WayForward's River City Girls series of beat 'em ups is a favorite around here thanks to its lovable characters, amazing artwork, humorous writing, and abundant fanservice. Now there is a must-have book for fans of the series: The Art of River City Girls. The book was initially offered via preorders through Limited Run and is now available ...
I've been a contributor at Co-Optimus since 2008. I can hardly believe it's been that long! Through the years, I wrote dozens of reviews and features, as well as hundreds of news articles. Being a part of Co-Optimus awakened a passion for writing in me, and I took that to the next step last year when I wrote my first book, I Was Geeky When Geeky Wasn't Cool. Now, my second book is available!
In 2008, I was lucky enough to join the Co-Optimus team. I've always enjoyed writing, and the opportunity to write about video games, another passion of mine, was something I couldn't pass up. Almost seven years, hundreds of news articles, and dozens of game reviews later, I have taken the next step by writing my first book!
If you are in North America, you may notice that we are running a few ads right now for something called Double Jump. Double Jump is a novel by author Jason Glaser who has writing credits of several dozen books including many kids books. He's also a fan of Co-Optimus, so that of course earns him several bonus points. Double Jump is a novel about Jeremy who suddenly finds himself in a situation that seems all to familiar, one that reminds him of the video games he loves to play.
You may remember Trixie360, former community manager of Xbox Live, host of numerous video shows that were on the console a few years back. She interviewed former editor Jim McLaughlin for a gamer spotlight a few years back as well as helped usher in Xbox Live Co-Op Night. Since moving on from Microsoft, Christa Charter (aka Trixie360) has become a successful author writing several novels. Her series based on a character named Lexy Cooper is particularly interesting for gamers. Why? The stories are murder mysteries set in a universe respectful of gamer culture.
As a long time Halo fan the mythology and evolution of the series has fascinated me. As someone who has been playing video games for the past 30 some years and covering them for the past 10, I've taken a keen interest in the process behind making them - even making one myself. One of my favorite things to do is to look at concept art from video games, like those we saw at the Into the Pixel Exhibition at E3 this year. These pieces of art not only serve a purpose for developer, but are most times beautiful masterpieces that can stand on their own.
Borderlands 2 has sold over 5 million copies across all three platforms to date, giving publisher 2K Games a very positive quarter. The company stated it has been one of the most successful games in their company's history, which is impressive considering they publish the Grand Theft Auto series and other Rockstar Games. Borderlands 2 also received high marks with over a 90 Metacritic average, including our own Editor's Choice Award and a perfect score.
Remember books? Sure you do! Author Jane McGonigal has provided gamers with a new weapon for fighting the good fight. "What's the good fight?" you ask. Why, proving to our significant others, bosses, parents, children, or pets, that what we do in front of the flashing screen is important...not just for us, but for the whole world! In her book "Reality is Broken," McGonigal explores how games help gamers develop problem solving techniques that can be applied to real world problems. She recently sat down with Kai Ryssdal for a radio interview, and had this to say about gaming and reality:
It’s pretty rare that useful gaming things come with extra useful things for a game, but it looks like Fable III will be giving us quite a lot of extras with its extras. First on the list is Peter David’s “Fable: The Balverine Order,” a paperback novel to tide over hardcore Fable fans until their next Albion gaming adventure.
In an effort to expand our horizons at Co-Optimus, we present to you our first review of a book. Why would we review a book? The premise of Little Brother, is at its core, cooperative. Not only is the story about co-op, it's about gaming. Hmmm, that sounds familiar.
