Weblogs Inc : Tag rockstar

Rockstar and Adult Swim offer free Beaterator tunes Dec. 7

Starting Monday through the end of the year, people who bust a funky move on over to Adult Swim's site will be able to download a free mix tape, courtesy of Rockstar's Beaterator. The tracks were hand-selected by both Rockstar and Adult Swim, and two of them -- Cee-Lo's "Hello Miss (Armani XXXChange remix)" and Good Time Guys' "Is That You God? (Dabrye remix)" -- will even be compatible with the PSP game.

Hit the break for the list of all 17 tracks you'll be able to score from December 7 until January 1, 2010.

Max Payne 3 delayed until late 2010

In a new financial earnings and projection report, Take-Two has dished out news of Max Payne 3's release. The game's been pushed back -- we like to imagine in incredibly slow and dramatic fashion -- to the company's fiscal Q4 2010. In real time, that translates to a three-month period spanning August–October, 2010. The game was previously pegged for an unlikely Winter 2009 release.

Based on what we've seen of Max Payne 3 so far, we'd say that bumping back its release is a good move. Max is in serious need of some Jazzercise and a decent dry cleaner, so this extra time will hopefully get him into better shape to handle the countless waves of bad guys he'll be indiscriminately shooting in the face.

Tokio Hotels Bill Kaulitz jammert: "Ich brauche Liebe!"

Er ist doch noch einfach ein kleiner Junge. Wenn etwas nicht so richtig klappt, dann jammert er, dann strampelt er und dann hält er solange die Luft an, bis... bis er nicht mehr kann.

Der Frontmann von Tokio Hotel hat mit seinen gerade mal 20 Jahren wieder einmal festgestellt, dass das Leben gar nicht so einfach ist.

Da hatte er sich gerade mal wieder drei Stunden lang die Haare toupiert und wie immer mit verbundenen Augen Klamotten aus dem Schrank genommen, da hat er festgestellt, dass alles echt ätzend ist.

Was ist denn nun schon wieder Bill?

Play The Ballad of Gay Tony with Rockstar tonight

Before you put on some sweats, make a little popcorn and sit down for your sitcoms tonight, you may want to gear up for some The Ballad of Gay Tony multiplayer. Rockstar Games has announced it'll be holding a multiplayer session tonight from 5pm - 8pm ET, allowing prospective Liberty City hoodlums to hang out with some developers in the expansion's new multiplayer modes for a bit of two-on-two action.

If you want to get involved, pack a parachute and send a request to these Gamertags:

GwRockstar3
GwRockstar4
GwRockstar5
GwRockstar6

And if you fancy yourself a bit of a voyeur or can't get to your Xbox, you can still watch the action from the perspective of one of Rockstar's employees at the Social Club event page here.

Red Dead Redemption coming April 27, trailer coming right now

Honestly, we blame the rest of the video game industry for our susceptibility to Rockstar trailers. If everybody were putting together ads that were half as stylish and cool as this new Red Dead Redemption trailer, we'd likely be immune at this point. As it stands, this introduction to lead character John Marston leaves us with the gnawing feeling that our lives will be utterly incomplete without its shootouts and horseback chases.

Luckily, the trailer makes our longing finite with the new official release date of April 27 or, as you'll probably come to think of it after watching the clip, "not nearly soon enough."

Pete Doherty: Kurzer Herzstillstand!

Pete Doherty enthüllt, dass sein Herz im vergangenen Monat aufgehört hat zu schlagen. Jedenfalls für einen kurzen Moment.

Der Star der Babyshambles sollte eigentlich einige Konzerte in Irland geben, musste die Shows dann aber doch in letzter Minute absagen, weil er - wie sein Management zunächst behauptete - angeblich "erschöpft" gewesen sei.

Das war allerdings nur die halbe Wahrheit! Jetzt spricht Pete über die ernste Situation, damals in Irland! Und warum er die Konzerte wirklich nicht geben konnte.

Red Dead Redemption saddles up in April 2010

While announcing a new trailer for upcoming western epic Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar let it slip that the game is slated to arrive in April of next year, according to Videogamer.com. That gives your wallet yet another reason to be terrified of the first third of 2010.

The latest clip of the game, dubbed "My Name is John Marston," will arrive on December 1. Allow us to give you a sneak peek:

John Marston: "I used to be bad, but now I'm good!"

Former bad guy friend: "I wish you were still bad, but you're not, so I'm gonna make you kill me!"

John Marston: "Man, it sure is dusty here!"

[Gunshots]

[Fade to black]

Go clubbing with new GTAIV Gay Tony tees

Rockstar has unleashed some brand new Grand Theft Auto IV T-shirts, giving fans of The Ballad of Gay Tony a reason to hit the floor show off their best moves. Available for $20 each, the shirts depict the logos of two of the DLC's nightclubs, Hercules and Bahama Mamas. If you've been looking to make a super hip fashion statement ... well, you probably shouldn't be buying video game T-shirts. If, however, you're looking for some inoffensive gaming apparel -- which can be hard to find -- go ahead and take a look.

Rockstar's Beaterator subbing for music teachers in some NYC public schools

Despite a relatively low-key launch on the PSP this past Fall, Rockstar Games' Beaterator is showing back up in the news this week for reasons that we couldn't have seen coming from a mile away. It turns out that kids in some NYC public schools are getting their music education by means of the beat making application and PSPs, with a custom workshop being taught by Dubspot.

CBS2 News reports that students from the East Side High School in Manhattan are being instructed on not just using Beaterator's tools, but also creating fully fleshed out tracks. "They're able to learn music theory in a different format ... it's the same information, just a different way of presenting it," the class' teacher says. Copies of Beaterator and PSPs are being provided for free, as is the classroom. We've contacted Rockstar to see if it plans on expanding the program into other cities.

[Via Rockstar Games]

New Red Dead Redemption screens showcase the finer things in (cowboy) life

A slow trickle of information and media on upcoming Old West-em-up Red Dead Redemption has been coming from developer Rockstar Games for some time now. And if it weren't for the game's somewhat unique setting – as well as our (admittedly strained) faith in the game's developer – we might not indulge the it with so much attention. Alas, these screens, much like the screens and video that came before them, keep impressing us. Call it a predilection for Western-themed entertainment ... we're not sure. Peep the screens below and decide for yourself if the game is worth your time during the busy second holiday release season.
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Download: Grand Theft Auto IV v1.0.5 Patch

This patch updates Grand Theft Auto IV for the PC. It fixes multiplayer and control issues and converts all regional editions into one single edition.

Download Grand Theft Auto IV v1.0.5 Patch (99 MB)
Check out all Grand Theft Auto IV downloads
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Lost and Damned Achievements spotted on GTAIV PC

According to a post on GTA4.net, a new update for the Games for Windows version of Grand Theft Auto IV has added Achievements from the Xbox DLC, The Lost and Damned. If the details of the update are accurate -- and users on the GFW forums indicate they are -- it looks like the DLC's long touted Xbox 360 exclusivity may be drawing to a close. Of course, as Games for Windows is also a Microsoft platform, it doesn't necessarily mean that PS3 owners will be joining in anytime soon.

We've contacted Microsoft for clarification on the update and will update this post when we receive new information.

[Via CVG]

Lenny Kravitz, Travis Barker to Guest on Lil Wayne's 'Rebirth,' Due December

After all the delays, rumors, leaks and legal battles of 2009, Lil Wayne has finally confirmed a release date for his forthcoming album 'Rebirth.' According to Billboard.com, the high-anticipated LP will hit stores on Dec. 15 -- and yes, Weezy is still on the road to rock stardom. Wayne told Billboard that he has remained solid on his promise to deliver a rock album, even enlisting Lenny Kravitz, Fall Out Boy and Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker for the effort.

"I play guitar on 80 percent of the songs, and there's a lot of rock influences and rock beats ... But I don't want people to think I'm trying to do something I can't do. Don't think you're going to put on the album and hear me screaming and singing."

The New Orleans rapper is aware his fans might be confused about the rock concept, but says it allowed him the freedom to move past the limitations of being a rapper.

Video: 15 days in GTA IV's Liberty City

Time lapse videos were all the rage back in -- actually, we don't think they were ever rage caliber stuff, but in the case of this GTA IV video that shows 15 days go by Liberty City, it's at least reached "oh, that's neat!" territory. The video comes courtesy of DigitalFoundry (you can watch it over at Eurogamer) and reminds us just how much life there is in the virtual sand box, as cars drive along to their respective destinations, pedestrians shuffle about doing their own thing and, in the case of that one lady around the 32-second mark, loaf around the riverside all day and night. We just hope she's not doing what we think she's doing. It'd be such an unbecoming thing of the purest city in all of gaming, amirite?

The History of Rock & Roll Photography

Gail Buckland's new book Who Shot Rock & Roll is the first to truly explore the extraordinary work of the photographers who captured the "energy, intoxication, rebellion, and magic" of rock, with images of icons ranging from Elton John to Led Zeppelin, Bjork to Janis Joplin, and James Brown to John Lennon, that have become icons unto themselves. Featuring more than 250 photos, including many rare and never-before-seen images, Who Shot Rock & Roll is an unparalleled compendium of portraits, live concert shots, behind-the-scenes snaps, and studio work selected for their aesthetic quality and power. The extended captions tell stories from the photographers, including everyone from Bib Gruen to Richard Avedon and David LaChappelle, that reveal their role as both "creative collaborators and tireless journalists."

Covering 1955 to the present, "Who Shot Rock & Roll is a silent window into a world of sound," Buckland says. "There are photographs of crowds and fans reminiscent of the great historical paintings of battle scenes where bodies blend and bend and faces radiate with what can only be described as transcendence. Snapshots reveal the passion, ambition, and insecurity of aspiring young musicians. There are portraits of godheads, objects of mass adoration; the best could hang next to paintings of Renaissance princes, so similar are these royals with their finery, wealth, and power." An accompanying exhibit just opened at the Brooklyn Museum and will run through the end of January and before traveling across the country through 2011.

