As announced last week, today marks the release of Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories on the PSN Store, completing Rockstar Games' PS2 Classics collection on the PS3 - at least for the Grand Theft Auto franchise (other classic Rockstar titles are apparently forthcoming). Both games were originally released exclusively for the Sony PSP in 2005 and 2006 respectively, but were ported to the PS2 the following years.
 

From the dark, seedy and bustling streets of Liberty City's concrete jungle to the glamorous and hedonistic metropolis of Vice City in the 1980s. Two towns, each brimming with limitless delights and degradation, where anything can happen...

If you missed one of these two Stories when they first came out, or are ready to revisit Toni Cipriani's '98 rise to glory and Victor Vance's '84 tale of Vice - you can now pull them down digitally to your PS3.

 
PlayStation Store Links: 
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (USA / Europe) - .99 / €9.99 / £7.99
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (USA / Europe) - .99 / €9.99 / £7.99

For the second time in as many years, Rockstar Games have picked up the GamesRadar Handheld Game of the Year award for Vice City Stories, with 2006's of course going to Liberty City Stories.

If you own a PSP (or indeed a PS2) and are looking for something to pass the time until GTA IV, why not get Vice City Stories? Assuming you don't already have it.

You can read the full list of winners at C&VG.

After a long spell of exclusivity on Urge.com, Rockstar have finally released the soundtrack to Vice City Stories on iTunes. The announcement came in the R* Broadcast last night.

In honor of the recent PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system release of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, all eight music stations from the game's radio dial are now represented on iTunes via the Vice City Stories iMix Collection.
Visit the Music section at www.rockstargames.com/vicecitystories for more information

If you don't live in the US, iTunes will prompt you to change your store to the US version when you click on one of the links to the iMixes. Songs are priced at the usual {post}.99, while the 'albums' seem to be between and each depending on number of songs.

Link: Official Vice City Stories Website

Rockstar have made a small update to the official VCS website, adding a new PlayStation 2 section to the screens page. Seven shots have been posted, 5 of which are new. You can check out our gallery for more screenshots of the game, or click the thumbnails below to see the full size images.

The official site still has no word regarding the release of the soundtrack on iTunes, it is beginning to look like this won't actually happen now. We'll report more on that if we get any updates though.

IGN have today given us their thoughts on Vice City Stories for PS2, they seem to pick up on the fact that many of the bugs which plagued the PSP version are still apparent, though there are a few technical improvements, namely the framerate and graphics. Having said that, the game doesn't really take advantage of the PS2's stronger hardware.

IGN's review seems to take quite a negative stance on the game, however it concludes with more positive points, which thankfully outweigh the drawbacks. They gave the game 7.5 out of 10. In addition to the review, IGN also posted about 12 in-game screenshots which you can view by clicking the links below.

Link: IGN Review, IGN Screenshots