Rockstar Newswire

Now that both the Max Payne 3 Hostage Negotiation and Painful Memories DLC packs are out in the wild (get the full lowdown here and here in case you missed them) we've been checking out how the best players in the community use the new Bursts, weapons and Loadout Items to their advantage. Taking this into account, along with input from the top players at our dev studios, here's our tips on how to make the most of your arsenal.

The M24 is the first bolt-action sniper rifle in the game and provides impressive stopping power at long range for those accurate enough to wield it. We recommend equipping the Supressor to mask its distinctive sound and protect your position, even though that slightly impairs the range.

The IA2 AR is one of the most powerful and accurate assault rifles in Max Payne 3 multiplayer, and it's best used to keep enemies at bay from around mid-range. While it's fire rate means it not as efficient up-close, you may want to consider a punchy side-arm like the Sawn-off or the 608 Bull for those intimate encounters.

The UAR-21 is a good all-round assault rifle with a particularly fearsome fire rate that makes it more effective up close than some others. However, that does mean you're going to get through plenty of ammunition so we recommend adding the Extended Mag attachment, along with the Barrel Upgrade and Gas Systems kit if you can spare the Loadout weight.

Highly accurate across mid to long-range and with plenty of ammunition in reserve, the IMG 5.56 is a solid choice for those large, open maps like Canal De Panamá and New Jersey Cemetery.

Hit the jump for some tips and strategies on how to utilize the new Bursts and Items from both packs.

New Crew outfits rock your squad's emblem boldly and proudly - here as modeled by our own Rockstar Dev Crew. Click click.

NEW SOCIAL CLUB CREW OUTFITS UNLOCKED

Any ragtag group of mercenaries can take up arms and face a common enemy, but no truly great army is complete without a uniform that binds them together. The fiercest street gangs and warriors of the world have always been careful to unite under a visual identity, both for practical purposes of avoiding friendly fire and for the pride of knowing that you fight for a cause.

Now, you and your Crewmates can look united on the battlefield - and strike fear in your opponents when they see you coming ("Oh no, not THEM!") - with these new Crew outfits for members of Social Club that will display your Crew's emblem loud and proud right on your chestpiece. You may have already noticed the Crew Jacket available to male avatars in the De Marcos faction; now we are releasing an outfit for every faction, including all the DLC groups and two unique Crew outfits for the UFE.

In the picture above, members of our own Rockstar Games Dev Crew stalk through the favelas rocking the Rockstar Emblem with pride. To access your new Crew gear, head into the Avatars section of the in-game Multiplayer Arsenal menus and explore the Torso options for your avatars, both male and female.

This past Saturday's Max Payne 3 Social Club Multiplayer Crew Event was a virtual - and bloody - fashion show of Emblem gear on parade, featuring 3XP as well as the skull mask unlocks. Good to see everyone in the matches and in the chatroom.

SAY HELLO TO OUR LITTLE FRIENDS

In honor of the launch of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for iOs and Android devices, this week on the Crew Cut we take a look at the Crews who themselves pay thematic homage to the glitz, glamor, gangsters and guns of eighties Vice City - disciples of Tommy Vercetti, Love Fist groupies and more.

The Vercettis Crew's ("Remember the name") awesome portrait of Tommy and his signature tropical shirt was originally featured in one of the very first Crew Cuts, but below left is a pretty sweet pattern version that seems apt for Crew Emblem use and should look particularly stylish on the new Crew outfits unlocked. A very nice abstraction with some of Vercetti's favorite tools of the trade mixed in with the flora and fauna. The best Rockstar character resort wear piece we've seen since this Max Payne emblem back in the second ever edition of the Crew Cut. Another Crew returning to the Cut this week, Sons Of GTA, have a plethora of impressive emblems dedicated to Vice City among other games in the GTA series. We particularly like the attention to detail in their recreation of the Vice City logo, which is nigh-on perfect - no easy feat. This esteemed 231-member Crew have Accomplishments including Membership IV, Feuds I (73 feud wins) Solidarity III (over 1,000 Crew assists), and more - so we can only imagine how hard they're going to go once it comes time for the first Grand Theft Auto title supporting Crews. One to watch - or align yourself with if you're a currently Crew-unaffiliated GTA fan.  

