Rockstar Newswire

[Left: Max aiming with the Default option. Center: The expanded crosshairs displayed when choosing the Weapon Specific reticle. Right: No color change indicator is present when aiming over an enemy using the All White option.]

In Max Payne 3, there are three reticle settings you can choose from in the Gameplay Options Menu to suit your shooting and targeting preference.

The Default reticle is a subtle white dot on the center of the screen that changes red when you are aiming over an adversary. Additionally, each weapon type in Max Payne 3 has its own unique Weapon Specific reticle - Assault Rifles have a more traditional crosshair and Shotguns display the blast radius around the reticle. For an extra challenge, you can also choose an All White option that is similar to the default option, but doesn't change to red when you are over an enemy. 

A look at the three reticle options is above and you can also check out the different reticle displays in our Design & Technology Series video on Targeting and Weapons. To access the Reticle options in game, pause and enter the Settings Menu, and from there select the Gameplay option.

Max Payne 3 Game Tips:
Targeting and Additional Settings in Max Payne 3 | Getting Started

Today, you can download Max Payne 3: The Official Soundtrack on iTunes.

The original soundtrack for Max Payne 3 is composed by HEALTH, the L.A. noise band whose non-symmetrical sounds have garnered critical acclaim from the music press and fans around the world. Mixing their signature percussive undertones and synth effects, HEALTH has created a dark and driving soundscape that perfectly reflect Max’s blurred and frayed mental state. HEALTH discard conventional balanced compositions and inject their signature melancholy noise pop into a score that helps propel Max as he transitions between his dark present and tragic past, giving each their own distinctive feel, while staying true to the heavy atmosphere of the Max Payne series.

The Official Soundtrack also includes Emicida's "9 Circulos" as a special bonus track - a powerful and socially conscious original song created by the acclaimed Brazilian MC especially for Max Payne 3.

Full tracklisting:

1. SAMPA
2. SHELLS
3. PAINKILLER
4. BLASPHEMY
5. MAX NJ
6. TORTURE
7. MAX DOCKS
8. THE GIRL
9. MAX KILL
10. +90
11. FABIANA
12. MAX FAVELA
13. DEAD
14. GUNS
15. MAX PANAMA
16. THE IMPERIAL PALACE
17. 16 230
18. U.F.E.
19. COMBAT DRUGS
20. PILLS
21. FUTURE
22. MAX FINALE
23. BIRTH
24. SEVERIN
25. PAIN
26. TEARS
27. 9 Circulos (Bonus Track) – Emicida


Previously:
Download "MAX: THEME" by HEALTH Plus More Updates on the Max Payne 3 Original Soundtrack
 

Celebrate the release of Max Payne 3 with a brand new set of hi-res images captured straight from the game's action - ready for download as desktops, Twitter backgrounds, Facebook covers, buddy icons, avatars and mobile wallpapers.

The latest collection in the Action Series features Max far from home - infiltrating the lair of some dangerous suspects in São Paulo's favelas, gripping a dual-weld combo of a Micro 9mm and DE .50, and caught in the crossfires of an intense gunfight in a shot as seen in the game's Official Launch Trailer.

Pick up these and all of the backgrounds from the Max Payne Action Series at the official site's Downloads section or here at Rockstar Downloads.

INTERNATIONAL CREWS

With Max Payne 3 now on shelves across North America and Europe, we're seeing a virtual U.N. of killer CREWS lighting up the multiplayer leaderboards. Fighting for liberté, égalité et fraternité are the French Crew, who intend “Pour montrer a tous ce que nous valons” - to prove their worth to all. Over the border, the German Outlaws have amassed a force 20 strong and already have some experience points on the board; showing classic Germanic stoicism, they are prepared to “let the gun do the talking.” Further south, the Spanish Forces have a message for all Spanish-speaking Social Club members: "si entiendes esto, este es tu sitio! UNETE!". Meanwhile il Tricolore flys proudly for the Italians Inside whose motto makes their game plan clear: “bigger the guns, bigger the pain!”

PRIVATE CREWS MAKING NOISE ON THE BOARDS

One international Crew is already proving to be a talking point on the Xbox 360 Max Payne 3 multiplayer leaderboards: with 28 members, French Crew Payne Capitale currently the highest placed private Crew on the Deathmatch leaderboards and 3rd Overall. Also impressive is Ten Knobs Crew, who with just 15 members, have taken to Payne Killer as their multiplayer game mode of choice and are currently showing as #27 in the worldwide Xbox 360 leaderboards. Proving the courage of their convictions, the New York City Kings are a tight-knight Crew of 5 and are placing a very respectable #40 as of now on the worldwide Team Deathmatch boards (and their Feud win percentage ain’t too shabby either at 71% of the time of writing). They say they are "looking for serious members only who will practice regularly and compete" - so if the shoe fits, hit 'em up…

