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:
-Grammies Nominate First Videogame Theme
-PlayStation Phone Spotted in the Wild
-Team Fortress 2 Getting a "beta"
-Sega announces Binary Domain
Grammies Nominate First Videogame Theme
If you've ever played Civilization IV, you've no doubt heard Baba Yetu - its the first thing you hear while firing up the game. The song, created by artists Christopher Tin is an amazingly beautiful piece that not only lived in the game, but as part of a full album. The song is nominated in the "Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists" as well as his album is nominated for the "Best Classical Crossover Album" category.
Source: Gamasutra
PlayStation Phone Spotted in the Wild
The PlayStation phone has long been rumored as a real device. It's an Android powered fun by Sony-Erickson that will be capable of downloading specific PS Phone titles. The video shows off this purported device with a slider that reveals a very PSP Go like form factor.
Team Fortress 2 Gets a "Beta"
Despite being out for 3 years now, Team Fortress 2 is getting a public beta. It's a bit different though than what you might think. The idea behind it is for Valve to test on a larger scale several bigger changes they have planned for the game - this includes balance issues with classes, map changes, and more. You can find out what's in store for the first beta right here.
Sega announces Binary Domain
Sega has announces a brand new shooter called Binary Domain from Toshihiro Nagoshi (Yakuza series, Super Monkey Ball). So what makes Binary Domain different than other shooters? It's combining existential philosophy with FPS gameplay. Lead developer Nagoshi says the game is about the meaning of Life - "Are the robots becoming more human, or are humans becoming more like machines?"
The game is out on the Xbox 360 and PS3 sometime next year - we hear the final boss needs to be shot 42 times.
Source: Colony of Gamers