Welcome to Beyond Co-Op, a weekly piece that talks about industry stories that may or may not be related to co-op gaming.

103F.  That's what the high was here in the Northeast United States today.  Our normal is upper 80s.  Most of the nation is engulfed in a heat wave and that means most of us are being smart and staying indoors for some air conditioned gaming.

If you have an acquaintance who enjoys tower defense on her iPhone, try a few of these games, and you just might end up with a brand new co-op partner.

Pants are for chumps.

Today we have a new House of the Dead: Overkill - Extended Cut video for your viewing pleasure.  Violence and strong language are prevalent, as they should be.  We've already covered f the gory details of this PS3 remake of one of the Wii's most mature titles.  Check out the video.  Dude says "Hammertime" then beats a mutant with a hammer.  It doesn't get any better than that.  Extended Cut will even feature two new levels with full PlayStation Move support.  Two local players can battle the zombie mutant horde together.  You can expect House of the Dead: Overkill - Extended Cut this October.

Sins of a Solar Empire Trinity/Diplomacy has just received a giant patch with a few dozen changes included.  The patch brings the game up to Version 1.3 and while most of the changes are for gameplay and balancing, there are a few tweaks to the game's graphics, interface and AI.

Stories like this one are where my ideology of video games and the games industry itself kinda clash. See, I view games as a consumer product (entertainment software) valued according to its entertainment capacity. In short: studios like Infinity Ward should strive to entice and delight me. Unfortunately, Infinity Ward and countless others would prefer that their creations be viewed as art and expression. Thankfully the big, ugly, sadistic publishers - like Activision - are in place to make sure that games are at least marketable.

Section 8: Prejudice is on sale this week for your computer, the deal comes shortly after the game was finally released on the PlayStation Network.  There's actually two places to get a deal on the game, Direct 2 Drive and Games for Windows Marketplace.

Are these the droids you are looking for?  Microsoft has announced another special edition bundle for the Xbox 360 console.  The 320GB console is painted to look like R2-D2 while the gold plated controller will remind you of C3-PO.  It also comes with a white colored Kinect sensor and of course a copy of the two player co-op Kinect Star Wars game.

Me want

A brand new 4 minute trailer is out now for Gears of War 3 straight from San Diego Comic Con. Revealed at a panel tonight for the game, the trailer is called Crecendo, and it features many of the development team talking about the personal story that will unfold in Gears 3 - a game that will focus more on the characters themselves than the war around them.

Good news, PC gamers!  Right now you can pre-order Dead Island from Valve's digital distribution service, Steam.  You'll not only get some bonus content, you can also get a copy of the game for FREE!  Individual copies of the game are going for $49.99.  If you buy the special four pack for $149.97 you and three friends can save about fifty bucks.  Since the game supports four player co-op, this is a no-brainer.  If you get three buddies together that means you'll each get a copy for about $37.50!  Hooray, savings!  Or, one of you can mooch a free copy off of your three friends who paid full price.  Hooray, friends who are gainfully employed!