Rockstar Newswire

As a bonus for all Social Club members, and as promised earlier this week, we've just released the shiny, badass new Chrome Weapons unlock for Max Payne 3 Multiplayer.

All members of Social Club can now jump into the in-game Loadout menu, equip and tote chrome variations for all guns that they have unlocked.

To access the chrome options, head into the Arsenal section of the Max Payne 3 multiplayer menus, and Modify one of your Loadouts. While hovering over one of your selected weapons, hit the button for Attachments where you'll be able to upgrade your weapon with all manner of handy add-ons. Select 'Chrome' and roll on out into the battle grounds, knowing that the highly reflective glint will be the last thing your enemies will see before succumbing to a vicious melee attack. 

Stay tuned for additional special bonus upgrades coming soon - along with more information on the Max Payne 3 DLC Packs coming this fall.

In this special edition of the Crew Cut - after witnessing some intense en masse elite Crew showings in the Max Payne 3 Social Club Multiplayer Events playlist last week and after studying the squads that are occupying the #1 positions on the recently revamped tiered Crew leaderboards - the Rockstar Dev Crew of internal ringers from our various studios would like to throw out a challenge.

We're calling all top Crews to name the time and place, and we will do our best to accommodate a Crew vs Crew battle online in the coming weeks ahead - some of our best guys Crewed up against any of yours. So that the result cannot be in doubt, we'll also look to stream the action from these sessions live via the Rockstar Twitch.tv page. If you're the leader or an active member of an elite Crew occupying a top spot on one of the tiered boards (you don't have to be the #1 spot, but do try and impress us with your standing), confer with some of your fellow soldiers, and give us a shout to mouthoff@rockstargames.com to propose a date and time for a throwdown against us, any particular modes, and letting us know your online IDs so we can send out invites accordingly when the time is right. We will be standing by, locked and loaded. With that, here's a lineup of some of the current #1 Crews that we are hoping to hear from - if they dare.

LXG Crew, at the top of the 101-300 tier on Xbox 360, were the first Crew our Dev team came up against in a recent MP3 Xbox event and their proficiency is well documented in our Crew Cuts. Less well known are the U Got Smacked Clan who top out the 1-5 headcount stratum. There's a lot we could say about this German fivesome, but this video from the U Got Smacked YouTube channel of Crew leader UGotSmacked dual-wielding 1911s around the Imperial Hotel in Free Aim tells you everything you need to know:

Murders Death Kill have been quick to point out to us in previous Crew Cut comments sections their achievement of placing top of the 6-20 tier. However, they were modest enough to forget to shout out their other number one placing on the Hardcore Gang Wars leaderboard. An intimidating prospect - but we're up for it. Red Dead Soldiers rep hard on the 21-50 tier, and a look at their Crew Feud stats shows why: not a single Crew has managed to best them in terms of Feuds won, or in terms of kills made during Feuds. Let's see what we can do about that... Finally, not only are Killer Smoking Aces the best Crew in the 51-100 tier, they are also the third best private Crew in all of Social Club, holding their own against Crews with triple the number of members.

Over on PS3, the Ganja Outlaws continue to reign supreme at the top of the 101-300 boards. Further down the membership strata, X-Justice For All-X call the shots in 1st place of all 51-100 Crews. Interestingly, they are only two members over the threshold to take them into a lower tier. Although kicking out some dead weight wouldn't actually do them any favors seeing as they would fall into second in the 21-50 tier behind Death Bringers, who with just 43 members, have nearly 30M more XP. The 5 members of crybaby killers1 maintain an astonishing 95% win percentage for Feuds at the top of the 1-5 member tier on PS3, having played nearly 800 Feuds. Their Crew leader Ego-Smasher is quick to fire up his minions with regular ALL CAPS pep rallies on the Crew's profile page. Soul Crushers hold a slightly more modest 51% Feud win percentage, but nonetheless hold pole position on the 6-20 echelon of PlayStation 3 Crews. They're also partial to CAPS emphasis, as shown in their clear and direct motto: Inflict PAIN No FEAR No REGRETS Leave Nothing BEHIND.

