Just a reminder that tonight is Grand Theft Auto IV Co-Op night on Xbox Live.  We'll be playing GTA IV's co-op modes all night with the Xbox Live Community. 

In preparation for the upcoming Xbox Live Co-Op Game Night, I've been catching up on my GTA IV skills. This week I've mainly been playing Hangman's NOOSE, my favorite co-op mode. What I realized while playing the mode is that in some small manner, the game mode helped demonstrate how games could be considered art. I know that Grand Theft Auto IV is not what most people think of when they hear the word "art," but bear with me.

Another co-op release hits Xbox Live Arcade today.  Elements of Destruction features 2 player co-op, both local and over Live.  If you were a fan of unleashing natural disasters on your poor, unsuspecting Metropolis in SimCity back in the day, then you might want to check out Elements of Destruction.  Players control lightning, earthquakes, and other forces of nature in order to cause as much mayhem as possible.  Elements of Destruction will set you back 800 points, or $10 bucks.

For those of you hidden under a rock, Call of Duty 5 is coming out sometime this year (hopefully). The game is going to have co-op (a first for the Call of Duty series) and is set in WWII. As Wired details, Call of Duty 5, now called Call of Duty: World at War, will have a trailer debuting on Xbox Live. The debut trailer will be on Xbox Live on June 21-22, in all its HD glory. Let's hope for the best, folks.

Shacknews recently showed off a few new screenshots and a video of the upcoming LEGO Batman game.  Hot on the heels of LEGO Indy, LEGO Batman promises more of the clever humor, puzzle elements, and oh so cute versions of characters we all know and love.  The new characters include former Robin Nightwing, the shape-changing horror Clayface, and the man who broke Batman's back, Bane.  LEGO Batman is scheduled for release on pretty much every system known to humankind this September.

Aces of the Galaxy for the Xbox Live Arcade kind of came out of nowhere for us here at Co-Optimus.com.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, but hopefully this title doesn't get overlooked by player.  Gorgeous visuals, a great soundtrack, and fast and frantic gameplay all await you in Aces of the Galaxy (not to mention a badass pause screen) - but is the game worth your hard earned Microsoft Points? 

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is one of the best co-op experiences of this generation, in my humble opinion.  The combination of action RPG gameplay and spandex-clad superhumans makes for a whole lot of over the top fun.  A sequel was announced recently, and it is set to arrive later this year.  A few details about the sequel have been revealed, and though there isn't too much information, it still is worth looking at.

Resistance 2 is a much anticipated game, particularly because of some of the neat additions, such as the promised eight-player co-op. Well, we've covered Resistance 2 for that same reason. So, if you are thirsty for more details on Resistance 2, just check out TalkPlaystation. The site has a nice smorgasbord of information on Resistance 2, including good info about the co-op mode, including more details about the class system and the crossover between the single player and co-op modes.

Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Select, Start.  This sequence of button presses is still ingrained into the hearts and minds of many gamers today.  It is the famous Konami Code, a cheat that allowed power ups, extra lives, and all sorts of other ways to extend your playtime.  The first use of the Konami Code was in Gradius, a sweet little shoot em up from the glory days of the NES.  But probably the most famous use of the code was in the subject of today's Classic Co-Op: Contra for the NES. You, the readers of Co-Optimus, voted for Contra as this week's Classic Co-Op game.  Considering the other choices are fantastic games in their own right (especially Bubble Bobble, which will probably make it into this column some day), Contra clearly was an important and popular game.  Co-op gameplay was pretty rare at the time of the game's release back in 1988.  That may seem hard to believe today, in a time when many titles include co-op in some form.  In Contra, players take on the role of two superbuff commandos, Mad Dog and Scorpion, as they take on an enemy army, infiltrate some seriously dangerous bases, and then eventually kill the big boss, a wicked looking alien called Red Falcon, which was certainly crimson in hue, but not very birdlike at all. 

Over at Denis Dyack's IGN Blog there's some good news for fans that have been awaiting Too Human.  According to Denis the game is just about complete with only two crash bugs remaing - even though he hasn't seen the game crash in four to five weeks.

As we've detailed, there is a new 50 Cent game, called 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, which features drop-in, drop-out co-op. Now, before you groan about another celebrity game churned out to get some cash, this game might be different. By listening to some quotes from TeamXbox's news post, you can get an idea of how this game might not be that bad.

Ahh, Nintendo.  You and your special edition, funky colored game systems.  They seem like such a waste, and yet, I still bought a translucent green Nintendo 64 back in the day.  It's even worse with the DS Lite.  In my family alone, we have black, black/blue, and black/red DS Lites.  In fact, I just sold my white DS to get the black one a month ago.  And now, you go and announce a Silver and Black DS, with the Guitar Hero logo on it!  What's a fanboy supposed to do?  Ebay the new black DS, and use the funds to get the super cool silver one, with FLAMES on it?  After all, I'm buying the Guitar Hero: On Tour game anyway.  If I'm going to be rocking out in public, shredding on lead guitar while my wingman plays bass, I gotta do it in style, right?  It's hard to resist, given the combination of my obsession with rhythm game peripherals and the allure of a special edition DS Lite.  I may need to go visit my psychiatrist again...