http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=207421

Rockstar Games has lifted the lid on Red Dead Redemption, due this autumn on 360 and PS3

Here's the release:

Developed by Rockstar San Diego, as a follow up to the 2004 hit game, Red Dead Revolver, Red Dead Redemption is a Western epic, set at the turn of the 20th century when the lawless and chaotic badlands began to give way to the expanding reach of government and the spread of the Industrial Age. The story of former outlaw, John Marston, Red Dead Redemption takes players on a great adventure across the American frontier.

"The team at San Diego have massively exceeded our expectations with the sheer depth of experiences in Red Dead Redemption," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. "The seamless combination of breathtaking beauty and intense action, all woven together with strong plotlines in a massive vibrant, rural environment is mind-blowing. We think this game helps to push the limits of what an open-world gaming experience can be."

Utilizing Rockstar's proprietary Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE), Red Dead Redemption features an open-world environment for players to explore, including frontier towns, rolling prairies teeming with wildlife, and perilous mountain passes - each packed with an endless flow of varied distractions.

Along the way, players will experience the heat of gunfights and battles, meet a host of unique characters, struggle against the harshness of one of the world's last remaining wildernesses, and ultimately pick their own precarious path through an epic story about the death of the Wild West and the gunslingers that inhabited it.


Never played the first Red Dead or Gun but I'm really looking forward to this.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e359/oddbodyAS2/ps3/screenshot_210241.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e359/oddbodyAS2/ps3/screenshot_210240.jpg

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http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e359/oddbodyAS2/ps3/screenshot_210238.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e359/oddbodyAS2/ps3/screenshot_210237.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e359/oddbodyAS2/ps3/screenshot_210236.jpg

Never played the first one, but I'm interested :D.

I will never know why there have not been more western games over the years.

The first one was pretty cool. The last boss was hard as hell but was awesome!

The first one was pretty cool. The last boss was hard as hell but was awesome!

first was WAAAYYY cool, one of my all time favorites!

I may have to go find a cheap copy of the first one. Not sure why I never played it. Does it still hold up?

I may have to go find a cheap copy of the first one. Not sure why I never played it. Does it still hold up?

Very much does.

Not sure. Remember a roommate playing it, but didn't interest me.

Why do I remember the first one being horrible then? I never played it but my bro did and he didnt have anything good to say about it. I thought that was the common consensus

Cool!!! I really liked the first one!

I will have to watch for this one.

JD

Wow!! Those screenshots look way cool!

Some purty new images:

Click for HD versions

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e359/oddbodyAS2/ps3/rdr_screenshot1_100809.jpg (http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e359/oddbodyAS2/ps3/image_red_dead_redemption-11738--3.jpg)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e359/oddbodyAS2/ps3/rdr_screenshot2_100809.jpg (http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e359/oddbodyAS2/ps3/image_red_dead_redemption-11738-178.jpg)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e359/oddbodyAS2/ps3/rdr_screenshot3_100809.jpg (http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e359/oddbodyAS2/ps3/image_red_dead_redemption-11738--1.jpg)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e359/oddbodyAS2/ps3/rdr_screenshot_100809.jpg (http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e359/oddbodyAS2/ps3/image_red_dead_redemption-11738--2.jpg)

Gun was pretty corny. It will be better than that, hopefully? Looks great, but how's the game play and voice acting?

Gun was pretty corny. It will be better than that, hopefully? Looks great, but how's the game play and voice acting?


Here's the debut trailer from several months ago. It's a Rockstar game so the voice acting and writing should be top-notch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgqLFQrCSfw

Can't wait for this freaking game! Loved the first game, and am a sucker for westerns... the wait is agonizing :(.

Let's hope it doesn't get the Vaseline treatment GTAIV did.

Why do I remember the first one being horrible then? I never played it but my bro did and he didnt have anything good to say about it. I thought that was the common consensus

Because, like me, you were expexting it to be an open-world adventure game. It wasn't. It was an on-rails restrictive shooter originally made by Capcom that Rockstar picked up and then tried to staple on some "depth." I got around 1/3 of the way through and was bored stupid.

This new one though looks like it might be one of my all-time favorites. Exactly what I had hoped the first game would be.

Let's hope it doesn't get the Vaseline treatment GTAIV did.Or at least give us the option of turning the filters off, like in GTA3 and Vice City.

I just hope they handle the horses right. Instead of a wild west GTA where you just grab any random horse all the time, you should be able to get a horse that's yours to keep throughout the game or until it gets killed. Maybe have it's stats get better the long you keep it. It'd add a lot more personality to the game.

:DOr at least give us the option of turning the filters off, like in GTA3 and Vice City.

I just hope they handle the horses right. Instead of a wild west GTA where you just grab any random horse all the time, you should be able to get a horse that's yours to keep throughout the game or until it gets killed. Maybe have it's stats get better the long you keep it. It'd add a lot more personality to the game.

And be able to name them. I want to own a Mustang and a Pinto. :D

According to a Rockstar press release it's now scheduled for April 2010.

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/104/1049861p1.html

Not too far off. Plus a new trailer will debut next week on December 1st.



I somehow missed this preview from way back in May. There's a lot of good info in there.

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/980/980848p1.html

Was excited when I saw this thread back on the front page. I was hoping a new preview or video or something was available! lol Can't wait for this game to come out!

The new trailer was leaked but it keeps getting taken down. This is the only link I know of that still works.

http://www.worthdownloading.com/download.php?gid=4093&id=20715

New trailer is available now here: http://www.rockstargames.com/reddeadredemption/index.html

Wow - this looks downright stunning. I can't wait, I'm really looking forward to this.

I think I'm gonna have to get this one.

New video with gameplay!

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/gameplay-series-red-dead/59977

Looks great George, thanks for the link. Nice change of pace, western.

This went from "interesting" to "holy ****" in the course of a single trailer.

I'm trying to keep my expectations in check, but it looks like everything I'd hoped it would be. The animation is top-notch too.

New IGN preview.
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/105/1055350p1.html

Birds periodically fly overhead. Wild animals scamper through the brush, teasing your trigger finger (and offering hunting achievements and trophies). When the sun goes down, the sky sparkles as you travel by moon and starlight.


Real treasure hunts: :D
And of course, there will be little fun activities that are being put into the world for you to randomly discover. My favorite of these are the treasure maps. Some will be available for purchase in town while others will be rewards for completing quests. None of them will be a simple marker on your map. These will be actual drawings of what the surroundings look like in the vicinity of the treasure. You might get a map early in the game that simply shows a rock arch near a clump of trees. Then, hours later, you might happen across that landmark and remember the map. It's a very cool concept.

Naturally, there's a system in place to keep Marston from truly running amok. Commit crimes and the local authorities will try to take you down. Even if you get away, a bounty will be put out on your head. You can pay it down yourself, bribe authorities, or do good deeds in the hopes of getting a pardon letter. Here's the cool part though: Marston can buy a bandanna and wear it while committing crimes. Afterwards, you just need to duck out of town and pull off the bandanna to make the wanted level go down. If you do get a bounty, though, posses will begin to hunt you down. Heck, just get famous enough and you might find those looking to make a name for themselves challenging you to a duel.
Perhaps the greatest thing about Red Dead Redemption is how it reacts to the player. Like many role-playing games, you can approach each situation in Red Dead however you want. I saw one side-quest that involved clearing a town of bandits for the local authorities. In the midst of the fight, the sheriff was accidentally shot. In some games, this might mean that you'll have to restart at the last checkpoint. In Red Dead, it simply means you get a different outcome. In this case, you could find the deputy wandering aimlessly down the road weeping over the loss of his friend. It was a powerful moment that really made the game feel real.

You can get a tame horse in town, but you may find yourself occasionally lost in the desert without a ride. Grab a wild horse and you can break it, making it yours to whistle for should it get just a little too far away. In one instance, Marston came across a man flagging him down for help. Upon getting off the horse, this jerk hopped on Marston's horse and took off riding. No worries. Marston just whistled and the horse bucked off the would-be thief. A quick shot later and the guy was dead on the ground as the horse came trotting back. How's that for awesome?

this game looks awesome. but i can't believe that haven't shown a rider getting thrown off his horse yet. i'm also looking forward to seeing all the different ways one can use the lasso. as long as i'm able to drag people behind a high speed train, i'll be a happy camper.

If this ends up being as awesome as it sounds, I'm going to be posting in spaghetti-western English for the next year.

as long as i'm able to drag people behind a high speed train, i'll be a happy camper.

lol!!!!!! :d

I think this game has a ton of potential, however if it controls anything like GTAIV then I'm not interested.

Recapping for page 2


Introduction video
SD (http://www.gametrailers.com/video/gameplay-series-red-dead/59977)
HD (http://www.gametrailers.com/video/gameplay-series-red-dead/59978?type=flv)

IGN preview (http://ps3.ign.com/articles/105/1055350p1.html)

Gamersyde preview (http://www.gamersyde.com/news_red_dead_redemption_br_private_presentation-8814_en.html)

Can't wait for this game... one thing it sounds like will be missing is the many playable characters from the first game, which was pretty neat. But it still looks/sounds amazing.

Trouble in Rockstar land. Supposedly the employees of Rockstar San Diego are being worked to death to get this game out on time. It's gotten so bad their spouses are getting involved.

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/RockstarSpouse/20100107/4032/Wives_of_Rockstar_San_Diego_employees_have_collected_themsel ves.php

This kind of thing is all to common I'm sure. On a brighter note, some pretty new pictures:

http://www.rockstargames.com/newswire/2010/01/07/2701/exclusive_new_screens_from_red_dead_redemption

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e359/oddbodyAS2/ps3/47.jpg

Trouble in Rockstar land. Supposedly the employees of Rockstar San Diego are being worked to death to get this game out on time. It's gotten so bad their spouses are getting involved.

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/RockstarSpouse/20100107/4032/Wives_of_Rockstar_San_Diego_employees_have_collected_themsel ves.php

Lonely and bored housewives and a Naval Base in the same area. That can't be good or can it? ;)

Years ago wives would love it if hubby was gone, now they want him home, since they no longer cook, clean or take care of the kids. :D Hey those housewives have to have some way to spend that ROckstar income, so it might as well be at the at the salons and coffee shops while the nanny does her thing....which is take care of the husband when he comes home to find his wife gone. See it works out for everyone really, just those wives want more free time. Bitches.....I kid. :D

^^^

I can't say that I have any sympathy for those wives. Too many people are out of work at this point and would love a nice steady job at Rockstar. I see this in poor taste given the current economic state of the country.

A bad economy doesn't mean it's okay to abuse employees.

I'm sure you'd be cool with your employer coming to you and saying, "Hey, we're going to cut your salary in half--but, don't complain because you still have a job."


I'm not saying the wives are right, or wrong. I'm just saying your reasoning sucks.

A bad economy doesn't mean it's okay to abuse employees.
Very true, but the company can only get away with it because people are willing to take it. If your company develops draconian work practices, polish up your resume and walk away ASAP, because it's never going to get appreciably better if you stay there.

On a separate note, whoever wrote that letter from the wives needs to be shot -- that was one of the worst examples I've read of someone trying to sound eloquent and painfully, utterly failing.

- Jer

Lonely and bored housewives and a Naval Base in the same area. That can't be good or can it? ;)

Years ago wives would love it if hubby was gone, now they want him home, since they no longer cook, clean or take care of the kids. :D Hey those housewives have to have some way to spend that ROckstar income, so it might as well be at the at the salons and coffee shops while the nanny does her thing....which is take care of the husband when he comes home to find his wife gone. See it works out for everyone really, just those wives want more free time. Bitches.....I kid. :D

That letter reads like the unibomber's manifesto. I doubt Rockstar's going to take it too seriously. If you don't like being worked to death as deadlines approach, you probably shouldn't be working in video game development.

Thought the same thing about the letter, I mean it fails in some areas to even make sense.

Yeah it's like it was written by someone who started on a creative writing degree and switched majors to law at the last minute. "Never write a sentence where a paragraph will do." :eek:

I'm sure you'd be cool with your employer coming to you and saying, "Hey, we're going to cut your salary in half--but, don't complain because you still have a job."

This happened to my wife. It wasn't half, but it was 10%. It was a company-wide pay cut.

Wow. That anonymous letter was a disaster! But it looks like the message is correct, judging by the people posting comments underneath it (almost all using their real names).

Why are they busting so hard for an April release?? Are they trying to beat the other 6 sandbox Spagetti Western games that are due out this year???? :)

Regardless of all that, the game looks fantastic. I'm definitely interested. It's a unique direction to take the GTA theme in, and I love Westerns.

New screens look good, but I'll believe it when I see it.

We got fed high-res screens of GTAIV too, before the down res-ed, muddied up game hit shelves. Not about to fall for that one again, since this is the same engine. Hopefully they fixed their rendering issues.

I'm looking forward to this game, but the people talking in the comments sound like it's going to be a complete disaster. It might be an issue of perspective, but it does make me wary.

Why are they busting so hard for an April release??

That's how it always goes. Companies cut costs, **** up the schedule, yet demand people pull 15 hour days with no overtime pay for crunch.

It's like none of these managers ever read the studies that say working overtime leads to less productivity, sloppier work, and more mistakes. And with something like a software product, that means more bugs, which means your game ships all messed up.

New screens look good, but I'll believe it when I see it.

We got fed high-res screens of GTAIV too, before the down res-ed, muddied up game hit shelves. Not about to fall for that one again, since this is the same engine. Hopefully they fixed their rendering issues.


Ding!

New screens look good, but I'll believe it when I see it.

We got fed high-res screens of GTAIV too, before the down res-ed, muddied up game hit shelves. Not about to fall for that one again, since this is the same engine. Hopefully they fixed their rendering issues.I still think GTAIV is a great looking game, outside of the fuzzy filter that's used sometimes. The big difference is we've already got video of Red Dead. There was absolutely nothing besides the trailers for GTAIV right up until it was released.

