The day that retail games can be downloaded on consoles for cheaper than being bought in the shops is when the mass market will begin to truly shift towards a digital download only model.  We are not there yet, but if Sony can keep producing sales like the one that has just hit the PlayStation Store, the future may be sooner than you think.  Among the multitude of games on offer is the 4 player co-op Red Faction: Armageddon for $9.15 and non co-op titles such as Batman: Arkham City for $14.45 and Darksiders 2 for $14.95.

The Humble Bundle has a batch of THQ goodies for you today. Appropriately titled "The Humble THQ Bundle," you can name your price and pick up Darksiders, Metro 2033, Red Faction: Armageddon, and Company of Heroes, along with its two stand alone sequels, Opposing Fronts and Tales of Valor.  That's not all. If you beat the average price, which at the time of this writing is a criminally low $5.31, that's right, five dollars and thirty-one cents, you can get the awesome open world cooperative game, Saint's Row: The Third. 

THQ sent one of their giant insects to deliver the bad news

Holy Cow!  We missed two weeks of Co-Op Release Alerts.  We're sure that your wallets are absolutely bristling with money, since we haven't been there to tell you which co-op games are available.  Without these weekly notifications you may have missed out on games like Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters, Men of War: Vietnam, Operation Flashpoint: Red River, Red Faction: Armageddon, Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012, and The Adventures of Shuggy.  Wow.  Looks like a lot of stuff came out while some of us were absorbed with E3.  Luckily, the rest of the Co-Optimus staff was on the ball and delivered awesome co-op reviews for Lantern, Red Faction, and Magic.  We even have an Op Flashpoint cooperative review coming soon!

One of the reasons I created Co-Optimus was because of the confusion that occurs simply by reading a game box and trying to determine what kind of co-op the game includes.  A perfect example of this is the recently released Red Faction: Armageddon, a game we gave a favorable review to here.  If you picked up the Xbox 360 game box you may have noticed the back of it states it has local "Co-Op 2-4 Players."

Normally the Battlefield Report is reserved for games that aren't inherently co-op, but this story beat the rest to the top of the list. A non-traditional

A hardware accident leaves Red Faction: Armageddon’s campaign unplayable. Is the game ruined, or can even a scratched disc turn out to be a swarm of alien-killing fun?

Okay, show of hands. When Red Faction: Armageddon announced co-op, how many of you sighed and said: "It's about time!" I know I did, and I'm glad the series finally made that leap. I feel I may have actually finished Red Faction: Guerilla if I had played with a friend, what with the group of rogues that have been present since - well, the first Red Faction. With the goal of improving the series then, that Volition Inc has explored the realm of co-op.

Instead of long-term gaming, what have I done instead? Spent my time playing smaller games with quick missions or games that are easily picked up and put back down. Though it’s difficult to tear myself away, I feel that this limited gaming has helped preserve my sanity during these dreaded finals...

We've given a surprising amount of coverage to rainbows throughout the years here at Co-Optimus.  However, we've had an equally surprising lack of unicorns.  Today, the two warm fuzzy icons collide with Red Faction: Armageddon.  Apparently, one of the most devastating weapons known to humankind is a rainbow-hued unicorn fart.  Doesn't make sense, you say?  Well, check out the video below.  If you want to wield the appropriately named Mr. Toots in the game, be sure to download the demo.  If you and 999,999 other people do the same, Volition promises to include the unicorn as a playable weapon.  Because, hey, why not?

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

THQ have announced a release date for Red Faction: Armageddon on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.  Its currently slated to release the week of E3 2011 - with a June 7th release date in North America and a June 10th release date internationally.