Rewind Crew certainly get in the spirit with their claim to be “droppin’ bodies like an 80's drug addiction" and they seem to be able to back up that braggadocio. With 674 wins, the Crew sports a 65% Feud win percentage and are ranked no.1 on the Xbox LIVE leaderboards for Crews with 6-20 members. This Crew have had this awesome rendition of the Vice City Martini girl seen below left as their emblem ever since their foundation in late May of this year - it ain't broke, why fix it? The Vice Crew, in name, emblem and notable member LanceVance225, are clearly devotees of VC. This tight-knit group of four has a 71% win percentage and Accomplishments such as Legend I, having finished as the top Crew 20 times in online multiplayer game modes. We love their emblem, with an economic and powerful use of color depicting some essential elements of Vice City - palm trees, brass knuckles, and a trusty pistol. The Vercetti Estate Crew might need to improve their win percentage (26%) but we like the use of the Vercetti Family insignia in their regal looking emblem, and credit these guys for having a loyal gang of 224 members. Accomplishments include but are not limited to Solidarity IV (over 2500 Crew assists) and XP V (over 25,000,000 accumulated as a Crew). 

There are also a few smaller Crews devoted to Vice City - here's hoping that the mobile launch of their favorite iteration of the GTA series will spur some recruitment. For starters, we have a Crew named after Vice City's beloved hair metal band, Love Fist. It's clear from some of our recent GTAV artwork that the Love Fist fandom still runs strong all over the world to this day. Time to give Dick, Willy, Percy and Jezz the love they deserve and sign up to represent this powerful logo. Vice City Resident's crest is another great example of emblem editors being inspired by the themes of Vice City to create a simple but memorable brand for their Crew. They have fought a meager three Feuds between the 15 of them, but with an emblem like this it's time to get back out on the battlefield and get better known. The Vice Hotline Crew threw everything at their emblem to create a psychedelic splash of color. The Crew's motto claims they represent for "Strength in Numbers", which is only slightly awkward in that that they only have one member - a clear Vice fan who is also a card-carrying member of the aforementioned Vercetti Estate. Hey ZCRAZE, we hope this helps get some new recruits on the roster!

We'll be back soon with some updated recaps of all our recent Rockstar Crew versus private Crew throwdowns as well as more of the awesome emblems that you guys have been creating and publishing around Social Club. 

On top of the thrill of experiencing the sights and sounds of Vice City on your mobile or tablet, the 10th Anniversary Edition of the game - now available for iOS and Android devices - has a wide array of control customization options to ensure your play experience is as smooth as Vercetti's wardrobe. Some of these options were introduced last year in the GTAIII 10^th Anniversary mobile release and some are new or enhanced for Vice City. Here's a quick rundown of these options and beneath that you can find a full guide to the control settings that can be accessed and tailored from the Main Menu by tapping on Options > Controls:

• Enhanced Free Look Camera Control: You can now touch the center of the screen (anywhere that isn't occupied by a button icon) and drag in any direction to rotate the camera a full 360° around Tommy.
• Positionable Chase Camera: You can finely adjust the distance between the Camera and Tommy by pinching in and out from the center of the screen.
• Tap to Shoot: With this activated, you can tap anywhere on the right-hand third of the screen (not just on the designated button icon) to fire off a round of your selected weapon.
• 1st Person Auto Aim: When activated, this option gives you a subtle nudge in the right direction when using scoped weapons such as the sniper rifle or the rocket launcher.
• Running Jump: To make Tommy jump, double tap on the 'Run' button icon.

View Controls: During gameplay, various buttons are displayed on-screen, with each triggering an action depending on the situation. Each action has its own icon, and this screen is your legend for those icons (also pictured below). They're all in one place for easy reference.

Adjust On Foot Controls: This lets you fully customize exactly where each of the button icons, and HUD elements such as the mini-map, appear on the screen when you're on foot. Simply touch and drag each item to wherever you want it to be and double tap each item to resize it. They'll appear exactly where you placed them the next time you play and don't worry: nothing is final, so feel free to experiment until you're comfortable.

