As most of you already know, Grand Theft Auto IV will be released on April 29. Although its launch will undoubtedly be huge in and of itself, Rockstar Games is going even further by unleashing a new Web site called the Rockstar Social Club on the very same day.

In addition to having leaderboards that follow your various in-game statistics, performance-based competitions and awards will also appear on the site. You'll be able to register using your gamertag or PSN ID as early as April 15, so that way we don't all sign up on GTA IV's release day and bring down the servers.

Specific details on some of the different challenges we'll see on the Rockstar Social Club can be found after the break.

GTA IV, the first game featured on the Rockstar Social Club, has
exciting features beyond multiplayer leaderboards, including:

* 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.

The Rockstar Social Club doesn't stop there. With special competitions,
leaderboards and challenges rolling out regularly in the weeks and
months following the game's release, this is just the beginning of an
on-going Liberty City experience and is a small taste of what's to come
from Rockstar Games for GTAIV and beyond...