AO-rated PC version of Manhunt 2 releasing next week

If you thought Manhunt 2 had reached the pinnacle of mature content in video games, you better guess again. The controversy-garnering title will be re-released on Direct2Drive next week for $29.99 -- only this time around, it's packing an AO rating. As those who lived through Mahuntgate surely remember, that was planned to be the original rating for the game, before the ESRB rolled up, and was all like "what? You want to stick shards of glass into another man's ear? No. No, sir."

Rockstar has remained mum about what the new rating will entail, but our guess is that it will incorporate more graphic forms of violence, and perhaps a few extra dirty words. We've contacted Rockstar to get more specific details on the mature-r content, and to find out when we can expect the Early Childhood version of the game to hit store shelves.

[Via Big Download]

Grow a moustache for charity, end up in Red Dead Redemption

A classy gentleman never needs a reason to grow some over-lip facial hair -- however, Rockstar and the Movember Foundation are offering a pretty good incentive for you to grow a glorious moustache. While the latter is asking all applicable males to grow sweet handlebars to raise awareness and donations for men's health issues (primarily prostate cancer), Rockstar is offering the charity's mouthbrow-growing participants a rare prize: They can end as a character in Red Dead Redemption.

The charity event and contest kicks off tomorrow, so if you're interested in helping out, sign up on the Movember Foundation page, and on Rockstar's contest site. Oh, also, you're going to need to shave that sweet Fu Manchu you're already sporting, and start over from scratch. C'mon, you haven't seen your philtrum in like, three years. It misses you.

Rockstar revamps Social Club's online leaderboards and stat tracking for Gay Tony

With the release of this week's second Grand Theft Auto IV expansion The Ballad of Gay Tony, the game's developer has decided to update the online multiplayer statistics tracking in order to reflect the new multiplayer game types. The addition of "BASE Jump" to the mulitplayer as well as "new, tighter Deathmatch arenas" helped spur the leaderboard overhaul, according to the developer blog. The various new additions being made due to the DLC will even get their own section on the Rockstar Social Club, presumably for the four of you tracking your new GTAIV DLC stats after Modern Warfare 2 releases in a couple weeks.

Metareview: The Ballad of Gay Tony

The second and final "Episode from Liberty City," The Ballad of Gay Tony, has arrived. As the tale of Liberty City comes to a close, does The Ballad of Gay Tony present an exciting final act or an anti-climactic letdown? We'll let the critics at large weigh in on this one:

Game Informer (93/100): "While I preferred the tight-knit story of brotherhood and betrayal in The Lost and Damned, The Ballad of Gay Tony delivers more explosive weapons, death-defying missions, and off-the-wall characters. Don't miss your chance to close out the GTA IV experience in style."
IGN (92/100): "The Ballad of Gay Tony is the perfect way to close out the GTA IV saga. Finally, we know what happened to the diamonds stolen in the main story a year-and-a-half ago. Though Luis Lopez doesn't have much of a story at all (this is the ballad of his boss, after all), the supporting cast is phenomenal. There are a lot of hilarious moments and ludicrous missions that will please GTA fans. Sure, a few of the missions fall flat compared to the wild nature of others, but all-in-all this is a fine package and worth 20 bucks. "
1UP (A-): "This has been one hell of a ride. I'm going to miss seeing something new in Liberty City, as I've probably been to every available nook and cranny. I suppose I could still go hunting for those damn pigeons, but with so many other games coming out in the coming months, I don't know where I'll find the time... at least until Rockstar gives me a ticket to their next world of crime, violence, and vice."
Eurogamer (80/100): "Perhaps Tony Prince does nothing to drag the series forward -- somewhat fittingly for a man with his head stuck in the eighties -- but the episode Rockstar has named in his honour is a colourful and pleasingly unpredictable adventure that gets better throughout and ends on a high."

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GTA's 'Next Stop' teased in Liberty City Episodes manual

We'd thought the Grand Theft Auto franchise had taken us to lovingly rendered simulacra of every metropolitan city-type known to man, but apparently, we thought wrong. In the back of the GTA IV: Episodes from Liberty City manual, a fake advertisement points to the series' "Next Stop" (seen above). Of course, the destination being teased is quite obviously the lovely town of Clip Artington, Minnesota. Surely you've heard of Clip Artington! It's renowned for its apple butter festivals.

On the off chance the teaser is pointing to a different city, we've ... we've really got no idea. Looks like a desert, though, right? And a mountain? And some conical, obsidian monoliths? What? Trees? Oh, yeah, that makes a lot more sense. We'd love to hear your speculation in a well-written, thought-provoking comment! There's a place for those right after the jump, you know.

[Image credit: VGChartz]