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Mafia 2 enters UK charts, biggest launch since Red Dead Redemption
Take-Two's crime drama, Mafia 2, debuted at the top of the UK charts last week, with Chart-Track calling it "the biggest UK game launch since Take-Two's very own Red Dead Redemption 14 weeks ago." Though it's an impressive start, we've yet to see how the game fares in the United States, and whether sales have the stamina to recoup the costs of a lengthy development. Kane and Lynch aren't done with their Dog Days up on the charts just yet. Despite slipping into second place this week, the duo managed a 33 percent increase in sales. Toy Story 3 and Red Dead Redemption found comfortable spots in third and fourth, respectively, and a Wii sale in the region helped boost the system-bundled Wii Sports Resort from 16 to number five. If there's one surprise, it's that one of Ubisoft's Dance titles is out of the top ten. Don't worry, Just Dance is still gettin' down like an all-night rave at sixth, but Dance on Broadway has fallen off the stage and into row 16. Check out this week's top selling titles after the break.
Red Dead Redemption 'Liars and Cheats' DLC coming Sept. 21
Tuck a few extra aces up your sleeve, as Red Dead Redemption's online Free Roam mode will soon allow cowpokes to engage in some multiplayer table games. The "Liars and Cheats Pack" will add Poker, Liar's Dice and horse races to the list of online activities you and your posse can participate in. We're sure they'll all play fair, too, since they all ... have guns and stuff. You can recreate your favorite scenes from Maverick when the Liars and Cheats DLC drops September 21 on Xbox Live Marketplace and the PSN Store for 800 Microsoft Points and $9.99, respectively. The DLC pack also includes new playable characters, seven new gang hideouts, four new hunting grounds, a new "Stronghold" competitive mode, new Achievements and Trophies, and also something called an "exploding rifle" (which is just about the most exciting thing we've ever heard). For more info on these additions, check out the list posted after the jump. It's worth noting that Liars and Cheats now incorporates the content previously intended for the free "Free Roam Pack," which has been sacked due to "the platform networks' restrictions on numbers of free packs we can give away," according to Rockstar. Luckily, the free "Hunting and Trading Outfits Pack" is still coming and expected for release in the next few weeks, unlocking the Savvy Merchant and Expert Hunter outfits for Mr. Marston. He'll need to be dressed to the nines to survive the "Undead Nightmare Pack," which will drop later this fall for $10, adding a whole new single-player campaign to the game. A single-player campaign about a zombie plague. A single-player campaign about a Wild West zombie plague.
Rockstar now selling Red Dead Redemption soundtrack CD, vinyl coming next month
Odds are that if you want it, you've already got the Red Dead Redemption soundtrack, given that it was included both with the Limited Edition of the game, and available on sale over at Amazon MP3. But just in case you prefer physical liner notes with your music, Rockstar now has the original soundtrack CD available in its online store, featuring all the tunes from the hugely popular virtual Wild West title. The CD comes with almost twenty tracks of Red Dead music, along with a case full of original art and recording information, all for $9.99. But if you want the ultimate version of the soundtrack, you better hold your horses -- Rockstar says a "very limited red-vinyl LP release" is coming out next month. Real cowboys, we all know, don't do digital.
Rockstar offering Red Dead cheaters a chance at Redemption
Next Tuesday, Rockstar San Diego will swing low its terrible banhammer, winking players with hacked Red Dead Redemption game saves out of existence. If you're one of these miscreants, but you'd rather not have your Gamertag/PSN ID permabanned from the Wild Western's multiplayer component, you still have an out: Delete your hacked game saves. Yep, your single-player saves, too. It's harsh, we know -- but maybe you should have thought of that before adopting your life of petty crime. For more info on how to avoid the Harvest of the Cheaters™, check out Rockstar Games' official blog.
Toy Story 3 atop UK charts again, Madden barely debuts in top ten
Toy Story 3 sales may be down 17 percent in the UK, but it still had enough buzz to remain atop the All Formats chart for another week. Red Dead Redemption rode hard and moved up three spots to second, while Dance on Broadway commanded the stage at third. Lego Harry Potter used "wingardium leviosa" to float up four spots and Art Academy used dark arts (and some heavy promotion, according to Chart-Track) to move up 23 spots to fifth. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 dropped to eighth, preventing it from overtaking Dr Kawashima (aka Brain Age) as the UK's "biggest unit seller" ever in the region -- oh well, there's always next week. Finally, the big premiere this week was Madden NFL 11, which took the ten spot. The American football title actually premiered at eighth in its previous iteration, but this time it was missing a Wii release.
