As many gamers play hooky so they can play Grand Theft Auto IV, critics of the video game are voicing their concerns. City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., who spoke out against the violent game that's set in NYC doppelganger Liberty City last year, told WCBS 2, "This game plays to old stereotypes about New York City. Today we're the safest big city in America, with the best police force. This game, if it was......

This afternoon, not only can you take out a book on perfecting your tennis backhand, you can work on your Wii Tennis backhand at the New York Public Library's Humanities and Social Sciences Library (the big one on Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street in Manhattan). The grand Astor Hall will be filled with Wii, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3 stations for its Game On @ The Library! program today at 4:00 p.m.--nothing like a......

A look at some of this week's noteworthy television: Spike TV's Video Game Awards 2007 (Sunday, 9:00 p.m., Spike TV) It is the fifth annual outing for this awards show for video games. Live From Lincoln Center: Red Hot Holiday Stomp (Monday, 8:00 p.m., WNET 13) Jazz at Lincoln Center is highlighted with this special hosted by Glenn Close. There will be a program of holiday music and jazz, plus it also features the broadcast......

So if you remember correctly, Grand Theft Auto IV, the New York City crime simulator, was supposed to be in stores by now. But between production delays and the million other great games this season to compete with, they decided to just push it back till next Spring and get it right. But just in case you've you've still got an itch for some Eastern European organized crime this holiday season, here's a brand......

Pitchfork-approved blog darlings Tokyo Police Club have spent the last year and change transitioning from flavor of the month boy band to reputable musicians with an enviable knack for short, hook-happy hits. On Thursday night these clever Canucks will have the chance to further extend their fan base when they perform at the “Woodie” Awards; they’re nominated for a “Breaking Woodie”. Broadcast on the 24-hour college network mtvU, the award show will feature performances by......

Last week marked the five year anniversary of the murder of Jam Master Jay, who was shot and killed at his studio in Queens the night before Halloween 2002. The slaying was one of many that went unspoken about by witnesses, all of whom follow the "no snitching" rule. However, The Daily News has just talked to someone who is breaking this absurd code of silence.Randy Allen, the iconic turntablist's longtime business partner, told the......

FR.OG and P*Ong, two perfectly good Manhattan restaurants that opened earlier this year, have names that independently invoke two classic arcade video games, Frogger and Pong. Now, as the fall openings season draws to a close and the votes for worst new restaurant name have been cast, we’d like to draw your attention to the most incredibly iconic new restaurant name in New York: It's that of Roclantic Eatery, a soul food and oil drum......

Well, Assemblyman Michael Benjamin of the Bronx thinks they do. He wants to make cupcakes the official NY State snack, as a way to foil various school districts' cupcake bans. Many schools have restricted the sugary delights of cupcakes over concerns about childhood obesity and diabetes. The Huntington School District in Long Island even banned sweets from bake sales. From the Huntington School District website, via Fox News:"It is the policy of the district that......

Jeremy Blake, an artist whose works have been shown at the Whitney and on Times Square's Jumbotron, is presumed to have killed himself by walking into the ocean at the Rockaways on Tuesday. On July 10, Blake discovered the body of his girlfriend, filmmaker Theresa Duncan, in their East Village apartment; he had planned to attend Duncan's memorial service, which is being held today. According to the NY Times reports that Blake was seen "taking......

FUNDRAISER: It's the 3rd Annual Summer, Sex and Spirits cocktail and shopping extravaganza. Planned Parenthood of New York City (PPNYC), in conjunction with Brooklyn Indie Market join forces for the fundraiser, "an evening of mixing and mingling with retail therapy!" There will be $4 drink specials, 1/2 price sangria pitchers, a deejay and a giveaway...we're also guessing everyone will walk away with at least one free condom. 5 to 8pm // Sugar [311 Church St]......

The New York Times has an interesting and somewhat melancholy article on the decline of street sports played by New York's children. Whereas there was once a time when adults had to bypass certain blocks while walking in their neighborhood, so as to not interrupt multiple games in play, a number of factors have contributed to the downfall of pastimes like stickball. Larger and less crowded apartments, both parents working, video games, air conditioning, fear......

The State Legislature's regular session is supposed to end today, but Governor Spitzer is trying to orchestrate a deal with something for everyone: Congestion pricing (which the State Senate seems to approve but the Assembly hates), campaign reform (Spitzer's pet project, which the Senate hates), and raises for lawmakers (which the Assembly and Senate love). The NY Times reports that despite Spitzer's attempts to seal a deal before this afternoon, "negotiations on a wide range......

When you visit Tao Lin's Reader of Depressing Books , you really get to know Tao Lin, which makes reading his debut novel, Eeeee Eee Eeee, a much more interesting affair because it goes from being a novel written by some guy to being a novel written by someone you know. And in this interview you'll get to know a little more about Tao Lin, and then you can read Tao's thoughtful and interesting post......

Ever wonder how some of Brooklyn's finest rockers live? Design Sponge takes a look at Les Savy Fav frontman, Tim Harrington's Williamsburg apartment...and it's definitely not what we expected! Perhaps more surprising than finding out Adrian Grenier insulated his Brooklyn home with jeans, is that Harrington's got great style. At least half of the credit goes to the Misses, Anna, who says of the unphotographed part of the apartment: "we have our DSQ office downstairs......

