As of right now you can pre-order SCHAR: Blue Shield Alliance on PC digital distribution service Desura.  The game is available in two flavors - Standard Edition and Digital Special Edition.  The Special Edition of the game includes the soundtrack, printable manual, ship blue prints, crew logs, and concept art.  SCHAR: BSA is a co-op twin stick shooter created with involvement from current and former Co-Optimus staff members.  It's also available on Xbox Live Indie Games.

Many of us are still knee-deep in LEGO Batman 2, but Traveller's Tales is already hard at work doing the only thing they know: making another LEGO game. Luckily LEGO The Lord of the Rings looks just as ambitious as the last entry, with an amazing 85 characters and fully-voiced story sequences taken from the movies of the same name. One of those characters, Gollum, can be glimpsed in his kind of goofy-looking glory in this new batch of screenshots.

Another week has come and gone here at Co-Optimus, and that means it's time once again to take a look at all that other non-cooperative gaming news that's circling around the web. There are a couple of stories coming out from Gamescom, which is currently underway in Cologne, Germany, an interesting/convoluted story about a game service that seemed too good to be true, and a blast from the past returns this December.

Many were surprised to see Team Fortress 2 suddenly add a co-op mode this week, and many were even more surprised to see it become so popular you had to wait an HOUR to get into a match.  Never the less, that's where we are at.  A few of the staff hope to get some matches in, while the rest work on that precious back log.

We haven't heard much about Soul Sacrifice lately. The PS Vita's cooperative spell-casting game features gruesome spells which are based off of physical sacrifices made by the sorcerers who would wield them. Players must perform all sorts of different horrific acts upon themselves to use the best spells. My personal favorite is the spine sword spell. 

We love ourselves some co-op Orcs Must Die! 2, after all - we gave the game a 5 out of 5.  What do we love even more?  Free weekly content!  Robot Entertainment have announced weekly player challenges starting today and every Friday following  Each challenge is playable in single-player or co-op and features a specific level, character, and trap loadout to master, all created weekly by Robot themselves.

A few days ago I mentioned the new weapon crafting system in Dead Space 3. Players will be able to take parts to a work bench and create a wide variety of tools of destruction. Think of it as a much more elaborate, high-tech, sci-fi version of the duct-taped combo weapons from Dead Rising 2. You can get a feel for the system by visiting the Dead Space website.

We've been impressed so far by what we've seen from Guardians of Middle-Earth, the upcoming action MOBA for consoles. As some of you may know, one of the biggest draw to these types of games is the different characters and how they vary in playstyle from each other. Monolith is certainly aware of this, as they've been doing a series of videos showcasing heroes, breaking down each of their skills. Gollum, Gandalf, Galadriel, and Uglúk have all been presented in previous such videos. 

Diablo 3's "demo version" is now available to the masses, after previously only being available via a special code included with retail copies of the game.  Dubbed the Starter Edition, it allows you to fight your way up to the Skeleton King boss in Act I, and level up to 13.  Starter edition accounts can be upgraded to the full version of the game, though, you are limited in certain features sets until you purchase.  For instance, match making is unavailable for co-op play in the starter edition.

Great Britain has lots of castles.  In fact, we have too many of them and could do with some being attacked and destroyed in a Ye Olde Fashion.  People of a destructive nature will be able to brush up on their siege skills with the upcoming downloadable title CastleStorm.  I would help bring down a fort or two, but I actually like the shops around Windsor Castle, so these new screens will have to do.

This week in Indie-Ana Co-Op we host yet another great Dev Story, this time from Misfits Attic, developer behind the recently release A Virus Named TOM on PC. While the lack of online co-op was a little disheartening, the camaraderie built via couch co-op is one of the game's stronger selling points. Tim Keenan, lead developer/designer/Bostonian for the game, discusses this and how interacting with your players is like a marriage.

Science is always better with a friend to share it with. The Portal 2 “Perpetual Testing Initiative” now offers a co-op mode for all test subjects to construct and test chambers to their hearts content.