A tweet made earlier this week from Stargate Atlantis star Joe Flanigan has turned the crank on the Army of Four rumor mill once again. His tweet said the following:

Modern Warfare 3 is getting it's first "content drop" on March 29th, which includes the first three maps that were previously only available to Call of Duty Elite subscribers as well as more content for March.  The new content for March includes two Spec-Ops co-op missions; Black Ice and Negoiator.  This "content drop" is purchasable by players who did not opt in for a premium Call of Duty Elite subscription.

Kung Fu Strike: The Warrior's Rise looks to be the first Dynasty Warriors-style beat-em-up on Xbox Live Arcade. Set in Ancient China, players take on the role kung fu master General Loh as he fights to keep his country from being torn apart by three warring factions. That's the single-player game though - what about multiplayer? We've spoken with publisher 7sixty and gotten the inside scoop on Kung Fu Strike's co-op and versus modes.

The first two screenshots for Halo 4 have apparently been leaked online.  The two screens show only the revamped Master Chief and seem to try to showcase the game's new lighting engine.  

The Game Developers Conference is just around the corner and that can mean only one thing - leaks! The usual source is some murky deep throat, but in the case of Fable Heroes it’s Microsoft themselves that have dropped the ball. The listing for this XBLA exclusive 4 player online/offline co-op game has been posted on their site. Images and details follow.

It's time for another issue of On the Download, our monthly feature about downloadable games and content. This is my first time covering this column, and I was a bit perplexed as to what to discuss. I'm not exactly a hardcore PC gamer, but Andrew already covered that perspective a few issues ago. Do I dabble in the occasional indie bundle? Sure, but that's more Jason's domain. So what's a poor Co-Optimus editor to do in this situation?

The Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions of id's post-apocalyptic shooter RAGE and Epic's @#$% third-person shooter Bulletstorm are on sale at Best Buy for $19.99 this week - a fair deal, to be sure. But the March issue of Best Buy's @Gamer Magazine (pictured) also happens to have $15 off coupon for both games inside. That means you can grab each shooter for just five bucks a piece - if they're still in-stock!

Dungeon Defenders' next installment of DLC, entitled the Quest for the Lost Shards of Eternia Part II, has been in the works for a little while. While it was originally planned to come out on February for the PC, further testing and tweaking was required and thus bumped back the release slightly.

Shoot-em-up fans across America rejoiced when Rising Star Games announced their plans to bring Akai Katana stateside. The game is widely considered to be Japanese shmup maker Cave's magnum opus - or at least its swan swong, since the developer has switched to making games exclusively for mobile platforms like Windows Phone. Of course, we're interested in Akai Katana for its 2 player local co-op, a welcome feature in any shmup. Rising Star has graciously provided Co-Optimus with several exclusive co-op screenshots.

Welcome to Beyond Co-Op, a weekly piece that talks about industry stories that may or may not be related to co-op gaming.  We like to take a look around the industry and see what news and links may interest you in the world of gaming.

While this month's community blog topic asks the question - "Are we ready for next-gen consoles," Valve may be asking the question - "What is a next-gen console?"  The Verge has uncovered a hefty rumor that suggests the Steam developer may be getting into the  console market with their concept revealed at GDC this coming week.

The Wii U is on its way, and rumors about Xbox 720 and PS4 continue to crawl out of the woodwork. Everyone is offering guesses as to when Microsoft and Sony will announce their next consoles. Some say we'll hear announcements at E3 and they'll hit the market this holiday season. Others are saying that's way too soon. The next generation of game consoles is inevitable, but when will it arrive?