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!
Many of us here at Co-Optimus were very excited to play Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine this past weekend, writing about our plans to begin co-op games straight away. However, we quickly discovered that Monaco’s initial release was retracted off of XBLA rather quickly by developer, Pocketwatch Games. Many gamers are eager to begin playing as well, so here’s an update on the whole situation from last week.
It was a little over a month ago I gave some impressions of KingsRoad - a free to play game from Rumble Entertainment that's playable through Facebook or Rumble's own online service. The browser based game is an action-rpg in the same vane as Diablo or Torchlight but is designed to be played in shorter sessions. Since last month, the team has added a new class, the Wizard, and made several enhancements to the game world. Today the game is available for anyone to try - though it's still technically in beta - and the team is treating it as a KingsRoad's coming out party.
Last year's Happy Action Theater wasn't exactly a traditional game, but that's one reason why it succeeded with the Kinec's non-traditional controls. Less than a year after the first installment, Double Fine returns with the more understandably titled Kinect Party. We can safely assume that just about every Kinect owner grabbed it for free oover the holidays, so the question becomes: does Kinect Party provide a better co-op experience and improve on its predecessor's handful of shortcomings?
It seems as though the gaming industry is truly digging the Call of Duty Elite and Diablo 3 Character Profile style of online stat tracking features, taking notice of how the modern world is truly and frequently on the move. Following in Activision’s footsteps, Capcom has recently announced that their upcoming title, Resident Evil 6, will offer its own version of a free, online, stat-tracking service for all players.
Online co-op game Gunshine.net is out of beta after months of testing from users. The four player game ties into Facebook and offers a slick RPG/Action experience that's a bit like a modern day remake of Syndicate - no... not that Syndicate.
I fear the day Civilization World launches on Facebook. As if the Civ games aren't already enough of a time sink, now Firaxis and Sid Meier plan to make it accessible just about anywhere and everywhere. In an interview with CNN, "The Sid" as I like to call him, discusses the upcoming Facebook title which plans to launch this summer on the social networking service. What's on tap for fans of the series? How about cooperative gameplay.
This year's PAX East 2011 show floor was jam packed full of gamers and gaming goodness. The show saw a record breaking 69,500 atendees - the biggest PAX convention on any coast to date. Despite that many people the new convention center was wide open with plenty of space. With that many people and that many things to see we don't always get a lot of in depth time with soemthing. Still, there were plenty of things we saw that we want to share with you.
The Total War series has been in the business of combining turn-based strategy and real-time strategy action for over ten years. A recent addition to the series has been full campaign co-op (found in Napoleon Total War and the upcoming Shogun 2: Total War), a phrase we here at Co-optimus find truly delectable. Many of our readers, however, may be missing out on this series as it been almost entirely exclusive to the PC. For those of you who enjoy strategy games but aren't into PC gaming, hope may be on the horizon. Developer Creative Assembly says they are not opposed to the idea of bringing Total War to consoles, iPad, and/or Facebook.
Nick (bapenguin) has been nice enough to let me promote the ebook I published close to 2 months ago called Growing Up 8-Bit. The book is available for download from Amazon as well as Barnes and Noble for $2.99. You do not need a Kindle or Nook to read the book, both sites have clients available for a variety of computing and mobile platforms. There is also an 8-page PDF sample I have put online for people to look at. It contains the early pages of the book after the Table of Contents.
Bungie's web prescence with their Halo titles have always been a step above the competition. When Halo 2 launched detailed matchmaking stats and history available online within minutes of your match completion it set a new precident for console games. Many years later Bungie is about to unleash it's 3rd major iteration of the website for Halo Reach and as usual - it's loaded with some slick new features.
