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Enlistment Roundup: The First Days of CREWS at the New Rockstar Social Club
Posted: May 12, 2012 7:18PM | Author: R* A
Social Club Crew registration has only been open for a few short days and already we’re seeing rivalries fostering between storied internet communities, very ill original Emblem Editor creations, and allegiances being forged amongst our longtime Social Club members, #MaxPayne3 Twitter cast members and more. We promise to keep you updated on a regular basis at the Newswire in the weeks and months ahead on the latest news from the Crew frontlines – highlighting those that are dominating the Max Payne 3 Leaderboards and unlocking accomplishments, and those that have managed to catch our eye out there in the community. For now, check out a first roundup of some noteworthy first Founder Crews.
From top left:
911 NYC, PCC Crew, and Bring on the Payne – these guys have been actively recruiting at the Newswire and on Facebook since well before the New Social Club launched – and we know many of you in Comments have already pledged your allegiance to one (or a potentially treasonous multiple). We’re looking forward to an epic Feud between these warring factions online once Max Payne 3 drops next week.
Enlistment support drive – these guys may be short as yet on members, but big on fun names, emblems and mottos that have caught our attention – have a look: Raging Wookiees (“Don’t anger the Wookiees”), GameTimeAgainNinjas (“There’s only two ways this can end & in both of them, you die), War Kitties (“I am the devil, and I am here to do the devil’s work”), Jimmy Rustlers (“Your Jimmies just got rustled”), Cthulu Catz (“Crew for having a good time. Open to all!”), Los Santos Kings (“Oooosh bang tidy!!!”) and Pattern Baldness (“We’re not ready to let it go… Share your despair. Tear the hair from your enemies.”).
Reddit versus The Vidya (4Chan) – we are not taking sides in this one, but these two communities have planted their Founder Crew flags down and it looks like the beef is on. The Vidya has inadvertently broken the Crew cap of 250 members and soared to over 300 deep – the biggest Crew yet. With that, we've officially lifted the member cap for all private Crews to 300, and are working on lifting it even higher in the coming weeks – in the meantime, the gauntlet has been thrown in Reddit’s direction as Vidya Crew member ThuhPickle states on their Crew page, “Reddit doesn’t stand a chance”…
GTAForums and iGrandTheftAuto – two of the longest-running GTA fan communities Crewing up. Shout to Crew leaders Meta_Pathos and Psyware respectively. But will it be a GTA fan alliance between these two – or a Rampage?
Ready for action – these Crews are growing in numbers and appear to be pretty damn serious about making a mark in Multiplayer: Russian Bears Team (“Turn yourself into a best, get rid of the pain of being a man. Recruiting new members and NOT only Russians. Join and together we will build a mighty and powerful crew”), UK Crew (“Anarchy from the UK, is all about the GMT… We’ll be Bringing the Payne from all UK consoles to everyone else.”), NYC Bloodpack (“Fighting for Peace, Killing for Fun”), Riot Hounds (“Play Hard or Play Chill. Most of all – Play for Fun.”), SFO-Wolf (“Mortis Nostrum Hostilis… Welcome to the den! Home of the tier-one Special Force Operative WOLF!”) and Guerilla Gaming (“Looking for the Best of the Best of the Best to Dominate the Competition.”).
SODMG Gamers – we’ve seen these guys from the SODMG community on Twitter for weeks now getting amped for Payne, even making original songs like “Strapped Up Like Max Payne”. Ready to see all of SODMG flood in to that Crew.
Two gaming community Crews worth noting - WetheGamerz of WetheGamerz.com with an awesome emblem – and of course, NeoGANG – The Official NeoGAF Crew founded by DGSimo. Also everyone can check out the NeoGAF Max Payne 3 OT now up and rocking.
Broken Whiskey Bottles – Finally, a special shout to this Crew for its constituency of faithful Social Club members like ChicagoEnigma, FugetSudo_Jr, emmi18176860, German Scientist, Marney-1, IWIHooligan, and others – as well as for recruiting several of the #MaxPayne3 Twitter cast members like JaclynJimenez, silenthamish, Twisted_AZ, ElvisMarques and Louzer. We’re sure this squad will be a fixture in the daily play sessions with Rockstar and official Max Payne 3 live streaming Social Club events.
Reserve Your Own Plot in Max Payne 3's Cemetery Multiplayer Map via GameStop
Posted: March 05, 2012 8:00AM | Author: R* Q
Your name. Forever etched on a tombstone. This May.
It's a prize that would certainly freak the hell out of you in real life - but a bona fide treat in the world of Max Payne 3 online multiplayer, as part of the "Be Caught Dead in Max Payne 3" promotion currently running with GameStop.
