There's a pair of co-op releases this week, both of which belong to long standing franchises.

Last week at EA's Spring event we got our hands on a new piece of content for the action game, Dante's Inferno. Called the Trials of St. Lucia this two player co-op mode allows customization of levels, twelve different styles of play, and level sharing.

Bethesda has announced an agreement to publish inXile's upcoming fantasy action game called Hunted: The Demon's Forge.  The game is a two player 3rd person co-op title where players assume the role of E'larra or Caddoc as you embark on a journey to find out what is corrupting the world - just a guess - but it's probably in the Demon's Forge.  

If you are a fan of co-op shooters, chances are, Left 4 Dead and it's sequel are in your collection.  In addition to the excellent teamwork opportunities, replay factor, and undead charm, the game's characters and story are quite memorable.  Each time you play, more pieces of the narrative become clear.

Here in the United States, early July means hot dogs, marching bands, and fireworks displays.  This year, you can add super agent adventures to that list.  Crackdown 2 will make its way to a retail store near you on July 6.  Asia, Australia, and New Zealand get the game July 8, while European gamers have to wait a day longer, until July 9.  Wherever you're located, you've got just under four months until more open world co-op goodness is available for your Xbox 360.  It's good to see a big release like this in the summer months, instead of fall/winter, isn't it?

This news isn't exactly surprising, but it's still good nonetheless.  Harmonix has announced, via Facebook, that Rock Band 3 is being developed, and will hit store shelves late this year.  We've got next to no details, but here's the actual announcement.

A swecond expansion for Magic the Gathering Duels of the Planeswalkers has been announced.  We already knew the expansion was coming, but now we've got some details.  The expansion is as of yet untitled, and will feature Sorin Markhov, a vampiric Planeswalker, pictured above, as the "big boss" character.  Three new decks, including the blue/black/red deck used by the first expansion's Nicol Bolas, will become available once the single player campaign is defeated.  No word on a new co-op campaign, but both previous releases included a local two-headed giant style campaign, so we'd guess that trend will continue.

Welcome to Beyond Co-Op, a weekly piece that talks about industry stories that may or may not be related to co-op gaming.

The big item of interest this weekend is the official Halo Waypoint event this evening, and we'll be playing Halo Wars.  As always, there's plenty more weekend to fill, and for many staff members, Borderlands and Final Fantasy XIII will be the games of choice.  Except for poor Nick, who is moving this weekend!

Capybara Games has recently announced they're planning to port their originally Nintendo DS exclusive SRPG Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes to PSN and XBLA. Capybara are also the folks behind the popular Critter Crunch. M&M: Clash of Heroes was released back in December 2009 and was well-received by critics. I raved about this game to my friends and tried to convince everyone I knew with a DS to purchase it. Starting Summer 2010 I can now spread my fanaticism to people with xbox 360s and PS3s as well. What's the even better news? The PSN and XBLA version will have up to 4-player Co-Op as well as a completely new art style!

It's our most action packed issue to date. While the co-op scene has been quite quiet this year so far, the single player scene is jam packed with goodness. We've got 8 reviews of the biggest games so far this year, and some from last!

Co-op fans can be hard to please. Really hard. We know it, and developers know it. Does your game have two-player co-op? Make it four-player co-op. Does your game have splitscreen co-op? Make it splitscreen online. Does your game have co-op side missions? Make it a co-op campaign.