Who's ready to Fist Till Morning??

By popular demand from legions of diehard Love Fist fans (looking at you, lol232 and LegionYT1994 and others), we're happy to announce that the original four-track 1986 Love Fist EP has been digitally remastered and is now available  on iTunes for the "nice price" of $0.69 per song - or get the full EP for $1.99 (look for it on Amazon in the coming days as well). This includes the smash hits "Dangerous Bastard" and "Fist Fury" that made a big splash back in those heady and hazy days in 1980's Vice City - as well as two sought-after rarities, “Down Down Down” and “Fist Till Morning." Enjoy these gems from Scottish headbanging legends, Jezz, Willy, Dick and Percy. Sorry, legendary albums The Number of the Breast and Clear the Custard are still out of print.

• “Dangerous Bastard”
• “Fist Fury”
• “Down Down Down”
• “Fist Till Morning”

Lots of new insight into HEALTH's making of the Max Payne 3 original soundtrack and score can be found in this short film just released by The Creators Project, as seen below. Via interviews with the band as well as with Rockstar, you'll get the backstory on how the game's original music came together and the technical approach to its unique dynamic scoring...

Previously:
Watch HEALTH's Official Music Video for "TEARS"
Max Payne 3: The Official Soundtrack - Now Available on iTunes

Looking back on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on the occasion of its recent mobile release is a pretty powerful double-hit of nostalgia for us. Not only are we here at Rockstar taken back to that wild year of 2002 when we labored to take the groundbreaking 3D GTA experience pioneered in the previous fall's Grand Theft Auto III into a direction that no one at the time expected - but it's also a time to revisit the fascination with 1980s pop culture that inspired Vice City in the first place. From coked-out debutantes, suave and in-control hit men, hot-blooded drug kingpins, egomaniacal movie directors... the larger than life attitudes of that "me" decade as served up in the films of the era served as perfect inspiration for the stories, characters and scenery that drove the world and vibe of Vice City...

Scarface (1983)

But of course. Largely dismissed at the time as an overblown, needlessly and gratuitously violent and profane remake of Howard Hawks' 1932 gangster classic - it has now, of course, transcended all of that and become one of the biggest and most enduring cult hits of all time - defining what a modern crime epic should be. An absolute top favorite of ours, we started paying homage to the film's legacy in GTAIII with Flashback 95.6's Scarface soundtrack heavy playlist and the casting of Robert Loggia as the sciatica-plagued Ray Machowski - but it goes without saying that Vice City owes much of its inspiration to the vivid characters, style, scenery and music of De Palma and Pacino's 1980s Miami gangster masterpiece.

Less Than Zero (1987)

Hands down the darkest movie of the 'brat pack' genre, this Robert Downey Jr. and Andrew McCarthy-starring movie is a stylish adaptation of the disturbing Bret Easton Ellis (American Psycho) novel. A morality tale of excess following rich Beverly Hills yuppie kids caught up with living life in the coke-fueled fast lane of the 1980s social scene. Incredible style, music and oddly prophetic to the drug troubles that would plague Downey himself in the years to come.

Hit the jump below for the rest of our selections and be sure to recommend your favorites in the comments.

Click the image above to see prizing in greater detail.

Update: The multiplayer event and Triple XP have ended. Thanks to everyone that participated.

The first Social Club Multiplayer Event of 2013 starts the year off with a literal bang - with three hours of live-streaming Max Payne 3 Multiplayer action and the chance to win two custom controllers or a badass high-performance PC gaming mouse - all emblazoned with the lucky winner's Crew Emblem and Gamertag / PSN ID. We will also be awarding prize packages to five runners-up, each including a Max Payne 3 t-shirt, bullet keychain and stickers.

With Friday's event, we'll also be unlocking the coveted Arcane Skull Mask and Demonic Skull Mask as seen above for all Social Club members. Come n' get 'em. The Arcane and Demonic skull masks are in-game and all you need to do to receive them is make sure you're linked to Social Club. On top of that, after the event finishes we will be awarding the Wedding Skull Mask (debuted at our last Max Payne 3 event) to members of the top 10 user-made Crews on the Event Leaderboards in each platform. Sound the war cry and get your team together to compete for this exclusive head item.

Oh yeah - and Triple XP starting with the event and active all weekend long until early Monday morning the 14th.

It all goes down this Friday January 11th as we jump online to play Max Payne 3 on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. Two of our devs will be streaming live at the Social Club Multiplayer Events page, with live Rockstar-hosted chat as well as Crew and Player Leaderboards to see who's showing and proving. You can also kick it with us and watch live video via a 3rd dev stream at our Twitch.tv page.

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

• MaxPayneDev1 (Xbox 360)
• MaxPayneDev2 (PS3)
• MaxPayneDev1 (Streaming PC Live on Twitch)
• MaxPayneDev3 (PS3)

COUNTDOWN
Need some help figuring out when the event begins in your time zone? Have a look at the countdown on the Social Club Multiplayer Event page.

HOW TO FIND US IN THE GAME
Enter multiplayer and select the Social Club Multiplayer Event playlist. We'll play a mix of Soft Lock and Free Aim, primarily playing in the latest DLC, Painful Memories and Hostage Negotiation.