Sandwiched between Park Slope and Gowanus, along 4th Avenue, the Sheep Station bills itself as an Australian restaurant even if the bar seems to get the most attention. It has none of the kitschy video games, dated beer posters, or anything really that might muck up its design. It’s all straight lines and clean surfaces, and in that respect feels a little like Gothamist favorite Bocco Lupo in Cobble Hill. Like that enticing wine bar,......

There's a fine line between a parent reprimanding a child with punishment and assault. A Staten Island man was charged with assault and child endangerment after he admitted to rubbing a hot yellow pepper on his 11- and 8-year-old sons' naked bodies - including their genitals, including their faces. Why hot yellow peppers? The Staten Island Advance reports that the father, Ganganue Gonesh, explained to the police, "I use pepper to rub on their body......

Governor Spitzer outlined his agenda for the year, and besides tackling judicial pay raises and campaign reform, the governor also wants to target violent video games and movies. Hmm, could this be timed with the fall release of Grand Theft Auto IV, which is set in a NYC-like city? The Staten Island Advance reports Spitzer "wants to restrict access to these videos and games by children, similar to motion picture regulations which prohibit youths......

Add "Do you play video games?" to the list of questions you might want to ask your surgeon. The Archives of Surgery published a study that shows a strong relationship between video game skills and a surgeon's abilities with laparoscopic procedures. Reuters reports the study's findings show out of the 33 Beth Israel surgeons surveyed, the nine doctors who played video games at least 3 hours a week made "37 percent fewer errors, performed 27......

Before we begin, we'd like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family of James Kim. We are not, by any means, trying to discount that tragedy by juxtaposing posts about the Kims with more light-hearted posts. It's the nature of doing a compilation such as this one: we're trying to give a full slice of the goings-on in the Ist-a-Verse: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Londonist wants you to know where to......

Yesterday, one of the teenagers that mugged and terrorized people on a January 2005 night testfied that Rudy Fleming did not shoot Nicole duFresne by accident. Tatiana McDonald, who was 14 during the fatal mugging (she's now 16), told the court that the group of teens were bored after smoking marijuana and playing video games, so they decided "to start trouble." After trying to mug a man of his leather jacket and being scared away......

The Staten Island DA's office has made some ugly revelations in the murder of the Mexican immigrant Richard Salinas. The three teenagers who beat Salinas to death, only to rob him of $60, had decided to rob a Mexican man. ADA Alex Schapiro said of teens John Messiha, Daniel Betancourt, and Travis King, "The defendants were playing video games and decided to rob somebody. They wanted it to be a Mexican man and that's when......

Today, Matt Green and Don Badaczewski are attempting to break the record for riding the entire subway system in the least amount of time (the current record is 25 hours, 11 minutes). They are starting this morning at 6AM at Rockaway Park and ending on the 6 to Pelham Bay Park. How old are you? Where do you live? Matt is 26. He lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and works in Manhattan as a transportation......

Yes, a third grader! WABC 7 reports that a 10 year-old student was arrested - and handcuffed - yesterday after an incident at P.S. 116 in Bushwick. Per WABC: "...the female custodial worker reported that she felt the child rubbing his privates against her in the cafeteria, allegedly squeezing against her buttocks as she was emptying the trash." And apparently the NYPD is allowed to handcuff minors, no matter how young 10 years old may......

It’s almost April, do you know where your Broadway mega-shows are? Cate Blanchett and Hedda Gabler got things off to a smash start, and the rest of the big guns are revving up: Tarzan, Lestat , Julia Roberts in Three Days of Rain, Ali MacGraw and Julianna Margulies in Festen…and more. We’ll spare you (and ourselves) the wallet strain and the eye-rolling – there are plenty of worthy littler shows crying out to be seen.......

Just two weeks ago we were telling our friend to have his birthday party at Dave & Buster's. "There is no Dave & Buster's in the city," he said. Since we had never thought to go to the place, we didn't know...we just assumed this city would have one. For those who don't know, Dave & Buster's is an adult playground. Video games, virtual reality systems, skee ball and beer. Like recess served with spiked......

Todd Zuniga, Opium Magazine...

Okay, so awards shows have gotten out of hand. You’ve got the People’s Choice, the VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards, and now the Video Games Awards. Who really deserves props most? It’s that guy down on the street corner that you see every day, standing out in the freezing cold serving New Yorkers their food on the go. This November kicked off the Vendys, the new annual awards for New York City street vendors . Gothamist queued......

Has anyone played Project Gotham Racing 3 yet? We were watching TV and saw a commercial, with a car zipping past the Municipal Building. We then went to IGN, where they had screen captures like this one at the Manhattan Bridge! Project Gotham Racing seems like pure fantasy, no one is their right mind should be driving that fast in NYC. In fact, Gothamist can barely remember how drive. Hey, game developers, please create......

-According to his opinion piece in the News, Bloomberg is going to use his second term to change the way Judges are elected. -Alleged 'fireman pervert' Peter Braunstein was apparently out and about yesterday in Chelsea. -In case you hadn't noticed, or, uh, don't drive, today was the first day since "Pay to Pray" was repealed. -Maybe the bank is landmarked... maybe not. -The Times looks at New York in video games. -The next really......

Here we go again. It's probably just that with most of the news media's attention focused on Hurricane Rita metro reporters are trying to find an easy, catchy story, but to be honest Gothamist has very little patience for the non-story that is being set-up around the launch of True Crime: New York City. Let's review. The game company Activision has been working hard to muster up press for its new "True Crime:NYC" game,......