July... Of all the months in the calendar year, this one has the distinction of being my least favorite. Mainly due to the fact that the unbearable heat (which is my natural nemesis) makes life feel questionable. But, put that aside, and I guess it's ok. If your idea of a perfect July is being indoors with air conditioning and video games with friends, then good news! July's Games with Gold includes three co-op titles: Assault Android Cactus, Death Squared, and Splinter Cell Conviction (360, backwards compatible).

OUYA owners may have noticed some interesting games in the store this week. Through a beta program with cloud gaming company Playcast Media, LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes and Splinter Cell: Conviction are available to play completely free right now on OUYA boxes.

The Xbox Live Marketplace is having a rather large sale on Ubisoft titles. Splinter Cell: Conviction is on sale for $9.99. Outland, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World , and Babel Rising, are each on sale for 400 MSP (about $5). Each game offers some form of co-op. 

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is only a few weeks away, so it might be time to clear out your backlog of Ghost Recon and other Tom Clancy games. At least, that's what Microsoft thinks, hence the Tom Clancy DLC sale on Xbox Live. Downloadable content for both GRAWs, Splinter Cell Conviction (my favorite Clancy game), and even the high-flying HAWX games are all on sale for half off for Xbox Live Gold members until Tuesday.

I know I'm a little late to the Splinter Cell: Conviction party, but for some reason I never tried the game until this year. After reviewing the Windows Phone version for my other job, I decided to give the Xbox 360 game a chance. I enjoyed the stripped-down version, and its big brother even has both split-screen and online co-op for 2 players. How could I go wrong?

In case you were looking for a way to fill up your entire XBox 360 hard drive with downloadable co-op content, Xbox Live Marketplace's summer deals have you covered. Mission packs for older games? Check. New Arcade releases? Check. There's only one caveat - some of these will expire soon, so don't twiddle your thumbsticks. Well...do twiddle your thumbsticks, but only after you've browsed the below list.

It would appear that Ubisoft has been busy working on another sequel for the Splinter Cell franchise, as we are starting to see some images of an apparent menu screen. The dissection of this image is very straight forward, as VG24/7 states:

When looking at game design, a few things are necessary in order for co-op to work properly. Most of these things gamers don’t think about on a day to day basis - and it’s not covered in our Co-Op Terminology guide. It’s the core principles for getting players to work together, which Ubisoft designer Patrick Redding disclosed at GDC. He talks about moments where he is very satisfied with during the co-op test phase, and things that every developer (should) think about during co-op development.

There's a handful of  deals this week for co-op gamers, especially if you are a fan of Tom Clancy games - which have always been a fan favorite.  There's even a spiffy deal on the Games for Windows marketplace if you're looking to snag the upcoming Bulletstorm.

CES is about gadgets. Most gadgets don’t apply to us, but when we get a solid lead on a new headset that brings players together through communication we can’t help but get a little excited. The new Steelseries Spectrum 7xb is a wireless headset that does just that for the Xbox 360. The headset features a retractable microphone, easy to use settings on the right earcup, and a few different settings to really bring players into the game.  We we're big fans of the wired 5XBs, so the 7XBs sound like a worthy upgrade.

It’s a the dirty term to PC gamers everywhere: DRM (Digital Rights Management). Ubisoft has so far been the industry leader in limiting, locking, and generally DRMing your games to the point many gamers will steer clear of the publisher at all costs. It’s a new year now, and one of Ubisoft’s resolutions for 2011 is to “relax the DRM” they add to their games. Not perfect, but it’s a start.

Most gift guides are full of holiday cheer and all that crap - screw that - instead of giving you a guide on what to buy your friends and relatives for the holidays - I'm going to tell you how to blow a ton of cashola on yourself with plenty of goodies for your PC Gaming experience.