I still think GTAIV is a great looking game, outside of the fuzzy filter that's used sometimes. The big difference is we've already got video of Red Dead. There was absolutely nothing besides the trailers for GTAIV right up until it was released.The problem with GTAIV wasn't the tech. It was the game's design.

I'm not worried about how Red Dead looks. I'm sure it'll look just fine. I'm more interested in how it's designed. There hasn't been much word on that so far other than "open world western."

The problem with GTAIV wasn't the tech. It was the game's design.

I'm not worried about how Red Dead looks. I'm sure it'll look just fine. I'm more interested in how it's designed. There hasn't been much word on that so far other than "open world western."It looks like it's fun, and it has one element that GTAIV didn't have- "randomness" (treasure hunting, merchants, etc.).

Hopefully you're friends aren't hounding you to hit the saloon/casino/whorehouse while you're out on a mission.

Played and beat the first one, very fun. I am a sucker for westerns as well. Definitely going to pick this up!

I love what I saw in that trailer. This game looks awesome.

I'm 90% sure this will be a day 1 purchase for me. And it's the first non-online game I've looked forward to in ages.

Red Dead Redemption can take my M.A.G. money, since that game has officially moved from 'must buy' into 'taking a pass' territory pretty quickly.

Apparently this was more than just the ramblings of some "bored housewife." Most game sites are now running a whole bunch of info on how huge a disaster this game is and how f-ed up things at Rockstar San Diego are. Here's one example:

The functional team that was Midnight Club was shattered. All the people who didn't quit or get fired were thrown onto Red Dead Redemption, many of them being demoted. The completely disfunctional team that is RDR was put to top priority. The people who had floundered on that project or outright screwed it up were promoted and are now in complete control of the studio, and they're running it into the ground.http://www.joystiq.com/2010/01/12/sources-red-dead-redemption-development-in-trouble/

I'd keep your enthusiasm tempered for the time being. Too bad. An open world Western deserves to be made (and made well).

That quote from an anonymous source at R* definitely has a tinge of "bitter (ex)employee" syndrom to it.

The videogame development world has to be pretty clique-y, and the young average age of the employees only adds to the unnecessary drama.

I'll go by what I see with my own two eyes, and what I see in that gameplay trailer is one helluva entertaining, and ORIGINAL (something we don't get to say too often these days) title.

Apparently this was more than just the ramblings of some "bored housewife." Most game sites are now running a whole bunch of info on how huge a disaster this game is and how f-ed up things at Rockstar San Diego are. Here's one example:

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/01/12/sources-red-dead-redemption-development-in-trouble/

I'd keep your enthusiasm tempered for the time being. Too bad. An open world Western deserves to be made (and made well).That is a little troubling but Rockstar has always put out a polished product, even if it means delays. Of course the other option is to cut a bunch a features out which would really suck.

That quote from an anonymous source at R* definitely has a tinge of "bitter (ex)employee" syndrom to it.Sounded pretty rational to me. Even so, devs often love what they're doing if they're confident that it's a quality game, regardless of the insane hours they're putting in. It's not a good sign if employees (even bitter ones) are talking **** about the production process and internal politics. It's also public knowledge that Rockstar SD has had a huge wave of layoffs and has shut down a major part of its operations (the Midnight Club team). So we know things aren't pretty over there.

But, as always, the proof is in the pudding and none of us has had a taste yet.

That is a little troubling but Rockstar has always put out a polished product, even if it means delays. Of course the other option is to cut a bunch a features out which would really suck.

It's not so much about the delays, more about the fact that the morale in SD is really bad and the studio will probably be shut down after release anyway. That doesn't bode well for a product, no matter what.

Trying to read between the lines, it seems likely the negative comments are coming from members of the Midnight Club team that was dissolved and put to work on Red Dead Redemption.

I dunno, I've read a lot of comments specifically regarding RDR. I mean, the game has been in development for 5-6 years. No game takes that long without suffering from some major setbacks.

Don't get me wrong, I hope the game is great.

Apparently this was more than just the ramblings of some "bored housewife." Most game sites are now running a whole bunch of info on how huge a disaster this game is and how f-ed up things at Rockstar San Diego are. Here's one example:

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/01/12/sources-red-dead-redemption-development-in-trouble/

I'd keep your enthusiasm tempered for the time being. Too bad. An open world Western deserves to be made (and made well).

That quote is basically a paraphrase of a comment from an ex-employee on the Gamasutra open letter article. All of the current R* SD employees are saying that the ex-guys are quite bitter and talking crap about a game they didn't really even work on. They claim the game is very good, however I don't think I'd expect them to say anything else (although Gamasutra allowed pseudonymous comments on that article to let the current R* SD employees talk with relative impunity, so I guess they could have easily badmouthed the game). Most of them do echo the fact that the bigwigs took no interest in the game for most of its 4+ years of development and only started in the last several months demanding changes that would require massive rewrites of the game if implemented. They also complained that the build tools suck big-time, requiring a fairly long time to re-build the game just to check out and test feature changes. Whether this game turns out to be any good or not I guess hinges on how much the R* SD guys can keep the New York guys from forcing them to change the game drastically a few months before release.

That quote from an anonymous source at R* definitely has a tinge of "bitter (ex)employee" syndrom to it.

The videogame development world has to be pretty clique-y, and the young average age of the employees only adds to the unnecessary drama.


Personally I only see this sort of thing coming out of dev's that treat their workers poorly; shuttering creativity for the pure business aspect of game development. Game development is both, but frequently you’ll get mid and upper level people in that only understand how to run a cost cutting, deadline hitting business.

That might work at wallyworld; but the returns in creative businesses in the short term are much less pronounced. They’re negligible in all business in the long run. (Look at EA trying to swing the pendulum back)

Dev’s know they’ll be working long hours to meet deadlines when it comes crunch time. That doesn’t mean they should be working 50-80 hours a week without overtime during the entire production cycle.

(Look at EA trying to swing the pendulum back)

EA has not done a good job with that, by the way. A lot of the games have been flops and they keep losing money. From a shareholder POV, the "old EA" was way better (and Activision is proving that now).

Hmmm, I'm officially putting this purchase on hold until I hear from plenty of user reviews. The critics scammed us (IMHO) with the GTA IV reviews, and I felt I wasted my money with that mess. I won't be taken twice by the same company, especially with these reports coming out. If it turns out to be good according to gamers, I will still be interested.

That quote is basically a paraphrase of a comment from an ex-employee on the Gamasutra open letter article. [...] Whether this game turns out to be any good or not I guess hinges on how much the R* SD guys can keep the New York guys from forcing them to change the game drastically a few months before release.At the very least, it's not good to have "bitter ex-employees" who were taken off of a project. Shuttering down half your studio is no good for anyone and will inevitably affect the final product in some way (small or large). No matter how you look at it, it's certainly not a good thing. If I were working on Red Dead Redemption, I'd be incredibly nervous and anxious. My friends and co-workers would have just been laid off en masse. I'd be damned sure to take whatever the bigwigs in NY say as "design gospel" at that point because I wouldn't want to give them any reason to let me go as well. Not to mention, there's the very real fear that they'd shut the whole studio down once RDR goes gold. Can't be a good environment to make a good game in. And that says nothing at all about how the actual game production process has been managed along the way.

But like I said, we'll have to wait for that pudding to know how all this shakes out.

Not only that, but it's my expereince that a lot of the bitter employee's tend to be the most competent. They don't put up with ****, so they're gotten rid of when they stick up for themselves when being stepped on.

Whats left are the lazy and incompetent that don't want to rock the boat.

For some reason this thread makes me hungry for pudding...

I've been eagerly anticipating this game for a while. Hopefully all this drama doesn't ruin it, but it doesn't sound good. I'll also be waiting to read reviews and get feedback from others before I commit to buying at this point.

It's a shame, b/c I had high hopes for this game. Hopefully they still manage to pull it off somehow.

the mutliplayer trailer that was released last week got me really excited for this game. I'm getting this one for sure :D

Who wants to make a Posse with me :p

I'm in! I wasn't expecting any multiplayer in this game, or just some really tacked on deathmatch type stuff or whatever. That Free-Roam trailer that was released last week got me pretty hyped for this game.

Whats left are the lazy and incompetent that don't want to rock the boat.

Sounds familiar... reward the incompetant and complacent and punish your best employees by piling on. It's not exlusive to the video game industry.:mad:

Sounds familiar... reward the incompetant and complacent and punish your best employees by piling on. It's not exlusive to the video game industry.:mad:

80/20 rule my friend

As someone who's favorite movie of all time is Tombstone, this game looked like it could be a day 1 purchase for me BEFORE the multiplayer trailer.

Now it's DEFINITELY a day 1 purchase. Really looking forward to forming some posses and taking care of business.

Holy cow does this multiplayer walkthru look AWESOME:

It's starts, appropriately enough, with a Mexican standoff. Six sun-baked outlaws, standing motionlessly in a circle, hands frozen above holsters, while six white-washed gamers perch on the edges of their seats, fingers poised on the triggers of Xbox controllers.

The camera flicks from its vulture's eye vantage point to the weathered face of my cowboy, whose narrow eyes dart between rivals, then pans behind before fixing to the standard third-person view. A final pause, then the screen explodes in gunfire as any semblance of strategy goes up in smoke and a wild spray of bullets.

Some slump to the ground almost immediately; others frantically back away, peppering shots at each other praying for the decisive strike. Meanwhile someone's tactic seems to consist entirely of running away as fast as possible without looking back, a successful wheeze until the inevitable bullet in the back of the skull, fired at a distance by the only other remaining combatant. A dramatic sweep, an orgy of violence and a slapstick finale, done and dusted in under 30 seconds. Yes, folks, we're in Rockstar country.

All multiplayer matches in Red Dead Redemption begin with a shootout, a frantically fun snapshot of self-contained action perfectly in-keeping with the Western theme of the game. During several hours of six-player multiplayer gaming at Rockstar's London HQ, I'm able to explore various permutations of this: sometimes it's a free-for-all, other times it's a three-on-three face-off; and occasionally in every-man-for-himself stand-offs the game gives you a specific target, delivering an XP bonus if taken down.

Grand Theft Auto IV represented Rockstar's most considered attempt to bring multiplayer to its open-worlds. For Red Dead, the goal is once again to complement the vast single-player experience, while creating modes which cater to the game's giant map, emergent potential and distinctive feel.

First up, the concept of lobbies has been dumped in favour of a flexible free-roaming environment within which players can explore the full map, hop in and out of matches, form groups, take on individual challenges or just mess around. With all negative and positive actions tied to XP (maxing out at level 50), there's reward to be found everywhere, encouraging a spirit of playfulness with the toys in Rockstar's sandiest of sandboxes.

16 players can enter Free Roam together, which also features a comprehensive cast of lawmakers, breakers and wildlife to interact with (read: kill). Within that, posses of up to eight players can be formed, either by creating your own posse or joining an existing one. Posse leaders then select a location and game type (either one-offs or playlists), to which other members are able to warp.

A variety of challenges are featured in Free Roam. Hunting involves seeking out deadly predators, then surviving their attacks; in Survivalist players search out rare herbs protected by savage animals; Lawbringer requires you to take down gang hideouts, teaming up with other players to tip the odds in your favour; Outlaw challenges are triggered when you have a Wanted rating, with XP on offer for kill streaks, taking down other Wanted outlaws, and so on.



More on the multiplayer experience here:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/red-dead-redemption-hands-on_5

Thanks for that article. Now I need to convince my brother and friends to get this game to play with me :D

Thanks for that article. Now I need to convince my brother and friends to get this game to play with me :D

That's funny because I'm doing the same thing. Sent that link to a friend and got back a "HELL YES", so it's looking pretty good so far.

I hope this game is the next big AVS hit. BFBC2 was a big one, but this should be a great change of pace from that game.

That's funny because I'm doing the same thing. Sent that link to a friend and got back a "HELL YES", so it's looking pretty good so far.

I hope this game is the next big AVS hit. BFBC2 was a big one, but this should be a great change of pace from that game.

We'll keep this thread alive and when the game is out, everyone will be able to know who is playing and have their PSN ID to form Posses.

As someone who's favorite movie of all time is Tombstone, this game looked like it could be a day 1 purchase for me BEFORE the multiplayer trailer.

Now it's DEFINITELY a day 1 purchase. Really looking forward to forming some posses and taking care of business.

Tombstone is one of the greatest movies to come out in the last 20 years, and it'll finally be out on Blu next week. :D

Tombstone is one of the greatest movies to come out in the last 20 years, and it'll finally be out on Blu next week. :D

:eek:

I had no idea, now I have to go buy it! I still have it on DVD, great movie for sure!

Tombstone is one of the greatest movies to come out in the last 20 years, and it'll finally be out on Blu next week. :D

AMEN my Brother!!!!

"Why look Dear, it's Johnny Ringo..."

Here's some gameplay footage.

*drool*

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Here's some gameplay footage.

*drool*





It will be awesome.

Tombstone is out on blu ;)

Unfortunately, this bluray release falls too close to my birthday (May 22nd).

So I'm going to have to wait another month to hook it up. Looks like it'll be an all-Western birthday. Can't wait!!

Maybe I'll go hit up the bluray subforum and see if there's any discussion on it........

Here's some gameplay footage.


I was hoping this was a new video, but it's the same one posted in this thread by Slacker George back in December.

The official website (http://www.rockstargames.com/reddeadredemption/videos) is the best place to see videos.

I usually check it every few days to see if they have posted any new updates. I expect them to be active these last few weeks to get as much excitement as they can before release.

Here's a great write up on the game that includes a trip to the studio and interviews with the heads of Rockstar:

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/25/entertainment/la-ca-reddead-20100425

Some tidbits:

Ask Dan Houser what Red Dead Redemption is about and the usually loquacious VP of creative at Rockstar Games pauses for 10 seconds. "It's America," he finally replies. "The birth of modern America. What was gained and what was lost."

