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

While the focus here at Co-Optimus has been and always will be on video games, we reserve the right to cover other cooperative gaming experiences as well. Today, we’ll take a look at Forbidden Island, a delightful co-op board game.

If you didn't get enough games for the holidays, Microsoft has you covered.  Major Nelson has more goodies coming your way this January.  The week of January 10, which my sources tell me is coming soon, will have yet another zombie theme.  Are you sick or zombies yet?  Heck no!  Zombie Apocalypse will be available, followed up by a discounted Plants vs. Zombies on January 17th.  Crackdown 2 is already On Demand, for those of you who like to do your crime fighting with a friend.  

Five new downloadable packs are now available on Steam for Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. This little isometric gem won our Best Downloadable Co-Op Game of the Year award for 2010. The first pack actually comes as a free title update and adds the titular characters from the Kane and Lynch games.

It has been eleven years since its release, and people are still playing, modding, and just plain enjoying Diablo 2.  A new patch for the 'Hell Unleashed' mod has recently released, and it is specifically tailored to co-op players.

It seems with the somewhat calm past few weeks, the staff is digging into their backlog with titles like Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, Nier, Dawn fo War 2: Chaos Rising, and Mass Effect 2.  There's still room for the usual suspects like Halo Reach and World of Warcraft, but with February fast approaching with numerous releases - it's time to clear out the shelves to make room.

It's a new year, and its not a new rumor, but recent information has come to light lending more credence to the fact that Activision friendly studio Raven Software may be working on a Call of Duty title.  A recent job posting on Raven's site is what's stirred up the hornets nest, here's the text:

Jeff Minter is firmly stuck in 1984 with retro graphics and gameplay.  His latest releases all followed a similar style in titles like 1994's Tempest 2000 and more recently Xbox Live Arcade's Space Giraffe.  What's up with throwing random creatures in space Jeff?

The Co-Optimus staff team were ready for Feb 22nd

The most lethal wetwork operators in the world have egos. Spouses who work all day and unwind at night with simulated violence have egos. Even co-op gamers - with no inkling to compete with other gamers - have egos.

Since our last time visiting with Deathspank he had a buddy with him - a goofy little wizard named Sparkles. Shortly after completing the first game, Deathspank makes a triumphant return in a sequel that feels an awful lot like an expansion Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue.

CES is on in Vegas and a plethora of new toys are on display.  One fascinating piece of tech in the new Razer Switchblade, which promises to make PC gaming portable.  They're not building a better mousetrap, they are revolutionizing the keyboard/mouse combo.  The pitch: