There's a new co-op game on Xbox Live Arcade this week, and I'm not quite sure what to make of it.  Interpol: The Trail of Dr. Chaos is a "seek and find" adventure game, similar to the CSI Games on the PC, 360 and Wii.   You star as an "elite interpol agent" - though your only skills appear to be finding replica Chinese artifacts in a castle.  Sorry there's no gun play here, you are armed only with a magnifying glass.

With 4 player offline and online co-op support this could be another great addition to your library of family games, as it is rated E for everyone.  Interpol: The Trail of Dr. Chaos comes out this Wednesday, January 7th for 800 MS Points.

We take EA's ambitious Red Alert sequel for a spin on both the Xbox 360 and PC. The RTS supports 2 player co-op throughout it's entire campaign. But is co-op, Hollywood actors and cleavage enough for the latest in the series?

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Looking to join up with our latest Xbox Live Co-Op Night but don't have a copy of Gears of War 2?  Perhaps your Gold Subscription ran out too?  Today my friend, is your lucky day.

Amazon.com is running a promotion where you can get Gears of War 2 for $53.99 plus a 3 month Xbox Live Gold card...for free!  The deal runs until January 17th, so plenty of time if you are on the fence.  Of course, we highly recommend it.

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Fans of co-op are likely fans of Traveller's Tales LEGO series of games.  The titles, based on famous series like Batman, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones, feature two player co-op.  LEGO games are, unsurprisingly, quite kid and spouse friendly, but at the same time enjoyable by your more typical gamer.

Several rumors about the next game in the LEGO series have been floating around.  The most popular rumor was that LEGO Harry Potter would be next, what with the release of the next movie in the series this summer.  A LEGO version of Potter's wild wizarding world would seem both a natural fit for the franchise, and a way to pretty much print money.

It seems 2009 will not see the release of LEGO Harry Potter, though, according to a senior source from Eurogamer.  But a new LEGO game in an old series may be an option.

"You never know," he (TT producer Loz Doyle) replied. "There's always the possibility that we would revisit a franchise. And you never know, it might not be the end of Star Wars, it might not be the end of Indy - we keep our options open."

Producer Nick Ricks added: "There will be a LEGO game in 2009. And I think it's okay to say that you'll be a bit surprised."

The fourth Indy movie wasn't part of the first LEGO Indy title, so perhaps that is a possibility.  As far as Star Wars goes, there's plenty of source material to consider.  Personally, my money is on LEGO Clone Wars sometime this year.  Which is too bad, because LEGO Harry Potter would be far better.  The series is getting somewhat stale at this point, and revisiting old franchises would seem to be more of the same, wouldn't it?  What new series of LEGO games would you like to see?

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While Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 gamers had gone back to the row a few months ago, PC owners were left waiting thanks to a few delays.  But the day has finally come where you can don your very own Hot Dog suit...and your buddy can be the Mustard - as you take down evil gangs throughout the city in Saint's Row 2.  

While we can't guarantee the PC version will be identical to the console version, you can get a good idea of what the game is like from our official review.

Got any spending money left after Christmas? If you're a gamer or you have kids, then probably not. Which is why several retailers have provided some relief this week in the form of low game prices on select titles.

Xbox 360 Fanboy brings us a list of markdowns starting...well, today. Among them are Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (4 out of 5 Co-Op Review) for $30 at Target and Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga(This Week In Co-Op: Lego Star Wars) for $15 at Circuit City. Both are two-player co-op games, and both are great deals.

Also, Best Buy is showing some co-op zombie-killing love by knocking $10 off of each Left 4 Dead (5 out of 5 Co-Op Review) and Call of Duty: World at War (4 out of 5 Co-Op Review).

Source: Link

The Xbox Live stats for 2008 have been calculated and released by Live's Community Manager "Major Nelson"...and if 2008 is a foreshadowing of things to come, then 2009 is going to be a sweet year indeed for co-op gamers.

Co-op titles Halo 2 and Halo 3 topped their respective Xbox and Xbox 360 lists, while Castle Crashers leads the Arcade titles, despite a broken online portion.

Click "Read More" to see the full list, highlighted to show the co-op titles...

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Welcome to Beyond Co-Op, a weekly piece that talks about industry stories that may or may not be related to co-op gaming. This was a relatively quiet week in gaming news simply because most of the industry seems to have it off. What was big this week were the Game of the Year Awards, so we’ll hone in on Colony of Gamers choices and my own top games of the year.

The stories for this week:

- Colony of Gamers Announces Editor and Community Awards

- My Own Personal Best Of

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This week, we continue discussing the Dungeons and Dragons arcade game series.  Tower of Doom was the first title, and it was fantastic.  The sequel is even better, which is saying a lot.  In my opinion, it is the finest arcade co-op game you will ever play.  Today, Co-Op Classics is all about Dungeons and Dragons: Shadow Over Mystara.

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Many of us are still recovering from New Years.  That means it's a perfect weekend to do nothing but game.  In fact the staff will be having their semi-bi-monthly staff co-op night tomorrow.

Marc "DjinniMan" Allie - "We're going over to a friend's place to play Rock Band tonight, which should be fun.  My oldest son and I will continue to play through the campaign in Gears of War 2.  I'm really looking forward to Staff night and Left 4 Dead, as well!"

Jim "txshurricane" McLaughlin - "I'm hoping to hook up with some Co-Optimers tonight for some Left 4 Dead (I'm halfway through the story). Tomorrow evening for our staff night, it will be MORE Left 4 Dead after a short out-of-town trip in the morning...I'm excited for that, although I'm bummed that Loren won't make it. And in between, I'm going to try out the LotR Conquest demo and play through GRAW 2 some more."

Blake "broodax" Corner - "Not much going on this weekend. Maybe a little Castle Crashers or Left 4 Dead, but otherwise it's going to be a solitary gaming weekend. I'll still get some Tiger Woods 09 in, but other than that, who knows."

Mike "pheriannath" Katsufrakis - "Looks to be a busy weekend, but I'll be sneaking in some Red Alert 3, Castle Crashers and of course, Left 4 Dead."

Nicholas "bapenguin" Puleo - "Going to play a bit of the new Scene It game with the wife.  Red Alert 3, Left 4 Dead and Geometry Wars 2 are all on the plate as well.  I might even squeeze in some Far Cry 2!"

What are your plans for gaming this weekend?