Adjust Driving Controls:  Just like the above, touch and drag to position the button icons that appear while driving, and double tap icons to resize. These don't need to be consistent with your on foot controls, so feel free to mix it up completely if that's what you're comfortable with.

Adjust Flight Controls: This should be self-explanatory by now – all you need to do is touch and drag the button icons that appear while flying and double tap to resize.

Use Analog Steering: When on foot, you control movement by holding anywhere on the left-hand third of the screen that isn't occupied by a button icon. Wherever you thumb will become the center-point of a virtual digital analog stick and you can drag in all directions to move around accordingly. If you'd also like to use this method to control steering while driving (as opposed to the default method that has two button icons for left and right) then set this option to 'On'.

Accelerometer: With this option selected, you can control steering while driving by tilting the actual device left and right (provided of course your device supports this feature).

Left Handed Analog: This instantly flips your current control scheme setup (think of it as creating a mirror image) and is a great quick option for left-handed players.

Invert Look: While aiming down the scope of certain weapons like the sniper rifle and the rocket launcher, this option allows you to invert the y-axis.

Tap to Shoot: Particularly useful in gunplay-focused missions, this option allows you to tap anywhere on the right-hand third of the screen (or the left-hand third of the screen if you have 'Left Handed Analog' set to 'On')  to fire, and not just on the appropriate button icon.

1st Person Auto Aim: If you need some extra help with the sniper rifle, rocket launcher or other weapons that offer a 1st person perspective, try this feature. Note that not all weapons support this type of view.

Hopefully this guide will help you get off to the best possible start in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City 10th Anniversary Edition; feel free to shout in comments or drop us an email directly at mouthoff@rockstargames.com if you need additional guidance or have any tips of your own you'd like to share.
 

Update: The multiplayer event has now concluded but Triple XP will be active all weekend long. Thanks to everyone who joined us.

By popular demand, the first Max Payne 3 Social Club Multiplayer Event of our Winter Calendar is a weekend affair - taking place this Saturday, December 15th from 11am to 2pm EST (4-7pm GMT). So put any holiday shopping plans on hold for a few hours weekend warriors and pick up those dual M10s to battle it out in our live-streamed event along with other members of the Rockstar Games community.

OFFICIAL ROCKSTAR IDs
Participating official in-game Rockstar names will be:

• MaxPayneDev1 (Xbox 360)
• MaxPayneDev2 (PS3)
• MaxPayneDev3 (Xbox 360)
• MaxPayneDev1 (PC)

SWEEPSTAKES
Enter to win a Max Payne 3 prize pack on the events page, including a Max Payne 3 t-shirt, bullet keychain and stickers. Five winners will be randomly selected. Official rules can be found here.

COUNTDOWN
If you're unsure of when the event will begin in your time zone, have a look at the countdown on the Social Club multiplayer events page.

HOW TO FIND US
When the event starts up on Friday, enter Max Payne 3 multiplayer and select the Social Club Multiplayer Event playlist. We'll play a mix of Soft Lock and Free Aim, so look for the names listed above. We receive many requests from players who wish to play with our Devs, and we do our best to accommodate them all. During the event, our Devs will jump in and out of different lobbies to get a game with as many different fans as we can. If you can't get in a game with our Devs immediately don't forget to remain patient and make sure you get out there and represent for yourself and for your Crew.

FUTURE PLAYSESSIONS
If you want more time to play our games with us, your best bet is to follow us at our official Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Steam pages so you can get the word when we're going online for some impromptu multiplayer.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City 10th Anniversary Edition is now available for select iOS devices. The successor to the groundbreaking Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City turned the open world series from a critically acclaimed bestseller into a cultural phenomenon.

