It sure took Valve a long time to get to this point, but now we have an official release date for Left 4 Dead 2 campaign, “Cold Stream”, set to release later on this month.

LEGO Batman 2 is the largest departure from form for the LEGO series yet. Platforming elements have been reduced dramatically, and the puzzles are far more interesting. Voice acting makes the story far more enjoyable. A large, gorgeously realized Gotham City gives the game a fantastic open-world feel. All of these things combine to make LEGO Batman 2 the best LEGO game to date, but a few maddening problems keep it from being a masterpiece.

Wow. I'm glad I joined PlayStation Plus earlier this year. The $50 annual membership fee paid for itself in less than a month. The Instant Game collection offered a dozen free PSN and PS3 games in June. Now there's even more good news: Renegade Ops, Gotham City Imposters, and Pac-Man Championship DX have been added* to the collection of free titles.

Warren Spector is one of the most revered designers in the gaming industry today.  With such titles as System Shock, Wing Commander and Deus Ex in his portfolio, it's difficult to imagine that a simple platformer like Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two could prove to be a challenge.  To understand the challenge, you need to understand the basic concepts of the game.  At its core, Epic Mickey 2 is about creation or destruction - do I paint the world to create, or use thinner to destroy things in my path.

Happy Independence Week, America! Does anyone else think we should take the whole week off when a national holiday falls on a Wednesday? My hangovers usually take a minimum of two days to get over, so this week is pretty much a wash. Hey, at least the holiday didn't happen on a Sunday. What a waste that would be. Right, Canadians?

Belgium based Larian Studios recently announced the latest entry in the Divinity series, Divinity: Original Sin, which is a "return to roots" for them as this Divinity will offer a gameplay experience similar to a tabletop RPG and, for you RPG old-timers, Ultima VII. What's more, the game will also allow you and a friend to play through the entire campaign cooperatively as you control the main protagonists, the condemned warrior and the mystical sorceress. However, up to four players can join in on the fun, so how does that work?

Sony Computer Entertainment today have announced that they have acquired cloud gaming provider, Gaikai, for 380 Million dollars.  Cloud gaming services are in their infancy, with OnLive being Gaikai's main competitor at this time.

Brawl-PG fans - that is to say, fans of beat-em-up RPGs - will have reason to celebrate next week. Neople's Dungeon Fighter LIVE: Fall of Hendon Myre finally comes to Xbox Live Arcade on Friday, July 13. That feels like a long wait for yours truly, as I absolutely love the genre (and Dungeon Fighter Online for PC). In the meantime, this batch of new screenshots and a trailer will have to tide folks like me over.

The launch of Ghost Recon Future Soldier has not been the smoothest of rides, whilst console gamers had a pick up and play experience; PC players had a glitchier encounter.  In a bid to avoid any more bad press, Ubisoft have done a wise thing and delayed the 3rd July bound Arctic Strike DLC to polish the content i.e. make sure it works.

For your viewing pleasure today, we've got a gameplay video for the game we covered most recently for Co-Op Classics: Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa! It absolutely screams "early 90s brawler", from the anthropomorphic protagonists to the run and gun gameplay. It's so great we gave it the super sized treatment and feature it all by itself! (Besides, there's no room left in the article title for any other game!)

Welcome to another edition of Beyond Co-Op, our weekly feature where we take a quick look at stories from the gaming industry at-large, even if they don't contain as much co-op as we'd like. (Hint: It's usually none!). Studio closures are always sad to report on, and in 2012, we've had more than our fair share.

Hey hey - we're having a heat wave...again.  Oh right, it's summer.  I guess you can't call it a heat wave.  So kick on the AC and pour yourself a margarita (or fruit punch) and couch co-op with a friend.  The Co-Optimus staff has plenty on their plate to play while avoiding the harmful DEATH RAYS of the giant light bulb in the sky.