Co-Optimus

Modern Warfare 2 Co-Op Night

Nicholas "bapenguin" Puleo

Modern Warfare 2 hits the Xbox 360 this Tuesday, November 10th. To celebrate we're going to have a special Xbox Live Co-Op night this Thursday, November 12th. We'll be checking out the 23 spec ops missions in the game's two player co-op mode.

Co-Op Classics: Twin Cobra

Marc "DjinniMan" Allie

Whenever you discuss a "classic" in any field, nostalgia plays a large role. The lens of nostalgia makes any old thing you remember look much better than it may actually deserve to be. Today's co-op classic, Twin Cobra, is a good example of this effect.

Twin Cobra

Co-Optimus

We've added Twin Cobra for the Classic to our database of Co-Op games!

EA Skate 3 Community Day - Interview with Chris Parry

Jason "OrigamiPanther" Love

As Jim highlighted in his hands-on preview of Skate 3, the focus for the latest game in the Skate franchise is on teaming up with your friends. While at the Skate 3 Community Event, we had the opportunity to talk with Chris “Cuz” Parry, producer for all three Skate titles and a skater himself, about how the co-op came about, the rewards for building a team, and how you can still enjoy co-op with your friend even if he or she isn’t around.

Beyond Co-Op, November 1st to November 7th

Loren "AgtFox" Halek

Welcome to Beyond Co-Op, a weekly piece that talks about industry stories that may or may not be related to co-op gaming.

The stories for this week:

- Digital Distributors Refuse to Sell Modern Warfare 2
- Left 4 Dead 2 Up to 4x Pre-Orders Than Original
- PS3 Netflix Discs Start Shipping
- Atlus Replacing Defective Demon's Souls Strategy Guides
- Some Game Called Modern Warfare 2 Highlights Week's Releases

Smash T.V. Sequel was in the Works

Nicholas "bapenguin" Puleo

Earlier this year Midway, makers of such classic games as Mortal Kombat and Smash T.V., went bankrupt and folded. Pieces of the studio were bought up, and rights to certain games went this way and that. Lost in the whole mess though is something of a disappointment, as we've found out the original creators of the classic co-op game Smash T.V. were working on a sequel.

The game was into the actual development stages, with 3D prototypes available. Smash TV was known for it's high paced and bloody co-op action as players faced rooms of enemies in a game show environment. Mark Turmell, the game's co-creator thinks we'll still see it someday, with the popularity of twin stick shooters on XBLA and PSN being at a high. Warner Bros. now owns the rights, which they bought for 400 toasters and five 2600" TVs.

Unreal Development Kit Gives You The Power

Katrina "ShadokatRegn" Pawlowski

A lot of people who play games have some inner desire to also create games to share with the world. Epic Games wants to help you reach your goal by unleashing the Unreal Development Kit (UDK) for individuals and new companies to use. UDK will give new game creators access to the Unreal 3 engine for free, as well as all the other amenities you may need to get your creative juices flowing. Anyone can start building games on their PC by Downloading the UDK, gaining access to ongoing Unreal Engine 3 support and all the tools necessary to start building your games.

Crackdown 2 to Open to Scottish Public, Festival Goers

Jason "OrigamiPanther" Love

Dundee, Scotland: home to the Tay Rail Bridge (seen above) and Crackdown 2 dev Ruffian Games

It seems that Ruffian Games will be showing off Crackdown 2, the sequel to the "still fun after all these years" Crackdown, to the general public next weekend at the NEoN Digital Arts Festival. This is the first time the game will be shown and demoed outside of a major trade show event like E3 or TGS. The catch? The event is in Dundee, Scotland. So unless you live in the area, have already acquired plane/event tickets, or are really good friends with Nightcrawler, you likely won't be amongst those lucky few that will get to check out this promising co-op title in person for the first time. Fortunately, any new details that are shown will undoubtedly be disseminated across the Internet in less time than you can say "I wonder if the sequel will come with a Halo: Reach beta," and you can be sure we'll be posting all the latest and greatest co-op related news just as soon as it does.

Additional information about the NEoN Digital Arts Festival can be found at the following link.

Our Weekend In Gaming - Zombies, Heroes, and Fairy Tales

Marc "DjinniMan" Allie

The weekend stretches ahead, full (we hope) of free time for gaming. Here are the games of choice for Co-Optimus staffers.

Nick - "Getting to see some family this weekend I haven't seen in a while so we'll check out some DJ Hero co-op and possibly Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. I plan on enjoying some Uncharted 2 in both single and multiplayer"

Marc - "We'll be out of town this evening, which limits me to Fire Emblem on my DS. When we return, Guitar Hero Van Halen and more of the Left 4 Dead 2 demo!"

Mike - "It'll be a bit of a light weekend for me, but I'm definitely going to be playing more Borderlands and perhaps gun through the Left 4 Dead 2 demo a few more times."

Jim - "I'll be playing Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron for PSP, Call of Duty 4, and the Left 4 Dead 2 demo."

Katrina - "Fairytale Fights will be my big co-op fun (hit up "Shadokat Regn" with a message to play Fairytale Fights if you have it!) Otherwise I'd really like to get in some more Overlord 2 or Batman: Arkham Asylum."

Jason - "Borderlands whet my appetite for dungeon crawl/loot-whoring so I picked up Torchlight earlier this week so I'll be getting my fill of it this weekend. I also need to play through the latest chapter in the Tales of Monkey Island, and hopefully checking out the Left 4 Dead 2 demo with some folks instead of comp AI."

How about yourself?

Gears of War 2 Celebrates One Year with a Special Update

Jim "txshurricane" McLaughlin

Merry Christmas.

One year of chainsaw dueling -- that's what Epic Games is celebrating this holiday season, and a nice Gears of War 2 playlist changeup is rolling out for your enjoyment.

Starting right now, players can rack up triple XP in Horde Mode and multiplayer. Plus, all public Horde matches are automatically bumped to Hardcore difficulty, and playlists are being tweaked so that you can find your favorite game more easily. To top it all off, "tactical mode" is available in all game modes, limiting ammo and increasing damage.

The special event lasts until November 16th, so get your Horde on asap!

EA Skate 3 Community Day: Hands-On Impressions

Jim "txshurricane" McLaughlin

EA Vancouver invited Co-Optimus to their headquarters in Redwood City to come check out the pre-alpha build of Skate 3, announced in September and due May 2010. We came away impressed; find out why in our hands-on preview.