When you're sneaking around past goons, at one point you can hear two of them referring to inventing computer games:
- "I was watching cartoons on the television and I was thinking, it would be great it you could control the cartoon, make him run around, drive a car and even shoot a gun"
- "Just how would you do that then wise guy?"
- "I dunno, I supposed you'd have a box with buttons on it you'd have to push"
In the mission "Buzzsaw", Joe made a comment about Vito being able to heal so quickly while they were on their way to bring Henry to El Greco. This is a clear reference to the game's regenerating health system, which restores a player's health back to normal despite being hit by bullets several times.
Whilst you are driving in game, you hear multiple references from the radio about the "new" amazing product coming out, the tape recorder. They comment on how "you can record moving pictures and watch them later."
In the mission where you are taking Henry to your boss, Vito mentions that being apart of a family beats being a taxi driver. Thomas "Tommy" Angelo, the protagonist of the first game, was a taxi driver before joining the Mafia.
Throughout the in-game radio broadcasts you hear humorous references to new products and ideas which we take for granted nowadays. These include "credit cards", "atomic energy" "the tape recorder" and "portable telephones".