Over on the PS3 leaderboards, Pick Your Poison and Pro Kill You are jostling for position to make a mark as esteemed private Crews cracking the overall top ten. With similar membership numbers currently in the 110s and similar XP, currently Pro Kill You is showing at #9 whilst Pick Your Poison are just behind at #10. While there have been no in-game Feuds yet between those two, we’re looking forward to the carnage when they eventually meet each other in Team Deathmatch. The brilliantly-named T BAGGIN YO MOMS are proving to be a force to be reckoned with amongst PS3 playing Crews, with the DireWolvesOfWinter also sniffing around the worldwide top 40 of Payne Killer and the top 20 of the Overall PS3 leaderboards. Elsewhere United Killers Inc, led by the tireless Soopaman_2k,  are representing well at #25 as of writing on the Deathmatch leaderboards - and we'd be remiss not to shout this troop that caught our eye in the top 50 there: the CBWA aka CAREBEARSWITATTITUDE.

FAVORITE EMBLEMS

The CAREBEARS have managed to match their Deathmatch prowess with their Emblem-making skills, creating one of our favorites on the site this week - when Ice Cube meets the Care Bears, everybody wins. Others include Rodsta94’s hilarious grouchy cartoon Mexican which will represent the Fansite Banditos (led by our homeboy SimpsonsFan007 from Team Xbox) around the site and in the game. Westley’s Crew have taken inspiration from an unlikely source, the 80's fairy tale The Princess Bride, in theming their Crew - complete with an impressive likeness of Inigo (“…you killed my father. Prepare to die.”) Montoya in their emblem. Two Crews acknowledging the city settings of the Max Payne series, NYC Soldiers and Sao Paulo’s Finest have thrown up some truly intimidating artwork to inspire fear into their foes online, while enemies of BasedGod will be reaching for the 3D glasses to get the full effects of their gallery of floating castles and chimpanzees.

DEADLY DUOS

Rather than use mad emblem skills to recruit a swarm of followers, some Crews out there have elected to keep their member list ultra-exclusive - opting for a Tango-and-Cash, Starsky-and-Hutch, Cagney-and-Lacey type approach to online warfare. The Gruesome Twosome have closed out their recruiting policy at (you guessed it) just two members, and have designed a pretty special emblem to honor their duet of death. Meanwhile, the enigmatic insist has taken a full week to warm to such ideas as teamwork and comradeship, taking a full week to recruit the second member of his clipboard-wielding crew of safety fanatics, the Risk Assessors.

OFWGKTA CREW

Finally, those following us on Twitter may have seen a surprise session on Thursday held with the OFWGKTA CREW aka Odd Future. Tyler the Creator, Taco, and L-Boy (who are Taynard, TacoTakesDumps, and JilScott at Social Club respectively) from OF swung by Rockstar HQ to throw down in some Max Payne 3 FFA and Team Deathmatch as seen in the snaps below. Golfwangers can apply for membership in the official OFWGKTA Crew at http://socialclub.rockstargames.com/crew/ofwgkta_crew. Stay tuned as we'll be hosting many more of these impromptu Max Payne 3 CREW sessions with friends of Rockstar all throughout the summer and beyond - follow us on Twitter to make sure you get the word.




Stay tuned for next week's Featured Crews report as we're keeping a close eye on the rivalries of Crews-to-beat 911 NYC and PCC Crew amongst many others...

Previously:
Enlistment Roundup: The First Days of CREWS at the New Rockstar Social Club

As part of our commitment to support the Max Payne 3 Multiplayer community all summer long and beyond, we're eager to hear your direct feedback on anything and everything based on these first few days of international online action. As with any good online multiplayer experience, we'll be continuing to fine tune and balance aspects of the game based on player feedback and based on constant analysis of online metrics. We will be using your input as valuable information to help steer tuning updates we will be making on the fly as well as the content and priority of our title updates and elements of our DLC Packs currently in development.

To have your voice heard - simply fire an email off to MaxFeedback@rockstargames.com. Cheers everyone.

On the heels of the game’s release in North America just a few days ago, European and Australian players can now experience the balletic gunplay, twisted noir-style narrative and Max Payne’s iconic Bullet Time® and Shootdodge™ moves, as Max Payne 3 is now available throughout Europe and Australia.

That means it's time for our European and Australian fans to start feuds with rival Crews at the Social Club and join players from across the gamut of Rockstar Studios worldwide for this weekend's slate of Max Payne 3 Multiplayer Events.

For more on Max Payne 3, including official trailers and other features, visit the official site at www.rockstargames.com/maxpayne3.

