Ghost Recon is back next year in a big way after a long hiatus.  Some sexy looking new screenshots have found their way out of Germany at Gamescom and onto the Co-Optimus gallery for the next game, titled Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.  Without a doubt the most stand out thing is the way the game integrates tactical information directly into the game world.  It's slick looking and makes me wish I had some sort of kick ass retinal implant to do the same.   Just think, shopping for fresh vegtables would be so much more fun.

The classic Age of Empires franchise gets an MMO-ish spin and a fresh coat of paint in Age of Empire Online. We take the free to play game for a spin and decide whether or not you should be spending your hard earned money or stick with the free.

This very gooey video from the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops DLC, Rezurrection, has tremendous Zombie footage.  Much of the video is live action, depicting various zombie experiments from the "Call of Duty Zombie Labs."   I think there's even some sort of Zombie Admiral Ackbar around the 1:00 mark.  This DLC may be the last hurrah from Black Ops, but it's the most co-op friendly content by far.  Five Zombie maps will be included in the download, and each will support four player online co-op. (Or two player local co-op, or two player local co-op with two more players online.) 

Q-Games have been on a roll with addictive cooperative games for the PlayStation Network that look good to boot.  From PixelJunk Monster with its tower defense to PixelJunk Shooter 1 and 2 with their addictive strategy and action, we've grown to be fans of the Japanese studio.  

Today Co-Optimus is proud to present an introduction to our very first video series, which will be kicking off this Fall.  Called Good Co-Op. Bad Co-Op - it'll follow the co-op hijinx of Locke and Sunflower who up until this point, were sworn mortal enemies (not really).  The series originally started as something called Big Chief Friendship which we present to you today.

The Harry Potter series - It's over.  Stick a fork in it.  That is one cash cow that has been fully milked. Or has it?  The books may have been read and the films watched, but there is one format of Harry Potter that has yet to be concluded; LEGO Harry Potter.  The first game in the series covered Years 1-4 and was a solid installment in the co-op tastic LEGO franchise.  The sequel is due out in mid November and, suggested by its title, will cover years 5-7 (it is called LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7).  10 minutes of gameplay footage has surfaced so check out Read More to see if the LEGO games have changed since you last played them. 

The Baconing, the rather oddly named sequel to DeathSpank, has finally received concrete release dates. The Playstation 3 version debuts on Tuesday, August 30, while the Xbox 360 version lands a day later on August 31.

Andrew (Cubninja) and Jim (txshurricane) played some midnight matches and came back with a few Black Ops snapshots for the album. Plus, we discuss why playing with friends is important to getting the most enjoyment out of competitive games.

It's been too long since we've done a news post about the game with the most ridiculously long name of all time: Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 (which I will henceforth simply call Duels 2012). Good news for us, then, because Wizards of the Coast has just announced that Duels 2012 will be getting an expansion this fall. If Duels 2012 is anything like the first Duels, there will be other expansions to follow for fans to gobble up. Entitled Ascend Into Darkness (I know, I always thought one descended into such things), Duels 2012's first expansion sounds like it has a good deal to offer fans. Players will be able to unlock three new decks (figure-headed by Liliana Vess, Ajani Goldenmane, and Ral Zarek) as well as four new cards for each of the original thirteen decks. A myriad of single-player campaign content will also be added upon purchasing the DLC. Here's the full list of what it has to offer:

The original Trine was a fantastic co-op puzzle platformer set in a beautiful fantasy world.  The only thing keeping the game from being truly great was the lack of online co-op.  The sequel rectifies this shortcoming.  Trine 2 will feature local and online co-op for up to three players.  The makers of this video were smart enough to explicitly state just that.  Once again, the game looks gorgeous.  Don't take my word for it, check out the video.

Some high profile PlayStation Network games have been priced and dated.  Payday: The Heist, Sideway: New York, and Rochard have all been given their marching orders.  All of these games will be released later this Fall.  Two of these games have co-op, and one of them was one of my favorites form E3.

This new trailer for Saints Row: The Third is all about ex-pro wrestler/crime lord, Killbane, "The Walking Apocalypse."  He's slightly less terrifying than his brother, "The Running Apocalypse," who I assume will be in Saints Row: Foursies.  THQ looks like it dipped into its wrestling licenses for parts of this trailer, and that's okay by us.  You can even hear Hulk Hogan as the voice of Angel de la Muerte.  Every game could benefit from more Hulk Hogan.