"They're called westerns, not ‘outlaw' or ‘cowboy' films, and that's an inherently geographical word," said Dan Houser, a fast-talker with a shaved head who cites "The Wild Bunch" and 2005's little-seen Australian film "The Proposition" as inspirations. "One thing games do better than any other media is give you a sense of place. This is what we consider doing a western properly."

The Proposition has been in my Netflix Watch-It-Now queue for a while now. I'll have to check it out prior to the game release. Anyone see it?

Roughly 500 people around the world have contributed to Redemption over the last five years. By contrast, Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the bestselling game of 2009, was made by fewer than 100 people in two years.

It hasn't been an easy five years, insiders admit, with several journeys down paths never finished. It's difficult to imagine the finished product being much bigger, however, as it takes at least 40 hours for a single person to complete and hundreds more for those who pursue optional challenges and play together online.

Because Red Dead Redemption takes place in desolate, rough country, integrating a hallmark trait of Rockstar's past games — the ability to chance upon interesting people and things to do — was a major challenge. "It would have been contrived to say ‘Here's another small town and another small town,' " said producer Steve Martin. "So we made the natural world alive with bears, coyotes, cougars and snakes. It gives you that sense of struggle against the wilderness."

"We have just over 500 characters who all have names, family members and jobs," said Josh Bass, head of art. "You can see a man at 7 a.m. in a Mexican market manning the chicken stand and at 6 p.m. he'll go over to the local pub."

The least defined charcater in the game, in fact, may be John Marston. Though he has an overarching goal, players define what kind of man he is and what kind of game Red Dead Redemption is based on how they handle the thousands of interactive moments that make it up. In one optional mission, Marston finds a woman being held up at gunpoint along the side of the road. He can save her, participate in the robbery and pocket the money, or ignore her and ride off into the sunset.

"The morally ambiguous cowboy is the perfect protagonist for the style of game we make," observed Houser. "Sometimes you can be the hero, sometimes you can be the bad guy, and sometimes while you're deciding what to do, a bear comes out of nowhere and eats someone."

"Sometimes you can be the hero, sometimes you can be the bad guy, and sometimes while you're deciding what to do, a bear comes out of nowhere and eats someone."

best....quote...ever...

The Proposition has been in my Netflix Watch-It-Now queue for a while now. I'll have to check it out prior to the game release. Anyone see it?

I enjoyed it. I was immediately reminded of it when I heard John Marston describe his situation in the original Red Dead Redemption trailer; Guy Pearce has to hunt down one of his brothers in order to save another. It's grim, though; a Western in the tradition of Unforgiven, rather than Tombstone.

The Proposition has been in my Netflix Watch-It-Now queue for a while now. I'll have to check it out prior to the game release. Anyone see it?Solid film, but mostly forgettable.

I think i'm going to ask for this for my birthday

I had picked up The Proposition a couple of times in the store when my wife and I were looking. So, when I was checking out the Netflix queues after they added Netflix to the PS3, it ended up being the first thing I watched on the PS3.

It was well worth it. It's a very interesting film--that they referenced that movie and The Wild Bunch as two influences only makes me want this game more.

"Sometimes you can be the hero, sometimes you can be the bad guy, and sometimes while you're deciding what to do, a bear comes out of nowhere and eats someone."

best....quote...ever...

Agreed. I think that is going in my sig now.

Less than a month away! I feel like I've been waiting on this game to come out for years!

Can't wait to get eaten by a Bear while debating whether to be good or bad or ugly :D What an incredible reference to Western movie ;)


Woah, post 666

GOD i hope this game lives up to the expectations I have for it! It looks SO dang good!!

I'm glad this game is picking up some AVS traction. This is where I learn about all the great games coming out, and besides that - just a good group of people to play online with.

So with that in mind, forgive me if I keep beating the drum for this one. I want more and more AVS guys to read the thread and give it a shot so we can roll into town with a fully loaded posse. :)

I'm glad this game is picking up some AVS traction. This is where I learn about all the great games coming out, and besides that - just a good group of people to play online with.

So with that in mind, forgive me if I keep beating the drum for this one. I want more and more AVS guys to read the thread and give it a shot so we can roll into town with a fully loaded posse. :)

I think we'll be fine, the maximum member of a posse is 8. We're around 5-6 active in this thread so far :D

Anyone looking for a "pardner" or fellow posse member, send a friend request to speycaster69. Really looking forward to this game.

I'm going to preorder, what do you guys feel is the best preorder package? I'm leaning towards Best Buy and the war horse but Amazon's offer is tempting as well

Anyone looking for a "pardner" or fellow posse member, send a friend request to speycaster69. Really looking forward to this game.

I'm going to preorder, what do you guys feel is the best preorder package? I'm leaning towards Best Buy and the war horse but Amazon's offer is tempting as well

I think the horse is the best for the ingame offer. Disappointed we don't have those offer here in Canada. Best Buy only gives us 5$ gift card :rolleyes:

I was talking about this game so much my wife already preordered it for me from Amazon. I can't wait but what a crappy week for it to come out...argh! I've got people in town for work Mon-Weds, off to a drag racing track for the first time on Friday (I'm a sports car guy but different is good,) and our nerd-night where a bunch of guys from my office get together and play things like Risk, Axis and Allies, Civilization, etc on Saturday. Fun stuff but all I want to do is camp out in front of my TV with this game the day it comes out and wallow in a pile of my own filth all weekend and I can't! lol

I'm really liking the free roam multiplayer mode from the trailer. That really looks like it'll be a blast. If anyone has any other articles to paste for us guys behind an office surf control please do.. I can't get enough info on this!

I preordered at Gamestop (i know, i know...) and I'm not even sure what, if anything, I get for preordering there.

$mitty: I found this over on the blu-ray forum:

"A couple of details regarding the preorder bonuses you can find throughout a number of retailers,

Amazon
- Golden Gun Pack (Faster "Fame" during game play, unlocking side missions)
- $10 credit for any future purchase (not limited to Video games section)

Gamestop
- Deadly Assassin Outfit (increased Dead Eye regeneration)

Best Buy
- War Horse (Faster, increased damage resistance)

Game Crazy
- Mini Guide

Target
- $5 gift card for future purchase

Walmart
- $10 gift card for future purchase

Rockstar Warehouse
- Red Dead T-Shirt"

Nice...so I guess my Dead Eye (what is that?) will regenerate faster than you guys with the faster horse from Best Buy.

Dead Eye I'm sure is like any other game's slow motion, accurate aim mode.

I'm tempted to go with the Best Buy pre-order, as I'm sure it'll take a while to get around from place to place in this game, and a fast steed would be helpful. On the other hand, I might stick with the golden guns and monetary incentive from Amazon...

decisions....

I think the horse is the best for the ingame offer. Disappointed we don't have those offer here in Canada. Best Buy only gives us 5$ gift card :rolleyes:
Really? I thought all the deals apply in Canada. I know we can get the Amazon deal for sure, amazon.ca says you get the golden guns and $10 giftcard.

I'm wondering whether these bonuses are single player only or can be used in online play? If they can be used online I think the horse would be the best option, since it would seemingly make the difference when chasing someone down (or vice versa).

Really? I thought all the deals apply in Canada. I know we can get the Amazon deal for sure, amazon.ca says you get the golden guns and $10 giftcard.

I'm wondering whether these bonuses are single player only or can be used in online play? If they can be used online I think the horse would be the best option, since it would seemingly make the difference when chasing someone down (or vice versa).

I might be wrong, but I didn't see any pre-order bonuses except the 5$ gift card on the Best Buy site. Maybe Ebgames has some bonuses too. I'm not a big pre-order guy anyways... last game I pre-ordered was Zelda : OoT to have the golden cartridge :D

This is looking good, but so far it seems just a more polished version of GTA4 MP set in the west.

It's going to have to be extremely polished to be fun. Not to mention their server and net code needs to have been heavily improved.

GTA4 MP was cool too, but close to unplayable.

Maybe Uncharted The Wild West? I hope the graphics are better than GTA.

From these videos, the graphics look a lot better than GTA4.

Dead Eye I'm sure is like any other game's slow motion, accurate aim mode.

I'm tempted to go with the Best Buy pre-order, as I'm sure it'll take a while to get around from place to place in this game, and a fast steed would be helpful. On the other hand, I might stick with the golden guns and monetary incentive from Amazon...

decisions....

I figured something like that. Hopefully it wont be too tough to unlock a better horse. This way i could be the guy in the posse with the best aim! :)

From these videos, the graphics look a lot better than GTA4.

I remember the videos for GTA4 looking a lot better than GTA4.


Of course, I didn't really have a problem with the way GTA4 looked.

There was a thread in the RDR room on the xbox.com forums discussing the preorder rewards. People were saying that the preorder rewards would not be active in multiplayer and most would be unlockable in game. Not sure of the validity of the posts but an interesting read.

http://forums.xbox.com/32279085/ShowPost.aspx

I figured something like that. Hopefully it wont be too tough to unlock a better horse. This way i could be the guy in the posse with the best aim! :)

From what I gather you could just break you own wild horse. I'll be the guy riding the donkey lol.

From what I gather you could just break you own wild horse. I'll be the guy riding the donkey lol.

I want a white stallion like Gandolf... or maybe I could ride a black one bareback like that little kid in the movie the Black Stallion that I used to watch when I was like 7 years old.

game looks great but this MP videos show massive aim assist, like point and crosshair attaches to others, eww..

game looks great but this MP videos show massive aim assist, like point and crosshair attaches to others, eww..

GTA MP had that too. You could turn it on or off though via server options...


I remember the videos for GTA4 looking a lot better than GTA4.


Of course, I didn't really have a problem with the way GTA4 looked.

Yup Rockstar is notorious for that. I bet more on it looking similar to GTA. Lets hope they at least removed the vasoline smear.

ah, that's good to know..

Its now up to a $20 gift card + golden gun @ Amazon. Just pre-ordered :)

GTA MP had that too. You could turn it on or off though via server options...




There is an explination in the xbox thread from a faq that rockstar did about the mp.

Here's the exceprt from the auto-aim question:

"“Is there auto aim on multiplayer for RDR?” – received via Twitter

Like the single player game, there are three targeting modes available to choose from: Casual, Normal and Expert. Casual is full lock, Normal snaps-to-target but does not lock on, and Expert has no assist. You can configure your own personal targeting to suit your preferences in any game by using the multiplayer playlists in the menu.
For Competitive games, there are Casual playlists for all game types that are exclusively Casual targeting mode, or that allow players to mix it up and play against each other across a variety of the three targeting types.
There are also playlists for Gang Matches and Free For All games which allow players to use Normal or Expert targeting together (but not Casual).
For advanced players that prefer to strictly play against other free-aimers, Hardcore and Veteran playlists that exclusively support Expert targeting can be used for all Gang Matches and Free For All Games.
It’s also worth noting that honing your multiplayer skills with the more advanced Normal and Expert targeting styles will reward you with bonus XP to level up faster than those using Casual."

Good to see you can choose the type of aiming system and also play with players using the same style in MP. Earning more XP using the more advanced aiming is a nice perk too!

For you guys like me at work I found this over on the xbox side:

Australian Exclusive: Extended Red Dead Redemption Hands-On Preview
Post by Steve Farrelly @ 07:12am 29/04/10 | Comments
digg
AusGamers was given a unique chance to sit with Red Dead Redemption for a whole day in a no-holds barred preview session that resulted in a cumilative understanding of the game's finer mechanics. Read on for all the details...

We must be special. Turns out, Rockstar Games, arguably the tightest-lipped publisher/developer on the block, who rule their media presentations with an iron fist (in that they're very controlled and context-driven), decided it would be a good idea to give one Australian online outlet a no-holds barred free-reign run of the Red Dead Redemption game-world. They chose AusGamers. So from 9am until 6pm (with a lunch break) that's what I did; mounted my virtual horse and explored one of the most exciting, grim and rich open-worlds to ever grace gaming. We've talked passionately about this product since our initial preview session with it, and in each and every iteration it has done nothing but impress with the culmination being this pre-gold build and my seven-odd hours with it. For the sake of truly covering all aspects of the combined mechanics of Red Dead Redemption, we'll spread this coverage over two days, focusing today on the game-world itself, its ecology and relationship with John Marston, and how it manifests into one of the most coherent environments you'll ever experience. Because nothing here is bells, whistles or superfluity; it's engaging, deeply rich and utterly symbiotic to the player.



History and Politics
Red Dead Redemption is set in semi-fictional states and territories of the United States in the year 1911 (discovered only by reading an in-game newspaper). History buffs could likely discern the year from the game's opening dialogue; happening between various passengers sitting on the same train as Marston as he makes his way to the town of Armadillo, who spout era-specific comments derived from important moments in US history. But like so much of the game's deeper plot, nothing here is directly served to you. It's a tumultuous time in the US with the ever-expanding government vying for greater control of the country along with subsequent taxing of its denizens for varying initiatives and government-run social services, raising the ire of many citizens as yet untouched by government control or mandate. But the Civil War is some 46 years over, and the country is moving forward with industrial expansion in the form of railroads, banking, cars and even flight. The FBI is in its infancy, and untrustworthy in the eyes of local law enforcement. But for reasons I won't spoil, Marston is directed by government agents to engage the sheriff of Armadillo and parts beyond, which ultimately leads to his conquest of the land.

In talking about the player's symbiotic relationship with the game, Red Dead Redemption does a stand-up job educating anyone not versed in the country's history, while maintaining that signature Rockstar commentary of social standing. What's interesting is just how much more poignant the ambient commentaries throughout Red Dead Redemption are than those found, and writhe, in Grand Theft Auto IV. Here there's a greater ability to point at just why certain American mindsets have remained marginally unchanged in the last 99 years. There's more fun to be had with it, too.

Like most Rockstar Games, narrative is passed voraciously through travel dialogue between characters, which helps shape the world around you, flesh out important players in the game's story, and give you bait with which to decide how to treat the environment at large. It's not too long, however, before you're given the tools you essentially need to survive the untamed world and its many dangers and delights.



