At Co-Optimus, we've always been impressed with Signal Studios' console releases. Toy Soldiers was a fine first outing, deftly mixing the tower defense and action genres with a dash of nostalgia. The follow-up, Toy Soldiers: Cold War really put the developer on our radar thanks to its addition of cooperative multiplayer. Signal's next game, Ascend: New Gods (first announced at E3) looks more ambitious than not only their previous games, but even a great many retail titles. While Ascend's initial announcement only mentioned the Xbox 360 and Windows Phone platforms, we're pleased to share some exclusive news with you today. It's coming to PC next year as well!

  Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is not only one of the best downloadable co-op games this generation, but arguably one of the best full stop.  2 gamers can play in local or online co-op over a seriously impressive number of levels, but even they come to the end.  That's unless you take part in this week’s...

We only heard about Warface earlier this year, but apparently the game is already out in Eastern European markets.  While a release date hasn't been announced we do know where the free to play shooter will live, and that's with publisher Trion Worlds.  Trion Worlds is responsible for the popular MMO Rift and the upcoming MMO-RTS End of Nations.

Hey retro gamers out there! If you’re a fan of the old-school, Contra days of the NES and SNES, then 8-Bit Commando is the game for you to check out. Developer 2DEngine went back in time and decided to satisfy our retro hunger, because there’s practically nothing modern going on about this game (and we like this very much).

Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage is getting a sequel. Yes, I'm serious. Wait, where are you going? Hold on, it could be good! Cleverly called, "Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage 2," it should pick up where the 2010 beat'em up left off. We were not overly impressed by the original, but fans of the series must have spoken with their wallets, because Ken's Rage 2 is indeed happening. 

Alright! We actually have some co-op games coming out this week! We've got a tower defense game that advocates genocide, and disease-ridden puzzle game, and a game adaptation of what is surely going to be one of the greatest films of all time. 

This Week in Co-Op, Marc and Paul take you on an epic journey into the dangerous punching dungeons of Dungeon Fighter LIVE.

Co-Op upside down shooter, Inversion, has been released for Windows and is available to download via Steam.  The two player co-op game features a campaign with a gravity defying gimmick that we thought was "a solid combat experience" but suffered from "a bland story and stock characters."  

When Transformers: War for Cybertron dropped, I was surprised how fun the 3 player co-op campaign was.  Rather than build on this quality for the sequel, Fall of Cybertron, High Moon Studios have removed campaign co-op and created Escalation Mode instead.  One way to salve any self inflicted wounds brought about by this depressing turn of events is to bring back some of the retro skins of the original cartoon series.  This is exactly what you get if you preorder the game via Gamestop - Old Skool Optimus!   

Orcs Must Die! received much praise, but one thing that many asked was "where's the co-op?!" Orcs Must Die! 2 returns with this greatly desired feature. Is it as epic as everyone was hoping? Find out in our co-op review.

In this installment of Co-Op Classics, we have two brand new retro videos for your entertainment. Tying in to the theater release The Amazing Spider-Man, we looked back through the old catalog for two co-op 90s brawlers. One was an arcade hit: 1991's Spider-Man the Video Game. The other was available on home consoles in 1995: Spider-Man & Venom Separation Anxiety.

FPS/Tower Defense hybrid, Sanctum, was a game we quite enjoyed around here. We gave it a nice 4 out of 5 in our co-op review, and since then the game has sold over 350,000 units, enjoyed heavy content patches as well as DLC, and there's even been word that Sanctum 2 is on its way. Developer Coffee Stain Studios, however, is not content to just sit back and rest on their laurels - now they're hard at work on bringing Sanctum to Mac.