Double your loot in Red Dead Redemption multiplayer this weekend
You've been riding that sorry excuse for a burro long enough, don't you think? Wouldn't you like your Red Dead Redemption multiplayer avatar to skirt around the dusty plains on a sleek, muscular stallion? Don't you want him to wield only the most polished, modern armaments? You need to get that fool's level up -- a task which will be made easier this weekend, when Rockstar will double the XP you earn when playing the game's online multiplayer component. The promotion began at 1 pm EST today, and runs until midnight EST on Sunday, August 15. Saddle up -- provided you can actually afford a saddle for your aforementioned budget-priced donkey.
Legends and Killers saddle up in new Red Dead Redemption trailer
The first paid DLC for Red Dead Redemption will be available on August 10. In the trailer past the break, you can sample the additions to the game: nine new multiplayer maps and eight new characters as well as the deadly Tomahawk weapon and a host of new challenges.
Red Dead Redemption update reduces griefing, hangovers
Rockstar's latest update to the 360 and PS3 versions of Red Dead Redemption goes about reducing grief in all its forms. This includes the kind of grief that arises due to pesky bugs, like the one that removes downloaded costumes from the player's inventory, or the one that screws up the geometry of sliding doors. It also limits the griefability of multiplayer cowpokes, automatically placing bounties on the head of anyone who racks up a six-kill streak. Click past the jump to see all the changes included in the update. Oh, it also remedies a fairly humorous problem: "Occasionally, the player would not recover from being drunk." Oh, man, Red Dead Redemption. We're pretty sure we've all been there.
Xbox Live schedule: Red Dead DLC Aug. 10, cheap Dragon Age DLC and more
Major Nelson has posted the Xbox Live Marketplace schedule for the first part of August, detailing the upcoming Deal of the Week, DLC and Xbox Live Arcade releases. The highlights include the Summer of Arcade -- continuing this week with Castlevania: Harmony of Despair -- as well as next week's Deal of the Week, which discounts Dragon Age: Origins DLC. Most notably, the Dragon Age expansion Awakening will be reduced from 3200 MS Points ($40) to 2400 MS Points ($30). Furthermore, the Red Dead Redemption DLC "Legends and Killers" has been dated for August 10. [Update: Rockstar reports that the DLC will be available for both Xbox 360 and PS3 on the same Tuesday.] As a quick reminder, there are several new items out today, including the Metro 2033 "Ranger Pack," new BioShock 2 DLC and a new weapon pack for Mass Effect 2. Check out the full schedule, including today's new content, after the break.
Video game soundtracks on sale at Amazon MP3
Amazon MP3's frequently rotating selection of $5 downloadable albums has been visited by a handful of soundtracks from current-gen games. These include the harmonica-centric sounds of Red Dead Redemption, the ambient future-noise of Mirror's Edge, the eclectic tunes of LittleBigPlanet and more -- all for a mere five-spot. Of course, we'd suggest you also take some time to consider purchasing a handful of other MP3 albums which were marked down for the month of August, but that wouldn't be appropriate. Like, should you buy Huey Lewis and the News' Greatest Hits compilation? Well, of course -- but we can't tell you to do so, because we're not a Huey Lewis and the News blog. At least, not during the weekdays.
StarCraft 2 claims top spot on UK sales charts
StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty blitzed the UK charts as if controlled by a well-paid South Korean cyber athlete. According to Chart-Track, the game was not only the first PC exclusive to reach the top of the all formats chart this year, but it outsold the original game's "entire UK lifetime sales" in its first week (one caveat: Chart-Track only accounts for boxed product). The first StarCraft premiered at No. 24 way back in 1998. As for the rest of the chart, it appears all the top titles just took one step down to make room for StarCraft. Toy Story 3, Red Dead Redemption, Dance on Broadway and Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 now occupy spots two through five, respectively. And in a move that should surprise nobody who follows these charts, Ubisoft's Just Dance stepped it up again and foxtrotted up to sixth place -- that game refuses to leave the top ten arena.
Go behind the scenes with Red Dead Redemption's accompanists
Seeing that Red Dead Redemption takes place in a primitive world predating the car stereo, Rockstar San Diego had to come up with another way of injecting music into the title. Their solution: an interactive, Spaghetti Western-inspired score -- the making of which can be seen in the video below.
