After a year of major game releases, the game industry & gamers from all over the world are set to pick the best of the best for the 2011 Video Game Awards.

Shane Bell (Urgent Fury CIO) & Doc (The Tester (Season 1) & Replay w/ Doc) join Commander Fury to preview a few of the categories & make their 2011 VGA picks.

Story by: CritiKiL

Story by Stephen Totilo @ Kotaku.com.

Grant Theft Auto IV. Red Dead Redemption. L.A. Noire. For the last few years every console game from Rockstar Games has been a big deal, creatively and commercially. Next up: Max Payne 3, whose debut trailer hit today and you can see right here.

GTA is Rockstar’s baby. Red Dead and L.A. Noire were the types of games no other studio was brazen enough to try. Max? That’s a shooter. That’s the kind of game everyone is trying to make. So can Rockstar’s be special? Can it be great and important?

Max Payne 3 will be out for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC in March of next year, nine years after the last Max Payne was released. Rockstar is developing without the involvement of original series creators Remedy. The trailer implies that Max’s signature bullet time is back and it sure looks like this game is going to be all about the gunplay and hard-boiled crime. Graphically, it looks superb.

Max Payne fans, do you like what you see? And can you spot any small details us non-experts may not have caught?

Story by Brian Crecente @ Kotaku.com.

Next Wednesday, at noon Eastern, Rockstar plans to release their first trailer for Max Payne 3. Until then you’re going to have to make do with this poster that confirms that Payne has hair and is a sweaty drunk…. or maybe he just has malaria. See full poster below.

Story by Johnny Cullen @ VG247.com.

Rockstar’s released two brand new screenshots of Max Payne 3, the first that have emerged since it started emerging from underground and a blowout from Edge earlier this year. You can get the two shots below. Rockstar says that it’ll begin dishing out more news on the game, being made by its Vancouver studio, in the “next few months.”

It’ll launch on PS3, 360 and PC.

Story by Stephany Nunneley @ VG247.com.

Rockstar has announced the final DLC release for Red Dead Redemption will be the Myths and Mavericks Bonus Pack. The free pack will feature new fan-favorite multiplayer characters as well as new multiplayer locations for players of Deathmatch, Grab the Bag, Gang matches and others. A title update in the lead up to the new free DLC pack will also be released to address issues with the original Undead Overrun multiplayer mode settings. Myths and Mavericks is slated for a September release on PSN and XBL.

Story by Andrew Groen @ VG247.com.

In the midst of their upcoming announcement about a new downloadable content pack for Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar has announced that players will received quadruple experience points for RDR online until Monday.

We’re left wondering if this could be a nonchalant cue that the DLC could actually be an multiplayer pack. Perhaps Rockstar wants players to get used to playing again before they make the announcement.

Either way, while you’re waiting to find out the big DLC news you can sate your cowboyish desires and posse-up on Xbox Live.

Welcome to 1947 Los Angeles, the setting for this year’s most revolutionary game. This fully authorized app from BradyGames features a scrollable and zoomable street map of the entire city of Los Angeles, complete with locations of every collectible Golden Film Reel, Landmark and Hidden Vehicle–plus the locations of every Shield from the Badge Pursuit Challenge DLC. Each item is accompanied by descriptive text, screenshots, and an Objective Complete feature that allows you track which ones you’ve located and which ones remain undiscovered.

Features:

* Explorable street map of the entire game
* Locations of all collectibles, including Golden Film Reels, Landmarks and Hidden Cars
* Includes locations of all collectible Shields from the Badge Pursuit Challenge DLC
* Objective Completion tracking
* Screenshots and detailed text for each collectible
* Official Rockstar Twitter feed
* Official music and sound effects

Urgent Fury CIO Shane Bell stops by for a very “loosey goosey” episode of Urgent Frequency.

An episode that features the usual Urgent Fury SITREP, a complete PAX East 2011 Preview, a surprise guest, and Charlie Sheen. WINNING! Duh!

New York, NY – December 1, 2009 – Rockstar Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), is proud to announce that Red Dead Redemption, the successor to 2004’s hit Red Dead Revolver, will be available on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system on April 27, 2010 in North America and on April 30, 2010 internationally.

“This is our vision of the American West: beautiful, bloody and action-packed. The game is a true epic, and has been developed with the same production values and attention to detail we put into all our projects,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “Red Dead Redemption represents another milestone for us in the development of open world games.”

Red Dead Redemption recreates the American West at the turn of the 20th century: a violent and turbulent time of rapid growth and change. Players become the partially reformed outlaw John Marston; blackmailed by the government, his family threatened as he is forced to traverse the vast and unforgiving expanses of the Western frontier in search of members of his former gang. In a dangerous world full of opportunistic criminals, corrupt officials and settlers battling the elements in a struggle to survive, Marston’s journey takes him from the dusty and lawless frontier to the civilized towns of the North, and down into a Mexico on the brink of a full-scale civil war.

Developed by Rockstar San Diego in conjunction with Rockstar North, Red Dead Redemption is built on the internally developed Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE) and Natural Motion’s Euphoria physics featured in Grand Theft Auto IV and Midnight Club: Los Angeles for an unprecedented level of realism and atmosphere.

For more information, log onto www.rockstargames.com/reddeadredemption.

About Take-Two Interactive Software

Headquartered in New York City, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is a global developer, marketer, distributor and publisher of interactive entertainment software games for the PC, PlayStation®3 and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment systems, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Wii™, Nintendo DS™, iPhone™ and iPod® touch. The Company publishes and develops products through its wholly owned labels Rockstar Games and 2K, which publishes its titles under 2K Games, 2K Sports and 2K Play. Take-Two also distributes software, hardware and accessories in North America through its Jack of All Games subsidiary. The Company’s common stock is publicly traded on NASDAQ under the symbol TTWO. For more corporate and product information please visit our website at www.take2games.com.

All trademarks and copyrights contained herein are the property of their respective holders.

Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies and are used under license from Microsoft.

“PlayStation” is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The statements contained herein which are not historical facts are considered forward-looking statements under federal securities laws and may be identified by words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “potential,” “predicts,” “projects,” “seeks,” “will,” or words of similar meaning and include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the outlook for the Company’s future business and financial performance. Such forward-looking statements are based on the current beliefs of our management as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to them, which are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Actual outcomes and results may vary materially from these forward-looking statements based on a variety of risks and uncertainties including: our dependence on key management and product development personnel, our dependence on our Grand Theft Auto products and our ability to develop other hit titles for current generation platforms, the timely release and significant market acceptance of our games, the ability to maintain acceptable pricing levels on our games, our reliance on a primary distribution service provider for a significant portion of our products, our ability to raise capital if needed, risks associated with international operations, and the matters relating to the investigation by a special committee of our board of directors of the Company’s stock option grants and the claims and proceedings relating thereto (including stockholder and derivative litigation and negative tax or other implications for the Company resulting from any accounting adjustments or other factors). Other important factors and information are contained in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2008, in the section entitled “Risk Factors,” as updated in the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2009, and the Company’s other periodic filings with the SEC, which can be accessed at www.take2games.com. All forward-looking statements are qualified by these cautionary statements and apply only as of the date they are made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.