When they're not eating pizza or fighting Shredder, the five members of TMHT - DVD 5 Crew are riding high on the 1-5 member leaderboard for PC players. This is their first shout on the Crew Cut; we look forward to facing off against a relatively unknown quantity. By contrast, Pest Control, Pro And Deadly, Illuminati and The Gallant Psychos are PC Crews we know well, and do hope to take on in a live battle. With more than 5,000 Feuds played between the four Crews, these guys are well versed in the guts and glory of Max Payne 3 Multiplayer, and should be well up for a chance to prove themselves against our Devs.

Having assessed 15 of the top Crews we hope will accept our challenge, none of them look like they'll be giving our Dev Crew an easy ride. We'll also be sending Crew leaders a message directly to get in touch - otherwise, if you're the head of an elite Crew or an active member who wants to round up some fellow warriors to accept the Rockstar challenge - get at us. If you're a highly-skilled Max player otherwise who wants in for some Rockstar blood, either motivate your Crew to keep rising to the top - or align yourself with one of these squads to get in on it. You can also stay apprised of who and when we're battling in the comments section here, where we'll drop an update or via Twitter where we'll also give a shout...

It's time to tell your loudmouthed friends and crew mates to quit their wild braggadocio, because this week we've got a great new tool on Social Club to ensure a quick and indisputable end to any and all Max Payne 3 verbal one-upmanship from those who can't back it up. The Friend Compare system is available now at the Max Payne 3 section of the Social Club so you can investigate how you size up against your nearest and dearest, in a wide range of stats across both Single Player and Multiplayer. 

Convinced that you rep the G6 Commando the hardest or always Bring The Payne when playing as Max or Passos in Payne Killer? Want to know for sure that you have the best Consecutive Hit Streak on Chapter IV of Story mode? Now prove it by lining up against up to five of your friends and Crewmates at a time and really finding out who's the boss (it is worth mentioning that you can only see the stats of those friends who have the appropriate privacy settings).

To access this useful tool just head over to the Max Payne 3 area of the Social Club and hit the Friend Compare button on the right hand side of the navigation bar in either Single Player or in Multiplayer. From here, you can scroll through your friends list, and any of your Crews' rosters to select those players you want to check your stats against, and find out where you need to pick up the pace.

Keep an eye out on Social Club for more new features in the coming weeks.

Less than one week after duking it out in the São Paulo favelas and Hoboken rooftops of Max Payne 3, our live-streaming Social Club Multiplayer Events series is heading back to Liberty City for a Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition session on both PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE.

We'll kick it off on Thursday, September 27 at 11am EST/4pm BST in GTAIV and will move on to both Episodes from Liberty City, giving everyone a chance to take part regardless of which copy of the game they own. To keep updated on which game modes our squad of Rockstar Games staff players are in, simply follow the live chat over at the Social Club Multiplayer Events page, where we'll also have the customary double live-stream of all the action along with a sweepstakes to win one of five GTAIV prize packs that include the Liberty City license plate, t-shirt and stickers.

Here are the dev accounts that will be taking part:

• PlayRockstar (PSN)
• PlayRockstar11 (PSN)
• GwRockstar2 (Xbox LIVE)
• GwRockstar3 (Xbox LIVE & streamed on our Twitch TV channel)

Only add one PlayStation Network ID/Gamertag to your friends list to play. We will clear each account's friend list at the start of the event and accept as many invites as we can. Please bear in mind that spamming the chat room asking for a game invite is a good way to not receive one.

FINDING US IN-GAME
Where's Rockstar? Pay attention to the live chat on the Social Club Multiplayer Events page. We'll announce where we're at in there. We'll begin in Grand Theft Auto IV in GTA Race, and later progress to the two episodes. Use the in-game cellphone to select the mode we're playing during the event.

NEED A PARTNER?
For team-based modes such as Team Deathmatch, gather your friends using Party Mode. You can also hit up the chat during the event or just post your PSN ID/Gamertag in the Comments section below.

