Gridskipper

The GTA IV remix of Brooklyn includes a Navy Yard and a faux Prospect Park. The "Broker" name makes me suspect if they've included the uber-yuppie neighborhoods of Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights or hipsterified… Williamsburg — I know those are the first places where I'd want to go on a mindless video-game killing spree. [link]

Brighton Beach is Brooklyn's mob-infested Russian ghetto. The plot in GTA IV involves an Organizatsiya war, so it's safe to say this area of Liberty City will play a prominent role in the game. The name "Hove Beach" is reportedly a play on "Brighton & Hove," the British City that gave Brighton Beach its name. [link]

The GTA IV version of the Bronx is called "Bohan." The leaked map mentions "girls in scuffed stilettos on the street corners at Chase Point." This is probably a reference to the streetwalkers in Hunts Point made… famous in the great early 90's HBO documentary "Hookers on the Point." [link]

"Alderney" is the area to the west of Liberty City in GTA IV. Originally I thought Alderney might be a stand-in for upstate New York since "Alderney" sounds like "Albany" and the map says its main feature is a correctional… facility. But the map also says this area is home to "women with big hair and men with tight t-shirts," so this has to be Jersey. [link]

Liberty City harbor is home to a small island that features the "Statue of Happiness." After 9/11, you can't climb into the real Statue of Liberty anymore, but I hope the characters in the game can make the trek… up to the "Statue of Happiness'" crown. That would be an awesome place for some sniper action. [link]

Dukes?!?! Queens?!?! Royalty!?!? Get it?!?! Funny stuff. Like the real Queens in New York, Dukes is home to an abandoned World's Fair and Liberty City's airport. Dukes also has a modern art museum called "NUCA,"… which is a nod to Queens' recent role as temporary home to the Museum of Modern Art, and possibly PS.1. [link]

One of the coolest new features planned for GTA IV is a working subway system. There are 7 subway lines servicing 25 stations in "all four boroughs" of Liberty City. Hopefully they didn't forget to include underground mole people and gigantic sewer rats in the tunnels. [link]

In GTA IV you can get your character drunk, and Dukes has its own beer garden just like … the real Queens! Really you couldn't have a video game about Russians without including the ability to get smashed. It's good to see that the Rockstar folks haven't bowed to political pressure and taken their trademark ethnic stereotyping out of the Grand Theft Auto Series. [link]

Manhattan Island is called "Algonquin" in GTA IV. The Grand Theft Auto games are a celebration of theft, so I imagine this is a tribute to the Indian tribes who had Manhattan jacked from them. [link]

The Cyclone at Astroland Amusement Park is going to be a feature in GTA IV. That sounds like it has a lot of potential for cool mini-games and assassination missions. The real Astroland in Coney Island will be open… once again this summmer, but after that, its future is up in the air. Developers plan to take over the area to build a theme park and luxury hotel. [link]