Nicholas "bapenguin" Puleo

Owner and Managing Editor

Owner, creator, and mad scientist of Co-Optimus, Nick spends every spare minute devoted to gaming.

Co-Op gaming has been in his blood since the days of Sega Genesis playing Streets of Rage and Golden Axe. Of course the fond memories of the boardwalk arcade and Raiden II, Aliens vs. Predator, and Ninja Turtles didn't hurt either.

Nick's resume includes over 6 years of gaming coverage experience, including leadership roles at many prominent gaming outlets. He has created numerous websites to feed his insatiable appetite for world domination, of which, is coming along nicely.

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Mike "pheriannath" Katsufrakis

Artist and Podcast Host

Mike's primary duties include building, maintaining and washing/waxing our lovely cast of robot characters. In the remainder of his time, he co-hosts the Co-Opticast with Nick.

A gamer since he discovered manual dexterity and the myriad uses an opposable thumb provides, Mike is a proponent of PC gaming and the proud owner of every major console and handheld release since the NES. He also won't shut up about his cats.

Follow Mike on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/pheriannath

Marc "DjinniMan" Allie

Senior Editor

I have been playing games of all types my whole life. My first experience with video games was playing Pong at a friend's house when I was about four years old. Up until the last generation, I was an unapologetic Nintendo fanboy, but my love for the games themselves has expanded my horizons to enjoy all current systems.

As far as my personal life goes, I am a teacher and technology coordinator for a small rural school district in Missouri. I'm married to a lovely woman, and we have two boys, ages 14 and 7. My sons are my co-op partners, and the biggest chunk of my playtime is with them. Other interests of mine apart from video games are watching movies, NFL football, and collecting comic books and Transformers toys. (This is pretty much exactly what I was doing when I was ten, it seems.)

Unsurprisingly, one of my biggest interests in gaming is the classics. Nostalgia is a very powerful factor for me. Some of my favorite gaming moments ever are the times when I have played an old favorite game of mine with my kids. Games like TMNT IV and X-Men: The Arcade Game are every bit as good now as they were the first time I played them!

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Jim "txshurricane" McLaughlin

Editor

The oldest of four brothers, Jim learned early on that competitive gaming is a good way to alienate everyone in the room. Thanks to a video game sabbatical by his siblings, he became a steadfast fan of co-op...and remains so today. Now he balances a family life with gaming, and co-op is all the more important to squeezing video games in edgewise.

Jim kicked off his co-op career with games like Double Dragon II and the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles beat-'em-ups. He feels that the internet and wireless technology have advanced co-op gaming more than anything else; he and his brothers have returned to co-op despite being split between long distances, and life is good

Katrina "ShadokatRegn" Pawlowski

Editor

A college student bound and determined to show Shakespeare and E. Allen Poe who's boss, Katrina tends to focus on the important things in life. "Important" in the eye of this beholder, covers anything from gaming to reading comics or novels, to fencing and hanging out with awesome people! Co-op has become the core of her gaming preference, and she'll play almost anything if there's someone on the other end of the headset or sharing the couch.

Her contributions to Co-optimus.com will vary from the extreme nerdisms, to classic gaming and everything in between. She may be caught including pop-culture references in her writing, as she enjoys a wide variety of geeky pleasures. You can contact Katrina with questions or comments directly at kpawlowski@co-optimus.com, or follow her on Twitter.

Loren "AgtFox" Halek

Weekend Editor

I’ve been playing video and computer games since I was around 4 years old, mostly with my Atari 2600 and making regular trips to the arcade. I received my first computer in 1989, although I had been playing games in school on an Apple IIe when allowed to. I own almost all the systems that have come out since the 2600 and played countless games over the years. I started writing game reviews online back in college, although at the start it was just through the free webpage my college gave me. I left console gaming for a bit during that time, concentrating more on computer games and playing LAN parties in the computer lab (I worked there). Then the Playstation came and I’ve been a heavy console user ever since, but still find time to play computer games.

I started professionally writing in 2001 doing DVD reviews and started writing game reviews for a commercial site back in 2002. I left there in late 2005 and re-entered in late 2007 at a couple more websites. I now divide my spare time running Colony of Gamers and being the Weekend Editor here. At this point I’ve written close to 250 reviews over all the sites I’ve worked at and I certainly enjoy giving people an opinion I hope they can trust when deciding to buy a game or not.

In my spare time outside of my job and playing/reviewing games I like to spend time with my wife of 8 years, helping her with her crafting business and doing things together.

Jason "OrigamiPanther" Love

Contributor

My earliest memories of gaming involve a Nintendo Entertainment System, a television that still used tubes, a family room, and my brother. Before we even had a game where two people could play together, I remember sitting and watching my brother play Super Mario Bros. Occasionally, he’d let me play a life or two, but that was all I needed to get hooked. Pretty soon, games like Blaster Master and Final Fantasy were finding their way onto my Christmas list alongside the Transformers and GI Joes. I used to play so much that my family nicknamed me “Nintendo Boy”, a moniker that occasionally still gets brought up today. From the Nintendo I moved on to playing PC games, thanks once again to my family. I was too young at the time to really understand them, but my mom used to play the “Zork” series and I’d sit next to her while she played trying to contribute and follow along as best as I could. Nowadays I mostly play Playstation and Nintendo DS games, although I still occasionally sneak in a PC game or two and a large portion of my co-op time comes from playing with friends.

Aside from gaming, I also enjoy watching movies, listening to music (anything but country), re-learning to play bass, and reading authors like Neal Stephenson, Neil Gaiman, China Miéville, and whatever good science fiction/fantasy novel comes my way. It is my hope that one day I might be able to switch jobs from government contractor to full-time games journalist or freelancer. A man can dream, a man can dream…