ABOUT PARTY MODE
Party Mode is an easy way to get your group together and find matches.  Here are the three quick and easy steps to get you up and running:

1. Save your current game. To get started, fire up the in-game mobile phone by pressing "Up" on the d-pad. Select Multiplayer > Party Mode > Yes.
2. Next, open up your phone again and select the Friends option to invite at least one person into your Party Mode game.
3. Once your team is ready to roll, open up the in-game phone again and select Games > GTA Race.

 
Take on all comers and successfully plant bombs in Gang Wars to earn this week's Pyromaniac Payne Threshold.

There's no need to go into XP withdrawal just because our Triple XP weekend has come to an end. This week's all-new set of Payne Thresholds are the key to racking up large amounts of Max Payne 3 experience while having a good ol' time seeing if you have what it takes to rise to these three new challenges. This particular set will reward those who are masters of stealth as well as anybody with a healthy appetite for destruction. 

As our fall calendar continues touring treacherous destinations from Blackwater to Bohan to Brazil, we thank all of those who joined us for our recent wild western stop in the Red Dead Redemption Social Club Multiplayer Event held on Friday September 13th across both PSN and Xbox LIVE. With our resident RedDeadDevs 3 to 6 playing across all modes in the Game of the Year Edition (that is all the original modes plus all DLC modes as well), along with a double live-stream on the Rockstar Social Club and a third live stream on our Twitch TV channel, there was frontier bloodshed near and far.

In the event sweepstakes, congrats to prize winners GTAIV_King, DoE-BLaCK-413, Thunder_Passion, Greatn3ss87 and RestNP1eces86, each receiving a t-shirt, deck of Red Dead playing cards and stickers.

We started things off in Free Roam, and after inviting Social Club members who had posted their PSN IDs in the live chat, RedDeadDev6 wasted no time in claiming The Armadillo Saloon and lay in wait with the Cattleman Revolver. However, Instanbul Turk (PSN) burst in to beat our dev player down and claim the land, kick-starting an intense contest which saw the saloon changing hands multiple times before brieffrogs34283 staked the final claim. Dev6's entire session was recorded by Social Club Multiplayer Event stalwart ShenmueSaga and can be viewed below so you can re-live the action.

Hit the jump for more video, screens and a full list of participants from the day.

Recently, we released new tiered Crew leaderboards over at the Social Club - providing a whole new insight into which Crews are truly tearing it up based on their member weight class. Bracketing Crews by member count enables you to separate more clearly than ever the pretenders from the contenders - and see where your private Crew falls in the grand scheme. Whether you're a quartet of killers, a dirty dozen, or are rolling deep, there's a bracket for you. This also means that Crew leaders may now want to be extra scrutinizing about retaining, recruiting or being exclusive about their ranks to maintain bragging rights in their size class. While we've previously featured prominent Crews from the 1-5 membership bracket such as the crybaby killers1 (#1 on the PS3 boards) and the Turkish Police (#4 on the PC boards), credit is also due to the Ice-Cold Assassins Crew, a committed quintet of PS3 free-aim players. Ice-Cold Assassins are currently looking to bolster their ranks with "active and skilled players with mics" - these boys clearly use communication and tactics good effect in maintaining their impressive 85% Feud win PCT. Props also to Crew member Evo7ution1 for a top 10 finish in our August 30th Social Club Event.

The top 5 Playstation3 Crews with 5 members or less

In the 6-20 tier on PC, the emblem of Number 1 Clan stands out clear from the rest, although this Crew is somewhat ironically placed in fourh. In the past few weeks, Number 1 Clan were ballsy enough to take on the might of Pro And Deadly Crew and came out of their altercation on level ground, with a very respectable 3 Feuds won. Not too shabby. Prominent Crew member N1Anoobis posted this impressive montage of kill streaks and Feud wins on Number 1 Clan's own Crew website. Check it out below:

Elsewhere in the 6-20 tier, Fear The Wrath Crew place 4th in the Xbox 360 leaderboards. Their eye-catching emblem is a tribute to the efforts of their top player ChuckMP3 who recently broke the 5 million personal XP threshold. With such support like this from their Crew mates, it's no wonder that Fear The Wrath have a Solidarity V achievement and 4K #1 Finishes. Finally, a shout out to the Nice II Crew, ranked 9th in the 6-20 bracket on Xbox 360, who have a great range of emblems in their Gallery parodying everything from Nike to Alien to Domino's Pizza. All designed by Crew Leader Endymion72, to whom we neglected to give full credit for last weeks' Contract Killers and Lawless Gangsters emblems. NICE work, Endymion.