On The Lam
In 1911, the US was a scattered collection of towns and encampments, reminiscent of the nomadic settlements of the Mongols centuries earlier (and in truth just as reticent for unification). A single railroad bypassing one town could mean its ultimate demise though (this is evidenced in the game), and as such prosperity was witnessed where there were people to witness it. This is equally true of the geography and town planning for Red Dead Redemption. Early in the game Marston finds himself travelling between the town of Armadillo and the MacFarlane Ranch before expanding his travels to parts unknown, but even this seemingly short distance comes with a heady dose of realistic landscaping. Almost all travel is performed via horseback or stagecoach (the former being the major bearer of your travel weight though), and much of this is interesting based exclusively on terrain, your mode of transport and just who, or what, is around at the time of encounter.

Similarly to GTA IV, Red Dead Redemption employs a realistic physics system alongside the highly touted (and Rockstar-popularised) NaturalMotion Euphoria for animation. However, in extension of the aforementioned game, animals throughout the game-world are imbued with the system; the most important of which is horses. What this adds to the game is a seminal level of excitement of the Western movie genre kind. Ultimately, stunts are free-form and without script. The same could definitely have been said of GTA IV, but in Red Dead Redemption, with it's lightened cast of ambient characters and NPCs, it has a more impactful role. Moreover, treating your horse with care and respect will result in an earlier bond; ergo better performance for a greater gameplay reward. This is done by not pushing the animal too hard, whistling for it instead of just stealing the closest one to you, and feeding it apples. Early on in your experience the default horse becomes easily attached to you, but soon after you're gifted a rare and agile stallion for breaking it in (which is performed via a relatively easy but fun mini game), which becomes much more attached.

In keeping with the time, Marston can earn money for jobs completed or by gambling. You can, of course, loot dead bodies also, but money isn't nearly as easily accessible as it was in GTA IV, and you'll find spending a much more thoughtful task as a result. You can use it to hitch a ride on a stagecoach (much like taxis in GTA IV, replete with a scenic ride across the way), rent a room, buy a room, buy provisions or try your luck. Each town has various options for the discerning Gamblor in you, with poker, craps, five finger fillet, horseshoe throwing and more on option. Most are easy enough to play (I had trouble with the horseshoe at first, but picked it up pretty quickly), however, the exception in the games I did play was definitely Five Finger Fillet, which requires rapid input of a code of face buttons; miss and you hear (and ultimately feel) the point of your knife bite your finger. Each of these is a great and inviting distraction from the main game, but the biggest and most engaging of these is definitely the game's Survival Challenges.



Skin Me Alive
Early on in the game, pointing your weapon skyward and shooting a buzzard will prompt the beginning of your Hunting Challenges. These are essentially tiered requisites that employ you to hunt various numbers of specific animals. The further you get into these, the more difficult they become. Moreover, once any animal is shot, you can use its corpse for skinning or food, both of which can be sold or used later on in the quest for new outfits or to just replenish health. There are also other challenges available, such as having to pick certain flowers or herbs from the land, and while they're available as challenges, they also later rear their heads as side-quests for various NPCs riddled throughout the land.

As suggested though, none of this is simply in place to pass the time, there's a serious ecosystem here with a veritable food-chain among the game-world's animals, some of which you might find yourself in the path of. Snakes, buzzards, rabbits, armadillos, coyotes, wolves, horses, cattle, boars, bears - oh my. In the time I logged in the game I'd only scratched the surface of interacting with this system, but seeing it take shape and work - independently - around you is definitely a driving factor of feeling like you're part of a larger, more robust world. Red Dead Redemption is not played through levels or area unlocking, it's played by real-world rules, with real-world focus.

Similarly to Fallout 3, and in keeping with this preview's purpose of explaining the game-world's ecology, buzzards circling off in the distance denote death or destruction, giving you a focal point of direction should you want to investigate. Usually you'll find death at the base of these, either recent or long gone, but it's also another factor of the game mentioned earlier; a grim stake on the very real world Red Dead is based from. All the political chagrin of the time barely represents the nature of the 'Wild West' - this was a time of emergent crime; gun-slinging, oppression, rape, murder, and destruction. This is reiterated over and over as you play, a great example of which saw, without pretext, an elderly man kneeling on the side of the path mourning with deliberation over what could only have been his dead wife, who was lying in a pool of blood. There was no context to this, only that it happened, and you saw the aftermath - keep on riding.



There's a Storm Comin'
Finally, the environment itself is wrought with life. Red Dead Redemption's massive game-world (of which I only saw one area in seven-odd hours of play, and not even all of it) has its own character that shifts with seasonal change, weather and day and night. In the whole time I played I barely saw the same thing twice, despite visiting various areas multiple times. This is caused through different visual sheens brought about by differences between overcast, rain, sun, storm, sunrise, sunset and more. The day and night system seems somewhat lengthier than other games, and the game-world itself changes depending on the time of day. At night, stores close and the thoroughfare of a town becomes ghostly. Walk into a saloon, however, and life's a party - gambling, drinking, raucous conversation, drunks, ladies of the night and more colour the watering hole's innards, and you can pretty much interact with most of it (though no propositioning ladies, much to my dismay). Equally, out on the lam, night becomes a dangerous place with wolves prowling for prey, bandits scouring the land and where undesirables (such as cannibals) feed off the game's rich life-blood.

The geography of the land is also just as colourful as everything else that has gone into making this one of the richest places to explore. Fauna, land features and more change depending on ecology. For example, the closer you get to larger masses of water, the more green and damp the environment. The more inland you go, the more arid everything becomes, and so forth. This equally effects what animals you're likely to encounter, and even the types of people you come across.

What's important about all of this is just how it overlaps, interacts and builds. There's no separate algorithm for each individual aspect, they combine and coalesce in random emergent life; realistically working together in whatever capacity they're supposed to. If a traveller is stranded in the hills at night, he's likely going to have to fend off wolves. You could probably hogtie a township denizen, take him out and leave him just to see what happens, and there's actually definitive consequence for many of your actions in Red Dead Redemption. My first Quick Draw challenge saw me gunning down my challenger without a problem; leaving him lifeless in the middle of Armadillo's thoroughfare. I walked off and triggered a story sequence with the town's sheriff and emerged sometime later to find my challenger's body gone, but a pool of blood was still marking the spot where he died. I walked over to, and through, the blood and started tracking it with each subsequent step denoting its freshness. And finally, I accidentally shot a land-owner I was supposed to buy a deed for his property off, when I took the deed back to the quest-giver, he remarked it was covered in blood and that I might have to bear the wrath of his son when next I travelled to a specific town - my Rockstar representative sat shocked having never seen that outcome before.



Conclusion
All of the above is a basic dissection of the life of the game. Red Dead Redemption is an open-world title unlike any other, where your part in its ecology is just as important as your reason for being there. The Challenges, economy, denizens, travel, geography, weather, natural order and more all work in perfect unison, and anything but harmony. The world of Red Dead Redemption is a brutal and oft times bleak place to be, yet it's life as was known of the time (making it all the more scary), and still you need to make your way through it. And despite this, there's still something utterly engaging about it. Make no mistake, none of the above is to suggest this is essentially a Wild West Simulator - far from it. What it is, is simply a game-world with actuality, consequence and purpose. Everything that exists here is has a reason for existing, and while you're most definitely the one experiencing it, it never feels like it's just been placed there for your benefit, rather that you're simply a traveller passing through and bearing witness.

Stay tuned for part 2 of our extended coverage tomorrow, which will actually look at the gameplay system, and how all of the above fits into player tasks, narrative and progression. And seriously, even with both days of coverage, I can guarantee you we've barely scratched Red Dead Redemption's richly detailed surface.

For more Red Dead Redemption news, features, screens and video, be sure to check out our game page.





Red Dead Redemption Hands-On Preview Part 2
Post by Steve Farrelly @ 03:38pm 30/04/10 | Comments
AusGamers was given a unique chance to sit with Red Dead Redemption for a whole day in a no-holds barred preview session that resulted in a cumilative understanding of the game's finer mechanics. Read on for all the details...

For those just joining us, AusGamers was cordially invited out to Rockstar's Sydney office to spend a day playing Red Dead Redemption. The preview session saw no holds on what I could do with the game; I had free reign to broach any mission I wanted, engage in any side-quests I could find and explore as much of the world as I desired. The end result saw me splitting the preview up into two parts: yesterday's focusing on the life of the game if you will, and today's looking more into what makes everything tick.

If you missed yesterday's preview, you can find it here, but I basically went into detail about foundation of the game's narrative and setting, touching on the shape the US was in, in the era the game is set (1911) and talked about its separate parts functioning as a symbiotic whole with (and for) the player. Today we're going to be a bit more clinical with what the game has on offer; how its gameplay variations work in unison with one another, how it's all paced and what ties it all together. I'll touch on some of the technology, how the game is looking, what you'll be hearing while galloping across the vast gameplay expanse and just how it all comes together in gaming coherency.



Technology
While GTA IV was hailed as a crowning achievement in technology for the open-world genre with its expansive and detailed world, physics system and Euphoria, the game engine Rockstar North used was actually developed by Rockstar San Diego. The RAGE engine was originally built for Red Dead Redemption (and was shown off in tech-demo form at E3 in 2005), but has since found itself as the company's staple development architecture; evolving as needed to cater for anything being built within the collective Rockstar studios' walls. What this means, however, is that while the engine is available to everyone within Rockstar, the team who know it best are clearly the guys who built it. And all the while it was being tweaked and moulded to bring us GTA IV, San Diego were in development with Red Dead Redemption; learning from mistakes or shortcomings essentially tested with GTA IV. This shows in the final result; the game is very, very quick to load (so no annoying GTA IV pre-load art screens), and the game-world seamlessly renders in incredible scope. The only time you're really facing any lengthy loads is if you fast travel to different areas, otherwise it's all-immersive, never once pulling you out of suspended disbelief and your overall experience.

The incredible thing about this streaming world is just how unbelievable the draw-distance is. I'm reminded of the likes of Oblivion, Fallout 3 or even the recently released Just Cause 2 - all showcasing massive landscapes as far as the eye can see. But Red Dead draws so much more detail out of this scope, and the game-world is much more engaging as a result. The build I was playing only suffered minor moments of pop-up, and I never noticed a single hitch in frame-rate. There's also an incredible level of real-world detail - something I touched on in part 1 of my hands-on. Essentially there are never two areas of the landscape repeated twice. Texturing is insanely detailed with smooth load-ins that barely catch your eye, this helps in a gameplay facet too. One of Red Dead's optional side-quests involves finding treasure, the only thing is, the maps designed for this purpose are usually very vague, often only representing locations via crudely drawn landmarks. The idea then is to match up these amateurishly-drawn maps with the real-world. The first one I attempted was reasonably easy, but the second had me utterly baffled. I can see this quest seriously pushing the cerebral envelope for a lot of players.

Something else I touched on in part 1 was also the use of NaturalMotion's Euphoria animation tech. It's actually starting to make its way around to various developers now, but Rockstar were chosen as one of the first to utilise it in videogames, and while it was very cool in GTA IV, its evolution is more than apparent in Red Dead Redemption. All characters and animals in the game are animated using Euphoria, and the end result is a robust and more-naturally organic gameplay and ambient experience. Marston, for example, walks with deliberation; his strong stance, bow-legged cowboy stride and horse-riding ability are all immediate stand-outs. In combat enemies react realistically when hit, and when dead, will fall with amazing physics. It adds to the brutal nature of the Wild West, but also delivers a level of combat satisfaction too many games ignore. Every shot fired counts in Red Dead Redemption, so actually killing enemies with skill and seeing their reactionary animations based on said skill is like a virtual pat on the back. Moreover, the combined technologies of the RAGE engine, its physics system and Euphoria really can't be understated - especially when you consider you'll be partaking in plenty of horse-back combat, stage-coach driving/riding and, of course, mixing it up with game's trains. You'll almost never experience action the same twice over.



Dead or Alive
Within such a large game-world, and with so many perils to be aware of, it was important Rockstar never pull the player too far out of the game in the event of death. Mid-mission markers are very forgiving here (unlike GTA IV), and dying will either respawn you at a checkpoint during a mission, or in your closest owned or rented house/room. The freedom to own or rent in every sizeable town was a very good idea, and I applaud the system, because off mission it's just as easy to die, and the last thing you'd want to do is have to travel some of the larger distances to get back to where you bit the dust.

In your rooms/houses, you can replenish ammo, sleep (which acts as a Save system and advances time by six hours with each nap) and change clothes. Clothing is a reasonably robust system, and the in-game menu even has an option to check out your what you have available or what's required to get the next ensemble. From what I toyed with, there's no deeper level of item customisation (in the way of mixing and matching), but there was a lot of space for various outfits, teased in silhouette form. You can also visit general stores, gun shops, clinics, the tailor and more to buy odd items such as Chewing Tobacco, Apples (for your horse), Medicine (to replenish your own health) or bandannas (which are used to disguise yourself should you need to break the law, or if you're running from the law). Gun shops offer a variety of weapons, while others can be found lying about the place or are rewarded at the end of missions. You can also sell items found, or the skins from animals you've hunted in the wild, and as mentioned in part 1, the game's economy system is actually challenging to manage and engaging as a result. It's all part of the symbiotic nature of the game I've been reiterating; side-quests become important because they reward the player with money, which is then used to strengthen Marston or make life easier on the player (in the house buying or renting factor, or for fast travel etc), but all of this is always intricately linked in some way, shape or form and totally compelling as a result.

