Clubbin' It

We all remember the days...those college times when we looked forward to Thursdays to start the weekend early, and hit the club and bar scene. Well, today is no different - well ok, it's a little different.

What is the Social Club? Well, I'm glad you asked!

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Taking a cue from Bungie's stat-a-riffic Bungie.net service, Rockstar Games has just announced the Rockstar Games Social Club, "a new website that will extend your experience of Grand Theft Auto IV and all future Rockstar Games titles." Line up against the Club's stanchions at rockstargames.com/socialclub and be ready for registration on April 15th. All you'll need is a Xbox Live gamertag and/or a PSN ID and an insatiable hunger for statistics. You've got one of those, right?

Once GTA IV launches, the site will offer the usual multiplayer leaderboards, along with a torrent of statistically generated functionality. The LCPD Police Blotter will show the most dangerous areas of Liberty City and the most commonly used weapons, using the "aggregated data of millions of connected players." Similarly, the Liberty City Marathon will catalog the "the amount of miles walked, driven, or swam -- to the number of bullets fired and stunt-jumps jumped" and will hold competitions amongst players using this data. Other sections will track players who complete 100% of the game (they can win an "ultra-rare" bit of swag); a Hall of Fame, tracking the various leaderboard champs; and The Story Gang, a "single-player leaderboard." Consider us interested. You could consider us even more interested if we knew the first thing about the game's multiplayer functionality, outside of the occasional rumor.

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

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

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

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

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

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Sounds pretty damn sweet to me!