The Red Dead Redemption Rockstar XP Challenge has officially begun! Grizzled veterans and greenhorns alike in Red Dead Redemption multiplayer
on Xbox LIVE and PlayStation Network will be on equal footing as the
entire online population works starting today to unlock special avatar
rewards for their respective platforms. In lieu of the originally
announced "Skin It to Win It" and "I Shot the Sheriff" Challenges to
unlock these avatars, the test will now be for players on each console
to harness their collective XP earning skills online and get that
thermometer up from zero to 100%.
Here's how to do your part. Boot up your platform of choice and jump
into any Red Dead Redemption multiplayer session. From Free Roam to
Grab the Bag - whatever your pleasure. Enjoy your multiplayer game as
you normally would and when your session ends, all of the XP that you
accumulate will be automatically added to your platform's XP grand
total.
You can track the progress of both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 earnings via the live XP thermometer at the Red Dead Redemption Social Club Community page, the Social Club Homepage, or over at at the Rockstar Newswire. When a platform reaches 100%, we will unlock the avatar awards for that platform community.
The unlockable avatars will grace your Xbox LIVE and/or PlayStation Home characters with the spiffy Elegant Suit just like the unlockable one Marston himself rocks
in the game. And when the occassion calls for something less dressy,
there will also be the crimson Posse t-shirt. Each available for both
male and female avatars. Check out some preview shots of all the
unlockable avatar outfits below.
The Red Dead Redemption Rockstar XP Challenge unlockable avatars for Xbox LIVE:
The Red Dead Redemption Rockstar XP Challenge unlockable avatars for PlayStation Home:
Source: Rockstar Games Newswire
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Date: 2011-01-18
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 PlayStation Magazine dedicated the cover of their February issue
to L.A. Noire, and in a revealing ten page feature, talk to the team
behind the game about the challenges of acting with the MotionScan technology.
"What’s perhaps most interesting is how much a part of the experience
the acting actually becomes. The moment-to-moment gameplay of L.A.
Noire is a combination of walking around inspecting areas and casing
joints, examining items, and driving – all punctuated by violence in
the form of fistfights, shootouts and car chases… It is, quite simply,
compelling cinema woven into a game narrative.”
This latest PlayStation Magazine issue is now available on the new-stands. But that’s not all PlayStation Magazine revealed they also revealed the release date--close to the release date time that we have predicted!
Source: RockstarHQ
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Date: 2011-01-18
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 "For heaven’s sake catch me before I kill more. I cannot control
myself.” That cheery message was scrawled in lipstick on a mirror by
serial killer William Heirens in 1945, right after he had brutally
stabbed a woman to death in her apartment. A photo of the chilling cry
for help is just one of the gruesome pictures depicting murder, rape and
exploitation used as reference material by Team Bondi for L.A. Noire, a
new third-person action game published by Rockstar. Crime has featured
regularly in past Rockstar games, particularly in the Grand Theft Auto
series, but it has usually been wrapped in humorous, tongue-in-cheek
presentation. L.A. Noire strips everything back to brass tacks –
stylised, yes, but certainly the dark underbelly of 1940s Los Angeles
rammed home with both barrels. Digital Spy joined Rockstar for a
hands-off session to see how this intriguing prospect is shaping up.
L.A.
Noire is very much the brainchild of Brendan McNamara, founder of
Australian developer Team Bondi. McNamara has been nurturing the rather
ambitious project since 2003, assured in his belief that the distinct
magic of film noir detective stories could make a compelling gaming
experience. The story is set in Los Angeles in 1947, a time when the
post-war boom was emerging, ushering in a new era of glamour, wealth and
dark criminality. Main character Cole Phelps, played by Mad Men‘s Aaron
Staten, has returned home from World War II, where he fought in the
fierce Battle of Okinawa in the Pacific War and gained a Silver Star for
bravery. Back in the US, Phelps joins the Los Angeles Police Department
and is immediately fast-tracked to detective (following a tutorial
section spent as a beat cop). He is very much a ‘by the book’ sort of
hero, always preferring to use his detective nous rather than
willingness to break the rules.
Rockstar is very open in
admitting that L.A. Noire is a "significant departure” for the
publisher, as the game takes a more considered and slower-paced approach
to the action genre. It certainly features various action sequences,
such as car chases and third-person shooting, but the vast majority of
time will be spent doing police work; following up leads, surveying
crime scenes, interrogating witnesses and seeing through the veils of
deception to find the truth. Essentially, the game doesn’t feature
missions; instead the player takes on cases on different desks of the
police force – such as traffic, vice and homicide. Each desk brings the
player a new partner to work with and a whole new set of problems. In a
hands-off demo, Rockstar showed off a case called ‘The Fallen Idol’ on
the traffic desk close to the start of the game. After a briefing from
the desk sergeant, Phelps set out to investigate a car that had careered
off the road and smashed into a Coca Cola advertising hoard,
conveniently right across the road from the police station.
There
are immediate similarities to GTA in the game’s basic elements, such as
the third-person controls, circular on-screen mini-map and core driving
mechanics. However, at the crime scene things get very different as the
player must rely on their senses rather than their reactions. Police
officers on the scene informed Phelps that the driver of the car was
June Ballard, a rather slippery B-movie actress married to Guy McAfee,
an underworld figure based on a real-life person. The passenger in the
vehicle was Jessica Hamilton, a young aspiring actress sufficiently
injured to require hospital treatment. Ballard claimed that they were
drugged by a movie producer, but Phelps always relies on the evidence to
do the talking.