Through March 11th, GameStop is offering fans the chance to have their names digitally immortalized - engraved on tombstones in the Cemetery Multiplayer Map for Max Payne 3. The map, which anyone who pre-orders from GameStop will get early access to, will forever contain your name.
From now through March 6th
Go to www.facebook.com/GameStop and enter the sweepstakes.
From March 6th through March 11th
Go to www.facebook.com/GameStop to watch the Max Payne 3 trailer and answer a trivia question to enter the sweepstakes.
We've also reserved a couple tombstones especially for members of the Rockstar Games Social Club including countries outside of the US, look for more details in the next week or two...
Previously:
Max Payne 3 Pre-Order Exclusive Bonuses for Europe and Australia
Pre-Order Max Payne 3 from GameStop and Get Early Access to the Cemetery Multiplayer Map
Grand Theft Auto III: Your Questions Answered – Part Two (9/11, The “Ghost Town”, The Dodo and Other Mysteries)
Posted: January 05, 2012 12:00PM | Author: R* Q
Presenting the conclusion of our two-part series answering your questions about Grand Theft Auto III – in honor of the game’s 10-Year Anniversary and the Edition for mobile devices that was released last month. Part one delved into questions about Claude and other characters from the game – today’s part two covers many of the long-standing rumors, mysteries and myths about Grand Theft Auto III – and also features a few behind-the-scenes images being released for the first time. Thanks to all GTA fans for submitting these great inquiries – and enjoy!
VBProject Did you cut off any missions or stuff after 9/11?
gtaencyclopedia (via Twitter) How different would be #GTAIII if 9/11 wouldn't have happened?
Rockstar says:About 1% different. We removed only one mission that referenced terrorists and changed a few other cosmetic details – car details, a couple of ped comments, lines of radio dialogue etc – the game came out a very short time later. The biggest change was the US packaging which remixed the previous packaging into what became our signature style – because the previous packaging [which was released as the cover of the game in Europe] was, we felt, too raw after 9/11. All of the more extreme rumours are amusing but impossible to have been achieved in such a short period of time.
CrazyNiko187Any chance of releasing GTA3 with all the stuff that was removed due to 9/11?
Rockstar says:No. As above, it really was not very much stuff – just one mission and other than that some superficial and cosmetic details.
Magic_AlThe game was released only 41 days after 9/11. It's known that last-minute changes were made to game content because of the traumatic emotional situation at the time. Some are known, such as police vehicles being changed to not look like NYPD, but rumors of bigger changes won't completely go away. Such as: there were school buses and children in Liberty City that were removed, Liberty City had twin towers that were changed into a construction site, and Donald Love was killed by airplane hitting his building and this was edited out so he just disappears. Big changes seem unlikely to do in 41 days considering Rockstar New York was literally in a war zone and there had to be time to test and physically ship the game. Once and for all, can you list everything that was changed after 9/11 and debunk the most ridiculous rumors about this situation?
Rockstar says:As far as we can remember, the list of changes is covered above – the other stuff is nonsense.
tytiyuiyitytiyIs the location in the beginning where the bank robbery takes place supposed to be a part of Liberty City? Or is it supposed the be another town?
Rockstar says:Yes – it is meant to be part of Liberty City.
bcinvestor1Is the name of the Island taken out of the game named "Jakota Island," referred to in the game as "Ghost Town?"
Rockstar says:We didn’t take an island out of the game. There were only ever the three. We think what people refer to as “ghost town” is just the small area of a city we built for the bank heist scene at the very start of the game. It never had a name, but we wanted it to be somewhere separate from the liberty map and so we built these few streets floating in space and assumed no one would ever find them. We noticed someone built a bridge mod so you can actually drive there now - amazing…
BlazinbashWas the Dodo ever supposed to stay in flight? don't get me wrong my friends and I spent many fun hours trying to see who could fly the longest, in a plane with clipped wings before crashing into the sea.
CrazyNiko187Was the Dodo intended to be a actual plane, or was its wingspan reduced because of 9/11? (I know it can be flown with practice)
Christobell46How come the Dodo plane in GTA3 can’t fly?
Rockstar says:Because we were making a driving and shooting game - even that, as a combination of core gameplay elements, was very, very radical at the time. The Dodo was never meant to be flown very much at all, and it certainly wasn’t grounded as a result of 9/11 – it was just a fun thing that people then went crazy with when they figured out various bugs that let them fly it!
BenDeR.The tunnels in Shoreside Vale, so much speculation has been made about them. They seem to be closed 24/7 due to construction work. Were they originally supposed to lead somewhere or are the workers just too lazy to finish the work, ha!
Vortex94Also why was the tunnel to upstate blocked in the Shoreside Vale island?
CrazyNiko187The tunnel in Shoreside Vale, was it just for looks?
Rockstar says:There was never meant to be anything on the other end of the tunnel, we were just playing with ways to make the world feel like it continues past the physical boundary. It’s something that we’ve been pushing in all sorts of ways ever since, making the world you experience as a player feel like it’s part of something bigger. This tunnel was one of our first little baby steps in that direction.
WolfRogersHidden away on the PC version of Grand Theft Auto III are menus and listings for Multiplayer, what was supposed to be planned for Grand Theft Auto III and at what point was it removed?
Rockstar says:We played around with the idea of multiplayer back then but never got very far with it. At the time, we decided to make Vice City instead of dedicating a big team to multiplayer, as we did not feel it would ever really be good enough. When we finally made a multiplayer game, we wanted it to rival the fun and experience of single player, and this was something not possible until much later.
tytiyuiyitytiyWho wrote the "My mother's my sister" pedestrian dialogue line?
jesse45How does "My Mother is my Sister" work?
Rockstar says:Ha – to be honest, we are not sure – we all work together on this stuff – and we supposed too many of us just find rural inbreeding amusing.
OrIGInalPyROWhere did the 'squish' noise that played when you ran over a pedestrian come from? That always made me laugh.
Rockstar says:The pedestrian squishing sound was made up from a combination of squelchy sounds that Rockstar North Audio Designer, Allan Walker recorded live (Rockstar North Lead Music Producer, Craig Conner seems to recall crushing fruit and raw chicken in a vocal booth...) and then they added a few more layers from our SFX library.
BruciesautosWhy were the graphics in very early screenshots cartoonish?
Rockstar says:Before we properly got started on building the game we tried out a few different looks. Some of these were released during development. We toyed with a very cartoony style but pulled it back quite a lot.
cannoman5Is it true that the Ammu-Nation clerk's appearance and voice was Dan Houser?
Rockstar says:No, not true. However it does look (but not sound) like a relative of his.
Luc de Mooij (via Facebook)How is the cannoli at Marco's Bistro?
Rockstar says:Horrible! Stale as hell.
Jamie Press (via Facebook)What's the script like for all GTA games?? How long do they roughly last and how are they formatted? also would you ever consider releasing a script from a GTA game?? Thks :) Can't wait for GTAV!
Rockstar says:They are long. Very long. And they only seem to get bigger with each subsequent Grand Theft Auto production. Check out the image set below which shows a picture of the GTA3 script alongside the GTAIV script for some sense of what we mean.
Previously:
Grand Theft Auto III: Your Questions Answered – Part One (Claude, Darkel & Ray)
Grand Theft Auto III: Your Questions Answered – Part One (Claude, Darkel & Other Characters)
Posted: December 15, 2011 2:58PM | Author: R* Q
In honor of today's release of Grand Theft Auto III: 10 Year Anniversary Edition for select new generation iOS and Android devices, we're pleased to present the long-awaited official answers to some of the fan submitted questions about GTA3. Check out part one which focuses on some of the game's characters and stay tuned for part two next week.
CrazyNiko187Was Claude always intended to be silent with no spoken dialogue?
SCORPIO7188Is Claude a mute or is he a man who doesn't talk? I remember CJ calling Claude a mute in the race in San Andreas.
XxMETALMONSTERxXWhy doesn't Claude talk? I mean he doesn't even react when he's on fire lol.
Rockstar says:It may now seem obvious that people should all talk in games, but this was not necessarily the case in 2001, certainly not in an open world game. We were making up a lot of procedures as we went along, and we decided that the NPCs (Non Playable Characters) should talk and we would have to figure out how to make them talk (using motion captured cutscenes, something that had never really been done before, at least not on the scale we were doing it). So we decided that the game’s protagonist would not talk, partly to aid people identifying with him, but mostly because we had so many other problems to solve and this did not seem like a major issue. We started to discuss introducing a talking lead character when working on Vice City, but it was a lot of work. While the structure of GTA3 may seem obvious or natural now, and the use of cutscenes made in the game’s engine that look and feel like the game may seem simple and easy, it really was not the case back in 2001 when we had to figure out all of these things for the first time. Oh and in San Andreas, CJ calls Claude a mute because he does not talk and CJ finds this unnerving.