The side-quest portion of the game is probably more robust in variety and form than the game's main campaign (sans awesome story). After you complete the first few required quests, the game-world opens up for you in much the same way we've come to expect from Rockstar open-world games, and most side-quests can be started by simply talking to NPCs, reading Wanted posters or generally engaging in life in the game-world. 'Strangers' is another in-game menu option, which tracks quests that aren't part of the main story. See a question mark on your mini-map and it'll lead you to an NPC usually asking for help. Some of their missions might come in the form of simple fetching, travelling or killing, but others can actually last a long time, with multiple tiers replete with breaks that actually require hours or days of in-game time to pass. This maintains the organic flow of the symbiotic game-world I've been raving about, and it helps keep everything fresh and alive - there's no repetitive structure in place for missions here, and while some of them are essentially the same, only in newer areas (like breaking in horses), you're never forced to do anything in any one particular order, again elevating Red Dead Redemption over its Rockstar brethren ten-fold.



Draw
About the only thing carried over from Red Dead Revolver (technically Redemption's precursor) is the game's Dead Eye shooting mechanic. The basic element to this, in the single-player campaign, is that Marston can draw, enter Dead Eye (with a push of R3) and paint various targets on his opponents in a moment of slowed time before pulling the trigger. In this mode, depending on your Dead Eye meter, you can paint multiple targets across a single enemy or even multiple enemies. It comes in ridiculously handy if you're dangerously outnumbered, or if you're having trouble locking onto that elusive rabbit running through the underbrush. The game's difficulty settings tie into this in a way too, with targeting acting as tiers of Easy, Normal or Hard. Choosing a to have the game help with auto-aim, for example, is essentially the easiest setting. You can also choose to have a snap lock-on (that is still unrestricted) which is like the normal setting, or 100% free-aim. The good thing about this is the game doesn't scale in difficulty (except a little in Casual mode), it just offers options for skilled or unskilled players to let them play the game in the most comfortable and rewarding way possible.

As law was a bit of a grey area during the era Red Dead is set, Rockstar has implemented something of a morality system that sees you gaining or losing both Fame and Honour. The amount of both of these will affect how you're treated by the game's NPCs, which can equally affect the availability of certain missions or side-quests. Usually in towns you're often given opportunities on-the-fly to right wrongs with citizens running up to you asking for help in the apprehension of a horse-thief or stopping a kidnapper from taking someone. There are various examples, but easily the most eye-opening came very early on when I heard a piercing screech from a woman, I ran over to the new marker on my map only to find a girl being stabbed to death by a knife-wielding maniac, right on the porch of the local saloon, and in broad daylight, no less. As I didn't make it in time to stop him from murdering her, I lost Honour and clearly gained no Fame - but in my defence, I'd never seen anything like that in a videogame before and so was plain gob-smacked (and thus unable to react).

As your Fame rises for completing missions, you'll come across various characters out to make a name for themselves by challenging you at Quick Draw duels. These immediately go into Dead Eye once one of you has drawn, and then you have the option to paint your opponent with the aforementioned targets. If you take your time to ensure you mark him up good, you might lose out to a faster gun, though painting him too quickly could cause you serious inaccuracy, and the truth is, due to the shoddy workmanship of the time, there's no guarantee your bullets are going to be overly accurate either. It's an interesting system designed to help you become skilful behind the trigger, as opposed to all-powerful simply because you have the Dead Eye ability.



A Tall Tale
As far as story and narrative goes for the game, unlike some outlets out there, we're not going to spoil it for you. What I will say is that story structure is largely similar to that of previous GTA outings, and while you're certainly given choices throughout with definitive outcomes, you're still following a central plot. The game's scripting and dialogue is incredible though, and they've nailed the era with a cast of excellent characters who all far outshine those seen in the GTA series thus far.

Marston is easily the most accessible and likeable Rockstar leading man yet. His respect for woman, poise, logic and desire to rectify some wrongs in his past make him instantly likeable, but like so many Western heroes and anti-heroes, he's not afraid to get his hands dirty or walk the walk, so to speak. He also looks cool. I've suggested in a previous preview that he's essentially a composite of Clint Eastwood and Wolverine, and playing this long through the game, I couldn't have been more right. His voice-actor does a great job of getting into his skin, and you really feel associated with him. Moreover, the other 'good' characters in the game, such as Bonnie MacFarlane do a great job of off-setting the more cooky of them out there (such as the Golem-like Seth obsessed with his treasure map and dead bodies). And believe me, in the seven-odd hours I played, I saw a serious amount of crazy in Red Dead Redemption.

The overall presentation never detracts though, from the actual world created here. If anything the story is a bonus mission, and all characters and NPCs aside, the greatest personality here is the world itself. Everything I've reported on and compiled over the last two days seamlessly interlocks and interacts to craft a truly organic and free-form gaming experience. This isn't just "GTA in the West", it's a genre-defining experience that utterly raises the bar for all open-world games to follow. It's also an incredible feather in the cap of Rockstar San Diego who have arguably been living in the rather large shadow of their Rockstar North older brother. Red Dead Redemption is their crowning achievement, and a game they should be incredibly proud to have crafted. Time will tell just how the full experience pans out, but with my time with it, Red Dead Redemption proved to be an absolute must-have; a richly gratifying experience that covered so many solid gameplay bases, while introducing many of its own. I can't wait to set foot in New Austin again, and ride off into the sunset.

New article found on guardian.co.uk, based on the final build

** CONTAIN SPOILERS in the third paragraph about the story!! and some minor spoiler later on...**

Red Dead Redemption: hands-on with the final codeWe rampage through the wilderness in Rockstar's incredible Western adventure …


There are certain games you love from the very first moments. Half-Life was a classic example – its opening sequence was so assured and so immersive, it set you up perfectly for the grandstanding adventure to come. Super Mario 64 with its immediately captivating world was the same… For me, Red Dead Redemption will surely soon be on that list.

I played the finished code for four hours last week and the first time I whistled for my horse and it galloped toward me, muscles rippling, utterly convincing animation (they motion captured a horse – on a treadmill) that was it, I was in. For the first ten minutes, I just trotted up and down the dusty streets of Armadillo, lapping up the perfectly replicated Western iconography; the lone rider slowly sauntering into town, the drunken gunmen lounging on the steps of the saloon, the prostitutes languidly promenading the balconies, the balls of tumbleweed blowing past…

It's 1908 and the outlaw John Marston has been left for dead by his gang after a bloody shoot-out. For him, it's a chance to start again, to settle down with his wife and leave the criminal life way behind him. But as all fans of the Western genre know – no one gets out. Soon, a group of sinister government agents are beating down his door, demanding that he track down his old companions. To secure his services, they kidnap his wife. And the game begins.

Red Dead Redemption is a vast, open-world adventure, featuring the largest landscape Rockstar has ever built, and around 450 individual characters. Alongside the main story missions, players will set off on dozens of minor side-tasks, encounters and objectives, all the time earning fame and - if they behave – honour. In a structural sense, perhaps, it's very much the Grand Theft Auto model, but within a dauntingly immense rural environment that features over 40 different types of animals, an active eco-system, and an astonishingly well-realised sense of history.

Indeed, the early twentieth century setting is a masterstroke. This isn't the mythical heyday of the old west; that culture is in its death throes. Throughout the game, technology is encroaching on the area like a virus. At first, it's the railroads carving through the landscape, but as you travel north you encounter the first confused telephone users bellowing into handsets, and later, the first production line motorcars. John Marston is a man at odds with this coming era; he's a dinosaur. And this sense of growing displacement adds poignancy to the action,

Yet, for the most part, this is a game about wide-open space, about freedom and discovery. One of the worries with a rural setting is that there will be nothing going on out there. But this is not the case. As Rockstar has promised, the landscape is filled with random encounters – you may pass sheriffs chasing down an outlaw, or some poor prospector being bullied by gunmen. Often, I just headed out onto a ridge and watched – in the distance you might pick up the wisps of smoke from gunfire, or dust flying up from a galloping horse; both could lead to profitable encounters. Help a distressed local and they may give you cash, equipment or a treasure map.

The more you do this, the more your honour and fame ratings rise – and soon people will come to you with their troubles. You will, for example, often see a question mark icon on your radar map in the bottom left of the screen; head over and you'll find a civilian with a side-mission – it'll be some sob story about cattle rustlers or a missing family member, but it's another way to make some cash, and some of these will add intriguing long-running sub-plots to your adventure.

But really, the pleasure is just being out there, galloping about, discovering the world. You see armadillos scuttling through the bushes, wolf packs pacing the plains, buffalo slowing trudging along bluffs and breaches. You can hunt animals if you like – shooting and then skinning them, to sell their skins at the market. You can also just watch as the sun sets, sending orange rays across the scrublands, or stand out in the billowing rain as the lighting momentarily illuminates some abandoned outpost or hanging tree in the middle of nowhere. There are also numerous GTA-like mini-challenges out here, like shooting a set number of vultures, or blasting a series of items within a time limit. If you're an obsessive completist, you'll be in your element here.

Apologies, another quick GTA allusion. In GTA IV, your actions cleverly become part of the social and media landscape; that messy bank robbery you pulled will appear as salacious fodder on the in-game news channel. Here, it's the same. Kind of. You can pick up a newspaper for a dollar and read a report of your last gunfight – it'll be there amid humorous adverts for health-reviving chewing tobacco. Better yet, if you take a ride out into the wilderness at night, you may stumble across groups of travellers telling campfire yarns about your endeavours – a beautiful touch.

The strong sense of characterisation is also hugely familiar: I've seen a fraction of the game, but have already encountered some memorable personalities. Martial Johnson is a highlight, a laconic and reluctant lawman, just trying to keep his crappy town on the right side of hell. He's given immense gravitas by an excellent voice acting performance that makes a mockery of Heavy Rain's many travails into wooden lifeless recitation. I also loved the dandy New York reporter Jimmy Saint who's come down here to write about the West for the ladies back in NYC. "I'm gonna have some wild adventures!" he cries – and you just know it's going to go horribly wrong for him. And of course, this wouldn't be a Rockstar title without at least one knockabout stereotype – enter Irish, the whisky-swilling ne'er-do-well who'd double cross his grandma for a dram of liquor.

The control mechanic is a successfully refined version of the GTA IV system, with some context-relevant additions. The left trigger draws and aims your gun, an action that's considered provocative by most of the population so it's best not to practice it in a crowded street. The amount of auto-aim is decided by the skill level you select at the beginning of the game. Go for Casual and hitting the button will lock onto a target and stay with them until you let go; in Normal, it'll lock on until you move the right analogue stick, providing some manual ability to re-target; and on Expert, there's no auto-aim at all, cowboy. It's a nice flexible set-up, and though it's easy to pinpoint enemies, these are crude weapons and they don't always fire exactly where you're aiming – a realistic touch that rarely frustrates (perhaps because sometimes my aim was off, but I still managed to clip my target thanks to the vagaries of firing an antiquated Colt pistol at a moving target 50 yards away.)

The right shoulder tab locks you on to cover, from where you can comfortably shoot at enemies without too much exposure. Tapping it again releases you, and it's a really quick mechanic allowing you to build a nice rhythm as you approach an enemy stronghold, snaking in and out of barrels, outhouses and boulders (there's also a crouch mechanic, accessible by pressing the left analogue stick, which adds to your sneaking power.)

The famed Dead Eye system is triggered by pressing the right stick. This slows time and allows you to place pinpoint shots on your target – as long as there's some juice in your gauge (easily charged by buying tonics at the local store, or simply by successfully killing people). Sure, bullet time systems have fallen out of fashion, but this one is awesome fun, bringing to mind Peckinpah's fabulous slow-mo shoot-outs. The system can be upgraded twice throughout the game – at first, you need to manually place your shots, but later the system will automatically pinpoint body areas, so you just have to point, shoot and go and loot the resulting carcass (which is a great way to come by extra cash, ammo and other goodies).

The running mechanic is interesting. You repeatedly hit the A button until you get to the speed you want, then keep it pressed. This works on the horse too, allowing you to reach an impressive gallop – though the beast's stamina wears down quickly, especially when you venture off the dirt tracks and onto rough country terrain. If you're riding with another character, once you've reached the same speed as their horse, you can lock in to a sort of cruise control mode, which allows you to relax and listen to the dialogue – lots of vital mission information is often rattled out en route to the next bloody showdown.

Shoot-outs are just gloriously entertaining. One minute you're pinned in behind a rocky outcrop, taking pot shots with your rifle, the next, you're whistling for your horse, then galloping in, blasting your scuttling enemies as they run for cover. You've probably seen the extravagant bullet impact animations - stricken enemies writhe with each entry, or, when on the wrong end of a shotgun blast, simply fly backwards in a grotesque somersault. It possibly shouldn't be utterly satisfying, but it is. At one point I used Dead Eye to shoot an enemy off his horse, then, as he span hopelessly in the air, plugged him once more before he hit the floor. I'm sorry, but it was beautiful.

Naturally, there's a whole host of weapons to collect, including revolvers, shotguns, sniper rifles, knives and Gatling guns. As you venture toward the north of the map, you'll encounter the first automatic handguns, adding quite a sting to your fire-rate. And of course there's the lasso, for capturing bad guys. Bounty hunting missions are another nice way to earn cash, and you'll usually earn double for bringing the criminals back to the jail in one piece (though mine usually get returned with a few sundry bullet wounds to the legs – well, they run vast, these villains). Brilliantly, there's also a range of equine transport options from mules to thoroughbred stallions; players can even steal a stage coach and scorch through the wilderness with four horses under their command (for real fans, one challenge involves a stage coach race.)

I haven't yet sampled the multiplayer, but it's an intriguing prospect. Alongside standard competitive deathmatch and team deathmatch options, you can go for the Free Roam mode, which will drop up to 16 players into a compete rendition of single-player landscape, complete with officers of the law. From here, you can form a posse, hunt animals or engage in challenges – it's essentially a glorified lobby system; but a lobby system in which you and your friends can attack a bear with a hunting knife.

So yes, I'm four hours in, and I can't wait to return. Rockstar San Diego (aided by Rockstar's other studios – they've developed something of a hive mind approach these days) would seem to have created an incredible open-world experience that just oozes Western authenticity. Of course, Leone will be chucked about as a frame of reference, and he's definitely there in the visual poetry of the game, the vultures circling in the dying sunlight, the riders swooping into town through billowing dust clouds.