FUTURE PLAYSESSIONS
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 action. We don't schedule this gameplay time or announce it way ahead of time, so the only way you'll be able to find out that we're playing is by following.
 

"The Trunk"

Happy 2013 everyone. By popular fan demand, the downloadable digital collection of official Grand Theft Auto V artwork has now been updated to include all of the original illustrations released to date - including "The Trunk", "Franklin and Chop", "Stop and Frisk" and "Vinewood" as seen here. You may have seen these pieces over the past couple months at local game stores, or in various previews around the web - and you can now download any and all of them as desktops, Facebook covers, buddy icons and as Social Club avatars. You can also check out a complete repository of all GTAV screenshots released to date over at www.rockstargames.com/V.

Stay tuned for lots more ahead, including more artwork and the unveiling of the game's official cover later this month.

"Stop and Frisk"

"Franklin and Chop"

"Vinewood"

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.

Over the years, Vice City's Better Business Bureau has received complaints of a wide range of violations from embezzlement and rioting to bribery and intimidation. Oh, and murder and arson as well. Let's just say that there are quite a few members of the local VC business community with less than stellar reputations for ethical practices. 

With Vice City tourism in high season, we need you to be a good whistle blower and file a report to the VCBBB on which of these allegedly crooked operations stands out to you as the worst offender.

InterGlobal Films
While this local movie studio run by director Steve Scott has consistently run afoul of obscenity laws and been a bane of our upstanding family values congressmen, ever since they came under new management, matters may have gotten worse  as their business interests have reportedly branched out into blackmail and felony littering...

Shady Acres and Avery Construction
Originally from Texas, Avery Carrington is a successful Vice City based businessman with interests in real estate development and construction. Going big at all costs, word on the street is that his fortune was built less on hard work and elbow grease, and more on juking property values, bribery, intimidation - and perhaps worse...

BJ's Used Autos / BJ's Fit for Football
Heavily in debt to loan sharks, former Vice City Mambas tight end BJ Smith opened BJ's Used Autos with a promise to customers that he would deliver them the car of their dreams - even if it's not on the lot. Following his own inspiring story of weight loss all the way down to 300 pounds, BJ expanded his empire to include the BJ's Fit for Football fitness video series on Beta and VHS.

Pastor Richards Salvation Statue Organization
Pastor Richards is a respected man of the cloth who has led his faithful Vice City congregation for years, uplifting and inspiring them with his fiery sermons whilst shining a light on all degenerates, philanderers, liberals and other evil-doers. Most recently, Pastor Richards has started the Pastor Richards Salvation Statue Organization, a tax-exempt fund to help followers rid themselves of corrupting material wealth and instead invest in building a structure in his likeness to inspire and save generations to come. We've received complaints alleging misappropriation of funds but this one seems on the up and up?

The Cherry Popper Ice Cream Company
There are accusations that Maude Hanson's Cherry Popper Ice Cream Company with its landmark whipped-cream-and-cherry-topped factory in the heart of Little Havana is heavier on the ice than the cream. We have reports of people lining up around the block for a snow cone or some extra sprinkles at Cherry Popper Ice Cream trucks across Vice City...

Print Works
An elder statesman in the Vice City business community with a checkered past, old man Earnest Kelly is said to have the experience, knowledge and printing skills to handle any job large or small at his Print Works shop. Flyers, leaflets, or even novelty play-money replicated to look exactly like the real thing...

K. Rosenberg & Co.
This long-standing law firm founded by attorney Ken Rosenberg is located right on the Washington Beach beachfront strip. With a client list that reads like a who's who of shady characters - from Liberty City's reputed don Sonny Forelli to magnate Avery Carrington and others - we've received tips that he's also been spotted of late in the company of Liberty City transplant and ex-con Tommy Vercetti...

Café Robina
Cuban immigrants Umberto Robina and his father Alberto founded the Café Robina back in the 60s and are known far and wide for their tasty red beans and rice and boisterous hospitality. Recently however their reputation has been pockmarked by a nasty ongoing feud with neighboring Haitian gangs and reports of escalating violence...
 

Rounding out our collection of Vice City digital wallpapers, backgrounds, Facebook covers, buddy icons and avatars - we've created a desktop-ready version of the classic Vice City Bureau of Investigations crime tree from the original Grand Theft Auto: Vice City website. So pin that one to your monitor, fill the loafers of VCBI Agents Bruce and Bob, and eagle-eye the relationships between the dodgy characters of VC's criminal ecosystem - from powerful kingpins like Sonny Forelli and Colonel Cortez on down to dregs like 'expert' safecracker Cam Jones and chef Leo Teal.

Additionally, we've dug into the crates a bit and created nice hi-res desktops of all the other character art that was never officially released in the Vice City collection. That's Avery Carrington, Cam Jones, Candy Suxx, Colonel Cortez, Gonzales, Hilary King, Old Man Earnest Kelly, Kent Paul, Steve Scott, Tommy Vercetti, Umberto Robina - AND, all of the radio DJ character art: Adam First, Pepe, Fernando Martinez, Oliver 'Ladykiller' Biscuit, Mr. Magic, Toni, and Lazlow.



Grab these and more over at the Vice City collection of Wallpapers, Icons, and Avatars.

Previously:
New Vice City Anniversary Artwork Added to Rockstar Downloads