Being a game developer isn't all that glamorous. Take Ensemble Studios. These folks have developed top tier titles like the Age of Empires series and the Age of Mythology series. They've sold millions upon millions of copies of their games. They are developers of the co-op friendly Halo Wars title coming out early next year. And now, what started as a rumor has been confirmed. After the completion of Halo Wars the studio will shut down.
Just look at those little sack people! Aren't they adorable? Would you like to read all about them, even before the official release of LittleBigPlanet? Sure you would. Kotaku reports that a PDF of the manual was made available at SCEA, but it got yanked very quickly. However, you can be sure of a few things: you can't hurry love, you gotta know when to hold 'em, and you gotta download this kind of stuff before it gets pulled. Thankfully, someone did nab the LBP manual, and you can download it right here. There's a fair bit in there about co-op play; it looks like the implementation of co-op will be pretty smooth. We like that! Just be sure you don't do anything "that would offend your granny", as seen on page 15 of the manual. That's some good advice for real life, too, I suppose.
Everyone loves a good rumor, particularly considering that sometimes they end up actually being true. This rumor is considering a very popular game here at Co-Optimus. According to GameXtract, Left 4 Dead will have specs that open up the game to a wide variety of PCs. The supposed minimum specs are:
Remember when co-op meant split screen, by default? Way back in the stone age, when folks were sending smoke signals to communicate, playing co-op meant playing in split screen. Classics like Goldeneye 64 (pictured above) used this method to great effect. We love online co-op just as much as the next guy (actually, we probably love it a whole lot more), but it's worrisome that many games are abandoning split screen local co-op in favor of online only. This interesting post over at Kwanzoo laments the loss of split screen for many of today's best co-op games. But what current game really gets it right?
Sometimes you find co-op play in places you never expected to look. In our latest Co-Op Couples segment we take a look at how a competitive game like Mario Kart for the Wii can be turned into a cooperative experience.
It was voted our most anticipated co-op title for the rest of the year, so it's totally awesome news that Amazon is running a Left 4 Dead pre-order promotion.
While top down shooters seem to be a dime a dozen these days, fans of side scrolling shooters like the classic game Gradius or the more recent Omega 5 haven't been so lucky. Enter Soldner-X: Himmelssturmer. I can't even begin to understand how to pronounce that, but my guess is it sounds something like saying Soldier Him Less Storm with a mouth full of bratwurst and beer.
Maybe a few of you have heard of LittleBigPlanet. We've covered the game quite a few times, and the game looks like a unique take on the idea of co-op. The game's all about customization and building things as a team, so it's unsurprising that Media Molecule (the dev team behind LBP) is doing all it can to get the fans involved. This time, they're holding a contest to create a skin for SackBoy, the main character of LittleBigPlanet.
It was the third most wanted game for the rest of 2008 by the Co-Optimus staff, and the release for the 360 is just around the corner. So what do you need to know about Rock Band 2?
If you read our Castle Crashers Review, and have been following the game's release, you know things haven't exactly been smooth. The good news is, they are working on a fix, but you already knew that. If you followed the game as closely as we did before launch, you may have noticed a few characters and weapons were missing. Where is the Chainsaw? What about the Necromancer? What about the King?
Hopefully, I'll still be here after bumping a news item over the great Top 5 article by bapenguin and AgtFox, but I've been itching all day to announce Circuit City's deals on co-op games this week.
There are literally over a dozen AAA Co-Op titles coming out from now until the year's end. While most of them have the monicker of "2" after the title, there are a handful of fresh new franchises on the rise. We've listed our top 5 most anticipated co-op titles for the rest of the year. Do you think your wallet can handle it?