But more than that, I see the raw brutality and grit, the sheer nihilism, of Peckinpah and Walter Hill. Red Dead Redemption is an existential drama – it's you alone in a chaotic world. You can add to that chaos (the temptation to just mosey into a saloon and shoot the place up is difficult to resist at times) or you can craft some dignity out of it. But there is always somebody out there waiting, somebody you need to kill.



Might have to get the pre-order from BB for the Horse :D

When is the Demo coming out??

When is the Demo coming out??

I don't think there will be one...

dashboard and grand sport, thanks for posting those articles! Now I'm even more excited about this game! Less than 2 weeks away!!

Free co-op pack in june!

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/108/1087880p1.html

May 5, 2010 - Rockstar Games announced its upcoming western Red Dead Redemption will now include six additional multiplayer cooperative missions. Dubbed the 'Outlaws To The End' pack, the content will be free to download on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live this June.

There will be three content packs available for the game, but Rockstar is only detailing one of them for now.

"Multiplayer in Red Dead Redemption offers players a whole new way to encounter the massive open world we've created, but we felt the experience would not be complete without co-op game play," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. "With these missions, we wanted to create new ways for players to share in the experience of engaging with this amazing landscape."

The missions can include between 2 to 4 players and offer additional multiplayer XP rewards and brand new Achievements and Trophies to unlock.

Below are the mission details:


"Walton's Gold" - Walton's Gang have taken control of a mining camp rich with gold. Fight through the camp and load your mine cart with as much gold as you can carry and get out as fast as you can – Walton's boys have rigged the place to blow.

"The River" - Ride a raft down river, taking out rebel encampments along the way until you reach the rebel stronghold of Nosalida and a final epic battle for the town's massive weapons caches. Watch out for Gatling gun-equipped enemy rafts.

"Ammunition" - The Mexican Army has the town of Tesoro Azul under siege. Storm the gates under heavy cannon, Gatling gun and sniper fire to destroy the Mexican artillery placements


Alright, now I NEED to get to BB this weekend and pre-order this!

When we get closer to release we'll need to create an AVS possey list. This sounds like it would be a lot of fun just tooling around with 7 other guys doing whatever we happen to find out there.

If anyone finds any other reviews please post them for us guys at work!

Free co-op download on top of everything else!! And the description of those missions sounds awesome.

This is a definite pre-order. WOW!!!

When we get closer to release we'll need to create an AVS possey list. This sounds like it would be a lot of fun just tooling around with 7 other guys doing whatever we happen to find out there.

If anyone finds any other reviews please post them for us guys at work!

+1, and this morning I was like : "I need to finish FFXIII before buying another game." Sounds like I know what to do in the next 2 weeks before RDR gets here :D

When we get closer to release we'll need to create an AVS possey list. This sounds like it would be a lot of fun just tooling around with 7 other guys doing whatever we happen to find out there.

If anyone finds any other reviews please post them for us guys at work!

I've already got a posse lined up with some other guys, but it wouldn't hurt to have another!

glad I have this one on pre order, this coop exp sounds good, should be a good one, + 1 for posse list as well :D

All I want to know is if the PS3 version will be as good as the 360 version? The PS3 version hasn't made an appearance yet.

All I want to know is if the PS3 version will be as good as the 360 version? The PS3 version hasn't made an appearance yet.

There's not reason to believe it should be any different.

I've already got a posse lined up with some other guys, but it wouldn't hurt to have another!

According to the articles above it appears a posse (I see I spelled that wrong above) does not function like a traditional clan. A posse only exists during that game (not pervasive) but they made it very easy to get your friends into your current posse. At least, that's how I read it.
Anyone see anything to the contrary?

Being reading and watching lots of previews from this game. I've never really like any of the Gran Theft Auto type of games but this one looks great.
The MP looks great too. I guess I've always loved the good 'Ol western/cowboy theme.

There's not reason to believe it should be any different.There's lots of reasons, the main one being they haven't shown any footage of it- all the footage they've shown so far has been from the 360 version. Also, the same thing happened with GTAIV.

According to the articles above it appears a posse (I see I spelled that wrong above) does not function like a traditional clan. A posse only exists during that game (not pervasive) but they made it very easy to get your friends into your current posse. At least, that's how I read it.
Anyone see anything to the contrary?

Yeah, that's how I read it too. I just know of a bunch of other people I game with that are getting this game, so we're planning to posse up when possible. I'm down to play with any of you guys too though b/c I imagine I'm going to be playing the sh*t out of this game.

There's lots of reasons, the main one being they haven't shown any footage of it- all the footage they've shown so far has been from the 360 version. Also, the same thing happened with GTAIV.

What was the difference between the 360 and PS3 versions of GTA4? I only own a PS3 and I bought it after GTA4 had already been out for a little while, so I never got caught up in all of that when it was released. I did play, and beat, GTA4 though. I enjoyed it, thought it was a great game, but it didn't revolutionize anything. Just took the same old GTA mold and improved upon it a little bit.

The basic issue with GTAIV on the PS3 was that it didn't run at a full 720p. Since RDR uses the same engine and hasn't been shown pretty much anywhere on the PS3, it's a bit concerning.

That's not to say I won't buy it- I already have my pre-order in, but hopefully it won't have performance issues on the PS3. But with Rockstar you never know.:(

Looks very nice indeed... Well done guys!

Can't wait for this one to get here! I pre-ordered through Amazon after I saw the $20 gift card + in-game bonus, can't beat that! Feel free to add me to your list on PSN. Juggling keeping up with my summer MBA classes and this game is going to be very, very hard lol

The basic issue with GTAIV on the PS3 was that it didn't run at a full 720p. Since RDR uses the same engine and hasn't been shown pretty much anywhere on the PS3, it's a bit concerning.

That's not to say I won't buy it- I already have my pre-order in, but hopefully it won't have performance issues on the PS3. But with Rockstar you never know.:(

I seem to remember the problem being something to do with the fact that not every Xbox360 owner had a hard drive so they had to alter the game to make it fit onto a DVD, and there were issues porting it over, etc. At the time I only had 360, so I could be mistaken, but that's what I remember and I played it on 360 so I don't know for sure. I always had a problem with draw distance and that sort of pop up effect of things after you quit moving. It'd be awesome if this open world was more akin to, say, Elder Scrolls, rather than GTA.

I would rather buy this for my PS3 because of the free online, but if the single player experience is much better on 360 it will be a hard choice.

Preordered the game friday at BB. 5$ gift card and the exclusive war horse. Can't go wrong with that. :D

Preordered the game friday at BB. 5$ gift card and the exclusive war horse. Can't go wrong with that. :D

Yes you can go wrong with that :p. Amazon is giving $20 gift cert plus golden guns weapon pack.

Yes you can go wrong with that :p. Amazon is giving $20 gift cert plus golden guns weapon pack.

I would also go with Amazon for the gift card. Amazon mentions that the access code (read:cheat code) will be emailed within 10 business days after the game's release. That means the golden guns, warhorse, etc. codes will show up on the cheat code websites a few days after release, and you should just take the biggest gift card/rebate deal you can find.

I would also go with Amazon for the gift card. Amazon mentions that the access code (read:cheat code) will be emailed within 10 business days after the game's release. That means the golden guns, warhorse, etc. codes will show up on the cheat code websites a few days after release, and you should just take the biggest gift card/rebate deal you can find.Not likely that the codes are going to work that way. The codes I got for Uncharted 2 and Heavy Rain, were just that, PSN codes to be redeemed. 1 time use only. Still, I would go with the biggest rebate offer, but your are likely to be able to pick up codes for other promos on the cheap as folks try to sell them. The real questions is will they all work at the same time, or will they go the route of Uncharted 2 and only work one at a time.

Fair enough. I haven't redeemed any on PSN before but in my experience, any time that Gamestop for instance will offer an exclusive race car or something of the like it's usually entered in the cheat code menu. Is there any way to confirm that it's done through the store? Amazon has the same exact wording on the special offer for both PS3 and 360 versions, no mention of either XBL or PSN.

Fair enough. I haven't redeemed any on PSN before but in my experience, any time that Gamestop for instance will offer an exclusive race car or something of the like it's usually entered in the cheat code menu. Is there any way to confirm that it's done through the store? Amazon has the same exact wording on the special offer for both PS3 and 360 versions, no mention of either XBL or PSN.So far, all of the extras that I have used dating back to BF: BC have been PSN codes. And I can tell you it's was real b!tch to get one that worked from EA. I was the lucky recipient of a used code, twice. lol. The most recent was Heavy Rain (emailed unique PSN from amazon), and Dante's Inferno (unique PSN code in the box itself). But I can't comment on RDR. I'm not sure anyone can at this point. I myself, and I'm sure many others, are expecting the perks to be different unique PSN codes. I'm sure you can always contact amazon support though. They're pretty good. I know I did to confirm that I went from a $10 to $20 gift card when they changed the preorder deal. :cool:

Yes you can go wrong with that :p. Amazon is giving $20 gift cert plus golden guns weapon pack.

Here in Montréal... I'd get the game the next week probably... that's why I went with pick-up at Best Buy, to be able to play right away and not the next week. Big influence in my decision.

Has there been anything mentioned about if the PS3 version is just as good or equal to the 360 version? I've got both systems but if they aren't equal I want the better one :o

Has there been anything mentioned about if the PS3 version is just as good or equal to the 360 version? I've got both systems but if they aren't equal I want the better one :o

I've read numerous rumors about which version is superior. The biggest one is the article from cheapassgamer's owner stating that the Xbox360 version was superior.

I think it's probably nothing like always. Just get the game from the system you have more friends to form a good Posse :D or wait for reviews.

I went ahead and preordered it for the PS3. If somehow the 360 version is really superior in a noticeable way, I'll just trade for that one.

I went ahead and preordered it for the PS3. If somehow the 360 version is really superior in a noticeable way, I'll just trade for that one.

Good move :p On Xbox, you can't play with us ;)

Rockstar did a radio-call-in segment on Kotaku yesterday and said the 360/PS3 versions are identical.

Rockstar did a radio-call-in segment on Kotaku yesterday and said the 360/PS3 versions are identical.

Saw that in the Xbox's thread. Good thing that will keep fanboy quiet ;) and reassure us PS3 owner :D

IGN Review that Ambrose was nice enough to post in the xbox thread for us guys at work:


Whenever given the option in a videogame, I invariably bend toward the darkness. If I'm going to do good deeds I may as well save them for real life where it counts. When it comes to those digital denizens of the videogame world, with their strict and artificial rules, I like to have a little fun. When I got done with a recent six hour play session of Red Dead Redemption, the virtual world didn't know what hit it.

The way I see it, there are two types of behaviors in Red Dead Redemption – Rockstar's upcoming open-world Western -- that I would consider key to being a true outlaw. The first are the kind that will actually affect your morality rating in the game. Do good deeds, be the hero and save the day in general and you'll be seen as a hero. Kill innocents, break the law, and help out the villains and you'll be seen otherwise.

The second set of actions I'll get to in a little bit. These are the ones that go above and beyond Red Dead Redemption's laws -- the types of things that any person with bleak thoughts can dream up and perform in a sandbox like this.

Performing actions of the first type and driving down your morality rating is actually pretty easy and it won't take long before you're ready to paint the town red. The game opens with a train ride into a small town named Armadillo and one of the first things you're greeted with is a woman of loose morals peddling her wares. Right off the bat, you can tell that this is the type of place where a person who knows how to use a gun can do as they please. After a brief introduction to set up the motivations of John Marston, you're given free rein to explore much of the world…and that means you're free to start causing a ruckus.

Unfortunately, you won't have many tools of destruction just yet, and you won't have a dollar to your name. Both of these are serious problems for a would-be bandit. You'll want to do a few story missions straight away to earn a few weapons, a lasso and some money. With the basics in tow, I set out to make my mark on the world.
I started out small. A few drinks at the saloon and a bar fight later, I stumbled out into the night looking for some easy money. I ran into an old crazy lady begging me to help her find a man named Peter, but that seemed like too much work so I shot her and moved on. And just like that, my honor meter went down by five points. It would take a few dozen more bullets to innocents to gain some real notoriety, but if there is one thing that Red Dead Redemption has it is a lot of innocents to toy with.

Take, for instance, the sorts of things you can do with a lasso. You gain this little tool during a mission that teaches you the ins and outs of breaking a wild horse, but you can aim the rope ring at people, too. I went to the saloon and found a prostitute, hog-tied her and then slung her over my shoulder to take for a ride. She didn't take too kindly to this treatment, screaming out obscenities like, "There are other ways to a girl's heart, you ass!" along the way. I responded by leaving her on a train track.

The most fun comes thanks to the epic animations Red Dead Redemption produces. Shooting or knifing people and animals invariably results in hilarity. During my travels I did everything from uppercutting a cow with a bowie knife to killing so many lawmen as they entered a saloon that they were stumbling over their predecessor's body pile. You don't even have to kill anybody to have some fun. Just drawing your gun on an innocent walking down the road will startle them into a funny reaction. My favorite was a man sitting with his legs up on a table. When I trained my sights on him he fell over backwards into a piano.

When you meet every rancher, farmhand, and cowboy with a shotgun, finding steady work outside of the main missions can be a bit tricky. Sure, I responded to a woman crying for help when bandits were stealing her carriage. I even tracked down the thief, put a bullet in his head and then brought the little chariot back. I didn't give it to her, however, I shot the horse in front of her and then rode away to leave her in the wilderness.

So, as you might imagine, the income isn't too steady when you play as an insane rogue. Looting corpses only provides a dollar or two here and there. To bring in the money, I had to get creative. For a short while, I turned to hunting and my mission became to rid the plains of all cute and cuddly wildlife. Blue songbirds, though rare, are easy pickings for those with a shotgun. Majestic deer bring in a pretty penny.

