Snowblind Studios' The Lord of the Rings: War in the North is looking like a promising co-op title.  The latest video is full of gameplay footage which takes place on the snowy Mount Gundabad. The three heroes have arrived to kill some orcs, and generally wreck-up the place. The video even mentions the importance of co-op as the elf peppers enemies with arrows from a distance while the human and dwarf handle things on a melee level.  Three player co-op, a character progression system, sweet loot drops, and an untold story from the Tolkien universe all make this game one to watch.

The First Templar is out next week on the Xbox 360 and PC with its two player local and online co-op action.  As a gentle reminder of the game's existence, publisher Kalypso Entertainment has sent over a fresh batch of screenshots showcasing the game.  

Much to my dismay, we haven't seen any information on a new Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six in over two years. (Well...except for that one iPhone version...) Today it all changes.

Sony Executive earlier this week bowed in a traditional form of Japanese apology in regards to the PlayStation Network's outage and data breach which resulted in millions of identities being exposed.  The conference which took place in Japan on May 1st outlined and timelined the chronicle of events that occured when the PlayStation Network was comprimised on April 17th.

Last one on plays as Dazzler

We've given a surprising amount of coverage to rainbows throughout the years here at Co-Optimus.  However, we've had an equally surprising lack of unicorns.  Today, the two warm fuzzy icons collide with Red Faction: Armageddon.  Apparently, one of the most devastating weapons known to humankind is a rainbow-hued unicorn fart.  Doesn't make sense, you say?  Well, check out the video below.  If you want to wield the appropriately named Mr. Toots in the game, be sure to download the demo.  If you and 999,999 other people do the same, Volition promises to include the unicorn as a playable weapon.  Because, hey, why not?

Yes, that's the correct header image.  This picture is from the promotional poster for the new Call of Duty: Black Ops map pack, "Escalation".  Or more specifically, this is for the new Zombie map included in "Escalation".  It's been a few months since Activision and friends have collected their Black Ops fee from hardcore players, so it must be time for new DLC!  The last map pack, "First Strike," was an adequate addition to the multiplayer maps, and also included its own Zombie map, "Ascension".  This new pack comes at the same price tag and offers similar content: four new multiplayer maps and a new Zombie episode.  In all honesty, this pack feels meatier than the last one.

Another day, another Brink trailer.  This one goes into even more detail on the class system.  Once again, a nice British lady explains which class does what.  She covers the skills and abilities of the Soldier, Medic, Operative, and Engineer.  This video also informs us that each player can switch classes during the course of the battle using command posts.  So when most of  your team of 8 Soldiers becomes incapacitated, a few of you can make the switch to Medic and patch up your comrades.  If your team keeps on running over explosive mines, switch to the Operative class so you can point them out to others.  Is the opposing team not running over enough land mines?  Choose the Engineer class, and start planting those suckers.  The video covers all of these skills, as well as a few more.

This week's Xbox Live Gold Deals include the 6 player online co-op game, Castlevania: Harmony of Despair and all of its downloadable level content.  The game is 50% off - making it 600  or about $6.  All the content is also 50% off with each of the 5 stages coming in at 160 or 120 .

Today we're proud to announce the Co-Optimus Mobile App for Android phones.  This companion app to the website is your gateway into everything co-op while on the go.  With news, reviews, podcasts and our games database - you'll never be more than fingertips away from cooperative videogame information.

An image found way back in the Co-Optimus picture archive

We're starting to get pretty excited about Brink.  The highly customizable, XP-based first person shooter comes out next week.  Last week we brought you a trailer explaining how each of the four classes function.  Today's video covers the intricacies of the heads up display, or HUD, for you novices out there.  It's all standard fair, with ammo, radar, and cool-down meters etc.  For some deeper information you can check out our hands-on preview.