Another big sale is header to Xbox LIVE this week, and Rockstar has the most on offer when it comes to quantity, quality and savings. From March 26th to April 1st you can save on games and associated DLC from a collection of titles, including Max Payne 3, L.A. Noire and Midnight Club: Los Angeles.

Max Payne 3

L.A. Noire

Midnight Club: Los Angeles

Thanks to Major Nelson for the heads up!

If CES 2013 is to be believed, 4K Ultra HD is the future of television; four times as many pixels as the current 1080p HDTV format, and far more convenient than 3D could have ever hoped to be. Sounds like a dream for gaming too, all those extra pixels means much more detailed and crisp graphics.

Truth be told, if you have the money - and a lot of it, you must - you can experience some current games in the beauty of 4K. One such game is Rockstar's own Max Payne 3. It's only just over 9 months old, and it looks amazing on a 4K television, as Gavin over at the Extreme Windows Blog discovered late last week:

The result: this game holds up to 4K Ultra-HD resolution very well! Due to limitations with HDMI 1.4a, I was not able to test this game beyond 30 Hz display refresh, but in terms of detail and rendering things looked really amazing.

I was impressed by how well this game ran well at 4K Ultra-HD resolution using a single graphics card which was also driving 3 other displays. While this test showed me what DirectX 11 graphics can look like at amazingly high resolutions, I would love to experience this at 2160p60 (4K Ultra-HD display running at 60hz). At 2160p60, the motion and effects would be even smoother. With 60hz/60fps performance combined with large scale and high resolution, you’d have the ultimate PC gaming experience.

This speaks volumes for the quality of Rockstar's games, and their development of graphical detail that we can't even really notice on our current displays. Imagine what Grand Theft Auto V would look like on a 4K screen? If Max Payne 3 had this hidden amount of detail, imagine the future of Rockstar's games.

Max Payne 3's fourth and final downloadable-content package, 'Deathmatch Made In Heaven', has been released, along with a third version of the Multiplayer Compatibility Pack for those not looking to purchase the DLC package but still wishing to see the changes online against those with it downloaded. That being said, you'd be crazy to go past the fun Rockstar has bundled in the final package...

Four New Modes:

• Dead Men Walking
• Run and Stun
• Marked Man
• Time Attack

Five New Weapons:

• Cattle Prod
• Night Stick
• Stun Gun
• Pepper Spray
• and the intriguing "Bouncing Betty" projectile.

Furthermore, Rockstar has released a title update to the game which fixes and improves numerous issues:

• Slightly increased the rate of fire and the accuracy of the IMG 5.56 and fixed an issue where it would occasionally jam between bursts
• Fixed a reloading issue with the M24
• Fixed an issue where the auto 9mm would sometimes change fire mode when toggling the laser sight on/off
• Fixed an issue where the scope and laser attachments for the IA2 AR rifle would occasionally not work
• Fixed an issue where the grenade indicators would sometimes not display correctly
• Improved fix for instance of players occasionally getting stuck in cover during the single player campaign
• Fixed an issue where players could occasionally have trouble aiming using Southpaw controls in the single player campaign
• Fixed an issue where certain users received an error message when selecting Social Club from the Main Menu
• Fixed an issue with signing up to Social Club in-game for Japanese users

Sounds like a fun day all around. Be sure to grab the update and the final DLC package - take a break and relax - because I dare say we're in for a huge year, and January isn't even over yet. We have a surprise in store ourselves. As always, stay tuned!

The final DLC pack for Max Payne 3, entitled 'Deathmatch Made In Heaven', will be released next Monday - January 22nd - on all platforms. European PlayStation 3 players will have to wait an additional week for the download, with the package dropping there January 30th. 800 Microsoft Points / $9.99 (PC and PSN) will yeild you new co-op and competitive modes along with some "treats" which have not yet been revealed. Rockstar Pass owners will receive the download automatically, free of charge.

Rockstar is promising additional details on the fourth and final DLC package over the coming days.

Don't have the current DLC packages? The rest of Max Payne 3's DLC will be half-price throughout next week, including DLC from 2010's Game of the Year: Red Dead Redemption.

Major Nelson is reporting that we can expect sales on Max Payne 3 and Red Dead Redemption DLC on Xbox LIVE next week - between the 22nd and 28th January.

Max Payne 3

• Season Pass - 1200 MSP (50% off)
• Local Justice Pack - 320 MSP (50% off)
• Hostage Negotiation Pack - 400 MSP (50% off)
• Painful Memories - 400 MSP (50% off)

Red Dead Redemption

• Undead Nightmare Collection - 800 MSP (50% off)
• Undead Nightmare Pack - 400 MSP (50% off)
• Legends & Killers Pack - 400 MSP (50% off)
• Liars & Cheats - 400 MSP (50% off)

If you're missing any DLC for either game, next week would be the ideal time to purchase.

