Over at the official Call of Duty forums, Treyarch developer "JD_2020" has posted an explanation regarding co-op gameplay on the Nintendo Wii version of the upcoming Pacific theater shooter.

We've been covering the development of Ghostbusters and 50 Cent: Blood in the Sand for quite some time.  Ghostbusters keeps losing features left and right, and 50 Cent looks a bit derivative, to put it nicely.  Perhaps we should have seen the writing on the wall, as it looks like both games might be sold off!  MCV reports that Activision Blizzard, taking over for Vivendi, may not release the games at all, and is "reviewing its options regarding titles that it will not be publishing.”  In other words, maybe they can sell them to cover their losses.  Other Vivendi titles like Crash and Spyro will be released, according to the report.  Personally, the loss of 50 Cent doesn't bother me much, but I know others were looking forward to it.  Perhaps Ghostbusters will get snagged by someone else who will put the co-op back in story mode, which SHOULD have been a no-brainer.  Maybe we should take up a collection and buy it!  Let's all pitch in... oh, I dunno, say... 50 Cents? *rim shot*

It's not often a console gets a price cut, and in the case of the Xbox 360 there's only been one in it's lifetime, and it was $20. Today though there's a major price drop of $50-$80 across the board for the console making the cheapest version available for $199.

I should first remark that this news isn't really about a co-op feature or anything. But then again, it is about getting somethings nice for free. So, I don't think you'll mind. 

  The folks at Pandemic Studios are back with their sequel to the hit PS2 and Xbox game Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction.  We take a look at the new title on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and give you the goods on the aftermath.  Are you ready to blow stuff up with your friends?  We think this game might be for you. ...

From IGN comes word that Resident Evil 5 is going to have a totally different control system that will be unveiled at the Tokyo Game Show in October.  This new control system is said, via game producer Jun Takeuchi at a recent Microsoft Media event, to be based around the Gears of War style of control.  Best guess would mean this will involve such things as a cover system and the ability to quickly move to another place with cover.

Electronic Arts has decided to promote the release of the upcoming co-op-able 360 and PC RTS Red Alert 3 by making the original PC version of the game available for a FREE download.

Everyone loves a good party. Some people call a party different things, but the basic idea is the same. You get together with some friends and kick back and chill. Well, apparently even video game characters know how to throw a party, as the Mario Party series has been going on for some time. So this week, my roommate and I decided to have some fun with Mario Party 7.

We've been following the development of LittleBigPlanet for what seems like a very long time here at Co-Optimus.  The unique side scrolling platformer just keeps getting pushed back.  However, the wait might not be much longer.  A post in the official Playstation forums informs us of the following, and not much else:

We don't normally announce the weekly Rock Band DLC, but this week is an exception.  Up for download is the PAX Pack, featuring artists from the Penny Arcade Exposition.  The first cool thing?  The pack is a mere 240 points, or $3.  $1 per song is pretty much the sweet spot for downloading it automatically, for me.  The best part though, is that all the money from the songs goes to Child's Play, a charity that provides games and systems to kids in Children's Hospitals around the globe.  So, you get a few new tracks to try out, and the great feeling of helping others, all for less than the cost of a Happy Meal.  Let's hope the charity makes a bundle off this!  Here's the song list:

It's confession time, folks.  I am a Magic: the Gathering nerd.  I started playing the collectable card game two months after its creation, and upon my first game, I was hooked.  I got so addicted I dropped college hours to devote more time to playing.  I was invited to the Pro Tour, once, even.  I don't play "Paper" Magic much anymore, but I've played the Online version regularly.  I find myself, then, trying to figure out if the news of Magic: the Gathering hitting XBLA is good news, or bad.  It's good, in the sense that it looks fantastic, and will surely draw many more people to the game.  It's bad in that I just might get hooked all over again!  Duels of the Planeswalkers is scheduled for release in Spring 2009.  How is this co-op news?  You can partner up with a buddy, sharing life points in the "Two Headed Giant" style of play.  Needless to say, I and many other lapsed Magic junkies will be following this title very closely in coming months!

Pandemic Studios has announced that from September 5th to September 12th you will be able to collect on the 50 point "Everybody Wants Some" achievement by playing with a Pandemic developer.  Here is some of the info below with more after the break: