occurred.

Further downtown, Tracy Gordon, a mother from the Bronx wearing a T-shirt airbrushed with the words "R.I.P. Sean Bell," was also more concerned with what her kids, aged 15, 9 and a year and a half, might face in the real world instead of what they could see in a video game.

Gordon says her husband — her "big kid" — and her 15 year-old son were both looking forward to buying GTA IV soon, but she has no plans to allow the 9 year-old to join in. "[The 15 year-old] is very mature," she says.

Gordon says she is familiar with the ESRB's ratings system and closely checks every title she purchases. Her decisions about what games her kids may play are based less on age restrictions and more about her judgment of how the content meshes with her family's values. But from her point of view, if her kids must handle the things they see daily on the news, the goings-on in GTA IV are minor by contrast.

"I mean, what are kids seeing out on the street?" She countered, suggesting that shielding kids from certain kinds of media makes them less prepared to deal with harsh realities.

Allen Joseph, a 26-year old father from Brooklyn, said that the stress and poverty of New York City's ghettos leads many parents to simply overlook their kids' video gaming habits.

His 11 year-old nephew plays Grand Theft Auto Games, he says. "[His parents] don't really care... You know, in some places in Brooklyn, as long as the kids have something to do, they don't care."

Joseph has already purchased a copy of GTA IV for his Xbox 360, and while he says he won't give his 4 year-old son a turn, he doesn't mind if he watches. "It's no problem," said Joseph. "He won't get to actually control it."

Even despite challenging urban social issues, some parents still plan to follow the ESRB's recommendations to the letter. A Bronx dad who only offered his first name, Jorge, said he would "definitely not" be buying GTA IV for his children or allowing them access to it. "Any real parent wouldn't buy it for their kids," he stated.

Looks like the Grand Theft Auto IV machine is starting to kick into gear with this collection of videos. Rockstar has provided GameTrailers with five clips from the highly anticipated game that introduce us to some of the seedy denizens and businesses that make up the fictional Liberty City. The Steinway Beer Gardens commercial is may favorite. "This is male bonding the old fashioned way!"

Make the jump for all five clips.

I just hope the Liberty City equivalent of SoHo has some good shopping. I totally just yelled "Shopping!!" in my head in the most sing-songy way possible. Help me. Michael McWhertor

Liberty City will be a lot bigger than you think: here's proof! [GamesRadar]

Since I live in Japan and don't have cable, I haven't seen The Simpsons in like six years. But game blog Aeropause posts that a recent episode of the show features a Grand Theft Auto parody. From the original post:

Last night's episode of The Simpsons had Bart seeing a psychologist to try and figure out what motivated him to tell a ghost story about a school lunchroom cook that beheaded and made soup from kids many years ago...

Bart initially resists the psychologist, so she feigns disinterest, saying that since she gets paid by the school either way, they might as well play videogames instead. What's the videogame? Why it's Death Kill City II: Death Kill Stories. The box art even mimics the style of Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories.

Bart proceeds to gleefully eradicate all of humanity in the videogame and the psychologist takes notes.

Huh, I remember The Simpsons being a lot funnier. Brian Ashcraft

Simpsons GTA Parody [Aeropause]

Even more Liberty City Stories goodies. Rockstar also sent us a short trailer. Man, those ovenmit hands are really starting to get on my nerves. Brian Crecente

With Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories bitch slapping the PS2 tomorrow, Rock* dropped us a healthy dose of new screens for the game. What do you think, worth the wait for it to make the jump from PSP to PS2? Brian Crecente

Rockstar Games Announces Release Date for Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories on PlayStation 2 [TakeTwo]

Many online retailers still show the end-of-April release date on their Web sites, but Eurogamer's Rockstar rep source says end-of-May at the earliest, but I'll suspect June. Hopefully, the title's budget release price ($20 less than the handheld version) will make up for it's absence (and lower quality graphics).

No PS2 Liberty City Stories for a while, says Rockstar [Eurogamer]

Lesson 1: Dodo 101 Simply fly the dodo through the checkpoints and land on the runway. Hitting a barrel, missing a checkpoint, or missing the runway will result in a failing grade.

