From the looks of it, the November 16th release of Assassins Creed: Brotherhood will have quite a few surprises. Not only will this be the first Assassins Creed to continue with a figure of the past (starring Ezio Auditori), but he'll have a few friends with him. The game looks to live up to the previous visual quality of Assassins Creed titles, but we're not sure where the story is headed with this new Brotherhood.

E3 is in full swing, and Microsoft's presentation just wrapped up.  Most of the focus was on Project Natal, now known as Kinect.  But at the end of the presentation, a longstanding rumor was officially confirmed: a new Xbox 360 is here.  Shipping to stores today, the new Xbox 360 is sleek, shiny, and dare we say sexy.  Abandoning the matte-finish curves of the first model, the new version is angular and glossy black. 

The second band-centric game from Harmonix, Green Day Rock Band continues the tradition of strong co-op set by its forbears. It's still a great time to sing, strum, and hit plastic drum pads with a friend or five. The problem is, Green Day Rock Band doesn't do anything particularly new.

What you see above you is a picture of me with what was lovingly called "The Space Poncho."  These futuristic looking pieces of attire were given to every person upon entering Microsoft's Project Natal Experience, though none of us knew exactly for what purpose.  Having been described to us as an "interactive poncho," we feared the worst; especially, with it being a "technology free event."  Were we in store for some Natal like water sports?

At the "Project Natal" event at E3, Microsoft dropped a few bombs on us that we're happy to receive. The first comes in the form of the Natal being renamed the Kinect, complete with a few launch title reveals: Dance Central, Joyride, Kinectimals, Kinect Adventures, and Kinect sports. Each of these games will utilize some unique aspect of the Kinect motion system, including dancing, driving, sports and other such activities. Things are looking good so far, we'll have more details about the co-op ability of the Kinect soon.

We're here in LA two days before the official kickoff of E3 2010 and we managed to sneak down to the convention center to take a look at some of the gigantic banners that adorn it.  Sony's PlayStation move, staring Kevin Butler, and EA's Crysis 2 have the big "entrance" banners.

Zombies, Zombies, and more Zombies. Dead Nation was officially announced about a year ago, but has been on the down low ever since. E3 2010 is the first we'll really get to see any of the zombies of Dead Nation in action - well, aside from this great half live action, half gameplay trailer we got from Sony. Dead Nation will be a PSN exclusive featuring a lot - and we mean, a LOT of zombies. You'll want to bring a friend along to cover your back, because this trailer makes them look like they're some desperate hungry cannibals.

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.

Super Mario Galaxy was superb, as a single player experience, but the limited co-op was disappointing. Shooting star bits was OK, but experienced Mario players wanted more. Super Mario Galaxy 2 has delivered improvements in this respect, though the co-op is still not ideal.

It's been some time since we've seen anything about Disney Guilty Party for the Nintendo Wii.  The four player co-op detective game will have families solving crimes while aboard a cruise.  We've got a behind the scenes trailer for the game which showcases some of the mini-games - all of which utilize the Wii mote.

Next week Sony Online Entertainment is launching a three pack of games called the Gundemonium Collection.  These Japanese inspired bullet hell titles are developed by Rockin' Android and feature plenty of bullets to dodge with your strange looking flying people.  

Co-Optimus is heading to Los Angeles, California to cover the biggest gaming event of the year - E3! While our main focus of the show will be on cooperative titles, you can be sure we'll still bring you the biggest gaming news out of the show including previews of Natal, the Nintendo 3DS, and more!