Announced this morning, Rockstar Toronto will be expanding into a new, much larger facility through partnership with the Ontario government. Rockstar Vancouver will also be merged with Rockstar Toronto, with employees of the Vancouver studio given the option to moving to the new complex or take positions at other Rockstar studios around the world over the next six months.

"Expanding Rockstar Toronto and bringing our Canadian development talent together under one roof underscores our commitment to building world-class teams that can make the kind of groundbreaking entertainment experiences Rockstar Games is known for," said Jennifer Kolbe, Vice President of Publishing and Operations for Rockstar Games. “We believe a single Canadian team will make for a powerful creative force on future projects. We plan to add more than 50 new positions to our combined Canadian team, and are pleased to be entering into this strategic partnership with the Ontario government." 

Toronto is currently an in-house development team for Take-Two, developers of The Warriors adaption, with Vancouver being the minds behind Bully and Max Payne 3, with Toronto playing a large part in the development process of the latter. This merger and relocation brings together two medium sized development studios, making one very powerful studio, and shows that Rockstar has some rather hefty plans for their Canadian talent. I'd speculate that a much anticipated Bully sequal could be in the works, or at least in the pipeline.

Rockstar is also looking to expand Toronto further, expecting to grow the studios staff over time.

News Release from Take-Two: Rockstar Games Expands Toronto Development Studio

Amazon is currently offering Red Dead Redemption for free when you purchase Max Payne 3. The offer is only valid for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 today (July 5th, 2012).

So, if you're looking to purchase Max Payne 3, and haven't played the masterpeice that is Red Dead Redemption, grab the two for the price of one before the day is out. Already own Red Dead Redemption? Give it to a friend, and drop a few hints about wanting a copy of Grand Theft Auto V when it's released...

To celebrate the release of the first major DLC package for Max Payne 3, Local Justice, this weekend Rockstar will be enabling Double XP for all multiplayer modes on all consoles - Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Perfect time to finally reach Legendary status or unlock some more weapons. The event will also be streamed on Friday, and you can play along with some of the good folk at Rockstar:

We’re kicking off this Double XP weekend in grand style with a live-streaming official Social Club multiplayer event on Friday July 6th from 4-7pm EST / 9pm-midnight BST, and we’ll be playing all modes including those in the Local Justice DLC pack on consoles.

To join us, simply log on to Max Payne 3 multiplayer on your platform of choice and select the ‘Social Club Multiplayer Event’ option from the in-game Playlists menu, and look out for one of our official Rockstar players, marked with a special visible in-game dog tag logo:

• MaxPayneDev1 (PC)
• MaxPayneDev2 (PSN)
• MaxPayneDev3 (Xbox Live)
• MaxPayneDev4 (PC)

*MaxPayneDev5 will be playing on PC between 2-4pm EST / 7-9pm BST and that will be streamed live on our Twitch page

Jump on, have some fun, earn double the points... maybe I'll see you there!

The first downloadable content package for Max Payne 3 is now available, along with all pre-order DLC. The first major DLC pack, Local Justice, features 3 new maps, a new item, a new weapon along with attachments, and a new fraction along with customization options. As the Local Justice Pack was originally promised as a June release, Rockstar is offering it at a discount rate throughout the launch week - 480 Microsoft Points or $5.99 on PSN - with it jumping back to 640 Microsoft Points or $7.99 on PSN next week. More details on the Local Justine Pack are below:

• 55th Battalion HQ map for all game modes
• The Imperial Palace and Departure Lounge maps for Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Payne Killer
• Light Fingers Item for faster looting
• M4 Assault Rifle with attachments
• São Paulo Police Faction with related avatar customization options

As mentioned, all pre-order DLC is also available, seperately and at resonable prices:

• Cemetery Map:  160 MSFT Points / $1.99 PSN
• Silent Killer Loadout Pack:  160 MSFT Points / $1.99 PSN
• Pill Bottle Item:  80 MSFT Points / $0.99 PSN
• Deadly Force Burst:  80 MSFT Points / $0.99 PSN
• Classic Max Payne Character:  880 MSFT Points / $0.99 PSN

All aforementioned DLC is now live for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 players, PC players need only wait another two weeks - perfect time to refine you skills before you starting battling it out on the new maps!

The day has come for PC gamers to get their hands on the first Max Payne game in 9 years... Max Payne 3. If you've already played it on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, you know just how amazing this game is. The story is compelling and keeps with what Max Payne has always been famous for, and the new multiplayer component, well, not only is it addictive, but it also integrates with the rest of the game perfectly. Enough from me though, get out there and pick up this game, it'll put your PC through its paces if you're up for it, and it's worth every penny. Available now at all good traditional gaming stores, and digitally through Steam.

Developed in parallel with the critically acclaimed console versions, Max Payne 3 for PC delivers the ultimate Max Payne 3 experience, supporting a wide range of PC specifications, plus advanced graphics options, scalable high-resolution textures and character models, DirectX11 features, LAN support, multi-monitor support and stereoscopic 3D compatibility.

Below is the PC Launch Trailer, as well as the original Official Launch Trailer which we neglected to post earlier: