While both salmon and tilapia are kinds of fish, they are distinctly different in both taste and texture. The same can be said about video games. There are genres of games that have simply defined themselves as a distinct place within it. While they are still first person shooters at heart, we often describe a game as like DOOM, like Call of Duty, ...

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 releases in under two weeks. For fans of the franchise, you're likely counting down the seconds until November 6th. To add more fuel to the burning ardor of your anticipation, two new trailers have recently been released.

Last night a group of spartans started to play through the Halo 5: Guardians campaign on the infamous legendary difficulty in four player co-op. This may be the most brutal and difficult legendary difficulty to date in a Halo 5 game, but I'll let you be the judge of that from the videos posted below.

Much like the endless legion of Skaven populating the bad guys of Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide, Fatshark Studios have been pumping out trailer after trailer to promote their new game. Maybe they intend to evoke the same feeling of being swallowed up by bipedal rat-men by drowning us all in videos of said Skaven ripping stuff up. Seriously. Every time I've tried to watch a trailer this week, it's been nothing but rat-folk trying to murder everybody.

Sure, videos are cool and all. But something can be said for a carefully created screenshot. Getting the enemy positioning just right, the lens flare just glinting off the hood of a vehicle, or the explosion just as it happens. Like a good photograph, capturing that moment in time for a screenshot isn't always as easy as pressing a button. 

Just as it is written in the ancient tomes, tradition mandates that we delve into another Weekend in Gaming.  Little is spoken about The Grand Co-Optimus Library, but it is within those musty manuscripts that we gleaned our eternal duties:  "Thou must enjoy at least one game of the video or tabletop variety, then announce your intention the masses, lest the realms fall into utter chaos."  And so, like the obedient Co-opiteers that came before us, we carry on this sacred ritual.  

Halo 5: Guardians is just a few days away from release, and if you keep your eye on Co-Optimus we'll have our full review coming Monday, October 26th right before release. But thanks to the fine folks over at Mega Bloks we can help hype you up a few days early with a giveaway of two sets of Halo themed items with included Halo 5: Guardians Requisition packs for the game.

Let's not mince words here: we really liked Divinity: Original Sin. The whole Co-Opticrew was pretty pumped about getting a new version on current gen consoles. Maybe somebody out there is afraid of building their own hulking monolithic computer, and opts for a PS4 or an Xbox One instead. Of course, the PC's version was heavily dependent on the classic RPG standby of the Mouse and Keyboard combo. If Larian studios intended to bring Divinity to consoles, they'd have to map their controls to an actual controller.

If you cast your mind back a couple years, you may recall a co-op arena brawler called FORCED. The game was notable not only for its co-op play, but the story behind its developer, BetaDwarf, as well. Initially a PC only release, there were plans for it to come to consoles, but it got delayed. Well the wait is over and the game will finally be available to play on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One today.

The latest in ne'er-do-well technology has finally reached our digital doorsteps.  No longer must we make prank phone calls or donate to Trump's presidential campaign to sate our sadistic desires.  Thanks to Overlord: Fellowship of Evil, we can direct our now menace onto hapless, digital creatures.  It's pretty much a victimless crime!  Unless, for whatever reason, you do consider AI to be partially sentient.  Then it's, like, 100% filled with victims.

Here's the pitch: you're an ambulatory mound of jelly, see, and your partner is also an ambulatory mound of jelly. You can both change sizes, but whenever one character changes mass, he adds/removes mass from the other. Sounds like boring science stuff, but really it's Shift Happens, a couch co-op puzzle platformer just released on Steam Early Access by Klonk Games.

We're putting Halo 5: Guardians through its paces for our co-op review, which will go live in just about a week right before the game releases. Microsoft has allowed reviewers to stream gameplay footage from four missions in the game. While not exactly spoiler-y, if you want a pure experience, you'll likely want to avoid these.