Rockstar Newswire

As we get ready to announce our new lineup of Winter Calendar multiplayer dates later this week, here's a look back at all of the Bullet Timing, Shootdodging, TDM-ing and Gang Warring action that went down in our recent October Max Payne 3 sessions which included Social Club members getting an exclusive first crack at unlocking ghoulish, intimidating new Max Payne 3 skull avatars. We'll also of course have a roundup soon of the current November sessions of Red Dead, GTAIV and Max including a recap of the bloodshed from last Friday's epic doubleheader.

Early on, our very own MaxPayneDev3 and MaxPayneDev1 teamed up on PC with a few warm-up games of Gang Wars. In the Bus Depot, Dev3 was thrown into an intense battle for turf as players swarmed around a checkpoint in the broken down buses. The RPG proved to be the perfect weapon to aim at the disputed land, as Dev3 took out swaths of attackers, including ATM779, Shape_shifter and samo1980 in a single shot. Despite Ardistel sniping from the roof of the central warehouse and Sleepeur dual-wielding a deadly PT92 and 1911 pistol combo, the Devs' team held on to take the round. In consecutive games of Assassination, both teams were able to take down their intended targets; Dev3 managed to take out Ardistel, asdjagfjk and Bundeswehr43365 in yet another triple multi-kill with the RPG. Finally, after taking a round of Total Turf, the Devs' team entered the final Showdown with a 6 point lead. In a mad, scrappy fight for survival, the Dev team held on their advantage and took a Feud win from the Payne Killers Crew as well for good measure.

With Klaabu_Kosmoses in support, MaxPaynDev3 takes aim at ATM779, Shape_shifter and asdjagfjk with the RPG.

Below, you can watch ShenmueSaga’s full video of our event, capturing MaxPayneDev1’s performance as streamed live on the Social Club Multiplayer Events page. Check out the last hour of the event to see Dev1 venture out of the Social Club playlist and into the Branco Headquarters for an intimate game of Payne Killer. Fleeting alliances were made and broken as Dev1 worked with those on hand to take down Max and Passos and then to survive as them. Dev1's tactic of using grenades to suppress the special Characters and the M500 shotgun to follow up at close-range proved effective to remain in contention. Alexander.Cooler combined a Grenade Launcher with melee attacks to join Dev1's Passos as Max - and the two worked together to take out LukePein and Radamel. Ultimately, Alexander.COOLer was able to take victory in the game, finishing well on top of the leaderboards. Kudos.

The full recording of Dev1 uploaded to YouTube by ShenmueSaga.

In the last game of the day, it was every man for himself up on the Hoboken Rooftops (part of the free Disorganized Crime Pack download). MaxPayneDev1, playing as the Mona Sax avatar, headed into the cold New Jersey night with the trusty mini-30 and a few grenades to pick out the campers. While Alexandreas was able to score a few easy kills using the Booby Trap Item, Dev1 had some success thanks to the range and accuracy of the mini-30 in picking out opponents amongst the rooftops. After DieterKrass, playing as Max Payne's other femme fatale, Fabiana Branco, blasted his way into the lead with the 1911 and DE .50, Dev1 fought back into contention with a couple of tidy triple-kill streaks. However, Vitek9811's ruthlessness with the dual wield bull 608s was ultimately enough to win the game. 

MaxPayneDev1 and his team move in on a checkpoint in the Favelas.

It was great to see the CounterAlkisOnTour Crew show up in force on PC and rocking a fantastic new emblem, as well as some newer Crews such as Brazil's Tropa De Exterminio. The esteemed Pro and Deadly Crew were again on form, with members taking four of the top five spots in a Deathmatch in the Docks with Dev3, and eventually doing the same in the overall leaderboard. The Devs also picked out DispersedTrack8, h0bbSend, Stobakahn, Alexandreas, and Delta_squad as some of the top players that they faced on PC; oVolDRAMAloVo and Kcpilch31 stood out on Xbox. Congrats as well to the sweepstakes winners who each scored a Rockstar Prize Pack of tees and stickers - including Shelece, Chronicpyro209, DravinClaw, GrandComet and KennyB3000

A couple weeks later, on October 26th, we celebrated Halloween properly with a special chance for attending Social Club members to unlock ghoulish Halloween skull avatars. We also rolled out Day Of The Dead skulls as a bonus for of our veteran Founder Crews (Crews created before May 15th 2012). It was awesome to see five of them represented in one game of Gang Wars in the Favelas. MaxPayneDev1 fought alongside Mars Defence Force Crew as the Commando Sombra, while the UFE contained several members of Slaughterhouse, an enemy we know far too well after falling prey to them in one of our previous Crew vs Dev challenges. The UFE also contained members of Founder Crews Foxhound Unit and NYC Bloodpack. This fearsome combination was enough to take the UFE to a clean sweep through the five game modes.

Tail between legs, Max PayneDev1 headed to the Hoboken Alleys to take part in a good old fashioned passionate ass-whipping in Team Deathmatch. Dev1 prepped the Social Club exclusive chrome-tinted M82 A1 sniper rifle which proved to be unstoppable down the snowy alleyways, going on an eight-kill streak to launch the De Marcos into a 14-7 lead. By the halfway point though, it was tied up at 48-48, as a beasting mayhem0g almost singlehandedly pulled the Punchinellos back into contention. With Gtrfrk87 also suppressing Dev1's team with a sniper rifle and later the RPG, the scores remained tight right up to the final minute. However unknownfarmer196's fantastic 27 kills for 8 deaths were able to win the day for The De Marcos. Props also to Sergioasd and Yimlet of American Most Wanted Crew who worked in tandem to finish 2nd and 4th respectively.

DarkSlayer396 dons the Demonic skull mask and lays waste to our Dev

MaxPayneDev2, also playing Free Aim, went for a foray into the smoky corridors of the 55th Battalion Precinct HQ, one of our Local Justice DLC maps. It was every man for himself as 20 players ran riot. Expecting to take some heat, Dev2 equipped a flak jacket and M4 assault rifle for the violent skirmish. Unfortunately, it was a slow start for our Dev, taking just 3 kills in the first three minutes, while Bullets BSM racked up a cool 20 kills in the same timeframe. Perhaps finding the going too easy, Bullets BSM left the precinct for more of a challenge, thrusting greatness upon xGODxAceVAMP who held on to take an easy victory. Prizewinners from the October 26th event were oVolDRAMAloVo, D.E.L.B, xDutchNLx, Rockstar_Vienna and FATMAN. Congratulations to all!

Keep an eye out for recaps of our November events, including last Friday's Red Dead Redemption / Max Payne 3 doubleheader. We'll also be unveiling the official Winter Events Calendar in the days ahead and remember to lookout for continuing grudge match throwdowns between our Dev Crew and some of the sharpest Crews on Social Club , broadcast on our TwitchTV page. If you and your Crew would like to challenge us to a fight in Max online, give a shout via the new address we've set up exclusively for these battles at crewchallenges@rockstargames.com. Make sure to include your Crew name, platform, number of players, preferred availability as well as time zone.

Finally here's a roll call of all attendees of our October event attendees according to our records: