Rockstar Rumor Round-Up: Max Payne 3, New PS3 Exclusive

New month, new issue of EGM, new round of Quartermann rumours. This time around, the two juiciest involve Rockstar. First up, that they've got an internal team working on Max Payne 3, what with original devs Remedy taking their sweet time on Alan Wake. That Rockstar team is the same one that worked on The Warriors. And second up, that Rockstar North - the GTA team - are working on an all-new game. One that's a PS3 exclusive. Of course these are totally unsubstantiated, so do with them what you do with any rumour you come along on the internet, and believe it/dismiss it as you see fit.

Quartermann: Max Payne 3 and New PS3 Exclusive Coming From Rockstar? [1UP]

GTA IV DLC Out In November, Will Be 15 Hours Worth Of Murder Simulation

So GTA IV's DLC will be out in the "Fall"? Awfully vague, Microsoft. There's three months in the Fall. We like things a little firmer. Like this claim by RPG-TV - based off an Xbox press event held in London - that GTA IV's DLC will be out in November. And when it is out in November, it'll add "roughly 15 hours of additional play time". If true, 15 hours is a looooong time. Too long for it to just be new missions on the same islands.

Preview of New XBox Experience [RPG-TV]

Rockstar gave us a demo of the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV at Games Convention today, a first look at the game many of us have been enjoying for months on our comparatively underpowered consoles — but now at higher resolutions. You may know the numbers by now, but if 2560 x 1600 resolution does anything for you, get this game.

What we saw, a Rockstar controlled run through of the memorable "Three Leaf Clover" mission, looked exactly how we remember it, just much, much sharper. Higher resolution textures, crisp anti-aliasing, better streaming and higher draw distances will certainly appeal to the graphics whore in you.

If not, GTA IV for PC's higher multiplayer cap and game searching filters might. The PC port's other big bullet point, the replay recorder and editor, wasn't on display, but will definitely make for memorable machinima.

In short, it looked damn good, if more than familiar, on a 50" plasma screen at one notch below max resolution.

Three Reasons GTA IV Should Be Better On PC

Fun fact: GTA IV was the first GTA I ever completed on a console. All the others (at least, the 3D ones), I played on PC. Figured the wait was worth the better graphics and better gunplay. And so it is again with GTA IV, as the PC version of Rockstar's latest murder simulator will boast a number of improvements over those found on 360 and PS3. Firstly, and most obviously, the graphics will be better, with a max resultion of 2560 x 1600, higher-quality textures and increased draw distances. Secondly, the multiplayer will be better, as Rockstar are promising that the PC version will allow for more than the 16 players the console editions permit. Finally, the replay mode will be better, because...the console versions didn't have that feature. GTA IV on PC will constantly be recording your last 30 seconds of gameplay, which you can access and tinker with in an editing program to throw together some moody, sexy montages.

GC 2008: GTA IV PC Details and Screens [1UP]

GTA IV DLC On Xbox Live This Fall

Wow, it seems like years since the first rumors of the Xbox getting exclusive Grand Theft Auto IV DLC and months since the game actually appeared (ok, it has been months... but I mean more months)

Finally, Microsoft has announced that the first dollop of episodic GTA action will appear on Xbox Live in the fall.

At the Leipzig Games Convention, a nice chap from Microsoft announced,

"In autumn there will be news from Liberty City; the first episodes of GTA IV will be available for download exclusively on Xbox Live"

(and then there was some guff about "underlining Xbox 360's leadership role in the field of digital entertainment." but, whatever)

So, what do we know? Well, it's nice to get confirmation that it will be several such episodes — whether that means actual episodic gameplay in a Half Life 2 style, who can say?. Mention of Liberty City seems to throw cold water on those 'whole new city' rumors, which is a shame, but still - GTA IV DLC! Yay!

LGC: Autumn update for GTA IV DLC [CVG via Slashgamer]

Rockstar Doesn't Get Hardcore/Casual Division

The division doesn’t make sense to us; good games will usually sell and be popular, bad games will struggle – of any type or genre or style. But we still believe big, high impact games will help the industry evolve and further surpass the movie industry as the next mass-market story telling medium.

Sam Houser Talks Rockstar Hate

Most of the people who hate us are people it is truly an honor to be hated by — reactionary creeps with strange agendas — and the Daily Mail. Most people who know about modern pop culture know about GTA and like or dislike it on its own merits...

Midnight Club: LA Trailer Makes Us Want to Drive Fast

Last week we dropped you a Midnight Club: Los Angeles Trailer and this one is definitely as impressive. Having been to E3 I can tell you driving through the streets of LA going 100+ mph would be a blast, not in real life of course.

Rockstar: GTA IV For PC in Nov

The rumors have been circulating for months, but today Rockstar officially confirmed that Grand Theft Auto IV will be hitting the PC on Nov. 18 in North America and Nov. 21 in Europe.

