Rockstar Newswire

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone that took part in our triple-header weekend of Max Payne 3 Multiplayer action! Keep an eye out for us online all summer long and be sure to join us for the full slate of live-streamed multiplayer events. 

Presenting dates for our official summer Social Club Multiplayer Events calendar - three torrid months of intense Crew Feuds, raging Gang Wars and burning up of the Social Club leaderboards in Max Payne 3 Multiplayer - starting this very weekend with a triple-header that includes our first PC event on Sunday. And while we’ll be heavy Shootdodging™ and Bullet Timing® throughout the online killing fields of São Paulo and New Jersey in Max Payne 3, we’ve also got dates reserved this summer for a couple blood-soaked day trips to Chuparosa and Liberty City respectively as well.

We’ve hand-picked a selection of some of our fiercest players from across all the Rockstar Studios around the globe to play as members of the Rockstar Crew in Max Payne 3 and will be painting bullseyes on their chests in the form of Gamertags and PSN IDs to be announced shortly before each event here at the newswire. All you need to do is meet us online via Max's in-game Social Club playlist during the scheduled times and make sure your Load Out is professional grade for action.

And as debuted in our recent inaugural Max Payne 3 Multiplayer Events - we will have Live Double-Stream Broadcasting, special prize giveaways to get your CREW emblem on custom gear and more, live Rockstar-hosted chat, Event-specific Leaderboards to see who the stars of the day were and other surprises to be announced all over at the Social Club Multiplayer Events page. Incidentally, congratulations are in order for last weekend's controllers winners, Social Club members Giggity62 of the Payne Killers Crew and theSG-17 of the RedDeadNet Crew. In this weekend's June 1-3 events, we'll be giving away another pair of Crew controllers at Friday's Xbox LIVE event and at Saturday's PSN event - and Sunday's PC event, Social Club members can score a grand prize GeForce® GTX 670 AMP! Edition by Zotac graphics card courtesy of NVIDIA. We're also working on some custom Crew mouse designs and Rockstar mousepads for future PC events this summer so stay tuned for that.

And in addition to the live streaming dates listed in the calendar, you can also expect to see us online for impromptu sessions including daily bouts of Max Payne 3 every single day through June 15th. As always, we'll be giving a shout exclusively via Twitter and Facebook to let you know when we're powering on our consoles and booting up our PCs to throw down.

CALENDAR OF MULTIPLAYER EVENTS

• Friday, June 1 (4-7PM EST / 9pm-midnight BST)
  Max Payne 3
  For Xbox 360 on XBL

• Saturday, June 2 (1-4PM EST / 6-9pm BST)
  Max Payne 3
  For PlayStation 3 on PSN

• Sunday, June 3 (1-4PM EST / 6-9pm BST)
  Max Payne 3
  For PC

• Thursday, June 14 (12-3PM EST / 5-8pm BST)
  Max Payne 3
  For Xbox 360 on XBL

• Friday, June 22 (5-8PM EST / 10pm-1am BST)
  Max Payne 3
  For PlayStation 3 on PSN

• Friday, July 6 (4-7PM EST / 9pm-midnight BST)
  Max Payne 3
  For PC

• Thursday, July 12 (12-3PM EST / 5-8pm BST)
  Max Payne 3
  For Xbox 360 on XBL

• Friday, July 27 (4-7PM EST / 9pm-midnight BST)
  Red Dead Redemption
  For PlayStation 3 on PSN

• Wednesday, August 1 (12-3PM EST / 5-8pm BST)
  Max Payne 3
  For PlayStation 3 on PSN

• Friday, August 17 (4-7PM EST / 9pm-midnight BST)
  Max Payne 3
  For PC

• Thursday, August 30 (12-3PM EST / 5-8pm BST)
  Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition
  For Xbox 360 on XBL

• Thursday, August 30 (4-7PM EST / 9pm-midnight BST)
  Max Payne 3
  For PC

GAMERTAGS AND PSN 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
 

Max Payne 3 Multiplayer offers a deep and varied arsenal of guns with which to dispatch your opponents, but for those special occasions where you can’t see the whites of their eyes, there is a deadly range of projectile grenade options with which to flush them out or take them down. Our latest entry in the Max Payne 3 Tips Series highlights what they are and how to use them effectively.

