We have a couple of announcements to pass along to you today from Rockstar for Max Payne 3. By the title you will know we have a gameplay video featuring the 608 Bull Revolver. But that’s not all we have for you as we also have a link for the Official Max Payne 3 website for you to check out.

First a little more about the 608:

The 608 Bull is a large frame revolver packing eight rounds of staggering firepower that can be shot very accurately over short distances. Typically found in the hands of paramilitary outfits like the U.F.E., the 608 can be single or dual-wield for versatile handgun shooting.

CALIBER – .357
CAPACITY – 8 rounds
RANGE – 50 Meters
BARREL LENGTH – 6-1/3″
WEIGHT – 52 oz

That is a pretty a impressive weapon, now for the 608 Bull Revolver Gameplay Video.

Be sure to checkout the new website and read more about the Comando Sombra, one of the most viscous gangs in Max Payne 3.

Max Payne is set to be released in May of 2012, for the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3 and PC. Pre-order your copy now by clicking on the picture of your preferred console below.

Max Payne 3 is looking like it is going to be an awesome game. A lot of background work has been going into the newest installment of Max Payne and the video below shows just how much is going into make Max Payne 3.

First up a little more about the video:

Max Payne 3 Design and Technology Video Series: Targeting and Weapons
Info: Part two of Rockstar Games’ Design and Technology series dives into Max’s targeting, weapons, and tactical movement, explaining how each of these systems works to create a totally seamless and believable cinematic experience. Through advancements in physics technology and animation, developer Rockstar Studios is able to capture the precision targeting of a first-person shooter and retain the strong characterization and story elements intrinsic to a third-person perspective. This same technology provides a greater sense of realism to all of Max’s actions and reactions, allowing the character to adjust naturally to the on-screen position of the reticule, even while in a prone state. Thanks to these gameplay innovations, players will enjoy total control over Max’s movements and actions – paired with fluid and precise targeting – at all times.

Now for the video you came here to see:

For more information checkout the Max Payne 3 website.

Pre-order your copy of Max Payne 3 by clicking on the picture of the console of your choice below.

Here is a link for the release dates for Max Payne 3, so mark your calender!

Looking for the Max Payne release date? Well you have come to the right place as Rockstar has just announced the release date for the much anticipated game. Max Payne 3, is heading to the Xbox 360 and PS3 on May 15, 2012 in North America and May 18th internationally. PC players will have to wait until May 29, 2012 to get their hands on the game in North America and June 1, 2012 internationally.

Here is a little more about the game, and be sure to check out the trailer after the jump.

Based on incredibly precise and fluid gunplay and maintaining the series’ famed dark and cinematic approach, Max Payne 3 follows the famed former New York detective onto the streets of São Paulo, Brazil. Max Payne now works in executive protection for the wealthy Rodrigo Branco in the hopes of escaping the memories of his troubled past. When a street gang kidnaps Rodrigo’s wife, Max is pulled into a conspiracy of shadowy, warring factions threading every aspect of São Paulo society in a deadly web that threatens to engulf everyone and everything around him.

In another first for the series, Max Payne 3’s multiplayer offering brings the game’s cinematic feel, fluid gunplay and kinetic sense of movement into the realm of online multiplayer. Building on the fiction and signature gameplay elements of the Max Payne universe, Max Payne 3 features a wide range of new and traditional multiplayer modes that play on the themes of paranoia, betrayal and heroism, all delivered with the same epic visual style of the single-player game.

For more information, check out the Max Payne website.

It’s my absolute favorite time of the year. The lights, the cheery music on every single radio station, and EVERYTHING is on sale on Steam.

Steam has started its yearly enormous Christmas sale, and the gettin’ is good.