D.E.LBPlease shed some light on if this is actually Claude's voice from a beta version of III: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOGs2w40SyA
Liberty_KingActually, I heard Claude yawn sometimes when he falls from a big height, and/or drowns in sea. Also this is interesting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddJ_SF596HE. At 0:18 Claude seems to say quote "Get out of the car" quickly, it seems he had a voice at some point, this is really a mystery :D
fan_GTAOn one of the trailers GTA3 beta, Claude says, "Get out of the car". What were the reasons that Claude did not say any words?
Rockstar says:This is fake. This is an old bit of gameplay footage, for sure, but we think the voices were added at a later date by someone online as at no point did we plan for Claude to have a voice or even design how a speaking protagonist would be implemented until Vice City.
ARMORALLL After the last mission is complete is that Claude who says "When the chopper finally got taken out, better than the fireworks on the 4th of July"??? I've always wondered about this!
Rockstar says:No – it is a witness in a news report who says that.
Vortex94Who was the inspiration for character Claude? I really like his attitude i.e silent but deadly.
Rockstar says:There wasn’t any one single inspiration – we just liked the idea of a strong, silent killer, who would be juxtaposed with all of these neurotic and verbose mobsters in an amusing way. He seems stronger and in control, while they seem weaker and frantic.
-AlSar-Can you tell us more about Claude's biography?
DapunkillaWhat’s the backstory on Claude? For example his last name, family relatives? Where he's from? Or maybe even a short bio?
Rockstar says:He’s a bank robber with a noisy and psychotic girlfriend. More than that, it is hard to say. Definitely a drifter, probably from the west coast, new to Liberty City. Surname may or may not be Speed.
DapunkillaDid Claude kill Maria?
nikobelic2500000At the end of Grand theft Auto 3, did Claude actually shoot Maria?
Rockstar says:We're not sure about this. Some think he did, and some think he didn’t. Certainly in an original version of the script, Maria had a longer, really annoying speech, but then someone in the audio department wisely put an end to that. Quite what that means for Maria, who can say.
DapunkillaWhat became of Claude’s fate? Is he dead in the GTAIII canon or he alive?
Rockstar says:He certainly isn’t dead. What else became of him, we don’t know.
therealtreefittyHow did Claude's appearance change or take shape during development?
Rockstar says:We iterated his look many, many times until we were happy – usual sort of things, weight, face, some clothing.
BenDeR. Darkel, such a strange character... Pictures of him are available on GTA III's official website and his name appears in GTA III's booklet. I heard somewhere that he was supposed to give you some kind of "rampage-like" missions. What was exactly his purpose? Why wasn't he included in the final version of the game?
GTAOVER9000Hey Rockstars... tell me if you can. Is it true that removed character from Grand Theft Auto III named Darkel was a Russian communist ?
11205885What was the whole fuss with Darkel? Was there really a mission where you blew up a school bus full of children?
TbirdscWho was Darkel?
Rockstar says:Darkel was just a crazy bum who gave you some crazy missions. They were removed a few months before the game was done and long before 9/11 because they just weren’t as good as the rest of the game, and tonally they were a little odd. He started with 5 missions and they were slowly all cut. When only one or 2 were left, they were all removed as the character just didn’t work alongside the other characters.
None of these missions involved blowing up buses of school children although that is a funny rumor!
EtoddgtaWill we ever see a release of the beta Darkel missions?
Rockstar says:No. The guys at Rockstar North are far too busy working on future stuff to ever figure out how to fix these old unfinished missions and get them running.
SammiiDooglesThere are many references to GTAIII characters and brands (El Burro graffiti in LC for example) in GTAIV, but do any characters (other than Lazlow) actually exist within both 'universes'? Is that where Donald Love went? Did he hop dimensions into the GTAIV universe?! Plot twist!! Are the two universes completely separate? I understand it'd make almost no sense having two Liberty City's but is there any way we'll see characters from GTAIII return? GTAIV has some amazing characters, but some of the characters in the III era are just unforgettable.
Rockstar says:El Burro is referenced as he was also referenced in GTA 1, so it felt appropriate that he should cross “universes” – the “universes” are the worlds interpreted at different definitions, 2d, 3d and high definition, so we felt brands and radio / back ground characters would exist in both, but 3 dimensional characters would not. This is the logic (as far as it could be considered logical) behind it – so no, we don’t believe any GTA3 characters could exist in the GTA4 universe.
FeelThePayneWhy was Ray so paranoid? lol < He was also voiced by Robert Loggia too WOW!