• Quick Throwing - Simply tap LB/L1 once to pull the pin and release a grenade in one smooth motion – perfect for when you’re in a hurry.
• Weapon Wheel Grenade Selection - While holding down LB/L1, press RB/R1 to equip the grenade of your choice, ready for you to throw using RT/R2.
• 'Cooking' Grenades - After equipping a grenade using the Weapon Wheel, it is also possible to hold the RT/R2 button and ‘cook’ the grenade. Cooking grenades can reduce the time your enemy has to escape before getting caught in the explosion. Be careful though - if you cook a grenade for too long of course, it will explode in your hand.
• Sticky Grenades - In multiplayer, if you equip the Sticky Tape Loadout item then you will be able to attach grenades to the environment, making it even more difficult to escape.

While standard-issue explosive Grenades are great for flushing enemies out from behind cover or taking care of larger groups, you also have access to other grenade types - each with their own unique tactical benefits.

• Flash Grenades are useful for temporarily blinding your opponents and blocking their ability to use lock-on. This effect can be counteracted by equipping the Military Goggles Loadout item.
• Gas Grenades create a cloud of noxious gas that can cause death to anyone exposed to it for long enough. Using these grenades against enemies that are defending an area is a very effective strategy. The effect of these grenades can be counteracted by equipping yourself with the Gas Mask item.
• Smoke Grenades create a thick cloud of smoke that cannot be seen through by friend or foe alike. They are useful for obscuring your movement from the view of nearby enemies. Enemy players will also not be able to use Lock-On targeting to aim at players through the smoke.

There's also an additional pair of projectiles at your disposal that are useful in certain situations. A crude but effective incendiary projectile, the Molotov (part of the Disorderly Conduct Multiplayer Weapons Pack include with the Max Payne 3 Special Edition) creates a large patch of fire on the ground where it lands and any enemies exposed will take continuous damage for a few seconds. And while the Tin Can might not sound lethal, it creates a very handy strategic diversion on a nearby enemy’s mini-map, giving you an opportunity to get the drop on them.
 

UPDATE: Today’s Multiplayer Events have concluded. Thanks to everyone for taking part and we'll see you again for a full quota of Max Payne 3 Social Club Multiplayer events on PSN, Xbox Live and - for the first time - PC on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of June.

Last weekend, we celebrated the launch of Max Payne 3 with the very first Social Club Multiplayer Events where players and CREWS from around the world joined our own Rockstar Studios devs for some fierce Gang Wars and Team Deathmatch competition.

We also introduced our first Grand Prize giveaways of exclusive custom controllers, sleekly black-on-black matte'd out, branded with your ID and with your Crew's emblem hand-painted on top.

We're pleased to announce the winners of last week's set: therealmanic (aka ROCKSTAR Manic on Xbox LIVE) representing his own lone wolf Crew, the São Paulo Cartel ("São Paulo's Finest") and glockracer (aka GlocKRaceR on PSN) representing the massive public Rockstar Crew of Max Payne fans, Payne Killers. Production is now underway on their custom controllers as seen in the artist rendition above (runners-up for the 10 Max Payne 3 Prize Packs are still being confirmed).

Envious? Not to worry - your next chance to score a pair of these truly unique controllers is imminent.

Join us on Xbox LIVE tomorrow, Friday May 25th from 11am-2pm EST / 4pm-7pm BST and then on PSN this Saturday May 26th from 12-3pm EST / 5-8pm BST for another pair of Max Payne 3 Social Club Multiplayer Events throwing down in modes from Gang Wars to Team Deathmatch across two live streams, with the newly enhanced Rockstar-hosted chat, Social Club Playlist Leaderboards and more all at http://socialclub.rockstargames.com/multiplayer.

Remember you can now join the event straight from the Max Payne 3 in-game menus by jumping into the Social Club Playlist activated during the scheduled event times.

GAMERTAGS AND PSN 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

Don't forget that in addition to our live streaming scheduled Social Club events, members of Rockstar Studios worldwide will also be online playing Max Payne 3 Multiplayer every single day through June 15th - a non-stop month 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 June 1st).

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 that day.
 

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.

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