On PSN, there are some familiar faces from the Crew Cut in the 21-50 Crew stratum including HOT Clan, Zombie Zuckerz, The Italian Job and the incredible Death Bringers. We must also pay homage to third place MP3 Killers in honor of achieving 1000 Feuds won a few weeks back, and for having an awesome emblem. MP3 Killers have stayed true to their name: Almost a third of their Feud wins have come against the MP3 Crew and they've racked up around three and a half thousand Kills in the process. It would be remiss of us to move on from the PSN 21-50 Crew tier without acknowledging the spectacularly evil emblem of 11th ranked Skeleton Crew. Props to designer TxGlock.

The top 5 Crews in the 51-100 range of Xbox 360 Crews

In the 51-100 range of Xbox 360 Crews, the underrated Dew Dirt Crew nose into third, although they have 10M XP to catch up on second-placed Rewind. Delving into their Feud stats, Dew Dirt recently lost 5 out of 5 Feuds to yet another high achieving Spanish team, Company of Killers Crew. Company Of Killers have also beaten top placed Crew, Killer Smoking Aces in Feuds by 26-8 recently, and must feel suitably aggrieved at their current placing in fourth. Keep up the fight. Finally, respect to Double Trouble for topping out the 51-100 threshold for PC players with room to spare on their roster. Not only that, but we have good reason to believe that they rock the best facial hair on Social Club.

 
Double Trouble reign supreme over all of the PC crews with membership between 51 and 100

Update: The multiplayer event and Triple XP have ended. Thanks to everyone that joined in on Friday and played over the weekend.

The debut weekend of TRIPLE XP for Max Payne 3 Multiplayer will begin with three hours of live-stream action across PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in the latest event from the Social Club Multiplayer Events series calendar Friday September 21st from 4-7pm EST / 9pm-12am BST. This event will include three deluxe prize pack giveaways, each featuring a high-powered EVGA NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 660 Ti video card, plus one of the newest Rockstar t-shirts and more...

Join us for an assortment of action on the recently released Hoboken Rooftops map from the FREE Disorganized Crime Pack, as well as plenty of Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and variations of the Event Playlist exclusive Last Man Standing. Additionally, we'll have some Gang Wars outside of the playlist sometime during the afternoon. You'll also be able to track you performance with our event specific leaderboard as the event unfolds on the Social Club multiplayer events page and chat with other Max Payne 3 fans and players around the world as well. Details on how to participate (and who to look for) can be found below:

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

• MaxPayneDev1 (PC)
• MaxPayneDev2 (Xbox 360)
• MaxPayneDev4 (PSN)
• MaxPayneDev2 (PC on Twitch)

HOW TO FIND US
Enter Max Payne 3 multiplayer and select the Social Club Multiplayer Event playlist. We'll play Free Aim 100% of the time on PC, and a mix of Soft Lock and Free Aim on PSN and Xbox LIVE.

PRIZING DETAILS
Here are some more details on the EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti video cards we're giving away. Enter on the multiplayer events page, and good luck!

• 2GB GDDR5 Memory
• PCI Express 3.0
• Microsoft® DirectX® 11
• OpenGL 4.2
• NVIDIA GPU Boost
• NVIDIA Adaptive Vertical Sync
• NVIDIA Surround™ Technology
• NVIDIA PhysX® Technology
• NVIDIA 3D Vision®- Ready
• NVIDIA SLI®-Ready
• NVIDIA CUDA® Technology
• Supports Two dual-link DVI connectors, HDMI and Displayport 1.2
• Includes card, driver/software disc, one DVI to VGA adapter, two 6 pin PCI-E power adapters, a user guide and an EVGA Accessory Pack

If you can't join us Friday or want more chances to play with Rockstar (or both!), make sure you follow us at our official Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Steam pages to get the word whenever we're starting up an impromptu multiplayer session...