*** THANK YOU: This weekend's debut Social Club Multiplayer Events for Max Payne 3 have concluded, but there are a lot more in store. Join us next weekend Friday May 25th at 11AM - 2PM Eastern on Xbox LIVE, and Saturday May 26th from Noon - 3PM Eastern on PSN. We'll have more great giveaways, plus the live-stream, chat, leaderboards and more. Stay tuned also for announcement of who won our first pairs of customized CREWS controllers soon.

Get ready for the very first of many official Max Payne 3 Social Club Multiplayer Events lined up, kicking off this weekend in grand fashion - this Friday May 18th from 4-7PM Eastern on PSN and this Saturday May 19th from 1-4PM Eastern on Xbox LIVE (with many more dates to follow into June and to be announced all summer long and beyond).

This is your first chance to rally your CREW to face off with and against the ROCKSTAR CREW of Max Payne 3 developers from Rockstar Studios worldwide on the live streamed broadcast (now with a double-stream as announced last week). For the first time ever, there is now a special in-game Social Club Multiplayer Event Playlist that you'll see in your Multiplayer menu of playlists active only during the scheduled event times. Just jump into that playlist to look for the Rockstar Crew (Gamertags and IDs below) in lobbies or to start your own game - there's also now a Social Club Event Leaderboard for players and CREWS to show and prove at each event.  

Plus we're giving away a truly unique special grand prize - on both Friday and Saturday during event hours, we'll have a sweepstakes open at the Event page to enter to win a pair of PS3 or Xbox 360 controllers customized with your ID and your CREW emblem. These bad boys will be blacked out, hand-painted with a serious matte black finish and solid black buttons and your CREW emblem proudly tailored on. 10 runners-up each day will also win a Max Payne 3 Prize Pack with an official tee, bullet keychain, pill box and deluxe sticker pack.

You can also join the live Social Club chat on the Events page to spectate, comment on the action, and talk about your favorite Max Payne 3 moments and modes. The Social Club chat has also been enhanced with new features to show which of your Social Club Friends are logged in so you can call out your mates and Crew members at will.
 

GAMERTAGS AND IDs
Official Rockstar players are marked with a special visible in-game dog tag logo:

• MaxPayneDev1
• MaxPayneDev2
• MaxPayneDev3
• MaxPayneDev4
• MaxPayneDev5
• MaxPayneDev6
• MaxPayneDev7
• MaxPayneDev08
• MaxPayneDev9
• MaxPayneDev10
• MaxPayneDev11
• MaxPayneDev12
• MaxPayneDev13
• MaxPayneDev14
• MaxPayneDev15
• MaxPayneDev16

And don't forget that in addition to our live streaming scheduled Social Club events, members of Rockstar Studios worldwide will be online playing Max Payne 3 Multiplayer every single day through June 15th - a non-stop month of Max Payne 3 Multiplayer with the folks who all helped create the game itself. We'll be playing about 2-3 hours each day with devs from Leeds, Lincoln, London, New England, New York, North, San Diego, Toronto and Vancouver taking turns to show you how it's done on both consoles seven days a week (and on the PC version beginning May 29th).

Make sure you're following us on our Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Steam (for PC) pages to get the word each day of exactly when we're loading up, Loading Out and heading into Gang Wars, Payne Killer, Team Deathmatch and FFA Deathmatch along with info of which Gamertags/IDs we're using for that day.
 

Yesterday, we debuted our first entry in the Rockstar Game Tips for Max Payne 3 with an eye toward the game's various difficulty settings. Today, we've got a brief overview of some additional options you may want to tweak to customize and optimize your Max Payne 3 experience:

Targeting: In single player you can select between three targeting settings – Hard Lock, Soft Lock and Free Aim – either just after selecting New Game from the Main Menu or by selecting  Settings > Gameplay > Targeting from the Pause menu. In multiplayer, you can select between Soft Lock and Free Aim mode prior to entering a playlist. You will only play against other players using the same setting to ensure a level playing field. In private matches this can be set in match settings.

• Hard Lock: When aiming, reticle will be strongly guided to focus on enemies
• Soft Lock: When aiming, reticle will be lightly guided towards enemies
• Free Aim: Target assist is deactivated

Controls: You can choose between four control configurations by selecting Settings > Controls either from the Main Menu or the Pause menu. From this menu you can also adjust the aiming speed and acceleration, invert the vertical and horizontal aiming axes, and enable Southpaw, which switches movement to the right stick and aiming to the left stick on your controller.

Display: The Display area of the Setting menu allows you to adjust the brightness and contrast of the game’s visuals, as well as enable or disable both subtitles and the visual effects activated when Max enters Bullet Time.

Audio: The Audio area of the Settings menu lets you adjust the volume of the game’s music and sound effects independently. You can also select between various Output setting based whether you are playing the game using headphones, stereo speakers or a surround sound rig.
Note: Output settings visible to you may vary based on your audio set-up.