The latest automatic title update is now available to download for Max Payne 3 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. It introduces the following multiplayer fixes and improvements:

• The Kill screen now shows what weapon and burst the enemy used to kill you
• Fixed an issue where players would occasionally get stuck in cover
• Fixed an issue where players would occasionally appear invisible
• Fixed an issue where game modes could appear to be over 100% full
• Fixed an issue where occasionally a Loadout slot could overwrite another Loadout slot at the start of a round of Gang Wars
• Fixed an issue where a party would have trouble loading into a new game after a party member had left

If you have any problems downloading this title update or need to report other technical issues, please contact our tech support team through any of the following means:

Update: The Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne 3 multiplayer events have ended, but Triple XP is live all weekend. Keep in mind that the top 100 players per platform in the Max Payne 3 event will each receive the new skull mask, and it will become available 24 hours from the time the event ended Friday. More opportunities to get the skull masks are coming in the future!

All day Friday, we're serving up a double helping bounty of Social Club multiplayer events, including a Max Payne 3 finale added on to our originally scheduled Red Dead session as a make up for the event we postponed due to Hurricane Sandy a couple weeks back. It all begins Friday November 16th when we activate Triple XP for both Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne 3. We'll be kicking off with Red Dead on PS3 and Xbox 360 from 11am-2pm EST / 4-7pm GMT, and then continue on with Max Payne 3 on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 from 2-5pm EST / 7-10pm GMT.

Land Grab, Stronghold, Gang Matches, Undead Overrun and other matches can be expected in Red Dead, and for Max Payne 3 we'll be throwing down in the new maps from the recently released Hostage Negotiation Pack as well as other DLC and of course maps and modes from the original game release as well.

Following the recent Max Payne 3 Halloween themed multiplayer event when we featured special skull avatar unlocks, Friday we'll be unveiling another one, this time with the Arcane skull mask (pictured above). The top 100 players per platform during Friday's Max Payne 3 multiplayer event will each receive the new skull mask, as determined by the leaderboards on the Social Club Multiplayer Events Page. If you wind up one of those top 100 players, the skull will become available to you as an unlock 24 hours after the multiplayer event finishes. And if you aren't successful - don't worry, there'll be more opportunities to unlock this and other skull masks coming soon.

Join in the community chat on the Social Club Multiplayer Events Page while watching two live streams showing all the action, plus you can enter to win a one of ten total Rockstar prize packs during the event. Each includes a Rockstar t-shirt, Red Dead playing cards or Max Payne 3 bullet keychain and a package of Rockstar logo stickers.

TWITCH
A third video stream will be live on our Twitch page, including a second chatroom in which you can discuss all the event happenings.

OFFICIAL RED DEAD REDEMPTION ROCKSTAR IDs
Participating official in-game Rockstar IDs will be:

• RedDeadDev3 (Xbox 360)
• RedDeadDev4 (PS3)
• RedDeadDev5 (Xbox 360)
• RedDeadDev6 (PS3)

OFFICIAL MAX PAYNE 3 ROCKSTAR IDs
Participating official in-game Rockstar IDs will be:

• MaxPayneDev1 (Xbox 360)
• MaxPayneDev2 (Xbox 360)
• MaxPayneDev1 (PS3)
• MaxPayneDev1 (PC)

COUNTDOWN
If you're unsure of when the events will begin in your time zone, have a look at the countdown on the Social Club multiplayer events page.

HOW TO FIND US IN RED DEAD
When the first event starts up Friday, enter Normal difficulty multiplayer. This places you into a public Free Roam lobby. You should be able to run into a Rockstar player this way, but if you want you can send a friend request to one of the above IDs. Their lists might be full as most services only allow a max of 100 friend requests. We recommend partying up and playing with other Social Club members until the point when you're able to join us.

HOW TO FIND US IN MAX PAYNE 3
Enter multiplayer and select the Social Club Multiplayer Event playlist. We'll play a mix of Soft Lock and Free Aim so look for the names listed above.

FUTURE PLAYSESSIONS
If you want more time to play our games with us, your best bet is to follow us at our official Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Steam pages so you can get the word when we're going online for some impromptu multiplayer...

Due to power outage issues in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, today's originally scheduled live-streaming Max Payne 3 Social Club PSN Multiplayer event is being postponed. Stay tuned for an update to the Multiplayer Events calendar in the days ahead.