The Rock Band series is a perennial favorite here at Co-Optimus.  You would think that now that the second game has launched for the 360, news would die down a little.  However, that hasn't been the case.  The latest development is the announcement of a total revamp of RockBand.com.  Among the new features are a new blog and updated song information pages which promise to give new background information and gameply tips for the hundreds of songs available in Rock Band. 

There must be something in the air this morning, because all I can smell are achievements.  The latest achievements to be confirmed are a fairly large set for Halo 3 bringing to light the previously rumored "Mythic" Map Pack.  While it's unknown whether or these are single or multiplayer maps, we are going to lean towards Single Player and Co-Op Maps due to the existence of new skulls.

Even though we covered some of Fable 2's achievements before, it wasn't until today that we can confirm what we previously told you.  While we are still going to see achievements related to bigamy, gambling, and of course, orgies; it's the co-op specific achievements that have us excited.  That's not to say we aren't excited about orgies.

Strictly speaking, as a co-op centered web site, we should focus as much as we can on the co-op aspect of games that have some form of co-op. Sounds simple enough, right? I mean, yes the odd detail about new costumes or added modes is nice, but the focus of the site should be all co-op all the time.

Short and sweet.  If you haven't picked up Rock Band 2 for the Xbox 360, there's a great deal going on at Amazon.com.  Purchase the game through the site now, and recieve 1600 Microsoft Points to use later on downloadable songs, XBLA games, or whatever your heart desires. 

Creatures of the night and rainbow lovers everywhere are all looking forward to the release of Diablo III.  You also might be anticipating another Blizzard title, a sequel to the largely unknown and very obscure title StarCraft.  As you might expect, then, the online backbone supporting both games, Battle.net, will be getting an overhaul soon.  The new features of Battle.net 2.0 sound fantastic.  DIII.net has some of the details, among which are ingame channels and voice chat, ladders secured against cheating, automatic tournaments, and achievements, similar to those in WoW.  In a move sure to cause many gamers to lose jobs, spouses, etc., a "Blizzard Level" system is also planned.

You see that frowny face SackBoy is making in the above picture?  That's because he's sad that Sony and MediaMolecule have decided to launch LittleBigPlanet on October 21st despite the fact the online co-op mode is not ready.    Wait..What?!?!

  Open world games are a natural fit for Co-Op, and while games like Crackdown got it right,  some other big name games sort of missed the boat.  This why we are excited about Saint's Row 2 from Volition which features a game designed with 2 player co-op in mind from the get go.  We got to ask James Tsai, Saints Row 2 Lead De...

Beyond Co-Op is where we talk about other news around the industry that isn’t necessarily tied to co-operative gaming. Each week will see the subjects of the column listed on the front page with more in-depth discussion after the break. If you have any suggestions, please contact us at tips@co-optimus.com with a subject related to “Beyond Co-Op”.

Bad news if you were planning on co-op-ing some Duke Nuke 3D on Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday when it's released with your buddy over in Japan.  According to George Broussard's Twitter the game has been given an Adults Only rating equivalent there and therefore will not be released via Xbox Live Arcade in the Japanese region.

Did you know developers are more popular than Hollywood celebrities?  The paparazzi that follows these folks around are INSANE.  Denis Dyack can't even poop without it being blogged about.  Ok, so I made that all up.  But developers are pretty cool dudes, and they are all gamers at heart.  And even though Denis Dyack enjoys the luxury of a private bathroom, you did get to co-op Too Human with him last Friday night.   What's that?   You missed it?  Well I've got good news then, there's another co-op title available to play this weekend with its developers, Grand Theft Auto IV.

The "PixelJunk" series of titles that have come out on the PlayStation Network have all been truly unique titles.  From a slot car racer, to a different take on desktop tower defense, both Racers and Monsters were solid games; the latter even supporting co-op play.