You've decided to splurge on a second system for that one game you and your spouse just HAVE to play together. You got it. You beat it. Now what are you going to do?

Here at Co-optimus enjoy a solid co-op experience. Sure the game may not be perfect, but Mercenaries 2: World In Flames qualifies as a solid co-op experience. We take a look now at what could have been a third installment in the Mercenaries series had the developer Pandemic Studios not closed down.

Near, Far, Co-op Wherever You Are is a look at open world co-op games, and the differences between them. Whether you're tied together, given total freedom, or somewhere in the middle - each one of these designs plays a key role in how the cooperative experience will work.

This week during E3, Microsoft is releasing some great downloadable deals for those of us who can't attend the show. Starting Monday, June 14th through the week, Xbox Gold members will have access to a variety of downloadable titles, avatar items, and games on demand at price reductions as much as 50%. Quite a few titles appear on this list, and some of these are hard to pass up.

Official Xbox Magazine in the UK decided to put together "The worst co-op games On 360," list of the top five terrible co-op experiences on the 360. We, as a co-op community want a chance to chime in and hear what you have to say about this. The list is 5 terrible co-op games for different reasons; some of them are bad games, while others are just gimped co-op. Let us know what you think.

Less 'service with a smile' and more 'servers with a frown', as the news breaks that EA are to close down more online servers on March 16th.  This is bad news for co-op fans looking to complete Lord of the Rings: Conquest, as this is the highest profile co-op game on the list.  For those in Asia, the closing down of the Army of Two online servers on April 15th will be a double blow - no more fist bumping for you.  Finally, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames on the PC will be given its burns notice.

Electronic Arts announced today that it is closing Pandemic Studios, developers of such co-op titles like Mercenaries 2 and Lord of the Rings: Conquest.  With the closure comes around 200 layoffs as well as Pandemic founders Josh Resnick, Andrew Goldman, and Greg Borrud leaving the company.  The studio's last game will be The Saboteur, releasing in December.

Some games just seem to be made for messing around. Storyline and missions will be cast aside from time to time, since everyone wants to throw a truck at someone some days. Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is a game perfect for such a day. Sure, the story is plenty amusing. After all, you'll be shot in the gluteus maximus before long. It's just nice to cast all those "mission" responsibilities aside now and then. Especially when some silly person hands you a rocket launcher without the "play nice" disclaimer.