Welcome to Beyond Co-Op, a weekly piece that talks about industry stories that may or may not be related to co-op gaming.

One of the finest co-op beat 'em ups of all time, X-Men Arcade, is coming to a phone near you.  The mutant slugfest is now available for iOS devices, for the relatively low price of a dozen quarters ($2.99).  Multiplayer is supported for up to four players, and leaderboards and Facebook integrations round out the game's mutant abilities.  The game is only compatible with third gen and beyond devices, so iPhone 3G users are out of luck.  It's great to see more and more classic games available on a variety of platforms these days!

Would those of you who don't like free stuff please raise your hand.  What, none of you?  Ok then.  Lets talk about a kick ass contest for free stuff going on over at Raptr, the site that helps track your gaming habits.  Recently we told you about their new feature that gives you custom news feeds into the games you are already playing from awesome sources like Co-Optimus - now just by following special topics you can be entered to win prizes.

Another weekend has arrived, which normally means lots of co-op gaming for your diligent Co-Optimus staff.  However, due to a variety of circumstances, notably preparations for next week's E3, most of the staff are on the go this time around.  A good selection of portable gaming is thus in store for many of us.

(This news bit - and its ridiculous, misleading, and super-corny title - is exactly why you name a game Bodycount. It's built-in public relations, and it's so hard for guys like me not to take the bait.)

The latest video of gameplay footage for Rage is action-packed, if you don't count the first two minutes and fifteen seconds.  The first couple of minutes introduce characters, setting, plot, etc.  That's nice and all, but you really want to see someone get zapped with an electric crossbow.  Well, you're in luck!  Do you want to see someone take a throwing blade to the head?  It's got that too!  What about deployable turrets?  Everybody likes turrets, right?  There's plenty of close up shotgun blasts and explosive crossbow bolts for the whole family to enjoy!  (As long as your whole family is over 17.)  

The first thing I thought when I saw the above picture was, "Whoa! Spock jacked a plasma rifle from an Elite Covenant!  Crossover madness! ,"  My second thought: "Judging by the bloom alone, the new Star Trek game will be based on the J.J. Abrams movie."  Well, I was half right.  The new game will continue the story from the J.J. Abrams Star Trek film.  Sadly, there's still no word on a Master Chief appearance.   While we don't know much about it yet, we do know the game is being billed as a co-op experience where players team up as Kirk and Spock "to stop a legendary enemy race bent on conquering the galaxy."  (My guess is something humanoid with minor, yet distinctive changes to otherwise normal homo sapien facial features.)  We also know that the game will be at E3 next week, so we'll be able to pick up all the co-op details for our database there.  

We're barely coming up for air here at Co-Optimus HQ as game publishers furiously release content for E3.   "Wait a second Nick, I thought E3 was next week."  Yeah me too.

The new Dark Souls trailer is out, and it is awesome.  Dark and foreboding hopelessness permeates the entire two minutes of soul crushing footage.  Opera singers do their best to let you know just how epic this game is going to be.  Giant demons stomp their way through the video, while expansive vistas fill the horizons.  This "spiritual successor" (or rebranded sequel) to Demon's Souls now has a "massive, seemless, overworld design."  This should mean: if you can see it, you can get to it.  If that's true, you're going to need a parachute right around the one minute mark. I don't know about you, but for some reason this whole trailer makes me feel like Count Rugen. 

LEGO Pirates is hardly innovative, but is still one of the better LEGO games in the series, especially with that rascally Captain Sparrow aboard.

Gunshine.net is a free to play browser based isometric strategy game with co-op play.  Got all that?  Good.  Now head over to the official website and sign up for the beta, it takes like 3 clicks, and you'll be on your way to a Syndicate like experience.  

The Call of Duty: Black Ops map pack is out on the PC complete with four new versus maps and a brand new over the top co-op zombie map.   Just how over the top is it?  It features famed director George A. Romero, Robert Englund, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Michael Rooker and Danny Trejo kicking zombie ass and whipping one liners, as well as an original music track from Avenged Sevenfold titled "Not Ready to Die."