Moving to the stricken vehicle, Phelps met
county coroner Mal Carruthers, a constant ally in his fight against
crime who gave an initial briefing on the crash. Exploring crime scenes
in L.A. Noire involves paying close attention to the details, but the
music also plays a part. Any time there are items to uncover, the
soundtrack strikes up and gets quieter when the player moves too far
away. A particular piano line also indicates that Phelps is close to a
key piece of evidence. In this case, things were easy as the contents of
Hamilton’s bag was laid out – a torn pair of panties and a letter from
her mother indicating that she had run away from home to pursue a dream
of stardom, aided by her auntie June.
All pieces of evidence can
be picked up and handled to find their real truth. For example, a model
shrunken head was picked up and manipulated in Phelps’s hand until
reaching a sweet spot, indicating that it had been used to wedge down
the car’s accelerator. Some of the clues will be red herrings and it’s
up to the player to work out which pieces of evidence should be followed
up. All clues are logged in the in-game notebook, an essential tool
enabling the player to recheck evidence, track objectives and also
manage the interrogation system. Satisfied with the evidence, Phelps
headed over to quiz Ballard about the crash, requiring the player to ask
a series of questions from the notebook and respond to the answers
given.
Asked about the drugging allegations, Ballard gave a
dismissive response, with her facial features and body language
screaming that she was telling porkie pies. The player can react in
three different ways – ‘believe/coax’ to take the soft approach,
‘doubt/force’ to put pressure on the subject and ‘disbelieve/accuse’ to
use hard evidence to put them on the spot. Care must be taken to judge
the right interrogation approach for each situation, but the game will
never penalise a wrong decision. After picking the ‘doubt/force’
approach, Phelps cajoled Ballard into giving up the name Mark Bishop,
the producer who she claims was behind the drugging. He then asked about
Jessica Hamilton, to which she gave another evasive response. However,
this time Phelps used the torn panties as evidence to
‘disbelieve/accuse’ her, causing Ballard to reveal that Hamilton was at a
casting with Bishop. Phelps also discovered that Bishop had offered
Ballard a part in a movie, but then withdrawn the offer, making her less
than happy with him. Having got everything he wanted, Phelps decided to
head over to the hospital to quiz Hamilton.
L.A. Noire features
an open-world version of LA which is not 100% accurate to the period,
but is pretty darn close. The city feels complete and immersive, with
possible similarities to the fellow post-WWII world of Empire Bay in
2K’s Mafia II. Buildings, vehicles and people feel well recreated with a
good attention to detail. Rockstar describes the game as "open-world
with a linear path”, stressing that it will not be a sandbox in the true
GTA sense. Players can drive anywhere and, as they are a cop, do pretty
much whatever they want. There will also be incentives to explore the
city, such as side missions announced over the police radio that can be
tackled at any time. However, there is a general focus that Phelps is
"always on the case”, meaning it would be out of keeping for him to
disappear off for a game of pool, or go shopping while deep in an
investigation.
At the hospital, the doctor confirmed that
Hamilton had been drugged with choral hydrate, and also raped. Quizzing
the girl required the same interrogation approach, but this time Phelps
adopted a less aggressive tack. Digging beneath her initial answers and
using the evidence, the detective encouraged Hamilton to reveal that
Ballard took her to the casting, where she was given a drink by Bishop
and then it all got hazy. Her only distinctive memory was a mermaid on
the front of the building as they drove up. Leaving Hamilton to her
still-undeterred dreams of stardom (as if being raped is not enough to
leave well alone), Phelps spotted Ballard at the hospital and decided to
follow the actress, triggering one of the game’s action sections.
Similar
to the Grand Theft Auto games, the process of tailing a target from a vehicle or on
foot requires maintaining just the right distance to stay in touch but
not be detected. However, the game adds a new facet to the surveillance
as Phelps sneaked up to overhear Ballard’s conversation on a pay-phone
in a café. He sat down at a booth and held up a newspaper to listen
covertly to her talk, as she asked her nefarious husband to set up a hit
on Bishop at his apartment downtown. From here, Phelps had to speed
across town in the car to save Bishop before McAfee’s goons finished him
off. Upon entering the building, the player jumped into the melee
combat system, which Rockstar readily admits is "rudimentary” at best.
Punches and grapples seemed pretty pedestrian, with limited real
complexity. However, Rockstar believes that the "fundamentals are all
there” for a compelling melee system, so hopefully Team Bondi will sort
that out before the finished game is released.
After dispatching
the goons, Phelps found that Bishop was not at home. A search of his
apartment and an interrogation of his wife revealed that the producer
has a penchant for pretty, young girls. It also led to a building called
Silver Screen Props, which has a distinctive mermaid on its roof. Any
addresses, names or other information gained can be checked by calling
Records & Information, an "in-game Yellow Pages” holding details on
anywhere and anyone in the city. Marlon Harwood, the prop store owner,
proved to be a completely hopeless liar who readily admitted to
operating a dirty casting stage at the back of his shop, including a
rather gross two-way mirror room allowing film directors to prey on
innocent hopefuls. Under interrogation, Harwood revealed that Bollard
had asked him to film Jacobs raping a drugged-up Hamilt
...
Read more »
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Date: 2011-01-18
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There's plenty of car chases and shoot-outs in L.A. Noire,
but it's how the game creates gameplay out of human interactions that
makes it truly ground-breaking. Observing a suspect, analysing their behaviour and knowing when to believe or doubt them--or when to confront
them with the evidence you've collected; is the real test of your
skill as a detective. Asking the wrong questions could cost you precious
time or clues, and falsely accusing a suspect could cause them to clam
up completely, depriving you of a precious source of information. MotionScan
is the technology that makes this gameplay possible, but it's up to you
to make the most of every opportunity.
Below are four new screens
straight from the interrogation room. 
Source: Rockstar Games Newswire
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Date: 2011-01-18
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