Today’s daily deals are:

• RIFT – ($7.49)
• Singularity – ($7.49)
• Pendulo Adventure Pack – ($12.49)
• Bunch of Heroes – ($2.49)
• Metro 2033 – ($4.99)
• Amnesia: The Dark Descent – ($4.99)
• Fable 3 – ($12.49)
• Orcs Must Die! – ($3.74)
• Just Cause Franchise Sale (DLC is all 75% off)
• Just Cause – ($3.74)
• Just Cause 2 – ($4.99)
• Sam and Max Complete Pack – ($12.49)
• Portal Bundle – ($8.74)
• Max Payne – ($2.49)
• Max Payne 2 – ($2.49) 

Rockstar has just announced a pre-order exclusive that you may just be interested in. If you pre-order the Max Payne 3 Special Edition from GameStop starting today through Jan. 15, 2012 you will get some awesome extras.

Here is a full description of what you will get:

The final resting place of Max’s young wife and daughter, Cemetery represents the tragic past Max cannot forget. With a wintry New York City skyline, sniping positions amongst the monuments, destructible tombstones, circular fighting arenas in a rotunda garden and a looming mausoleum, Cemetery makes a fitting final home for your enemies.

In addition, Rockstar Games has announced the Max Payne 3 Special Edition will be available for pre-order from Nov. 22, 2011 through Jan. 15, 2012 and will include:

· A copy of Max Payne 3;
· 10″ tall collectible Max Payne statue created in a collaboration between TriForce and Rockstar Games;
· Series of game-inspired Original Still Life Art Prints that depict some of Max Payne’s inner demons and vices;
· Copper- and brass-plated iron, bullet-shaped Bullet Keychain featuring a screw-off back;
· Classic Multiplayer Character Pack of eight playable multiplayer characters for Max Payne 3 Multiplayer, including fan favorites from the original Max Payne and Max Payne 2 like Max Payne from Max Payne 2, Mona Sax and Vladimir Lem;
· Disorderly Conduct Multiplayer Weapons Pack for Max Payne 3 Multiplayer that includes the Hammerhead Auto Shotgun, G9 Grenade Launcher and Molotov cocktail;
· Max Payne 3 Official Soundtrack featuring the game’s instrumental score.
· The Max Payne 3 Special Edition is ideal for fans and players looking for premium and collectible Max Payne content, including digital character and weapon packs not found anywhere else. The Max Payne 3 Special Edition will retail for $99.99 in North America and is available for pre-order now until Jan. 15, 2012, while supplies last.

Now the Special Edition will set you back $99.99, but with all the extra’s include it really isn’t a bad price.

Max Payne 3 and the Max Payne 3 Special Edition will be available in March 2012.

We have a little something special for the Max Payne fans out there. And to be honest, you don’t even have to be a fan to check out the Max Payne 3 Design and Technology Series Video. I always enjoy taking a look behind the scenes to see what it takes to make a game I am looking forward to.

Here is a little more about the video:

The debut video in the Design and Technology Series offers a first look at the targeting mechanics, movement and animation, enemy intelligence and other technical design innovations going into building an advanced, intense and immersive action-shooter with Max Payne 3.

So what did you think of the video? The one thing I enjoyed the most was the 360 degree shooting from the prone position and, of course, Bullet Time. What would a Max Payne game be without his signature shooting style?

Max Payne 3 is heading our way March 2012 for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Make sure you pre-order Max Payne 3 today, as we have made it as easy as clicking on the picture of your preferred console below.

Heading to New York Comic Con 2011 next weekend? If you are, I suggest you stop by the Max Payne 3 booth (#1604) and get a look at the game. Just a quick note, and speaking from past experience attending NYCC, I suggest you head to the Max Payne 3 booth first thing in the morning the day you are attending, because the lines fill up fast. Maybe you will be attending NYCC for more than one day, I still suggest you get there early on one of those days to get a glimpse of Max Payne 3.

This is one of those games that I will be willing to wait in a long line to get a glimpse of. How about you, Platform Nation community that will be attending NYCC 2011, what would you wait in a long line at NYCC 2011 for?