"We are very excited to be releasing the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. "The whole team is dedicated to bringing an amazing gaming experience to the PC. The game looks and plays beautifully on PC and we can't wait for people to play it."

It looks like the PC version will be ported by Rockstar North, though I've pinged Rockstar to be sure. I've also asked them about pricing, DLC and system requirements for the PC version.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Details Allegedly Leaked Via Survey

A report from UGO, sourced from a reader submitted survey, hints at unreleased details on Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the Nintendo DS. It's worth mentioning that virtually no details have been released on the game so far, so anything we hear will be considered "unreleased." We should also consider it rumor for now.

According to the UGO post, Chinatown Wars focuses on "an outsider navigating the criminal underworld of a major city", with the player controlling "a young gang soldier involved in the internal power struggle for control of his gang."

The survey also allegedly spills details on what that Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection support will be.

GTA 100 Percenters Have 7 Days to Get Their Key

Rockstar sent notices out sometime after midnight to players who achieved 100 percent completion in Grand Theft Auto IV during the game's "Key to the City" contest (now closed, so if you're at 98.3 percent, suck it up.) Reader Farnic sent us a screenshot of his (fullsize after the jump). The fine print: "If you do not respond within seven days, you will be made ineligible for the prize." Also, it could take up to 120 days to get your key, depending on how many they have to make.

I think there's a legal compliance reason for that. I got a prize for being a finalist in a bad-movie contest run by Radar, and they made me sign an affidavit and send it back in seven days too. OK, so that was my passive aggressive way of linking to some OT bullshit. Anyway, the Rockstar notice has the image of what looks like the key all the eligible 100 Percenters will receive. So congrats to Farnic and all who got it. When it arrives, take pictures of the unboxing and send them along.

100 Percent Club Contest Notices Delivered [Rockstar Games Social Club]

GTA IV Is "A Threat To American Values"

GTA: Chinatown Wars to Feature WiFi Support

Rockstar today launched the official site for upcoming DS-exclusive GTA China Town Wars. The site is little more than a placeholder for the game but we were able to squeeze one bit of potential news out of all of that empty space.

Down at the bottom of the page there's the universal symbol for the Nintendo WiFi Connection. It's not too far a leap to think that means that the upcoming touch-action game will have some sort of WiFi support. Of course we haven't a clue if that means a free downloadable demo to share with friends or full-on multiplayer support. Here's hoping it's the latter.

China Town Wars [Thanks Christian]

Midnight Club Los Angeles

I'm happy to see that Midnight Club: Los Angeles looks every bit as impressive, as it sounded in McWhertor's in-depth hands-on with the game.

Whoops! Well, just as soon as it was discovered, it came back down. But Grand Theft Auto IV briefly had a listing on the ESRB web site that showed Windows PC as a platform. The screenshot, gathered by Game-on-Game is above. If you go there now, it's back to Xbox 360 and PS3 only. So who knows what the hell is going on. Erroneous? Premature? I'm going with the latter. This simply has to come out on PC, and Rockstar hasn't definitively put the kibosh on any speculation yet.

GTA IV Rating Shown With Windows PC as Console [Game-on-Game via Blue's News

Midnight Club: Los Angeles Hands-On

When we last saw Rockstar San Diego's Midnight Club: Los Angeles, way back at the Leipzig Games Convention, we walked away impressed. Pissed that we weren't allowed to actually drive, but impressed. Thankfully, E3 wasn't a total bust, given that we got to spend a good hour playing the Xbox 360 version of the newest Midnight Club.

It's really too bad our illegal street racing skills weren't up to the challenge. Sprinting through Sunset Boulevard in a Mazda RX8, then through the Hollywood hills in a late '60s Ford Mustang Boss 302 showed that, while we were thrown a couple of "REP" points here and there, we have a long way to go before actually having a respectable racing reputation.

Fortunately, we looked pretty good, even when finishing fourth.

Rumor: Prank Results in Half-Assed "Confirmation" of GTA IV for PC

Not sure what to make of this. Bullshit radar says "proof of nothing" because there's no reason for tech support to be looped in on a game in development. That said, two guys worked up an extremely patient, social engineering prank that had 2K Games support believing, or at least suspicious of the possibility of a hacked Grand Theft Auto IV demo on pirate sites. And in the back-and-forth, it turned up this reply from tech support:

"The PC version of GTA IV has not even been announced for release and is still in development so is not about to be released on a website."

Sam Houser Still Hungry

Grand Theft Auto IV was an enormous success. Really, it doesn't get any bigger than that! So, imagine if you (yes, you) were one of the creative forces behind that title. You'd probably pack up and call it a day. Well, good thing you're not and Rockstar's Sam Houser is. The Rockstar honcho says that he (and gaming) are only getting started and that there's still so much left to be done. Says Houser:

What have I got left to achieve? Everything. We are only scratching at the surface of games' potential as a creative medium.

Fantastic to hear this kinda stuff from a guy like Houser.

Rockstar boss: Games industry has ‘limitless’ potential [MCVUK via VG247]