RockStar Social Club now open for business

by: Chuck - posted: 4/18/2008 10:01:00 AM

The Rockstar Social Club is now open for pre-registration.  The site is an interesting location as it's meant to serve as a central hub for upcoming Rockstar games and will feature leaderboards and all kinds of other game statistics such as the LCPD Police Blottr which shows all the criminal activity that's going on in all of the Grand Theft Auto 4 sessions around the world.  Sure Bungie has done some similar stuff with Halo 3 but it looks like Rock Star is taking this to the next level with the site.  I'm guessing we'll get additional content as Rockstar cranks out new games (it's pretty easy to imagine racing hot spots and top speeds for the upcoming Midnight Club game).

Today, April 17th, we are pleased to announce that the Rockstar Social Club is now open for pre-registration. The Rockstar Social Club will be open for business upon the release of Grand Theft Auto IV April 29th. It will also extend the experience of forthcoming Rockstar Games titles.

More than just a standard gaming site, the Rockstar Social Club will combine incredibly detailed, diverse and sometimes amusing leaderboards and player statistics, and combine them with performance-based competitions and awards for players of all skill levels.

Pre-registration for the Rockstar Social Club is free for anyone, and players will be able to link it to their Xbox Live Gamertag and/or PlayStation Network ID. Grand Theft Auto IV, our premiere game on the Rockstar Social Club, will have some ground-breaking features beyond standard multiplayer leaderbaords, including:

* People who register for the Rockstar Games Social Club BEFORE April 29th 2008 will be rewarded by being automatically entered to win a special prize for true GTA fans: your portrait custom drawn by Rockstar Games’ in house art team in the signature art style of Grand Theft Auto IV's illustrations.

* LCPD Police Blotter -- A virtual map and tracker of single-player criminal activity logged in Liberty City from the aggregated data of millions of connected players - showing the most dangerous areas of town, most commonly used weapons and more.

* The Story Gang -- This special single-player leaderboard recognizes players who complete Niko Bellic's main story arc of Grand Theft Auto IV - The leaderboard ranks players according to the total amount of playing time it's taken to complete the story, as well as a historical rank by who has completed it first. Members of this club will receive special online widgets and merit badges marking all of their in-game accomplishments.

* The 100% Club -- Watch to see who will be the first to complete 100% of the game. The first ten people to be identified on the Social Club as reaching 100% will be sent an ultra-rare commemorative 'key to the city' to mark their accomplishment. In the future, the 100% Club will then carry a historical leaderboard showing rankings of who has completed 100% of a game in the shortest span of playing hours.

* The Hall of Fame -- This area will dynamically recognize those singularly elite players who have reached the top of the hill on various statistical leaderboards, and will also contain a personal awards display of special in-game landmarks and successes in Social Club competitions.

* The Liberty City Marathon -- A ranking of special physical milestones achieved in the game - from the amount of miles walked, driven, or swam - to the number of bullets fired and stunt-jumps jumped. There will be additional special marathon-based competitions in the future from this area as well.

With more special competitions and challenges rolling out following the game's release. Welcome to the Rockstar Social Club.