Then I found an easier path to riches -- raiding farms. As it turns out, you can skin a horse, pluck feathers from a chicken, or cut out some cow meat just the same as you can wild animals. Only these ones are all penned up and waiting for you to swing by every now and then and take your spoils. Yes, I became a cattle thief.

Before you go crazy on the poor people of Armadillo or its surrounding ranches, you should know about the consequences. They may be enough to scare you straight. Killing innocents will quite often result in a bounty being placed on your head. If you take up arms against a man of the law, you'll always get one immediately (though you also get double the drop in honor on the morality chart). If you're on a killing spree out in the wilderness, you might be able to get away scot-free, provided you can deal with the witnesses through bribery or more murder. When I saw the witness icon pop up on the mini-map, everything in sight died, be it man or beast. Nobody was going to snitch on my John Marston.

Should a bounty get placed on your head, you might first have to run from the sheriff's men until the heat cools down. Even if you do, the bounty remains. Some people in the world simply won't deal with a wanted man and that can be quite a problem. You can pay down the bounty yourself if you have the money. This might not be an option, though. I once had the bounty up near $1,500 at a time of the game where I rarely carried more than a hundred bucks. When this happens, you'll need a pardon letter. These can be gotten by completing quests for the right people, but they aren't easy to come by.

The good news is that it seems impossible to completely close off any avenues in Red Dead Redemption just by being a bad guy. Kill or threaten a shop keeper and their store will only shut down for a day or so. Kill an important side-quest character and you'll fail the mission, but that person will respawn eventually and you'll be allowed another chance.

Was all of this too much for you? Are you perhaps a bit more heroic? Check back Monday when IGN's Greg Miller recounts his exploits in Red Dead Redemption as the goody-two-shoes he is.
__________________

Official launch trailer now live on Rockstar's site.

http://www.rockstargames.com/reddeadredemption/

Also... EPIC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4t81aqMyZk&feature=player_embedded


Embedded don't seem to work..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4t81aqMyZk&feature=player_embedded

that review was lmao :D - tied her up and left on the train tracks = briliant cant wait for this one now lol goes to set up some time off next week:cool:

And if I couldn't be more hyped up about this game than I already am, I come into this thread and read a review on how much fun it will be to be a bad guy and watch the unbelievably awesome release trailer.

This is the best game to ever grace the PS3.

Yeah.......I said it.

Ok, I mosied over to Amazon to place my pre-order to get that $20 gift card, but I didn't see a delivery option that ensures release-day delivery.

All they had was "free super saver delivery" and the other upcharged delivery options.

Am I missing something, or are they not offering a release day delivery guarantee anymore?

Ok, I mosied over to Amazon to place my pre-order to get that $20 gift card, but I didn't see a delivery option that ensures release-day delivery.

All they had was "free super saver delivery" and the other upcharged delivery options.

Am I missing something, or are they not offering a release day delivery guarantee anymore?

Can't help you with that. That's a reason why I went with BB to get the game on release day for sure :)

The other review courtesy of Ambrose in the xbox thread: (I put in spoiler tags due to some early plot descriptions.)
Now the article on being the hero....

After six hours of Red Dead Redemption, I don't see how anyone could play this game as an outlaw. The title toys with your emotions – anger, love, sympathy, guilt – and casts you into a world that's crying out for a hero. There were plenty of situations I encountered where a bullet to the head would've made my mission easier, but these weren't just faceless folks in a videogame world – I needed to help them. I can pinpoint the moment when the depravity of the henchmen I was up against made me sick to my stomach and I knew that being good was the only way for me to play this game.

A number of campsites were found raided, complete parties wiped out by a gang of bandits. The sheriff of Armadillo and I were on the trail of these bastards and came to a farm that was far too quiet. We made our way to a barricaded barn, busted in, and found death. In the center of the room, a naked man was hanging by a noose. He was the patriarch of the house, and he was dead. Below him were the beaten and tortured bodies of his family. From the shadows, the murdered man's daughter emerged and told us that the rest of her family was being held captive in the main house.

The entire barn episode angered me in a way few games have. I was completely enveloped in the experience and furious at the monster who would do such horrendous things. I made my way to the house and relished every headshot I pulled off as I killed these men room by room. I saved a few women that I found bound in bedrooms, but their faces were beaten, swollen and bruised. One of them would only tell me that the captors had done "unspeakable things" to them. When I got back outside the house, I found another group of abused women, but rather than the traditional "Thanks, hero!" most games give you, these ladies wailed and blamed the sheriff and I for letting this happen to the family.

It was this event that cemented the fact that I could never play this game as a bad guy. The main character of Red Dead Redemption is on a quest you won't fully understand for quite sometime – I played for six hours and don't truly know the scope of his mission – but the themes will ring true. In a world with this much heartache, there needs to be a hero, and John Marston is meant to be that savior. Hell, the title of this game gives away the man's motivations. John Marston already did terrible things long before you ever pushed start. He's looking for redemption.

Last week, IGN's own Erik Brudvig walked you though his hours in the town of Armadillo, except he played as a bad guy. He shot horses in the head, left women to die in the desert, and raided the countryside. Basically, he was a maniac, and that's the kind of the virtual life I can't live. I need to save people. I need to walk the straight and narrow.

Trouble is, being that beacon of hope isn't as easy as I thought it would be in Red Dead Redemption.

When I first stepped off the train in Armadillo, I assumed being the good guy would be no sweat. Don't kill innocent people, help people in need, and do whatever it takes to make the world a better place. Turns out, Red Dead's open-world freedom Rockstar is always talking about makes being the good guy a little more difficult. During my first real ride across the countryside, I heard gunshots and stopped in my tracks. I did a 360-degree turn, scanned the horizon and did everything I could to find the disturbance, but I had no luck finding out what was going on. Was someone getting hijacked? Was there a fight? Was it just some idiot shooting birds out of the air? I rode towards where I thought the shots were coming from, backtracked, and searched all over the area, but I never found out what was going on.

Things like that haunt me as Marston. There's so much disturbing stuff going on in this world that if I hear a commotion, I'm emotionally compelled to investigate so there won't be someone's rape and/or murder on my conscience. In Red Dead, our hero isn't a superhero. He has no telescopic vision to explore the horizon and no other-worldly sense to hone in on trouble. When something goes on around you, it's up to you to figure it out and act.

Now, these situations come in all shapes and sizes. There are the easy hero decisions, like coming up with the cash to pay a man for his property instead of the easy "blow him away and take the deed" route, but the harder decisions are the ones that need to happen in a split second. At one point, I was leaving a whore house (no services rendered), when I heard a blood-curdling scream from down the road. I ran over to the commotion and found woman on her back with a knife-wielding man on top of her. I pulled my gun and blew the assailant away. Later, I came across a woman asking for help by her stagecoach. As I approached, armed men jumped out as part of an ambush/robbery. After using the Dead Eye feature to kill all the men in a split second, I had the choice of murdering the unarmed bitch who set me up or letting her go. Of course, I let her leave.

These random crimes speak to that urge to be the hero in a pinch, but don't think that you're only going to get the good/bad choice if you're stumbling around the back alleys of this tumbleweed town. One of the first side missions you'll come across is a woman sobbing at the sheriff's station. Her husband journeyed to a remote area and hasn't been heard from since. If you want, you can just ignore her and go back to drinking in saloons, but if you take her quest and ride up into the hills, you'll find a severed limb and a pool of blood. As the days go by, more and more people turn up missing and you keep finding leftover feet and arms like discarded chicken bones before coming across an injured man and a moral conundrum where you have to pick whom you believe. Later, a woman you know gets kidnapped, and her life is left in your hands.

You could be an outlaw and see all of this, but you wouldn't have the same frame of reference. You'd be killing innocent people, running from the law, and striking fear into the hearts of the good people of Armadillo. That's no way for Marston to live. Why even bother trying to take out bad guys when you're worse than all of them? I'd pick patrolling the homestead with a dog named Charlie – a reoccurring side mission where you chase off poachers and drunks – any day of the week.

I love videogames. They connect me to characters and stories like no other medium can. Red Dead Redemption makes me feel, but it doesn't always take me places I like. That's awesome. As we have these arguments about what a game is and if it's art and yadda, yadda, yadda, it's profoundly interesting that a fictional guy in a fictional town can make me feel so many things so genuinely. I can't wait to play Red Dead Redemption, but I also dread it in a way. I know that I'm going to have to see those beaten and violated women again, and I know that I won't be able to save them. For someone who wants to save whatever world he's in, that's a hard pill to swallow.

Still, the people of Red Dead Redemption need a hero, and I'm going to be there for them.

What you need to do on amazon is join their amazon prime club. I did that and it gave me release day shipping. Stipulation on the amazon prime is that you get charged 79$ a year, but all you have to do is when you sign up ( its a free trial BTW ) just cancel it after your down your order. And you'll get a free shipping for one mth from the date you signed up for. And I think the prices might be cheaper on certain things too.

Cant beat it. Just make sure you cancel the prime subscription after you place your pre order.

I know I'm late to the party but I just pre-ordered mine today! Who's up for a posse?

PSN ID: javant86

Cant beat it. Just make sure you cancel the prime subscription after you place your pre order.

Or...be like me and let your "fun and games" bank account go negative for forgetting to cancel :(

Ok, I mosied over to Amazon to place my pre-order to get that $20 gift card, but I didn't see a delivery option that ensures release-day delivery.

All they had was "free super saver delivery" and the other upcharged delivery options.

Am I missing something, or are they not offering a release day delivery guarantee anymore?I have not yet run into a title that didn't change to free release day delivery on new releases. Sometimes it's not there when you do the pre-order, but it can often appear in the shipping options at check out. But as someone else said, get amazon prime. Free release day all the way. And to boot, you can share prime. I wanted to split the cost with my parents, but they just went ahead an bought it. Now my sister, my wife, my parents and I all use Prime off their one subscription. You can't beat that at all. I'm looking forward to Red Dead, mostly CO-OP, as MP has left a bad taste in my mouth lately.

YOu guys ready to make a list yet? The xbox guys already have one going. Add your name, psn ID and then add everyone above you as a friend. They also have funny possey names in theirs some of which are pretty funny. That part is up to y'all. (Here's a start from those above)

AVS PSN ID
kamauflage javant86
grand sport grand_sport
dogdoctor dogdoctor
auditor_kevin JUST_KEVIN
aquasal aquasal
Dashboard ?????

I can't get the columns to line up.
Dave_6 removed- I see you are buying the xbox version.

mostly CO-OP, as MP has left a bad taste in my mouth lately.

That's just because Uncharted's MP has become so rediculas since the patches and Kingshorty absolutly refuses to play it.

YOu guys ready to make a list yet? The xbox guys already have one going. Add your name, psn ID and then add everyone above you as a friend. They also have funny possey names in theirs some of which are pretty funny. That part is up to y'all. (Here's a start from those above)

AVS PSN ID
kamauflage javant86
grand sport grand_sport
dogdoctor dogdoctor
auditor_kevin JUST_KEVIN
aquasal aquasal
Dashboard ?????

I can't get the columns to line up.
Dave_6 removed- I see you are buying the xbox version.

Sign me up

AVS - wang61 PSN-wang6161

put me on that list PSNid = powerbroker


PS3 has exclusive content

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=246632

an outfit and a hideout

http://cdn.medialib.computerandvideogames.com/screens/screenshot_231414_thumb300.jpg

Ok, pre-ordered at Amazon. This better not be another GTA4, a 8/10 with 10/10 reviews.

Put me on the list, PSN in sig.

^^^I'm scared of that. I'll wait a bit most likely.

Ok, pre-ordered at Amazon. This better not be another GTA4, a 8/10 with 10/10 reviews.

Put me on the list, PSN in sig.

No kidding. GTA IV sucked IMO, very boring

Guys, just copy the list, insert yourself, and paste.

AVS PSN ID
kamauflage javant86
grand sport grand_sport
dogdoctor dogdoctor
auditor_kevin JUST_KEVIN
aquasal aquasal
Dashboard ?????
wang61 wang6161

AVS --- PSN ID
kamauflage --- javant86
grand sport --- grand_sport
dogdoctor --- dogdoctor
auditor_kevin --- JUST_KEVIN
aquasal --- aquasal
Dashboard --- ?????
tgable --- Scuzzlebutt33
wang61 --- wang6161
dogday --- SpeedyMcHaggis

sheesh... I couldn't get the columns to line up and didn't think of using dashes... good job fellas.

Can't wait till Tuesday!

As for Posse names (will the game have that? Awesome if it does!)...........

The Nonpartisan Anti-Chinese League (a tip of the cap to Tombstone right there)

:)

AVS --- PSN ID
kamouflage --- javant86 --- Crazy Legs
grand sport --- grand_sport
dogdoctor --- dogdoctor
auditor_kevin --- JUST_KEVIN
aquasal --- aquasal
Dashboard --- ?????
tgable --- Scuzzlebutt33
wang61 --- wang6161
dogday --- SpeedyMcHaggis

AVS --- PSN ID
kamouflage --- javant86 --- Crazy Legs
grand sport --- grand_sport
dogdoctor --- dogdoctor
auditor_kevin --- JUST_KEVIN
aquasal --- aquasal
Dashboard --- Dashboard
tgable --- Scuzzlebutt33
wang61 --- wang6161
dogday --- SpeedyMcHaggis


Added my PSN in the list. If you send an invite, mention AVS in it :D

AVS --- PSN ID
kamouflage --- javant86 --- Crazy Legs
grand sport --- grand_sport
dogdoctor --- dogdoctor
auditor_kevin --- JUST_KEVIN
aquasal --- aquasal
Dashboard --- Dashboard
tgable --- Scuzzlebutt33
wang61 --- wang6161
dogday --- SpeedyMcHaggis
woster402 --- woster

Frys Electronics will have this for $49.99 on tuesday. It is in their ad today.

kamouflage --- javant86 --- Crazy Legs
grand sport --- grand_sport
dogdoctor --- dogdoctor
auditor_kevin --- JUST_KEVIN
aquasal --- aquasal
Dashboard --- Dashboard
tgable --- Scuzzlebutt33
wang61 --- wang6161
dogday --- SpeedyMcHaggis
woster402 --- woster[/QUOTE]
Amays32 --- Amays32

If you send an invite, mention AVS in it :DI'll second that. If I get a friend request with no mention of who you are, don't be sad if it gets deleted. Also, I think I may be maxing out on friends right now with U2. So if you try to add me and it fails, just send me a message, "AVS/RDR - list full" and and I will do some needed pruning. Once it gets closer to Tuesday, I'll be in full trimming mode.