When a video game, movie or idea that uses an established title or name strays so far from its original concept that you can hardly even recognize it, do you ever find yourself wondering why the creators even bothered using the name at all? Everything comes from something, and although the orgy of sequels and reboots we seem to be seeing in the popular media these days is most certainly inspired by classic ideas and concepts, they are also stand alone works of art in themselves. We don’t call the latest Call of Duty game ‘Doom 5000′ anymore than we refer to Star Wars as ‘The Hidden Fortress 2: In Space.’ So why do we do it? Yes…money, of course. But aside from that, how many new and exciting concepts, stories, and characters could have sprung forth if we hadn’t been clinging to a specific name or brand?

This question came up for me as I watched and read more about Rockstar’s upcoming title, ‘Max Payne 3.’ Being a huge fan of the original game, mentions of this title made me mildly excited, but I soon discovered that Rockstar’s rendition of the Max Payne franchise looks nothing like what I remembered (aside from the bullet time, I suppose). It is important to keep in mind that, unlike the first two games, which were developed by Remedy Entertainment, Rockstar is doing this project on their own. Rather than being set in the dark and rainy streets of New York City, which all seemed slightly reminiscent of the settings seen in James Obarr’s ‘The Crow,’ Max Payne 3 will have us running through the bright and sunny streets of Brazil.

This is the Max Payne I remember.

Max will also be ditching his trench coat, along with everything that I found originally compelling about him as a character. Max Payne’s story in the first game was heart breaking, engaging, and seemed to set a new precedent on the term ‘dark video game.’ Drugged up junkies kill some cop’s entire family (including his infant child) and it causes him to go out on a bloody quest for revenge. Solid story, good motivation, plus the gameplay was awesome for its time. The second game stretched things a little further, but it was still slightly believable. Dragging things out into a third game not only seems unconvincingly redundant, it also partly taints and spoils the entire feeling of the games. I guess Max just really likes going on killing sprees…

What might have happened, I wonder, if Rockstar had commissioned the same team that has been working on Max Payne 3 to make a Max Payne inspired game, with the liberty to create whatever story or protagonist they liked?

Sam Fisher says shaving your head is edgy and cool!

I am just using Max Payne 3 as an example here, but I think you can see my point. When the writers for Max Payne 3 were trying to come up with the original premise for the game, how many times did they have to stop and think: ‘no… that doesn’t fit the Max Payne story… Why does it have to be Max Payne?’ It isn’t easy to explain why a man would go on three murderous rampages of bloody revenge.

What do you think? Are good ideas being thrown away, or being left unexplored, as we try to rehash and retell stories that we already know the ending to? Could the team working on the revamped versions of Total Recall, The Crow, or Toxic Avenger have been working on something new and fantastic? Sound off in the comments below!

Graphics are nice, but is it Max Payne?

Last week we brought you the debut trailer for Max Payne 3, and this week we have the same trailer with a twist. Rockstar has just released the Max Payne 3: Pop-Up trailer which highlights many of the things you glimpsed in the trailer, but now illuminated by some new details being revealed for the first time. So take a look at the Max Payne Pop-up trailer below.

I don’t know about you but I thought the pop-up trailer was fantastic as it detailed Max Payne’s weapons, melee and cover. I would love to see more trailers follow this format.

I guess that’s why I’m still…confused over Max Payne 3. I think given a modern slant on the shooting, the gameplay will still hold up, and I’d love to see where the character has gone in these intervening years (aside from Burger King and the local Big & Tall). However, I see very little noir. Some of the screenshots purport something dark and grim, but I don’t see the same flair as before. This trailer (apparently made from all in-game footage) exemplifies my concerns.

For instance, why is everything so tropical? I’m fine with Payne moving his New York self to Brazil, but why lose the 50s black and white gangster appeal? Though I try to avoid reading them for sanity’s sake, one YouTube comment in particular stuck out: “Payne & Lynch 3: Gears of Warfare.”

Toss in some of The Cartel and you’ve got it. Max Payne 3 is set to release March 2012 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

via Rockstar Games