This is Kat "Shadokat" Pawlowski reporting in for Marc "Djinniman" Allie, who is facing an unforeseen crisis at the moment. He has fallen pray to the realm of single player like so many around him, playing the Iron Man 2 game (which should have had co-op because Warmachine, duh) instead of co-op. I'm here to share the importance of co-op gaming caused by this single-player crisis.

This weeks On The Download will feature plenty of brand new downloadable co-op news, including some hot topics like Halo Reach's Beta, loads of new releases and even a rumor. We're also going to revisit the world of Aces of the Galaxy - one of my favorite recent co-op purchases on the XBLA.

For anyone who's seen Zombieland you understand that there are certain rules one has to follow in different situations in order to survive - or, at least make the best of a situation. For our purposes today, we'll lay out a few rules for download gameplay with others in order to survive.

Direct2Drive is celebrating their 5th birthday by offering a full month of $5 games.  We're only at week 2, but already we're seeing some great deals on over 25 titles.

Aces of the Galaxy for the Xbox Live Arcade kind of came out of nowhere for us here at Co-Optimus.com.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, but hopefully this title doesn't get overlooked by player.  Gorgeous visuals, a great soundtrack, and fast and frantic gameplay all await you in Aces of the Galaxy (not to mention a badass pause screen) - but is the game worth your hard earned Microsoft Points? 

Are you ready to try your hand at Aces of the Galaxy from Sierra?  The game plays a bit like the classic Nintendo game Starfox, though things are a bit more frantic.  It's an Xbox Live Arcade title with gorgeous visuals, twenty-five levels and best of all... co-op play for 2 players!