Giving up hope is hard.  Most folks would much rather irrationally cling to something's existence in perpetuity than see it destroyed forever.  Heck, it's why people still believe D.B. Cooper is out there living the dream in some South American fishing village, despite evidence indicating that his story met an abrupt end when it hit the Earth's surface at a few hundred miles per hour.  Because of this, the announcement that Furious 4's development has ceased is kind of a bummer, even though we kind of knew it all along.

It's been a weird path for Furious 4 ever since the E3 announcement in 2011. Starting out as a Brothers in Arms game before spinning off onto its own IP, then going dark sometime last year, Gearbox has been pretty quiet about their upcoming four player co-op Nazi shooter. It looks like they intend to keep it that way. A video of alleged gameplay footage found its way onto the internet via a Demo Reel from special effects artist Nick Peterson, before those info tyrants at Gearbox tore it down.

Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 is getting a new name. Well, not really a new name, it's more like a shorter name. It's becoming it's own IP. According to Eurogamer, this means Gearbox is ditching the "Brothers in Arms" moniker for this particular title and simply going with "Furious 4." The game's title has been changed on the Gearbox home page, so it checks out.  

Gearbox's other four player cooperative title, Brothers in Arm: Furious 4, was notably absent from this year's E3. The studio's head honcho and co-op aficionado, Randy Pitchford, recently told CVG "the game has evolved." He wouldn't say what the game had evolved into... I'm hoping dinosaurs, because, well, WWII-era Nazi-eating T-Rex's would be a glorious thing. But that seems unlikely. 

With Borderlands 2 coming this September and Aliens Colonial Marines coming next February, you'd think Gearbox would have a full plate of game development.  But apparently there's still room for dessert because there's another co-op title from the Texas studio still in the works, one based on its classic franchise, Brothers in Arms. 

I've already mused upon the violent nature of the latest batch of trailers coming out of E3 this year.  At least we have the Brothers in Arms franchise to bring us back to reality.  Gearbox's latest entry into the series, titled Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 is yet another World War 2 shooter.  Yes, it's been done before, but maybe a serious treatment of one of the darkest periods in mankind's history is what we need -something that shows the consequences of our violent actions.  We know it's a first person shooter that will support four player co-op, as well as a versus multiplayer mode.  Let's take a look at the debut trailer and see what Gearbox has in store for us...

The number of co-op gaming apps on the iPhone is, slowly but surely, growing, and a new one is possibly on the way.  It seems that Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front, the sequel to last year's Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes iPhone port, will include complete campaign co-op for all 13 of the game's levels for two players.  There's a catch, though: the co-op mode will not be available at the game's release.  Does that mean co-op will be patched into the game later, or will it end up being left out altogether?  We reached out to Gameloft, the game's developer, for clarification, but have yet to receive any word regarding whether or not the game will eventually have co-op.  For now, chock this one up to a solid "TBD" (but hopeful) status.

Beyond Co-Op is where we talk about other news around the industry that isn’t necessarily tied to co-operative gaming. Each week will see the subjects of the column listed on the front page with more in-depth discussion after the break. If you have any suggestions, please contact us at tips@co-optimus.com with a subject related to “Beyond Co-Op”.

E3 is right around the corner, July 13th through 17th to be exact, and with that comes our first coverage of the biggest show in the games industry.  We'll be onsite to cover all the co-op games that are on hand, and hopefully bring you guys some great exclusive content like developer interviews and in game footage!

The original Brother's In Arms was a truly great game lost in the sea of dozens of other World War II Shooter titles.  The game was different though, it was a gritty and realistic shooter with an emphasis on squad tactics and cover.  Ubisoft has recently announced that the new Brother's game will be released on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on August 26th.