Rockstar Newswire

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.

Yesterday marked not only the date of the official release of Max Payne 3 here in the states but also the release of HEALTH's hypnotic and powerful Soundtrack single "TEARS" on iTunes. Today, we've got more Soundtrack treats for you all as we gear up for Max Payne 3's international release kicking off on Friday.

Starting with a special free download for Max Payne fans everywhere, the "MAX: THEME" by HEALTH as heard above - their faithful, haunting rendition of the signature Max Payne theme as heard in the Max Payne 3 Launch Trailer (and teased in this in-studio behind-the-scenes clip).

We've also launched the Soundtrack feature page at the Max Payne 3 Official Website this week with more audio and info for everyone including an audio snippet of another pounding percussive track from the Soundtrack by HEALTH, "COMBAT DRUGS" (heard in Official Trailer #2). You can also read up on some new details about other music that underscores the Max Payne 3 story - from the original Trouble & Bass DJ Mix heard during the game's fateful Nightclub sequence (stay tuned for a special mixtape release of that mix soon) to the gritty and soulful sounds of celebrated contemporary blues guitarist Gary Clark Jr that are heard during the Hoboken Bar sequence, a violent turning point in Max's life.

The Max Payne 3 Official Soundtrack will be available digitally next week, Tuesday May 23rd featuring all original music from the score as composed by HEALTH, including "TEARS" as well as the bonus track "9 Círculos" by Emicida. Stay tuned for full tracklist info by Tuesday - and also keep an eye out on the Rockstar Twitter feed for the release of a special "US To BR" Remix of Emicida's "9 Círculos" later this week.
 

With Max Payne 3 hitting shelves around the world this week for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, here's a starter edition of our Rockstar Game Tips series for Max Payne 3 to help you easily get into the game and start Bullet Timing® and Shootdodging™ your way to 100% glory. And look for many more Game Tips to come throughout the summer - including an overview on basic targeting and other options later  this week plus some pro tips and tricks from our in-house Multiplayer experts and much more later on.

Difficulty settings: The Max Payne 3 Story can be played at five difficulty settings that can be adjusted on the fly and provide varying levels of challenge as follows:

• Easy: Increased Health and Bullet Time® Rewards. A satisfying challenge
• Medium: Moderate Health and Bullet Time Rewards. A stiff challenge
• Hard: Low Health and Bullet Time Rewards. A real test
• Hardcore: Minimal Health and Bullet Time rewards. Very challenging
• Old School: Last Man Standing is disabled.

Medium is the default setting for all - so you can start the game and decide from there on the fly whether you'd like to adjust your difficulty for more of a challenge or an easier go as you play.

Easy and Medium settings feature dynamic difficulty which provides access to extra painkillers to help you pass particular parts of the game if you've died repeatedly. On Easy and Medium settings, when you die at a checkpoint, you restart the checkpoint with at least one full magazine of ammo in each gun (except grenade launchers) and the number of painkillers that you started with. For every three times you die at a checkpoint, you get one extra painkiller. So if you started a checkpoint with 2 painkillers, and died 3 times, on each subsequent retry of that checkpoint, you'd start with 3 painkillers.  If you died 3 more times (6 total), you'd start with 4 painkillers on each subsequent restart.  On Easy and Medium, this can continue until you are respawning with a full 9 painkillers.

On the Hard setting, there is also dynamic difficulty however it is intentionally much more limited to ensure a tougher go. On Hard, if you die 5 times, you will get a bonus painkiller on subsequent respawns, and if you've died 10 times, you can get one more. However, it will never give you bonus painkillers that make your total go above 2. So if you started a checkpoint with 1 painkiller and died 5 times, you'd start with 2; but if you died 5 more times (10 total), you would not get an extra - you would continue to respawn with 2. Likewise, if you start a checkpoint with 3 painkillers, you would never get a bonus painkiller in Hard mode.

Hardcore and Old School modes are unlocked by beating the Story on Hard difficulty.

There are just a few basics on how to tailor the experience to your skill level – shout in Comments or shoot us a mail directly at mouthoff@rockstargames.com with any other questions about getting started with the game.

Further Reading:
Crew Up - A beginner's guide to creating and joining Crews
Social Club - An introduction to the Max Payne 3 Social Club features