I'll third that.

Toys R Us is giving a $25 gift card with purchase

Earlier this weekend, Metacritic posted a 98 review of this game from Game Informer, but at some point it was taken down...

- Jer

Toys R Us is giving a $25 gift card with purchase

For Rewards club members only, and the offer is only on Tuesday 10 AM - 2 PM.

For Rewards club members only, and the offer is only on Tuesday 10 AM - 2 PM.

I'll be there :D

kamouflage --- javant86 --- Crazy Legs
grand sport --- grand_sport
dogdoctor --- dogdoctor
auditor_kevin --- JUST_KEVIN
aquasal --- aquasal
Dashboard --- Dashboard
tgable --- Scuzzlebutt33
wang61 --- wang6161
dogday --- SpeedyMcHaggis
woster402 --- woster[/quote]
Amays32 --- Amays32
blklightning --- BlkLightning2K

I am curious when the media blackout is over. Hopefully tomorrow so we have a bunch of reviews to read and get hyped over. The few that have sneaked out have been glowing reviews.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/arts/television/17dead.html?pagewanted=1&ref=arts&adxnnlx=1274040389-CuFVDLWDBDlpDF6qkY2xnA
Here is a review from the NY Times from the xbox forum.

Gaaahhh...

I'm gonna be out of town until Wednesday night. Horrible timing on this one.....

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/arts/television/17dead.html?pagewanted=1&ref=arts&adxnnlx=1274040389-CuFVDLWDBDlpDF6qkY2xnA

An excerpt from that review:

In the more than 1,100 articles I have written for this newspaper since 1996, I have never before called anything a tour de force. Yet there is no more succinct and appropriate way to describe Red Dead Redemption. Rockstar rides again.

...........WOW

An excerpt from that review:



...........WOW

:eek::eek::eek:

Can't wait :D

Also, go check the thread in the xbox section : http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1206912&page=14

Awesome screenshots!!!!!!!

Getting...Hints...Of...GTA...All...Over..

yeah i'm gonna wait a week or so

No mention about it in the thread, PS3 gets exclusive content

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/108/1089983p1.html

Red Dead Redemption PS3 Gets Exclusive Content
New outfit and gang hideout access only available on PlayStation 3.

Copies of Red Dead Redemption that recently shipped to retailers confirm PlayStation 3 versions in North America will include extra content.

PS3 owners will be getting access to "Solomon's Folly Gang Hideout" and the "Walton Gang Outfit," according to photos posted on IGN's forums by user Old_BenKenobi. Rockstar has not officially announced this content, so we can't say for sure what it all includes exactly.

Red Dead Redemption is set for release in North America this coming Tuesday, May 18, for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

AVS --- PSN ID
kamouflage --- javant86 --- Crazy Legs
grand sport --- grand_sport
dogdoctor --- dogdoctor
auditor_kevin --- JUST_KEVIN
aquasal --- aquasal
Dashboard --- Dashboard
tgable --- Scuzzlebutt33
wang61 --- wang6161
dogday --- SpeedyMcHaggis
woster402 --- woster
speycaster---speycaster69

check post #172 dashboard... ;)

Getting...Hints...Of...GTA...All...Over..

Feels EXACTLY like the pre-release GTA IV hype right now, which I wholeheartedly bought into. I am trying to withstand the hype machine this time because after I got over the initial excitement of GTA IV, i was bored to death.

check post #172 dashboard... ;)

Oups, my bad :o I'm getting old, can't remember things I read from last page :rolleyes:

But my article got a picture of the box with a sticker about the content ;)

I will say this though - despite the scary GTAIV-esque hype, I do like the theme of the game enough to stay optimistic. I have always wanted a spaghetti western themed game, and so far this title comes the closest.

With that said, I'll wait for user write-ups since I don't trust any review site for a release like this one ever since they collectively lied to us about the last GTA.

Well, this game initially didn't interest me at all. I pre-ordered it today because of the $20 Amazon is offering. I hope it's good.

^^^ Wow, now I'm on the fence about waiting. I could go a month or so to get a good read on the title from forums, but $20 Amazon credit (http://www.amazon.com/Red-Dead-Redemption-Playstation-3/dp/B001SGZL2W)is cold hard cash if I plan to get it... hmmmm.

you can always goozex it and keep the $20.

I ordered it. I was on the fence, but a $20 gift card is enough to get me to buy.
Now if only my ps3 would get here...

AVS --- PSN ID
kamouflage --- javant86 --- Crazy Legs
grand sport --- grand_sport
dogdoctor --- dogdoctor
auditor_kevin --- JUST_KEVIN
aquasal --- aquasal
Dashboard --- Dashboard
tgable --- Scuzzlebutt33
wang61 --- wang6161
dogday --- SpeedyMcHaggis
woster402 --- woster
speycaster---speycaster69
nino1919 --- blazew0n

Reviews are coming in fast and steady now, 93 on metacritic (95 for xbox).

Oh hell yes! I can't wait to hunt me some bear with a knife. :cool:
http://www.1up.com/media/03/8/1/1/lg/699.jpg

IGN review for xbox is out 9,7/10. PS3 review will be out shortly.

Now for everyone wanting a Cowboy name :

http://cs.calgarystampede.com/stampede-now/online-games/nickname-generator.html


Mine is Smoke Signal :)

"Crazy Tooth"

Pickle-Jar

wtf?

"Horseshoed" - full first name male.
"Moose" - full first name female.
"Wild Bill Collector" - shortened first name male.
"Podunk" - shortened first name female.

"The Yodeler"....... seriously? I guess it's better than "The pole smoker" or something.......

EDIT: Ok, if i do everything the same and change it to female I get "cool hand." Think about that for a second........

ruhroh

MTV Multiplayer Blog wrote:
Free Roam is limited in two fundamental ways: an absence of side activities and a 16-player capacity. In Free Roam, up to 16 players can travel around the world, form posses, go hunting, shoot each other and take on gang hideouts. And that's it. No card games, no cattle herding, no patrols-- all of the mini-missions that add life to the story mode are absent here. Add to that the 16-player max in "Red Dead Redemption"'s massive open world and what you're really left with is "GTA IV"'s Party Mode (ie multiplayer lobby), but with a new name.

Let's hope they fixed the server issues. MP sounds like GTA in the west, which isn't a bad thing if they've actually fixed the horrible MP system / servers that GTA had.

If not...

Another glowing review from TechDigest (http://www.techdigest.tv/2010/05/red_dead_redemp.html)

http://www.techdigest.tv/2010/05/red_dead_redemp.html

Gotta admit, all the buzz has me really ready to jump in.

"Giddy Up" went ahead and jumped on the Amazon deal.

Anyone think Gamestop will let me pick up my pre order right now since it's already paid off?

ruhroh

MTV Multiplayer Blog wrote:


Let's hope they fixed the server issues. MP sounds like GTA in the west, which isn't a bad thing if they've actually fixed the horrible MP system / servers that GTA had.

If not...

Bah, if that's all that the MP is offering, I can wait to get it for the solo missions only, and that's IF eventually I decide to still get it. I can wait for a super sale somewhere down the line after I read a ton of user reviews.

Bah, if that's all that the MP is offering, I can wait to get it for the solo missions only, and that's IF eventually I decide to still get it. I can wait for a super sale somewhere down the line after I read a ton of user reviews.

To me it sounds exactly like the GTA set up. Lots of different MP modes and COOP scenarios that you jump into from the free roam "staging room". My issue is that Rockstar totally fraked GTA's MP, and several patches later it wasn't fixed and still remains broken to this day.

I also remember this studio was having major setbacks and development issues early. I'm wondering if they fixed the engine, or if it's just new assets on top of the GTA MP.

I also read a comment from someone who claims they already have it that you notice numerous glitches early in the SP right off the bat. If thats true..

Using my full name (male): Belly Flop
Using my full name (female): Better Days

Using KingShorty (male): Stirrupyours
Using KingShorty (female): Adios

I also read a comment from someone who claims they already have it that you notice numerous glitches early in the SP right off the bat. If thats true..

And that 1 person is the only player who noticed it.....:rolleyes:

got "Lurking Coyote" lol

also I thought MP had more standard modes to rather than just free roam? still ahve to see but this is really prob a 85% SP purch tbh, if MP pans out its just some extra goodness , saddle up! :D

Game is coming out today...

There is a hockey game tonight ( Go Habs Go!!) and I'm playing hockey tomorrow night... I won't be able to play until thursday :( Good thing it's a 3 days long week-end coming! :D

Tracking shows "out for delivery" from amazon.... this is going to be a long day at work....

I just hope I didn't over-hype this thing too much in my head.....

Ok you midnight release guys.......spill it....... is it the greatest game ever made? Is it in 3890P? does it cure cancer and loupus?

And that 1 person is the only player who noticed it.....:rolleyes:

yes the same guy that complains if the game is only ine 719p and isn't 4x anti-aliased, color palette is slightly off, shadows, footprints and blah blah blah

there will always be complainers, but a few glitches here and there in an enormous open world game is acceptable, as long as they aren't game breaking

yes the same guy that complains if the game is only ine 719p and isn't 4x anti-aliased, color palette is slightly off, shadows, footprints and blah blah blah

there will always be complainers, but a few glitches here and there in an enormous open world game is acceptable, as long as they aren't game breaking

+1, with so much area and a crazy open world map like that, it's normal. As long as it's not game breaking, I'm fine with some pop-in and others. As long as it's not always there.

My pre-ordered copy from Amazon was just delivered. (Had it delivered here at work, I guess so I could sit and stare at the box until 5pm). Today is going to be a long day. :cool:

My pre-ordered copy from Amazon was just delivered. (Had it delivered here at work, I guess so I could sit and stare at the box until 5pm). Today is going to be a long day. :cool:I picked up my copy at ToysRus as well and now have to sit through the work day looking at the box. :eek:

My pre-ordered copy from Amazon was just delivered. (Had it delivered here at work, I guess so I could sit and stare at the box until 5pm). Today is going to be a long day. :cool:

I picked up my copy at ToysRus as well and now have to sit through the work day looking at the box. :eek:

And this is the reason why I'll be picking up my copy AFTER work... instead I'm looking at this thread, review, videos,... IT'S WORST!! :D

Yeah!!! Woo Hoo!

Delivered On: 05/18/2010 11:48 A.M.
Location: FRONT DOOR
Delivered To: ERIE, PA, US

Just before lunch my next door neighbor (he's as goofy as I am) called me at work and left a message: "America.....1911....the wild west is dead" and hung up. I called him back and sure enough, he went from NOT wanting to buy the game to being the first dork in line at gamestop this morning when they opened..... all it took is a little prodding by yours truly... <evil grin>

I guess i'm getting this for my birthday which isn't for a few weeks :(

From the xbox guys thread: "Red Dead Redemption Pro Tip #1: Your horse does not automatically whoa when near the edge of high cliffs. You will both tumble to your deaths."

HA! I am SO going to ride off the first cliff I see now......


EDIT: I had to take someone from out of town to lunch and when I came back my wife went home and scooped the game off the front porch and brought it back to work! I get to pour over the book and map during this boring webinar at 2:00..... this will be the first webinar ever that didn't suck......

Don't hate, just posting this as it is related to the game.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=247104

If it's true, I wonder why they can't be the same. Anyone have a guess? I always order multi-platform games on the PS3 because my 360 is very loud, but I'm not quite sure why things can't be equal.

Picked up my copy and played it for a few minutes during my lunch break...BIG MISTAKE! I've only been back at work for maybe 10 minutes and all I can think about is leaving @ 5. This just might be a 4:30 day for me.

Don't hate, just posting this as it is related to the game.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=247104

If it's true, I wonder why they can't be the same. Anyone have a guess? I always order multi-platform games on the PS3 because my 360 is very loud, but I'm not quite sure why things can't be equal.

Is it just me or do the comparison screenshots look like they were taken at different times of the day?

Classic fanboy ammo, lol

If you think that was bad, take a look at this:

http://i44.tinypic.com/24y20yt.gif

Is it just me or do the comparison screenshots look like they were taken at different times of the day?

Classic fanboy ammo, lol

I have yet to find a reason that this even matters. Some folks do everything to critique and criticize a game but never take time to just enjoy it.

I like to see PC screens compared to cell-phone captures :).

If you think that was bad, take a look at this:

http://i44.tinypic.com/24y20yt.gif

LMAO, classic!

Looks like one is at dusk and the other at night. Are there any filters for this game to turn off the GTA garbage?

If you think that was bad, take a look at this:

http://i44.tinypic.com/24y20yt.gif

PS3 owner really get the worst version this time... or camera ;)

More fanboyyyyyyy plz

Just kind of annoying that rockstar has 4 years to fix their engine and low and behold no go.

The game looks fantastic. The scenery in the distance is amazing. Only played for about an hour (mostly MP), but I'm digging it.

A question for those of you that got the promo code from Amazon. I entered the code, saw the golden gun at the very beginning of SP, but then it went away during the semi-opening scene. Don't see it now in SP and I don't have it in MP. Am I supposed to?

Picked mine up this morning on the way to work, cannot WAIT to get home and play!

Question for those that have it: Are there any Indians???

You mean Native Americans?



I kid I kid...

No man! Redskins! Injuns!!!