Ping....ping....ping. That's INSIDE THIS YEAR! Game OVER MAN...GAME OVER!
That's right folks, according to Joystiq, the four player co-op friendly Aliens: Colonial Marines will be available before the end of the year. Originally moved back into a 2009 release slot, the game was bumped back up till late 2008!
The Co-Op mode is set to support true drop in and drop out support with distinct roles for each player. We guess this means each player will support a weapon type like assault, shotgun and flamethrower - but perhaps like the above screenshot suggests - there are other roles like recon and engineer to weld doors shut. We can't wait for Aliens: Colonial Marines to hit the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC later this year!
Update: It appears we are wrong. The game is still slated for sometime in 2009. Sorry for the mixup!