Rockstar says:He was a bent cop who knew his luck was almost up and he was about to come to an unfortunate end – this would make anyone paranoid…
VladTheZenga09Guy with the baseball bat on the artwork.. who is he? I'm pretty sure it isn't Toni Cipriani 'cause on the artwork he is the guy with hands in his pocket, and these two guys are not the same.. at least to me.. cheers.
eat-THE-phoenixIn celebration of GTA III's 10th birthday, I decided to dig up the game to play it again for old time's sake. However, every time I look at the cover, the guy with the glasses and pistol always make me wonder...
Who is the guy with the glasses prominently features on the cover, manual, and loading screens?
Rockstar says:He is a character from an early piece of concept art by our long standing character concept artist at Rockstar North, Ian McQue, that Stephen Bliss (who is one of the guys who illustrates our Grand Theft Auto cover art) liked and used to make a cool piece of montage art that embodied the game – we were less concerned with the art really representing characters as much as capturing the vibe of the game – so some of the characters in the art are not necessarily game characters. We did not really think the characters would be such a big deal until after the game came out.
Look for the final part two of this special series next week where we’ll officially address some of your questions about a few of the long-standing rumors related to the game’s content...
Social Club Winners of the Limited-Edition GTAIII Anniversary Claude Action Figure
Posted: November 01, 2011 1:22PM | Author: R* Y
Claude takes Denmark. Lucky winner August With aka Social Club member Augobaugo took this photo of his limited-edition Claude action figure, unboxed and poised for action (reminiscent of this original GTA3 screenshot).
Just a quick congratulations to Social Club members Emjeadea, zxGunRunnerxz and Augobaugo on each winning a GTAIII Anniversary Limited-Edition Claude Action Figure in our recent Social Club exclusive sweepstakes.
If you'd like to get your hands on one yourself, make sure to order your own at the Rockstar Warehouse while supplies last. To all those who've pre-ordered so far, they are shipping this week!
Previously:
Announcing Grand Theft Auto III: 10th Anniversary Edition for Select Mobile Devices & the Limited Edition Claude Action Figure
Submit Your Questions Now for a Special GTAIII 10th Anniversary Edition of Asked & Answered
Posted: October 17, 2011 8:00PM | Author: R* A
GhostBear asks:I wish you guys could answer GTA3 fans questions. We are very interested in game development history, details and myths.
Why not? Let 'er rip, GTAIII fans.
As part of our celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the release of Grand Theft Auto III, let's have all your burning questions about the game. Questions about the characters, about the making of the game, really anything you've been dying to know for the past ten years.
We'll select fan questions to be covered in a special edition of Asked & Answered to appear next week - no question should be off-limits to ask provided it's related specifically to Grand Theft Auto III (any questions about the future of the GTA franchise, simply direct yourself to our recent A&A here).
Social Club members can drop them in the comments area below, or shoot questions our way via Twitter or Facebook at will. We'll be wrapping up collecting questions by the end of day this
Previously:
Announcing Grand Theft Auto III: 10th Anniversary Edition for Select Mobile Devices & the Limited Edition Claude Action Figure
Look for Surprise Sessions of Red Dead TRIPLE XP
Posted: February 21, 2011 2:42PM | Author: R* Y
Last week, we had our inaugural 2-hour session of surprise TRIPLE XP for all in Red Dead Redemption multiplayer across both Xbox LIVE and PlayStation Network. T'was a stellar evening with those that joined us to play online. Better news, this was not an isolated event. In the coming weeks we plan on activating more surprise Triple XP sessions every week, so keep watch.
Whether you're trying to achieve level 49 to permanently possess the Mauser Pistol, or you're more interested in working your way all the way up to attaining the coveted Zebra Donkey, the only way to know when to jump online to gain massive amounts of experience in such little time while playing with Rockstar Games is by following us on Twitter and liking us and watching our updates on Facebook.
We'd also like to know what time of day and day of the week you guys would most prefer for these to happen. We'll be scheduling these sessions based on the most common popular demand across the community.
Until next time...
A Bloody Race through Rio Run...
Posted: September 23, 2010 6:40PM | Author: R* Y
Captured yesterday from an impromptu session online having a Horse Race with combat in the brand new Liars and Cheats Pack for Red Dead Redemption. The screen above (Flash required and age-restricted) shows HoSKinS BoBish's Irish taking a direct and bloody Pump-action Shotgun blast to the back from RedDeadDev3’s Seth Briars during Rio Run in Grand Prix Horse Racing. Ouch.
To get the word whenever we're randomly jumping online, follow us on Facebook and Twitter as it's the only way to know when we'll be on...
And of course, join us tomorrow Xbox LIVE'ers...
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