THQ blames Red Dead Redemption for lower UFC 2010 sales
Last month, THQ reported some not-so-awesome sales figures for its second annual entry into the UFC Undisputed franchise -- to the tune of an almost 50 percent decline from sales for last year's first stab at game-ifying the sport. In a recent discussion with the print version of MCV (via CVG), Jon Rooke, the company's UK marketing director, provided one possible explanation for the decrease: "That's largely down to Red Dead Redemption," Rooke explained. Though Undisputed 2010 has managed to ship a sizable 2.6 million units, Rooke stated that the title hasn't "delivered the broader sales yet." He added, "Rockstar have probably taken a fair amount of our market share. They shipped 5m units, taking a lot of consumer dollars." We know exactly what he's talking about: We picked up Red Dead Redemption instead of UFC because we heard the former had really great wrasslin' -- but we were unfortunately greeted with hours of rustlin' instead.
A fistful of Red Dead Redemption (PS3) for a few dollars less on Amazon
If you've been waiting for a good deal before jumping on the Red Dead Redemption stagecoach, Amazon just might have you covered. Mosey on over to the online retailer and you can holster a PS3 copy for $42.99 (17 buckskins off the regular price). Rustle it up quick though: This deal's gone by sunup.
New Red Dead Redemption 'Legends and Killers' screens are dyno-mite
The latest batch of screens for Red Dead Redemption's upcoming, multiplayer-centric DLC pack, "Legends and Killers," fills us with straight delight. Why? Because our go-to online avatar (a morbidly obese Bandito) is totally getting replaced by Pig Josh, the dynamite-strapped gentleman above. %Gallery-98087%
Video: Live performance of Red Dead Redemption's 'Far Away'
One of the most memorable moments from Red Dead Redemption comes with the player's arrival in Mexico -- a moment accompanied by a haunting acoustic tune created for the game, titled "Far Away." Singer-songwriter Jose Gonzalez recently performed the song live and on video at Rockstar HQ.
Next Red Dead Redemption title update hunts down cheaters
And not just any cheaters, but no good, dirty cheaters. According to a post over on Rockstar Games' site, the next title update to Red Dead Redemption will bring with it "measures to counter hacking and cheating" on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Furthermore, a handful of "anti-grief" features will be added to the game's Free Roam online mode. Apparently, cowpokes enduring repeated harassment from other online players will be given the choice to jump to another point (of their choosing) on the map. The culprits doing all the griefing will get branded as such after six consecutive kills, earning them a Most Wanted status and wrangling the game's NPCs against the offender. Rockstar also promises to continue monitoring online play for those doing bad deeds after said title update goes live "within the next month," but then, isn't the existence of outlaws an inescapable reality of the Old West?
Nonstop gaming world record has been shattered, victors sleep right through their parade
Prior to this past weekend, the world record for nonstop gaming stood at 40 hours. As of today, you'll need to rock 'n roll for 51 hours in a row if you'd like to claim this crown. A half dozen lunatics managed to game for 50 straight hours over the weekend in Rotterdam, playing Red Dead Redemption on Sony's PlayStation 3 until their eyes gave way. Of note, they utilized the TwistDock in order to keep their controllers juiced the entire time, and they walked away with €1,000 for their trouble. Last we heard, though, they're all in hibernation for the foreseeable future. Plenty of Dutch celebration awaits you in the video.
2010 halftime report on bestselling US console games
NPD has revealed the bestselling games for consoles from January through June of 2010. IGN notes that Nintendo dominates sales by individual platform, with six of the top ten titles created for its hardware; and five of them developed by the money-printing publisher itself. In combined platform sales, runaway hit Red Dead Redemption rides high. 2010 Top Five Combined Platform Sales from January–June: 1. Red Dead Redemption (PS3, Xbox 360) 2. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) 3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3, Xbox 360) 4. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (PS3, Xbox 360) 5. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) Check out the top ten individual platform sales leaders after the break.
Rockstar squeezes its art into expensive book trilogy
To celebrate its swiftly-approaching tenth anniversary, Rockstar Games will compile all of the visual elements that have gone into designing its catalog of games into a three-book set sometime next month. The pages therein will contain everything from conceptual illustrations, models and wireframes to advertisements and box art. This beefy, aesthetically pleasing package comes with an asking price of $450. As attractive as these tomes would look propped against one another on our coffee table, we find it difficult to reconcile the fact that we could spend the same amount of money on a PS3 or 360 and copies of Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto IV and Episodes from Liberty City. Heck, we'd even have enough cash left over for one of those novelty-sized party subs, which would increase our enjoyment of the aforementioned items tenfold.