Lesson 2: Turning Skills
Similar to lesson 1, only your objective is to bank the dodo left and right through the checkpoints, and land on the runway to complete.

Lesson 3: Accuracy
Accurately fly the dodo through the checkpoints, avoiding any barrels or glass.

Lesson 4: Speed
The lesson says it all - test your speed and see how fast you can complete the training lesson.

Liberty City Stories Flight School [PSP Hacks]

The portable version sold for $49.99, so it could mean that the PS2 version will sell for $10 less. Gamespot points out that some online reports put the price at $29.99 and says that even a $19.99 price is possible.

Personally, I don't see Rockstar dropping a new GTA title for under $20.

Liberty City Stories to be cheaper on PS2 [Gamespot]

Liberty City Stories for PSP [Amazon]

I received my copy of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories on Friday and let me tell you right now that so far it's one reason to buy the Playstation Portable. The driving controls are a little too loose for my taste, but Rockstar really managed to capture the controlled mayhem of the first game for the portable title.

Better still, the company just released details on how to customize your tracks for the game. Hop on over to the Liberty City Stories site to get the Rockstar Custom Tracks software and instructions and then have fun.

You can also download some wallpapers for your PSP.

Liberty City Stories [Official Site]

Who really plays through a Grand Theft Auto game? I just cheat my way through, unlock the weapons and run amok. Want to cheat your way through Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for PSP? Try these out during game play (no pause required):

$250,000 Press L1, R1, Circle, L1, R1, Circle, L1, R1
Full Armor Press L1, R1, Circle, L1, R1, X, L1, R1
Full Health Press L1, R1, X, L1, R1, Square, L1, R1
Raise Media Attention Press L1, Up, Right, R1, Triangle, Square, Down, X
Raise Wanted Level Press L1, R1, Square, L1, R1, Triangle, L1, R1

Send more cheats to tips@kotaku.com.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories [GamerHelp]

Rockstar sent some new screenshots and details out today about Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. They confirm that the PlayStation Portable game will include multiplayer for up to six players in seven different modes. Check out the website for some exclusive clips, screens and details.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories [Official Site]

After yanking GTA:San Andreas from shelves to remove the Hot Coffee sequence, Rockstar rereleased the Xbox and PC versions of the game sans mocha. The five Xbox owners who don't have the GTA: Double Pack are thrilled with the next release from Rockstar Games - GTA: The Trilogy, which includes GTA 3, GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas. The Trilogy is slated for release in October, the same month GTA: Liberty City Stories is expected to ship for PSP.

I wonder if the release of Liberty City Stories will see a rise in violent crime among the youth of America. Someone keep an eye out for us.

Belgium game seller DVD Zone 2 is listing Grand Theft Auto Liberty Cities as coming out on Oct. 15. The site also has a snazzy picture of the game's box art. Can't friggin wait.

Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories [DVD Zone 2, thanks benoit ]

PSM has an in-depth look at GTA: Liberty City Stories for the Playstation Portable and of course someone out there decided to transcribe the whole thing for the net, because God forbid we spend a couple of bucks to read it.

And now to be a hypocrite here's a few excerpts from the article:

Guns? Check. Carjacking? Check. A fully realized 3D world in which you are free to do pretty much anything you want, including meeting with shady characters who send you on missions of questionable legality? Check, check and check. Yep, this is GTA all right.

This GTA takes place in the Liberty City of GTA 3, but this time around you play as Tony Cipriani, the guy who handed out missions in 3.

Taking place three years before the events of GTA3, that's about 1998 or so, for those who dont want to do the math- Liberty City Stories follows Toni Cipriani as he moves up in the criminal world. While it may not seem like it, three years is alot of time, and there are bound to be some changes. For example, three years before Sex Club 7 became the place where Luigi (Joe Pantoliano) gave work to the mute GTA 3 protagonist, the strip club was called Paulie's Revue Bar.

The game sounds like it's packed with almost everything that we love about Rockstar games, no, that doesn't mean it's just really, really violent. Liberty City will be a truly open-ended game, feature tons of customization and lots of vehicles to jack.

According to the article, the game will support downloadable content, but Rockstar is still being tight lipped about whether it will offer up WiFi multiplayer.

GTA: LCS Unplugged [GTA Central]