It's the weekend! A time to relax, play games, and catch up on all that non-cooperative gaming news of the past week in Co-Optimus' Beyond Co-Op feature. This time around we've got a very exciting announcement for NES platformer fans, the Final Fantasy X remake gets an added bonus on the PS3, and Supergiant Games is back in action with their newest title, Transistor. All in all, some very exciting news this week with perhaps even more to be revealed as PAX East 2013 is just getting underway.

A week or so back we had a huge contest giving out hundreds of Beta codes for Defiance, which launches in just two short weeks on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. This weekend is the beta on all three platforms and the staff and community will be diving in to see what the fuss is all about.

There is an added bonus for those who decide to buy Resident Evil 6 for PC. One of the modes in Resident Evil 6, Mercenaries Mode, is receiving a little star treatment from Left 4 Dead. In a special mode within Resident Evil 6 on PC, you can play as the cast of Left 4 Dead as playable characters. The characters you will be able to use are Coach, Nick, Ellis, and Rochelle. In addition to these extra players, zombie hordes will be increased to match the intensity and ferocity of those you would normally find in Left 4 Dead. Finally, some new undead faces will appear in the special crossup, notably the Witch and the Mini-Tank of Left 4 Dead fame.

The Defiance beta event is underway on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. PS3-based Ark Hunters have been at it for a few days now, and PC and 360 gamers were finally able to get in on the action this morning. The winners from our massive beta key giveaway should have received their PC codes from Trion or been PM'd console codes from Co-Optimus by now (check your Co-Optimus profile inbox).

  It may be hard to believe, but after what after seems like an eternity, Pocketwatch Games has announced that their upcoming game, Monaco, has passed Microsoft certification. While no release date has been provided, we can anticipate that it is going to be coming early this spring.  ...

Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel is out next week on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. I know, it snuck up on me too. If you were looking forward to this bromantic action game filled with explosions, bullets, explosions, and oversized blades (seen above) - well that time is almost here.

Digital Extreme has finally entered Warframe into its open beta testing phase and with a brand new update to accompany it. Update 7.0 features all new Warframe characters, weapons, a snowy battleground, and much more!

A few days ago, Capcom announced some specifics regarding the latest iteration of Resident Evil: Revelations for the Wii U. The game will feature use of the Gamepad by transforming it into a map and weapon inventory for the player. Revelations will also integrate with Miiverse. Players will have the ability to post messages and tips for other players on how to overcome obstacles in their path.

This month in Indie-Ana Co-Op, we hear from the Yeti Trunk, aka "Team Wanderlust." Since their initial outing into the world of game development a year and a half ago with Wanderlust: Rebirth, Yeti Trunk has released a couple of mobile game for the iPhone/iPad market. Now they're looking to return to the world of Wanderlust, and co-founder Matthew Griffin wants to share with all the other indie devs out there the one thing that's helped them out the most: listening to the fans.

It's all about action with the latest trailer from 4J Studios. They have been teasing update 9 of Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition for some time now. The main addition with this latest Minecraft update is the Enderdragon. Like we covered in a previous article, players will be able to collect a special item to travel to "The End" and face the Enderdragon in combat. It is no minor affair, and only the best equipped and battle-ready characters will be victorious. This is due to the fact that the Enderdragon has a few nasty tricks up his sleeve this time around. We covered the new and improved Enderdragon a while back, who has crystals protected by iron bars and comes with the ability to spray liquid acid on the players.

Dragons' Crown is coming to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita this summer. It's a side scrolling beat'em up/action RPG that features some intriguing hand-drawn artwork. Frank Frazetta would be proud. Once you get past the physical appearances of the Amazon and the Sorceress, there's a pretty decent looking co-op game here. In fairness to the ladies, several other creatures seem to be sans clothes, themselves. The dwarf, for example, is wearing little more than a beard, boots, and belt. 

We had a chance to get a solid co-op session in with Arcen Games' A Valley Without Wind 2. The sequel is a total revamp of the original, but still retains that genre-breaking feel. The closest thing that it resembles is the old school SNES action/strategy hybrid, Act Raiser.