I never had an Amiga back in the days of classic console gaming. All of my 16-bit gaming needs were fulfilled by the SNES. Nevertheless, I still heard of this game called Alien Breed from a friend back when I lived in TX. I then moved away and never heard or saw it again...

Defiance is being billed as a "transmedia" experience, putting players in a video game world that shares experiences with a TV show of the same name.  We're promised that events in either will affect the other, which if pulled off- would do something we've never really seen before.

This week we have two games coming at you for your co-op pleasure. One deals with the societal ramifications of super karate warriors run amok in a post apocalyptic world. The other takes on the troubling problem of mutant space zombies. I'm told that neither are documentaries. 

Almost a year after release, it looks like Mass Effect 3 is still going to be getting more DLC.  A recent patch for the game has unearthed details of a new co-op DLC pack that twists the current formula, incorporating single player progress into six new co-op story missions.

There is some good mojo in the air today as Over the Top Games have announced a brand new 4 player co-op title called Full Mojo Rampage.  Although the game is currently planned for PC only, there is a strong possibility it will work its way onto PS3, 360 and WiiU download services (or 720, PS4 etc).  You can preorder the game for $10 at the OTT site, or pay $15 on release.  More details follow.

Welcome to Beyond Co-Op, the weekly piece where we look at interesting news around the gaming and entertainment industry that may not directly pertain to cooperative gaming culture.  There's a lot to look at this week including a possible PlayStation 4 unveiling, and Warcraft movie.

Wraith Entertainment's Dawnstar, a cooperative space shooter with some action-RPG elements tossed in for flavor, reminds me of IKEA furniture. You know what it is supposed to look like. You want what it is supposed to be. It's just missing those last few pieces that will make it look like the picture on the box...

You may have noticed a bit of DungeonLand around Co-Optimus right now.  There's a few of us on staff actually playing the game, which we found to be a bit like Smash TV.  Needless to say the difficulty helps promote the co-op experience.  For those of us that don't want to take a ride through a bloody theme park, there's plenty of other stuff to play like Dark Souls.  

I still have a hard time believing it's 2013.  Frankly, this year is off to a pretty lame start for a lot of people, so I'm hoping February can redeem what January started.  While January started slow for games, it crashed right into a February that looks ripe with releases.  Because of that, we actually had quite a bit of news about games like Dead Space 3, Aliens Colonial Marines, and more.  

Atlus has revealed more information for their new cooperative third-person shooter, God Mode. If you're unfamiliar with the recently announced downloadable title, I'll offer you this brief refresher: You're the descendant of a god, and you're dead. Gather up to three additional corpse friends and battle your way through the Maze of Hades to earn your immortal redemption.  Game modifiers will change the rules of battle, bringing variety to each playthrough.  

For February's Co-Optimus Community Voice, we want to hear what you have to say about all the console hubbub. What do you think about all the rumors circulating the web? What about your predictions? What will the consoles be named and what features/specs are we going to see? What features will help advance co-op gaming? Which console will be the most co-op friendly?

For hardcore gamers, Free To Play, has an almost negative stigma associated with it.  Combine that with the word "Facebook" and you're looking at the double whammy of disgust.  It's not hard to see why, with titles like Farmville begging for social sharing and clicks and other titles cheapening the experience by asking you to pay for gratification.  But there are some gems out there that are bucking the trend, the latest is a game from Rumble called KingsRoad - a hack and slash RPG that's playable via Facebook or Rumble's website.